More Project Green from Around Town

The green picnic tables that seem to get repainted every community service day by the middle schoolers.

The Dr. Seuss trees at school. I love these trees.

Green Pumpkin Juice. Ingredients: water, green pumpkin, sucrose.
This can has been sitting on my desk for about a month because I didn't know what to do with it. Now it has a purpose: a subject for Project Green.

The recycling bins on the playground. Something unique to Taiwan, I think.

Project Green

New day, new project. :) Anna set forth a GREEN challenge yesterday. So I looked through some archive shots and found this one from last year. It's the rice field across from our house. I love the rice when it's green like this. In just a few short weeks the grain will begin to show, and the plants will begin to bend with the weight of the rice. But for now, I'll enjoy this shot of nice green fields.

I antiqued the second shot just to give it a different feel.

One more looking through

This one is from my husband's travels. I love this picture.

Click here for the other Project Looking Through participants, including my cousin LeighAnne's blog. (I wanna GO there, LeighAnne!)

Project Looking Through

Looking through a temple gate, Taiwan. Summer 2007.

Click here to see the original "Looking Through" Project.

39 years ago...

But sounds much like today:

You've Got a Friend

by Carol King
Sung by James Taylor

When you're down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing, no nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest nights.

You just call out my name,
and you know wherever I am
I'll come running, oh yeah baby
To see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall,
All you have to do is call
and I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got a friend.

If the sky above you
Should turn dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together and call my name out loud
And soon I will be knocking upon your door.
You just call out my name and you know where ever I am
I'll come running to see you again.

Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?
People can be so cold.
They'll hurt you and desert you.
Well they'll take your soul if you let them.
But don't you let them.

You just call out my name and you know wherever I am
I'll come running to see you again.
Oh, don't you know that,

Lord, I'll be there, yes I will.
You've got a friend.
You've got a friend.
Ain't it good to know you've got a friend.

Coach

Track season just ended this year, and I was a bit more involved this year than in other years. It was fun because it brought back a lot of memories about track, track season, OFF season training and our coach.

Coach Cunningham was a very patient person. He had to be, he was working with a bunch of high school girls. He always said he had to work us hard because he didn't have any thoroughbreds. He only had work horses. He had a way of saying things like that, and we knew exactly what he meant. No offense was taken.

Hard work included running endless 200's. That's half a track, for those who don't know, and it's a long way. Well, it's long when you have to keep sprinting them over and over again. We would sprint the 200, walk across the field over to the starting line, wait for Coach to yell "REEEADY" and we were to step up to the mark and sprint again. One day we had had enough. We determined on the walk over to the starting line that we were going to play deaf. He yelled ready, and no one moved. (It had to be a group effort, mind you.) Another "REEEADY" and still none of us moved, though we were getting a little anxious. Finally, he yelled, "PRETTY PLEASE REEEADY!!!" and that was it. We were no longer deaf because we were all laughing. Needless to say we had to walk to the line and run our sprints.

We had very few track meets on our own track, because it was just a gravel track. But we finally hosted a meet, and it didn't turn out to great for us sprinters. We had run the 400 relay in practice and ran a pretty slow 54 second time. We were expecting better than that the next day at the meet, because you just run faster times when your adrenalin is pumping. So we ran at the meet, and we had aweful times. 55 seconds! It was even slower than practice! We were standing together and he walked up and said, "Be here at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning." and walked away. That was a Saturday morning! We all arrived the next day, and knew we were in for trouble when we saw that he had his "I'd rather be fishin'" hat on. It was a rough workout.

There are so many more memories of track, off season, and Coach Cunningham. He used to say, "I won't ever ask you to do anything I think you can't do." and I believed him completely. If he asked me to do something, it meant I could do it. Period.

Of all of my times in high school: cheerleading, homecomings, drill team...you name it, I think I learned the most from track. It was a great experience. And even though I was just an average sprinter, I'm glad I did it.

A New Time of Life

Baby girl is graduating, and it's all about me. Isn't that terrible? Actually, I am so happy for her and proud of her, but I'm realizing it's the end of an era.

Em was the easiest child to parent. No lie. The things that worried me about her were not in her control: her learning disability, her "too sweet" nature that others tended to take advantage of... those were the things I worried about. But never the typical teenager things: the sassiness, talking back, rebellion. I waited, but it never came. her kind heartedness or her willingness to help others...the big things. And it seems those big things are carrying her into adulthood. She wants to serve others and I couldn't be prouder. Her ideas for career choice are in that realm.

As for me, I'm wondering what my testosterone-filled house will be like without her here to help balance things out. I'm wondering who will help me make cookie dough and hide it in the freezer so none of the boys can find it. And I'm wondering who will show me those funny video clips she has a knack of finding.

But, that's how it goes. My relationship with Em will move more into friendship, and I look forward to that. I also look forward to watching her discover the world. There's a lot out there for a girl like her.