Softball Tourny

So, last Saturday was our softball tournament. It actually started with a game on Thursday and we won. We had a game at 12:00 on Saturday and won that game and then played at 3:45 and won that one as well - which means - we won it all!!! It was a pretty hot and sunny day, but it was a lot of fun. I played 3rd base and was the lead-off hitter. I think most everyone was cheering for us and against the Church of the Brethren team - sorry Nate.


















Softball Studs - can you guess which one was posing?
















Another stud giving a mighty micah swing. watch and learn Lincoln.
















Stud?















Josh with his mad back-up skills - I'm glad he didn't get too many balls.


Softball













Yep, we won!! We are all super-excited to be able to be done with it and go home for some rest and coolness. Rich and Marj caught the end of the championship game - they had travelled up from Alabama to see Lincoln.

Good Times!!

We went and picked some blackberries before the first game of the softball tournament on Thursday two weeks ago - they made yummy smoothies and cake (recipe from Barbara Cline)

So, we went and gave blood... It was Nate's first time - this is what he looks like after he gives blood - scary huh? We both very nearly didn't make it. I was feeling a little woozy about half-way through and when Dan Horning came in he said we were both looking a little white. So, afterwards we redboxed Madagascar 2 and went over to Micah's to hang out with the Krista's family and watch the movie - we played a little ping pong first.

A closer look into our living space

If you're careful you can sneak up on us...




















So, this is our bookshelf (Morrocco themed), the top shelf holds my books and the second holds Nate's books - come and read!





















This is the view of the house as you walk in the door. Quite exciting I must say.
















If you were standing on the end table, you might see this - a clock (I think stolen from Mom and Dad) and two pictures - a postcard from Thailand and a framed picture of Monk feetwashing from Thailand courtesy of Candice and Tom - thanks! You might also notice the awesome tea-stained lamp courtesy of Anita and the speakers that try to hide behind the couch - courtesy of me!




















This is a view of the windowsill in our kitchen. It holds two hopeful avocado seeds, two ripening avocados, one ripening mango, one pray-for-Barbara Cline plant, and a few dry avocado seeds. The avocado seeds are Nate's project. Any ideas of where to plant a 5 foot tall sugar cane plant?





















And here is the view if you are hiding in the hallway between mine and Nate's rooms - pretty nice huh?

Well, that's a sneak peak - look below for a more substantive tour.

Love, Diech

Settling in

So, once every other month isn't bad eh? I finally got a new memory card for my camera and, viola, I can post pictures again. The card went bad on the last day at the beach last year - pretty bogus. I guess many of you have not seen the house yet, so I'll give the virtual tour. You won't necessarily get all the amazing sounds and smells, but this'll have to do. It's been almost two months since Nate and I moved in here at Pennie Layne. We are enjoying it so far - much of our concentration goes into decreasing the electric and water bill, and not much concentration goes into aesthetic quality. Much of our furniture was donated and the apartment came with fridge, stove, dishwasher, and washer and dryer, so it was nice not to have to worry about that. We've had most of the State-side family over - we have yet to have Martin and Sylvia and kids over. On Saturday Nate was away, but I had Anita and David and Mom and Dad over for supper. Mom and Dad provided bread and mint tea and Anita and David provided lavender cake and berries (raspberries I believe). I fixed pepper chicken and coconut rice along with green beans (w/almonds and parmesan cheese - stole that one from Sylvia :). We also had apple and endive salad and chips and salsa. After Mom washed dishes we had conversation over mango/coconut smoothies.
...and now for the tour...















Okay, so this is the left corner of our living room. You can see the old rocker from the Rhodes homeplace. Big Blue is from Anita and David and the lava lamp (it takes about one and a half Settlers games to warm up sufficiently) is sitting in the far corner. The couch is nice for after work naps and the rocker is fitting for book-reading and/or crocheting.


This is where we spend most of our time - no more explanation needed
































The door is right behind the fridge, so this is what you see when you walk in. Our fridge and toddler unfriendly microwave. My bike is a little more valuable than Nate's, so we keep mine inside. Notice the grease barrel that is used for disposables.















This is the kitchen. pretty self-explanatory. The tea-kettle on the stove was bought at a discounted price because it the "whistle doesn't work." With sufficient water and steam, however, it emits a tone that could be mistaken for an alarm of sorts - the first time I heard it I thought the house was filling with carbon monoxide or something - thankfully my teapot was simply letting me know that it was coffee time.
















This is the right corner of our living room. The couch was Nate's but the lamp behind it came from Anita and David. The table and chairs came from one of the managers at Sharp Shopper - pretty sweet deal if you ask me. It pulls out and the leaf is hidden inside. I spend time on the couch watching baseball games and sometimes "the office" or other hulu shows. Nate and I laugh our heads off at king julian from Madagascar 2 as well - look him up on youtube - hilarious.



Well, that's it for now.
Love, Dietrich