Looks like Steve and Sophie's rain dance yesterday on the deck worked! Sophie didn't look too happy about their antics but we did get a nice downpour yesterday afternoon and it is dark and breezy this a.m. and we are "sure" to get rain. I know we will as I dressed in a light dress for work so I will get soaked at some point today. But oh - glorious rain! :-)

My poor hands are so sore. I switched out all my CDs and the "paperwork" into the gorgeous CD carriers Steve gave me, but what a killer on the fingers. I have paper cuts on three of my fingers and my thumb is sore from forcing open the cases to get the back sheets out. I spent the rest of the weekend packing for the move. I packed two golf club bags and a suitcase full of my stuff, but this trip's load isn't much of my clothes. Those will have to go in the next trip. Figured we may as well take advantage of the two bags each and get as much moved for free as we can. Had Steve standing on the scale with the bags to check for weight. I filled those babies as full as I could since I have him there to help carry them! We will rent a small storage unit in Greenville. We leave here on Weds. and fly up to DC since Steve has training for the Court there the following week. We will drive down to NC on Thursday. I have never driven through that part of the country so this should be fun. About a 6 hour drive I think. Then we will explore the Greenville area and hopefully look at some apartments. Then I fly home for a day and 1/2 before heading off to New Orleans for ALA.

Speaking of ALA - we were out to dinner at Bonnie's by the Sea on Friday night and sat next to a young couple from New Orleans. When Steve said I was headed there for a conference in a week or so she said knew it was the ALA conference. We thought that was pretty funny as they both work in the medical field. The city is anxious for us to arrive and for things to go well. We are the first large conference to hit the city since the flooding. They were very upbeat about the renovations so I hope things go well as we are such a big group.

Along with all my packing I did read Linda Sue Park's Archer's Quest, a delightful fantasy romp with a Korean character, as are most of Park's books. Kevin is home alone on an early release day from school and who should materialize in his bedroom but Chu-mong, the prince who founded the Koguryo kingdom in 37 B.C., in what is now known as Korea. Chu-mong is a gifted archer and tries to put an arrow through Kevin's closed window to prove it. So, now not only does Kevin have to deal with his parents' anger over the broken window, he has to help get Archer back to his time before the year of the Tiger ends, in just a matter of hours. The Prince fell through a time warp off the back of the tiger he was riding, so they must find a tiger for him to return home on. The live tiger at the zoo won't work. Archer discovers that when he deftly maneuvers himself into the cage and "talks" to the tiger. Wrong kind of fur - not a Siberian tiger - won't take him home. They discover Chu-mong, who Kevin calls Archer or Archie, was born in the year of the Tiger, and it is a Metal Tiger year in his time. So off they go to try the bronze statue, the mascot at the university where Kevin's parents work. At first nothing happens, but then Kevin remembers the important difference between this year of the Tiger and Chu-mong's and able to help this lengendary figure return to his time. Wonderful humorous fantasy adventure for the upper elementary and MS crowd. There is also a lot of math woven into the story as Kevin figured out the Chinese Zodiac. The boys will enjoy this one. Certainly give this to the math teacher to read! :-)

Darn it - the rain stopped already and I see hints of blue. Oh well, at least a little bit of rain went into the cisterns. It is hurricane season so I am sure we will get more. The West Indians are predicting a back storm season as it got intensely hot earlier than usual. Off to Montessori for the day to swelter in the heat.