Anniversary, Excellence, and Hoot Owls
Bobby and I had a fantastic 15th anniversary yesterday. We went to Woodberry Kitchen downtown for a much more extravagant meal than we usually spring for. Woodberry sources all of their foods locally; they purchase from local farms that we know and get our own stuff from, including Springfield Farm, where we get all of our meat and dairy.
It was a divine meal. We each had a glass of local wine and started with a flatbread with a mix of Italian cheeses, honey, and fresh basil. We also shared the Boh-battered asparagus. For our mains, Bobby had the Springfield ribeye with au gratin potatoes and spring pea macaroni salad, and I had the Spring Valley spelt noodles. Bobby talked me into sharing a chocolate pudding for dessert.
We spent our evening, sitting outside on the back patio and listening to music. It's been disgustingly hot the past few days, so the cool night breeze felt wonderful. I have a lily that I transplanted and has needed some extra TLC during the hot weather, so when it was time to go in, I was watering it around the roots when Bobby flew into the backyard, really excited and telling me to come out front. We have a big toad that lives in the front garden (his name is Fred), but he was more excited than would be justified even by seeing Fred doing something really cool. However, he called me out to hear the deep and haunting hoots of a great horned owl! Although we had a screech owl that would visit our maple grove last summer (if you've never heard the call of the screech owl, check it out on Cornell Ornithology--it's really spooky!), we've never heard a great horned owl around here before ... or "the GHO" as Bobby has taken to calling it. We walked up the gravel part of the road, hoping to get a look at it, but it stopped calling, so we couldn't locate it. We're hoping to hear it again.
In other news, Bobby and I got our PRAXIS scores in yesterday. Actually, I got my English content scores in on Friday ... well, I got a big envelope from ETS and, opening it up, it had a royal blue folder with the word "EXCELLENCE" on the front in gold. So I guessed that I'd passed the PRAXIS. Actually, my scores were in the top 15% for both the English content and Principles of Learning & Teaching tests, hence the EXCELLENCE folder. I'm wondering if I'll get a second EXCELLENCE folder for the PLT or if they'll cheap out on me and just send the one for English. I got the highest score possible on English, so I guess the PRAXIS people have validated that I know English. Bobby passed both of his tests too, which makes him eligible for an Advanced Professional Certification and a pay raise.
This afternoon, I was in the backyard, setting the table for lunch. There is a rinky-dink airport down in Westminster that people mostly fly in and out of in little biplanes and such (although occasionally we'll see a sleek private jet going over and I'll wonder WTF someone who can afford a private jet is coming to Carroll County for!). There was a little plane flying over, probably on its way to the Westminster airport, since it was flying southwest ... and suddenly the engine stopped! Luckily, it restarted, but that was weird!
This post was originally posted on Dreamwidth and, using my Felagundish Elf magic, crossposted to LiveJournal. You can comment here or there!
http://dawn-felagund.dreamwidth.org/270280.html
It was a divine meal. We each had a glass of local wine and started with a flatbread with a mix of Italian cheeses, honey, and fresh basil. We also shared the Boh-battered asparagus. For our mains, Bobby had the Springfield ribeye with au gratin potatoes and spring pea macaroni salad, and I had the Spring Valley spelt noodles. Bobby talked me into sharing a chocolate pudding for dessert.
We spent our evening, sitting outside on the back patio and listening to music. It's been disgustingly hot the past few days, so the cool night breeze felt wonderful. I have a lily that I transplanted and has needed some extra TLC during the hot weather, so when it was time to go in, I was watering it around the roots when Bobby flew into the backyard, really excited and telling me to come out front. We have a big toad that lives in the front garden (his name is Fred), but he was more excited than would be justified even by seeing Fred doing something really cool. However, he called me out to hear the deep and haunting hoots of a great horned owl! Although we had a screech owl that would visit our maple grove last summer (if you've never heard the call of the screech owl, check it out on Cornell Ornithology--it's really spooky!), we've never heard a great horned owl around here before ... or "the GHO" as Bobby has taken to calling it. We walked up the gravel part of the road, hoping to get a look at it, but it stopped calling, so we couldn't locate it. We're hoping to hear it again.
In other news, Bobby and I got our PRAXIS scores in yesterday. Actually, I got my English content scores in on Friday ... well, I got a big envelope from ETS and, opening it up, it had a royal blue folder with the word "EXCELLENCE" on the front in gold. So I guessed that I'd passed the PRAXIS. Actually, my scores were in the top 15% for both the English content and Principles of Learning & Teaching tests, hence the EXCELLENCE folder. I'm wondering if I'll get a second EXCELLENCE folder for the PLT or if they'll cheap out on me and just send the one for English. I got the highest score possible on English, so I guess the PRAXIS people have validated that I know English. Bobby passed both of his tests too, which makes him eligible for an Advanced Professional Certification and a pay raise.
This afternoon, I was in the backyard, setting the table for lunch. There is a rinky-dink airport down in Westminster that people mostly fly in and out of in little biplanes and such (although occasionally we'll see a sleek private jet going over and I'll wonder WTF someone who can afford a private jet is coming to Carroll County for!). There was a little plane flying over, probably on its way to the Westminster airport, since it was flying southwest ... and suddenly the engine stopped! Luckily, it restarted, but that was weird!
This post was originally posted on Dreamwidth and, using my Felagundish Elf magic, crossposted to LiveJournal. You can comment here or there!
http://dawn-felagund.dreamwidth.org/270280.html