I posted about this earlier this Summer but Emily was awarded the Paul Morris Character Educator of the Year for the state of WV. She was formally presented the award yesterday and we attended a recognition dinner last night. There are some links here and here that talk about her and the award. I know she hates the pictures and all of the attention but she is a great counselor and a great wife and I am super proud of her!
A while back we took a visit to the WV Capitol grounds and were able to tour and take pictures of the area (and play a little soccer on the grounds). The Capitol building is imposing at 535,000 square feet but sits upon a magnificient grounds of proportional size. The exterior is made of Indiana limestone and the majority of the interior is marble. What we all noticed is how beautiful the golden dome is. It turns out to be covered in 3 inch squares of gold leaf over copper and lead.
It’s amazing! In its current form and location, the capitol was built between 1924 and 1932 at a cost of $10 million. Inside, there are numerous offices but also several displays taken from the exhibits in the nearby WV Cultural Center. We saw displays on shoes and walking sticks (much more interesting than it sounds) and talked to the folks stuck working on a Saturday when we visited. It’s really an interesting place to walk through, especially on weekends when it is not busy. We saw tons of beautiful bits of artwork formed into the building as well as incredible craftsmanship around the rotunda area.
Some folks say it is overdone and wasteful but I think it beautifully illustrates that good government should be beautiful and strong, neither extravagant nor cut to the bone. Meh, I won’t get all political here, but I think the Capitol building is a beautiful symbol of WV!
Cicadas go through life cycles where they appear in adult form every 2 to 17 years. Most of their lives they live underground and are harmlessly out of the way. As I understand it, this year was the time for the 17-year-between-adults type to hatch in WV. Sure enough, we have had a bunch of them. The big hatch where they molt and leave their dried, older shells everywhere occurred earlier this year. I am not sure how long the adults remain, laying their eggs and such, but they are still active in great number. Cicadas are harmless, except I think they can make a person deaf if proper hearing protection is not worn. We had one land on our kitchen door the other night while Emily and I were doing something. It started its “song” and nearly drove us from the room. I went around outside and was able to record the racket it was making for your listening pleasure.
I don’t think this recording does the volume justice, but it goes on constantly in the evenings. Really, they are fun to watch bumble through the air. They are harmless, crazy, prehistoric-looking bugs that the kids are almost brave enough to try and catch. I always enjoy hearing them is some ways as it is a definite sound of summer!
[audio:https://myhomeamongthehills.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/cicada-on-the-kitchen-door-2.mp3]
There is a small town nearby called Clendenin. Whenever it makes the news or whenever we drive by and see a sign of any sort, we say “Clendenin, Clendenin, Clendenin, Clendenin” without moving our lips. To be said properly, you must also say it slowly in a monotone sort-of-southern voice. It’s almost a mental illness with us but we always do it. Right after college I worked as a laborer with a fella from Clendenin (did you say it correctly?) and he always talked about where he lived (can you guess where?) He was fairly country and spoke little except when speaking about Clendenin. I’ll never forget how he pronounced it and the fact that he started this madness that Emily and I suffer with now! I suppose every couple has some sort of goofy stuff like this that they do (I hope so or else we are just crazy) that seems to make the kids look at you and wonder if they will ever be normal. Sorry to say it kids, you have no chance!
What a busy Labor Day! We did more labor than normal this labor day but had a lot of fun too. Emily was in the Charleston Regatta parade as usual. Her school, Piedmont Elementary always enters a float to highlight the great things going on there. Piedmont is an inner-city school with a very diverse population.
They were recently selected to be a NASA Explorer school. NASA promotes science and math in diverse schools by providing resources and curricula (and all sorts of other stuff too). It’s a pretty neat program and has helped Piedmont extablish a science magnet program within the school. Anyhow, someone at the school came upon a space shuttle which was incorporated into the float for this year.
Emily and the other teachers had a choreographed march they did in the parade. We had front row seats so we got to holler for her as she passed. After the parade, we went to the carnival on the river and the kids rode a few rides.
It was pretty hot so we didn’t stay long. Isaac loved the long slides but Abigail was a little more subdued on the carousel. We had a great time sending off this summer!
Brad Rice from WCHS TV interviewed us for the Traveling West Virginia series. He was pretty brave donning a bee suit and gloves. Running the camera had to be an experience with the heavy leather gloves but he was able to get some great video to do his story. We talked for about 2 hours about all sorts of bee-related topics and he produced this most excellent story about our meeting. Within 5 minutes of the story’s first airing, I had 3 phone calls from people who wanted to buy honey! My kids were SO excited to have Brad come and do the story and their biggest concern was whether they would be on t.v. He was very gracious and assured them that they would have their chance at fame!
We got some tickets from friends of Emily’s folks to go to the WV Power game last night. We’d had a long day working in the garden so it was a nice chance to relax and just play a little. Emily’s folks came and bought the kids some food at the park and entertained Abigail during the game.
We sat on the third base line and had a great view of the park. I think we are pretty fortunate to have such a nice facility in Charleston. There were lots of nice folks in attendance (and one loud, obnoxious one on the first base line). Unfortunately the Power lost to the Delmarva Shorebirds. Isaac got quite a kick out of the name, Shorebirds. It was a lot of fun!
Emily was nominated for the Paul Morris Character Educator of the Year by her principal this year and she won the award! I read the nomination letter and it was absolutely beautiful. She loves working with the kids at Piedmont and I know she deserves this state-wide award. Congratulations Emily – I am very proud!
By the way, don’t tell her this picture is on here. I made her stand by the sign for the picture. She was so humble!
A few days ago I noticed this awesome sternwheeler docked at the levee. The Cincinnati Belle spent 2 days docked at Haddad Riverfront park (the official name for the levee) and provided lunch and excursion trips (see the Gazette article). I didn’t realize it was going to be here until it was too late for us to participate but it surely looked good on the water. I hope they continue to dock here from time to time. I would love to take the kids on a trip!
I love driving home from work in the summer seeing all of the boats floating nearby waiting for Live on the Levee. The levee is a fantastic part of the city and part of what makes the downtown so neat. Maybe I need to get a boat!
Last night we went to a WV Power baseball game. The kids were excited to go, but I think it was mainly because we said they could get a pop while there. Anyhow, the game started at 7:05 – the Power vs. the Columbus (SC) Catfish. We arrived a few minutes early and the pleading for drinks began. We squelched that issue pretty quickly by buying $12 worth of drinks. The postal service was promoting their new stamp commorating the 100th anniversary of the song, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. It looks like a pretty cool stamp, as stamps go. 
Anyhow, it was an absolutely perfect night for baseball and the Power did not disappoint, winning with a final score of 14-4. Now, to be honest, we are not a baseball family. We don’t play, we don’t watch, we just don’t care about it. In spite of that, the set-up at Appalachian Power Park is first-rate and we had a lot of fun just being around the fans and the event.
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