At nearly the last minute, my senior son, Graeme, arranged to take a friend, Elizabeth, to prom. This left me with the unanticipated task of finding a corsage. I looked at one floral shop, picked up something that looked pretty old ladyish, and took it to the counter to ask: Is this all you have for corsages?

Is it for prom? the florist asked. Yes.

“All the girls want wrist corsages now. They’re over there — starting at $39.99.” Seriously?

I love Elizabeth. Been knowing her since she was a kindergartner. But, she’s a sensible girl, and couldn’t possibly want one of those ugly (to me) and expensive wrist corsages. So, on the spot, with about 5 hours until the prom, I decided I’d make one myself. Maybe even out of fabric.

Elizabeth and I have been working on a purse together. There’s a pile of fabric that she chose on my sewing table. With Pinterest, Youtube, and craft bloggers out there, I can do this!

After I browsed the internet a little, I decided that the flowers in my yard would make a nice wrist corsage. I gathered the bits of ribbon I had on hand. I took a basket into the yard and picked azaleas of various sizes, and some hawthorn. I improvised a bow and started arranging flowers. The crisis came when I considered what kind of glue to use to hold it together. In the end, I used craft glue. I also sewed a few of the blooms in place. It was ready with an hour or so to spare so I put it in the fridge.

The next day when I asked my son whether Elizabeth was embarrassed because she had a homemade wrist corsage. No, all the girls are into that kind of stuff now. Yes!

Here they are together.

Here’s Graeme, being all formal.

Here’s Zaliyah, another friend who came over for photos.

Here are all three.

Graeme with Richard and me.

Lisa Nichols with her daughter, Elizabeth, and her son, Ryan. (Not picture are the two Yuans. Senior was working and Junior was running track.)

And because I just couldn’t resist, here’s a photograph of Graeme and Elizabeth on the day they finished fifth grade. They are pictured with Liz Sharlot, a spokesperson for the MS state department of health.

I love the way photographs become part of us. They shape our memories and become a lens through which we see the present and the future. Here’s a photograph my mother took of me with Francene Young in May 1981 on the day we graduated from the ninth grade. Now, Franny lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She’s engaged to be married, and came home to shop for dresses with her Mom and sister. I joined them.

I spent most of my time shooting video and stills — most of which won’t see the light of day for a very long time because Mark is not allowed to see. I wish there was a way to block one person from seeing a video or photo. At one point, the consultant took a picture of the two of us. Franny leaned down and in.

Then, we decided to reverse our longtime height imbalance. I hopped on a chair.

I spent Friday at the Science Olympiad on USM’s campus with the Chastain Middle School team. Once again, our team members had a great time, shuttling between events, enjoying fascinating displays, playing soccer on the grounds, and visiting Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and the gameroom.

My third son became the second in the family to participate in the “tower” event. The big question was whether this original design would hold all the sand.

The sand went in at a steady pace.

Perspiration.

more sand!

Congrats! and Phew!
M.E., enjoying the static ball.

A cool part of the electronics display.

Julie and M.E. keep a fan blowing by keeping the electricity flowing by touching.

S., back from her first event, talking with J., who came along with her mom, Sherrye Biglow, the Chastain Science Olympiad Coach.

C. telling her Dad, Raymond, about the terrific job her team did in the Experimental Design event. Congrats to C., M.E., and R., for their third place medal.

Last minute adjustments to the bottle rocket. C. and A. made a good showing, especially with their spare rocket!

More duct tape.

S. having some downtime after two back-to-back events with J. Congrats to S. and J. for their third place medal in Rocks and Minerals.

C. and A. getting ready for launch.

T., S., and J. watching the bottle rocket competition.

The spare rocket outperformed the pretty one.

A bunch of the boys played soccer for a hour in the afternoon. Then, D had a round with J.

The day is done.

Julie took this of me with her phone. I was knitting the time away in the holding room.

I traveled with Chastain Middle School’s Science Quiz Bowl Team to Columbus, Mississippi, for a competition. My youngest son was the captain of the Chastain “A” team.

Our family has had at least one child in this competition for the last four years. I was proud of both of Chastain’s teams. The “A” team was undefeated through 8 rounds, and lost to Tupelo in the semi-finals. One of the big wins was against cross-town rival St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. The “B” team, with three of the four members complete novices, didn’t win any matches, but they came awfully close, and we anticipate good things for them next year.

Thank you, David Blount, for this picture of the “B” team.

I appreciate the work Mrs. Roberta Hagler has put into preparing science quiz bowl teams across the years. This year, Mrs. T. McKenzie helped out, and accompanied the team to Columbus. Thank you.

We had a huge milestone around here last week. D, our youngest, turned 13. So, a house full of teenagers! Here he is with his snickerdoodle cake, the first one I’ve made in a long time. (N typically bakes the cakes around here; I don’t know what happened to him.)

The next day, all three boys started school. D headed off for his first day as BMOC at CMS. He is very glad to be the only boy in the car in the a.m., and I am enjoying having him be the only one up with us in the early, early shift.

Here’s N, preparing for his first day of High School. His first school day without a uniform since second grade.

And, now for the most experienced of our school goers: G. Getting ready for his junior year. He’s looking forward to a very challenging schedule.

As for me, I’m enjoying having the house to myself. I have been filling my days with shopping for school supplies, meeting plumbers, tree cutters, etc., and, generally trying to clear the mountains of paperwork that accumulate around here during vacations. Here’s to fall!