Friday, August 26

Whew! That was a busy week. Unfortunately I think this is what life is going to be like for at least several months. Some of the busyness comes from the normal routine, and having to do meetings and other activities after school. Another part of the busyness comes from special events, such as the preparation for Stephen's ordination. That part of busy will be something to truly celebrate.

The Friday night football report: Jacob's West High Rebels beat crosstown rival Fulton, while my Hardin Valley Hawks lost, sad to say. Jacob reports that his marching band needs to improve before I make a special trip to see them. Nancy and I went to a dinner party on Friday night, otherwise we would have joined Jacob to see his band perform.

Thursday night at HVA we held Parent Open House. All the parents who want to attend come and meet their child's teachers. The night starts with all the parents picking up a copy of their child's schedule, and you can see by the length of the lines that many parents attend. Mostly parents of freshmen and sophomores attend, though I did have several parents of seniors and juniors stop by.

This is a view of the road I drive to work every morning. It is called Interstate I-40W / 75S. W stands for West, S for South. It has two names because there are two major highways that join together for a short stretch of road. This road has four lanes going both directions. I take this road heading West to Hardin Valley while Nancy takes this road heading East (towards downtown Knoxville to go to her school, Dogwood Elementary.

Interstate highways are public highways (not toll roads) that join major cities. Notice a few things: the huge truck to the left (our roads are full of them), our vehicles travel on the right hand side of the road, and the cars and trucks are actually in the lanes which are marked with painted lines. After traveling about five miles on the Interstate highway I turn onto another major highway called the Pellissippi Parkway. Pellissippi is an Native American Indian word. The speed limit along this road is 55 miles per hour, which is the same as on the Interstate. Many cars travel this road in the morning as it leads to several large government offices where thousands of people work. This part of the drive is especially beautiful in the winter because you are able to see the Cumberland Mountains in the background. When it is hot you cannot see them because of the haze in the sky.