Project 365: Week 31

Monday

Weekly meal for whosoever-will at Chef-son's: an action photo

Menu: eggplant parmegiana, a variety of green salads, homemade potato crisps, and lemonade + stimulating conversations + much laughter.

Couple on left will wed in less than two weeks! Stay tuned for more about their love story.

Tuesday

Oops, no photos. I spent most of the day translating the dress code policy for the Marion schools, actually their new 'uniform' description, a very technical task. I had to refer constantly to the forums online--http://wordreference.com/ for the best descriptive words for the various items.

Wednesday

After my regular every 6 or 7 week hair appointment, I drove on up to visit a while with mother on her 88th birthday. I took a couple pair of more supportive shoes for her to try on. The shoe store salesman (owner, manager?) let me take them "on approval" basis. One of them was a perfect fit, and the other pair a tad short, but the next size is on order.

While I was there, dear Argentine friends, now settled in the US and co-pastoring a Spanish-speaking congregation, arrived with a beautiful mouth-watering cake. My mother said, "Dory never forgets!"

Thursday
Dortha Mae Dowdy, died July 22 at age 97 and was buried today next to her late husband.

They were my parents mentor-missionaries those early years in Argentina.

I gathered all the photos I could come across, scanned them and sent them out to those who would remember. Here is my missionary 'aunt' holding me at summer church camp by the kitchen tent next to our well-loved cook, doña Elena.

Friday

We set out very early (for retirees and pre-adolescent grandsons) for the first day of IRI--the Indiana Robotics Invitational. As mentor to team 1720, Mike had to be there way before the first match. I had over two hours to wait, so I found a place to sit and read!

This is a photo to represent my experience: the concession stand, the Argentine flag right above it, and our team 1720 coordinator buying breakfast.

The grandkids kept checking in with me to show me their finds under the bleachers. One time I asked them what country the flag belonged to and gave them the first letter as a clue. They spouted off many names which revealed their ignorance of geography and of me! I determined to teach them more about my history and world facts. We started with a hangman game to come up with the name of my 'other' patria.

In the afternoon, I took off for a couple hours to have dinner with my uncle and aunt who live in that area.

Uncle Bud had just celebrated his 85th birthday the day before. Here he is enjoying the Hoyt family album I had put together for my parents. It has a section for each of the ten brothers and their families. He is the youngest and can still recall many interesting facts and anecdotes.

Saturday

Second day of competition. No way can I do justice, either photographically or in words, to the total experience, so check out the link to the blog. Besides, I wasn't even there! I had a Reality Language conference to attend all day. Check it out as well. I think you will be VERY impressed with the system. I feel very privileged to be a part of this new and growing program. I am now a certified Reality Spanish trainer for Teachers and Health Care Professionals. All I need is students! Being the only one in Grant County means I may have to do a lot of ground work to create those teaching opportunities.

No photos on this day either. So I will leave you with the completed puzzle we worked on with Amaia. It remains on our coffee table as a reminder of good times.

I echo what someone else in Sara's circle said, "Don't know what we'll do after Project 365 is over." It's become a wonderful discipline and valuable record of this year 2009.