Moomin Light: As the summer winds down...

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Islands Unknown: Paperhand Puppet Intervention 2010, Part 1

Friday Fun Song: Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" redone by Sara Bareilles

I've been posting a bit more lately - mostly because I hurt my knee two weeks ago. I won't say "re-injured" because it's not as bad as the original injury, but I've been taking it easy and sitting more while icing. I twisted my injured knee while wading in the Eno River, and then twisted my good knee while trying to get my balance so I've been icing both knees.

It was gradually getting better last week, and I even got back to physical therapy, with really light weights, by Friday, but, last weekend, I spent too much time standing while cleaning for daughter's going away parties and also standing during the parties. This week, I've been back to manic icing again. I was able to swim a bit yesterday, but nowhere near the 20 laps that I had worked up to (the very day before I hurt it!). It just felt good to do something active.

Daughter leaves for college next week and older son goes back. If you remember my angst last year when older son started college, it's worse with daughter because she's going four hours away. I thought I was handling this very well at the beginning of the summer... until I realized that I was angry at everything and everybody. All the time. That's what happens when I try to bury my emotions; it all comes out as anger instead. Now, I actually try to make myself cry about her leaving (not hard as it gets closer) - during my morning walks so I don't disturb anyone else. There aren't many people walking at 7 am lately.

Enough said.

They both finish their summer jobs tomorrow so I expect that posting will be sporadic as we get things ready. I do have a few posts that I just need to finish up (like part 2 of the Paperhand post and, of course, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the 15th (or as soon after as I get it up!))(some of the posts actually will involve writing and not just photos!), and a really fun song for tomorrow.

I had been hoping to start teaching aerobics again in the fall, but that's not happening - not just because of recent events, but because I also have to get recertified, and that takes more time. However, I have been trying to be in shape to to take Broadway dance again!!!! I'll post more about that as the time gets near for those in the area that might want to try the class.

When I thought about a four hour drive back after moving daughter in to UNC-Asheville - a drive back to a House Without Daughter - I realized that those would be long, depressing hours. Now, I almost always discuss things with people and work out a mutually agreeable solution. This time, I didn't discuss or even ask. I just told dear husband that we were going to stop in Charlotte on the way back (fortunately he's got lots of hotel points from all the traveling he's been doing)(I haven't complained at all this week even though he's been gone for four days)(Ooops...). The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont is supposed to be one of the best gardens in the state, and we've never visited it. We'll do that the next morning and then we'll take younger son to Discovery Place, the science museum in downtown Charlotte. The last time he went there, he was in a stroller. It's still three hours from there to home, but at least we'll have something to talk about besides how much we'll miss daughter.

For a long time, I didn't want to think about the time after she left. I eventually realized that I wasn't looking forward to anything. It was like mid-August was the end of the world and I was just going to fall off of it after that. That certainly wasn't doing any good so I made myself start thinking about things. Younger son has been wanting to go to a fun park in Raleigh with laser tag, go karts, etc. so we're going to try later in August. Of course, there's the beginning of Broadway dance, choir starts the next evening, I'm getting involved in the website redesign for our homeschooling group, we're going to go camping at Lake James (we've never been there before) in the mountains in September (and bring the canoe!), and I finally reserved a place for our October vacation. Older son and daughter are going to try to come during their brief fall breaks, but it will just be the three of us for most of the time.

I got so used to throwing myself into things this summer that, when I read about the Carrboro Music Festival (Sept 26), I thought that it would be fun to volunteer. It would, but that will be less than a week before we go to the mountains so it makes more sense to just go listen.

What I really would like to find, but neither the Durham Arts Council nor the ArtsCenter in Carrboro have it, is a beginning acting class for adults. I can do the singing for the summer musicals just fine, but I still find the acting, even for the chorus, to be a challenge. I'd like to get some practice before next summer, but I don't know how to at this point.

There's so much to explore. I'll miss her while doing it, though.

[Photo: Daughter and dear husband at Castle Rock in Marblehead, MA last May. In case you're curious, dear husband is wearing a t-shirt from the Blue Ribbon Diner in Mebane.]

Posted at 11:30 PM in Moominmamma - Homeschooling, Personal, Road Trips | Permalink | Comments (2)