My mouth is on fire! I put together a Mexican casserole for dinner and made the mistake of using Steve's hot picante sauce in it instead of my mild sauce. Steve is loving it - not me! I don't care for spicy hot things. So, he is welcome to all of the leftovers. Guess that is good since I leave for Greenville in the morning. He can eat it to his heart's content!

Finally got caught up on email and grading after a long weekend in Branson, MO. The 9 hour drive over on Friday was kind of fun since we took the scenic route, but coming home on Monday I was so tired I kept nodding off and then waking up motion sick - happens if I close my eyes in a car. All I wanted was to crawl into my own bed and end the day! But, we did have fun in Branson. Steve hadn't been there in over 20 years so it had changed dramatically. He remembered Silver Dollar City as a place where local artisans set up and worked on their crafts so you could watch them. There were a few of those but mostly food concessions and touristy shops with the same stuff in each. He did not convince me to go on the water ride! We did go in a weird house where the floors were slanted - felt kind of like my vertigo! We saw the Presley Family show - no relation to Elvis. Four generations of the family on stage. Very musically talented family. Also saw Jim Stafford who was quite funny. His two kids were in the show and the boy was so tired he was yawning while playing the piano. Everything is Branson is very G rated - the perfect place to take your kids on vacation. Lots of Go-Kart places and put-put golf, etc. The evening shows are all G rated too. Lots of elderly there as well.

I received several Richard C. Owen Publishers author autobiographies and sat down to read them right away, diving into George Ancona: Self Portrait because I so enjoyed the short conversation I had with him years ago, as well as his books. This autobiography is so cool as many of the pictures he took of himself using a mirror. The process Ancona uses to design his books is very interesting. Great book! Also enjoyed Jim Arnosky: Whole Days Outdoors as he reminded me of a kid in a man's body - the need to be outside as much as he can. He writes or draws for short periods of time and then goes outside. I have a much deeper appreciation for his books after reading this autobiography. The Owen series of author autobiographies should be in every elementary school library. One of my favorites is an older one in the series, Lee Bennett Hopkins: The Writing Bug. I would share it with the students after reading some of his poetry. They loved the photographs - made him real to the kids.

All for today. Need to get my stuff together so I can head out of here first thing in the morning.