Awesome Happens

I took this photo at about 3:54pm.  About two minutes later a cloud passed in front of the sun and the light disappeared.  That's awesome.  I ran this photo through a different filter and put it here.  I also cropped it a little different.  This one does not show the light as much as the other.  It DOES, however, show the grain of the woods.  I was partial to both and would be interested in your opinion, while keeping in mind the adage that my dad always quotes, "opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and yours stinks."  Still, I'm interested!  Grain or light?

I was quick with this photo.  Not so quick with a photo of Gypsy that never happened, though it totally should have!  I had brought my towel to the living room after a bath when Gypsy flopped down in front of me and lay on her back, doing a good impression of a Pooh Bear scratching her back.  I took the towel and spread it over her.  She lay there and let me do it.  It came up to her chin and looked very much like she was sleeping under some sheets.  I reached for the camera, but- no card.  Crap.  By the time I recovered a card, she had moved.  Oh, well, Gypsy has the added bonus of being cute often.

As for some awesomeness I don't deserve, it happened this afternoon.  I taught music for a few days in a row while the kids practiced singing the hymns for each of the services to be sung at an Assembly for Veterans' Day.  I also taught them a little about each branch of the service.  I drew some pictures for a teacher a few weeks ago for a certificate of appreciation to be given out at the Veterans' Day assembly.  Last week another teacher asked me for one paragraph descriptions of the armed services.  I typed up some that I hoped would be considered appropriate.  These teachers were working on the same project and all thanked me profusely.  They invited me to show up and watch the assembly if I did not have a job.  I did, but, as luck would have it, I managed to get to town in time to stop in at the assembly.

It was great to see the kids that I had helped practice singing songs actually sing the songs.  It was touching to hear my name mentioned in reference to the drawings.  It was awesome to stand and sing the Star Spangled Banner with the rest of the elementary, and it was good to pay respect to local veterans who had shown up for their own students.  What was totally unexpected, and heartily touching was when a woman stopped me on the way out and thanked me for the drawings.  Given that I give out a lot of drawings all the time, it could have been for one of those, but the timing seemed off.  If it was for the drawings I did for the Veterans' Day certificate, well, I don't know that I deserved the thanks.  Especially, since I think she was the one who was standing in for an uncle who has cancer and was in the Army.  I should have thanked her for coming in for him.

It's a little early, but, I'd like to thank all the veterans who served this great nation.  Thank you.  You are awesome.