TMBG Saturday

Today was the end of the Divine Conference, although a lot of the folks visiting from out of town will be with us tomorrow.  Maddie had a practice scheduled with Team Edge at noon, and I was there reading a bit and doing some work on this blog and towards our upcoming Narnia series.  All this while watching Maddie from time to time, although she was practicing with her bo staff gang in the next room over.  She's developed a bit of a camaraderie with some of the fellow staff wielders, and sometimes they like to talk and catch up, but they're a cohesive unit and they know when to get busy practicing.  One of the books I've been reading is for fun, "The Campfire Collection" from R.L. Stine, just because we got those hard cover books a few years ago, and I've determined to catch up on things I missed as a kid.  They're harmless spooky stories... or are they?  They're pretty quick and easy reads - you can finish one very quickly, and I think that's part of the fun too.  They're simple seasonal short stories. 

After Team Edge, we were over at the boba tea place, and I got to try a new one with taro in it that I rather liked.  Maddie stuck with her usual flavor, settling in for a favorite that she hasn't had in a couple weeks.  We got home and it was time for a great meal - I was grilling cheeseburgers out there on the back deck for a while, and they came out just right.  Afterwards, we did a few different things at once, including studying for AP World History.  That was Maddie, not me.  I was out there weeding the area around the fire pit and the park bench.  Mom was working on a topiary that should turn out really well.  She's been into the gardening features lately, and yes, she's finished up that garden gnome scarecrow.  You'll see that soon enough, as we get ready to submit that to the Botanical Gardens.  She did a nice job with it, and I'm very curious to see what others have done with this unusual theme.

Tonight we watched the latest episode of "Rings of Power," and we're pretty hooked by this point.  It's a good show.  I'm glad to hear another one of our friends is into it too - we have someone else to talk to about it.  We're enjoying the various storylines thus far, and there's a lot to see.  It's good to be in Middle Earth again, as we've been away for a while.  Maddie is wanting to - "not gonna lie" - see those "Lord of the Rings" movies again now.  That may be the case soon enough.

She was back to working on AP History again, and also watching "A Series of Unfortunate Events" tonight, but I myself had a concert to attend.  Well, at least a virtual one.  My days of going to actual concerts may be gone for a bit, with the family dynamic as it is.  But tonight's online concert was an exclusive invitation for They Might Be Giants Instant Fan Club members like myself, and a long-awaited one, as the pandemic happened, and then a car accident involving one of the band members.  

But finally, the concert was tonight, and it was great.  I've been to three of their concerts before in person, and they're always super fun.

We did manage to read much later on, and we said our prayers after that.  It's been a fairly productive Saturday, and although we didn't go to far, it wasn't so bad a day.  We'll have other things to do soon enough, including a little vacation on the way.