Yes...

...he's still wearing glasses.

A Learning Experience

This week our long quest to find an affordable 4-horse trailer finally ended. We came upon a very nice older trailer and bought it within our budget, but since it was such a good deal, it needed a new floor. So while I was out west this week at my second home :), a bunch of the Connells pitched in and installed a new floor. It was a learning experience for me but I enjoyed it!

Lee Wonch installed most of the floor with Mardel's help.

When the power tools failed, Casey went back to the old fashioned way.

Cecilia Wonch was convinced she was well-qualified as project manager.

Mardel was there from start to finish, doing anything and everything that needed to be done.

Thanks everybody for your help!

Author's Day

On Thursday I had a really enjoyable time talking to 120 1st-8th graders about being an author. I spoke in four different classes with two grades in each. The kids were very inquisitive and welcoming!

The 3rd and 4th grade class took notes the entire time I spoke, and then they all asked for an autograph on their notebooks.


I could hardly keep up with the 1st and 2nd graders input!



Holding up a penny, I asked the kids, "What could you buy for a penny?" They had a few ideas. When I held up a nickel, dime, then $1, $5 and $20, their eyes grew wide and there was no end to their suggestions. I asked how much their parents thought they--the children--were worth, and some said "a whole quarter," some said, "no, a dollar!" Eventually we decided they would pay a million or a trillion dollars for them. When I talked about my book, A Penny Parcel, and told them the orphans were thought to be worth only a penny, the kids listened with surprise.



Thanks, students and teachers of Clinton Christian!


And a side note for everyone else: if anyone knows of a school or works in a school that would like to host an author's day, I'd be happy to come. You can e-mail averyhitch@live.com.

"What sets a Christian apart from the world is not that they don't have problems, or even that they have all the answers, but that they know where to find the answer to every problem." -anonymous

Especially for Lacey

Guy dressed up in a scary Statue of Liberty costume.



The real Statue of Liberty from across the bay...on the right is a crane and behind is a bridge just so you can get an idea of its enormous size.



I didn't exactly wear walking shoes, and halfway through our excursion I started getting blisters. So while on the subway, Havilah graciously agreed to switch shoes with me (she had nice tennis shoes), so we scrambled to change before the subway stopped!

Especially for Mardel

NYC parking...I have no idea how they get the cars down!

Levi's on Times Square.

A Splash of Color

Having spent all day in New York City yesterday, I came home with almost 300 pictures. I've had fun editing some of them today. Here are a few of the originals, followed by the edits.

This one especially looked like a junk photo. It was really crowded and a woman's head was right in the way of the balloons. Then I got extreme on the editing...


...what do you think?