August: the other part

The beginning of October is a good time to recap August, wouldn't you say?

The Hawaii trip was in the middle of the month, so the beginning of August was spent mainly spent wrapping up my summer classes and preparing the house for our trip - including donating enough stuff to fill a huge cart at Goodwill. My good friend, Jason, was also in town with his family, so we met up for lunch at the Sultan's Kitchen. The Turkish food is still great; his girls especially loved the puddings. Finally, Nikita learned how to knit! He's been bugging me to teach him for years, and I've duly complied, but this is the first time the instructions stuck.

We got back from Hawaii in time for Hurrican Irene. Between jet-lag and a disbelief in the hype, I did a half-hearted job of preparing the house for the hurricane: I didn't tape up the windows, but did set aside extra water and clean up the yard. As it was, we actually slept through the worst part, and our house got through the hurricane unscathed.

Otherwise, the end of the month was just as relaxing as the time spent in Hawaii. I completed the Lotus Blossum Tank while the rest of the family finished the "Liquidation" miniseries. I also started preparing for the new semester: meetings with other instructors, last-minute supplies for the boys. Although school hadn't started, I thought now was the time to begin the boys' movie education with the British Film Institute's list of 50 films for children under 14. The list is so far a hit: they loved Disney's "Snow White."