August

It seems like just yesterday that I posted, but when I opened my blog this evening I realized that nearly a month has passed since my last entry. August seems to have just blown past me. I guess because I've been working a fair amount of hours and school started back a couple of weeks ago, which of course means that Kate is teaching again and between her teaching, my working, the kids activities and trying to have a life I just let my blog kind of drift away from me. Sorry folks. I can't honestly say that I'll do better, but I will try to post with a bit more frequency.

After the Gaul Family Reunion things started to settle back down here in Atlanta as we prepared for the new school year. We did manage a brief visit to Nashville and had a really good time. What a fun city! We went to the Grand Ole Opry, President Jackson's home, the Opry Hotel and just walked a bit on market street. The kids both got cowboy hats (a must in Nashville) and Kate seemed to enjoy herself for the most part. There were a couple of tense moments. I think when you try to pack so much into a couple of days it is inevitable that you will find some tension rising to the surface. For me, it was the kids being the kids and for Kate is was me being me because the kids were being the kids. Oh well, we did manage to sort it all out with a family conference and got back in one piece.

I've been really struggling with the situation in Iraq and I'm so angry with things that I just don't know what to say anymore. I think I'm mostly angry with myself for voting for that jerk in the last election and for believing that he really did know what he was doing when he sent our kids to die in the Middle East. I can't help but believe there are a lot of folks just like me wondering how we could have been so wrong. I noted that the conversation at the recent family reunion was quite different than it was three years ago. We are a mixed bag when it comes to politics with Liberals, Conservatives and some Independents. But the Conservative element that was fairly vocal three years ago seemed pretty subdued this time around. With the possible exception of one or two retired military chaps joining us as Father Joe's guests the Conservatives were all of the same mind; i.e.: the guy in the White House today is not the guy we thought we were electing in 2004. I haven't made my mind about the next election, but I'm going to be significantly more open minded than I have been in the past. We need a change in direction and I'm looking for that change agent, but haven't found him/her as yet. I suppose we still have some time left for a real leader to emerge and I'm praying that one does filter to the top. We got far too many issues not to get it right next time around.

Anyway, enjoy what's left of your Saturday evening and a few snaps from the Nashville Trip.