Friday.
Hello Friday!!
Bring on the weekend!!
I say that, but the forecast is still calling for thunderstorms. They appear to be scattered storms, so I’m hoping there will be some breaks of sunshine in between.
How is the weather in your area?
Friday Faves.
I do have some Friday Faves to share, but also just some news about life and such.
Flooding.
It had rained here most of the time that I was away in the U.K. That led to saturated grounds. The area of Roanoke in which I live was hit with a storm last Sunday that dropped 6 1/2 inches of rain in three hours, causing flash floods and mudslides.
I have some friends that shared that they had to be diverted off of the main road because sections of it were impassable. Big Mr was with a friend over near our local library and said a flooded area was as wide as the Roanoke River. They had to turn around because the water was too deep, and that was even barely into the swath.
I was at home quite oblivious to the extent to which the waters were rushing until I saw the footage. Our property slopes downward with our home sitting on a hill. We are toward the bottom of what you could call a mountain…or a larger hill, but I’m not sure there is anything that would mudslide toward us. The placement of our home also means that our basement doesn’t flood.
Driving Miss Sunshine to school and passing along the road that runs near the high school, there are piles out for the trash that you can tell came from flooded basements. My heart is heavy for all those who have damage to deal with and memories that have been lost.
Memorial Day.
Monday was Memorial Day.
I spent time with my family and the hubby and I looked for some furniture for the back deck. Right now we are down to two plastic Adirondack chairs that we bought for seating when we first moved to Virginia because our furniture hadn’t yet arrived. Of the two that are left of the initial five, one is broken and it is a matter of time before the seat fully gives way.
I didn’t find anything, but I do have some ideas for what I may get.
The Next Phase.
Big Mr. doesn’t graduate from high school until next Friday, but he is finished with school.
On Tuesday, they had a Senior Day where there is a field day for the Seniors (this was moved indoors due to the rain), and along with their graduation practice, they decorate their caps to showcase where they are going after high school.
University.
Big Mr. will be heading to Virginia Tech in the fall. They sent him this sign to stick to his cap. Some of the Seniors get very creative in decorating their caps (everything must be removable for the actual graduation ceremony).
My High School Graduation Memories.
It’s funny what your mind chooses to remember.
I needed to get the wrinkles out of his gown. I was talking with my mom about how strange it was that they come all folded in a package with deep wrinkles and asked her if she had to iron my gown for high school graduation.
The answer was yes.
And yet, I have no recollection about how I received my cap and gown, only wearing it (wrinkle free). I also recall a big discussion with my three close friends about the possibilities of rebelling against the fact that we were expected to wear dress shoes. I’m pretty sure there were more details to the type of shoe required, but we were told that they would be inspecting them in the lineup, prior to our ceremony, and we would be pulled from the lineup if not wearing dress shoes. We tried to come up with a way to switch to white Converse after inspection. We even had a teacher who encouraged our idea (he was a total nonconformist). In the end…we became like sheep and conformed because we had family in the stands and didn’t want to take the chance of not getting to walk in graduation.
What do you remember about your own high school graduation?
Yoga.
This week also finished out my May Challenge…31 days of yoga poses. It was wonderful to have Dee Dee come along with me on this journey.
I shared my pose each day on my Instagram Stories.
At this time, I have all 31 days shared on my Instagram Page under the Highlights section.
I thought I’d share a couple of my favorites from this week.
The Wheel Pose shown above wasn’t technically on the pose challenge. It was on the day of the Camel Pose. I can’t seem to touch my toes in Camel Pose without bringing my hips farther back than my knees and yet I can do the backbend required for Wheel Pose.
This shot was me proving to myself that I could still do the Wheel Pose.
Dancer Pose.
Dancer Pose is one of my favorite poses.
I feel graceful when I am in the pose, even if that is not the visual reality.
I was never a dancer, but I recall a time in my drama class where somebody’s mother came in to show us some ballet moves for the choreography of a musical we would be performing. I can’t remember exactly what she said to me, but it was a compliment in regards to the fact that my long arms and legs made the moves look nice.
I was the person in drama who took the leftover roles because I loved acting (playing the part of someone else), but did not audition (which required “me” to get up in front of my peers) for any part. This compliment from a stranger in front of my class meant a lot and stuck with me.
Crow Pose.
The final pose was the crane pose. Crane Pose requires straight arms and your knees pressed into your armpits. I was happy with crow pose. I’m of the opinion that any arm balance is a good arm balance.
Writing.
If you have already seen my June Challenge, then you know that today I will begin spending 20 minutes a day working a story or two that I began writing last year or possibly even coming up with an entirely new story.
This does mean that I will again be learning time management.
Film.
I had considered making June a month of no TV, but I do have a couple of shows that I like to watch with the hubby and rarely watch it outside of that.
Even on the long haul flight to and from the U.K., I did more reading than movie watching.
I managed to start and finish The Handmaid’s Tale and I started Red Queen. Once home, I’ve been a little sidetracked by simultaneously reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I stumbled upon it at the library and recognized it from knowing that she gave a TED talk on it (which I haven’t yet watched).
However, on the way over I did watch Lady Bird, which I watched again last night. This time with the hubby.
I also watched Black Panther and It on the return flight.
I didn’t love It as much as I expected to love it. I read and watched lots of Stephen King in my late teens.
Have you watched any great movies or shows lately?
How about any amazing books?
Outlander.
I also picked up Season 1 of Outlander. I’m always late to hop on the bandwagon, but after my time in the Highlands, I’m curious to see the show.
What about you? Have you seen Outlander?
The photo is from our day trip around the Isle of Skye. This was our tour guide Sandy and the photo was taken toward the end of the trip.
That is Eilean Donan castle in the background.
I’m still getting around to processing my photos from my time away. Graduation time is a busy time.
In case you missed it, I did share some views from the River Clyde in Glasgow in this post and some Doors of London in this post.
I will not be back next week with a round of Friday Faves because Big Mr.’s graduation is in the middle of the day and my parents will be coming up for that as well.
I’ll have some posts up during the week though and will be back for Faves the following Friday.
I hope that you have an awesome weekend and week ahead.
Let your light shine!
Amy
I’m an avid reader too. I’ve live more than a 1000 lives with all the books I’ve read.
Graduation. I hadn’t thought about that in years and now I am.
Yoga often looks simple, but it’s not.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
I think being transported new places through reading is wonderful!!
Graduation is an exciting time. My oldest’s is only days away now.
I hope you have a fabulous day!!
^5! For completing another challenge and while on the road to boot!
It’s going to 93°F tomorrow or so they say, so I’ll be out the door at 5:30am to catch the coolness, and best light of the morning when birding.
I couldn’t do the crow pose! Not enough arm strength.
I desperately need new cushions for our outdoor furniture. I am procrastinating…I think finding something will be impossible so I’m not looking.
Congratulations to Mr. Big! Another milestone passed!
I have not watched any Outlander episodes, but LOVED the books. I have read them all twice, and the early books thrice! I need to clean out my bookshelves and am seriously thinking about freecycling my set of the books. I feel like I’m ready to let them go.
I hope you have a fabulous week-end too with not too much rain!
Thank you for the high five Deborah!!!
I need to learn to catch the early mornings before the heat kicks in. It won’t be so bad here, but when I head to Florida, the middle of the day can be brutal. I keep telling Miss Sunshine we’re going to have early mornings and then siestas before cooler evenings. 🙂
Thanks for the congrats for Big Mr. I’ll pass it along. I can’t believe that we’ve arrived to this point.
I think I would enjoy reading the Outlander series. I’ve watched 3 episodes. Sometimes I struggle with some of the heavy accents, but I can comprehend what’s happening.
Our weekend turned out to be much less rain then we anticipated, so we took full advantage of it. I hope your weekend was fabulous as well! 🙂
The weather here has been unseasonably warm, and quite frankly, BURNIN ME UP! lol I’m sure you’d like it.
I’m sorry to read of the flooding in your area. I am, of course, glad your family is unaffected. We, too, live on the high side, so while the other side of the street floods badly, we only get a small pond way out in our back 40. It is nice.
Your arm strength is impressive and I feel that, “any arm..” comment, because I have about no arm strength. It’s one of the reasons I do the yoga. Got osteo from shoulder to fingertip.
I have not read Highlander books, but hear they are fantastic. I did watch several seasons of the show, and liked at least the first. It was very interesting and kept me intrigued, then I lost interest when they moved to France. Just got right bored with it and now don’t care a fig. YMMV as many of my friends still love the show. I may read the books when they are complete. I don’t like to start book series until they’re done, as I am an impatient reader and have a temper about it.
Started watching The Americans last month. I like it. We’ve just started the second season, and I hope we get to watch some later today.
Have not been reading novels, have been reading signs as I drive all over creation, lol! Not much time at home lately and looking forward to next week, because string camp is all this week.
My mother pressed my gown for graduation, and smiled while doing it. It was odd. I don’t think she’d ironed for me in years and years. I remember it very clearly. I also remember when we all showed up, one of the kids, David, had all his wrinkles and looked terrible. It was weird, cause he had a stay home mom and he was the only boy, and she doted on him quite a lot. I’ll never forget that, either. He was a great kid, a good student, a nice guy — dressed better than most kids, had a real gentlemanly quality about him, and he looked so uncomfortable, not himself. I bet he remembers that, too.
Congrats on the minimum wrap up on kid one 🙂 So much more good to come from him 🙂 It’s a wonderful time 🙂
Sorry that the weather is warm!! I like a build up to warm. We jumped right into summer!
Flooding around here always is surprising to me because it seems to “rush” more than it ever did in Florida.
I hope that you enjoy yoga. I think it’s done wonders for my strength. I don’t really enjoy most forms of exercise.
We’ve watched the first few episodes of Outlander. It seems pretty good so far. I’m not hooked like I was with some other shows, so we’ll see if it holds my interest.
I’m happy that my days of driving all over creation are about to end for a brief bit!
That’s unfortunate for David. I’m sure he does remember that. Probably didn’t pull it out of the bag until 5 minutes before he needed to leave. We’ve had crises like that. Luckily, not this time.
It still doesn’t feel real that we are at this time. My parents get here on Wednesday to watch his graduation. I’m having dreams about being late for shows and appointments (pretty obvious where that anxiety dream stems from. lol). 🙂
We went right into summer, too :/
Oh yes, lots of schedules mean lots of showing up late dreams! May you always be dressed lol!
I’m glad your parents are coming. It’s going to be grand 🙂
Great round up Amy! And congrats on Virginia Tech!! At least he will be somewhat close to home 😊
Thanks Dee Dee! I’m glad that he’ll still be somewhat close to home. Especially for my first teen to leave. 🙂
Loved the yoga pictures and your devotion to sticking with it! 🙂 I miss doing yoga but just have no spare time… (I’m having lunch as I type this, the babies (toddlers) are sleeping and I’m constantly looking at the time, planning my next move before they wake up again…) Your dancer pose was beautiful!!! It really requires a lot of concentration, doesn’t it!
Thank you! I don’t do my yoga practice as much as I should so it was nice to make it a priority. Dance does require a lot of concentration. I suspect that many of the balance poses probably do. I learned early on to find a spot to keep my eye focused upon. lol.
Oh my goodness those floods sound so scary! I’m glad you guys and your home is ok though.
How exciting with the graduation season! I love how you recounted your own experience. From my own I think I remember most just standing in line and my mom waving to me from the lobby. I don’t know why that sticks out, but it’s special.
Dang, you are REALLY inspiring me to get back into yoga! These are awesome (and challenging) poses. You go, girl!
I want to watch Lady Bird so bad! My husband and I agreed we would watch it together soon. So many great reviews.
Best book I’ve read lately: When Breath becomes Air. I am trying to get everyone I know to read it. Amazing. One of my favorite books I have EVER read.
Always just adore your FF. Thanks for sharing
Graduation really is a special day. I think we all have the little things that stick to our memory. It’ll be interesting to see what my son tucks away as his remembrance.
It was nice to get back into yoga. It made me remember how much I love it.
I really liked Lady Bird. I hope you guys get a chance to see it soon.
I have that book down on my list!
Glad you liked the FF!! <3
Woah this is SO weird…. i am watching Lady Bird AS we speak. I didn’t know how I felt in the first twenty minutes, but now I am just loving it!