Subject: Weekend Update: April 1-2

This weekend had all of us running in different directions.  Andrew
had another quiz meet at the church and tied for fourth place and made
the district team, so he has to continue to study for a few more
weeks.  Emily went off to some band competition that she found lacking
in excitement.  Jessica performed some National Honor Society hours at
a rabies clinic, held at the local VFW.  Joy and Mandy went shopping
for a few college necessities.

I stayed home and worked on a Sunday School lesson and then went out
to burn tree trash with my neighbor.  Yes, good neighbor that I am, I
offered to burn my tree litter on my next-door neighbor's burn pile so
that we only needed one fire instead of two, (and one permit instead
of two).  Nothing bonds neighbors together like a good bonfire.  We
had a 15-foot fire going and an ash heap that was a good 18-inches
high after the fire had done its job on both our piles and piles of
sticks and things; a couple of things that were once tree wood found
their way to the burn pile, too.  (We can't burn leaves, which is okay
since I now have a leaf composting system that is starting to work
well for us.)  (Hey Brice and Donna, I also ensured that your tractor
was working properly this past weekend.  Everything is A-ok with it.
Ever think of a bagger attachment, though?  ;-) )

We washed up later in the afternoon and headed to church Saturday
evening for a Missions service, followed by an ice cream social
afterward.  Jessica had taken some of the younger female teenagers in
our church youth group to the mall on Friday night to scurry around
from store to store.  They all had a great time.  However, Jessica
paid for her kindess when the girls invited her up to the platform at
church on Saturday night to join them in their special song.  Tee hee!
Tee hee!  The Missionary told about beetles that get into your ear and 
munch away - really disgusting stuff.  You'd think the Pastor might
have posted a movie rating on the material beforehand.  Yes, he told
about other interesting stuff, but this one really caught my ear.

Miranda did her teaching pre-practicum in the Pepperell Varnum Brook
Elementary School and came away with all Excellent recommendations in
every category of the practicum.  We took Miranda back to college on
Sunday afternoon.  I fully enjoyed having all of us home for the week.

Miranda did get to paint some more on her wall mural in the barn.  I
really like what she did with "March", adding a house, fence and trees
around the barn she already painted.  The first of three murals is
three-quarters complete now, with February yet to be put in place with
a few other details she wants to add.

Daylight Savings Time hit harder on the second day than it did the
first because trying to get out of bed this morning was the hardest
chore of the whole weekend.  Spring seems to have moved ahead more
than an hour in New England.  By the looks of the buds on the trees,
at the present rate, we should have our leaves out two or three weeks
earlier than last year.  I'm certainly not complaining!

Mark
____                             ,      Cadence Design Systems, Inc   ____
|DD|____    Mark Metcalfe        \_0__, 270 Billerica Road MA04   ____|dd|
|_ |___|__/ metcalfe@cadence.com   M    Chelmsford, MA 01824   \__|___| _|
(o_o_o_o)-\ (978) 446-6451        .|\.  Fax (978) 262-6363     /-(o_o_o_o)