dragonlady7

it's nice to have my folks visiting.

Oh, the flowers in the last picture are some very old-fashioned hollyhocks, and they're ten feet tall by Dad's measurement!

My folks are odd people, which suits me well because I'm odd as well.
Dad came down in the basement and was inspecting our wiring, and then started poking through the things left there and determined that there was some real antique stuff down there, including an electric drill entirely made of cast metal that most likely predates the advent of plastic. (It has one speed and no reverse.)
Tomorrow morning we're going to get going early and go to the hardware store and get everything we can so that Dad can help us fix everything that needs fixing quickly before we have to get moving. Dad expressed interest in seeing the naval park (downtown, there are three decommissioned US Navy ships open for tours, including a submarine), and Mom wants to go to the Albright-Knox because all through her curatorial school (she studied that in grad school-- museum science stuff) they held it up as an example of a well-curated museum. Neither one opens until 10 am, so we have some time to make Dad help us hook up a gas stove and put in an electrical outlet and check the rest of our outlets to find if they're grounded. :) Or, at least, we have time to have him help us buy the stuff we need.

Mom was correcting papers and I wish I'd written down some of the things she read out loud. She showed her seventh graders a video about Spain and made them write one-page essays about what they'd seen. And these kids... many of them can't write a sentence. Those that can, don't know how to retain facts.
"Sevilla is home to the world's 3rd largest cathedral, Flamingo." "The Toledo is home to Moors and Spans, which we aren't I think." "Barcelona is a city. Many cultural attractions. Barrels of wine." (That last kid will make some dynamite PowerPoint presentations someday. My boss wrote like that and he'd owned a company for 27 years.)

Mom said, "I just thank God I'm not the English teacher. I'd shoot myself."

Ah well.