Again with the hops?!

Yep I'm talking about the hops once again, but hey with beauties like these I can't help but show them off!

If you noticed the date stamp on the photos (accurate this time) you'll see that I took these a few weeks ago. I had every intention of posting these at the time they were taken, but life sort of got in the way.

Over the past few months alot has happened:

Our oldest Son has been accepted into the Masters program of Christie's College of Art (Sorry if that's not the correct name or spelling) in New York! I'm sure you've heard of the famous Christie's Auction House! He's scheduled to move to the big apple in August. Of course we're very proud of this, and have no doubt that he'll make it through the program with flying colors!

Our Middle Son's construction business is booming and it looks like he's going to be hiring more employees. Again, very proud parents here! And his Son, our Grandson, is of course still the cutest little guy on earth, just ask Lightnin!

And last but not least our youngest Son is still proudly serving our country and is still currently stationed over in Europe.

This is where I need to add a bit more filler. He and his long time (3+ yrs) sweetheart have sort of parted ways. The funny thing is that he realized that really wasn't the reason that he is wanting to stay on Europe once his call to duty has been fulfilled. He's actually going to try to make a go of it living abroad, while maintaining US citizenship. Not an easy task, and again we're proud of his determination.

To add a bit more intrigue to this whole story: As most of you who bother to read my dribble know I travel to Europe quite a bit, and have tried to let you follow along on my trail whenever I'm able to get connected to the web. We'll we may be taking this a step further. An opportunity presented itself about 3 weeks ago for a temporary position (3yrs), with my present employer, over in Europe.

I decided to throw my hat into the ring and go for it! What have I got to lose? I absolutely love what I'm doing right now, so if I'm not picked I'm really not out anything, but what an experience if I'm lucky enough to be the top candidate and make the move! Not to mention the potential for further upward movement in the organization.

Of course nothing's really that simple. Lightnin has a booming career going too, and the loss of her salary would be a significant hit to our bottom line! Not a trivial matter for consideration. There's also the reality that we'd be moving so far from all of our family and friends, well we would be closer to one of our Sons.

On top of all this it's currently the end of our fiscal year, and of course work is at it's peak as everyone is frantically trying to spend what is left of their departmental budgets before the end date. Oh, did I mention that it's also evaluation (ratings and rankings) time for myself and all of the folks that work for me! So, as you can guess I've had a bit on my schedule, and on my mind!

I have my first interview for the position on Monday morning. Wish me luck, I think!