11-27-09

Swamp, party, boudin, helium balloons

11-26-09

Thanksgiving day with 40 relatives eating around five tables in
Grandma's dining and living rooms. The smells of oyster dressing, the
sounds of football and laughter, the sights of children playing in the
yard all took me back to my youth. This is a photo of shrimp boats in
the canal behind Grandma's house. Tomorrow, a fait do do in Grandma's
honor at the community center.

11-25-09

Worked in the morning then traveled all day to get to Grandma's house
down in south Louisiana. Greeted by a house full of relatives, we had
seafood and sausage gumbo for dinner.

11-24-09

Grandma.

We leave in the morning for a family reunion in south Louisiana. Tonight I put together a photo album/guest book for the party we are having to celebrate my grandmother's 88th birthday (it was in September). Oh, I can't wait. Today Aza came home so the three of us are flying together. Look for some awesome photo updates!

11-23-09

I worked today, had a productive meeting and some conversations. Tomorrow it's back in the classroom after a too-long-break. This evening I set my white balance to shade and took these pictures when it was nearly dark out. The top one is grainy, but I like the look. It's a glass flower I bought at an arts and crafts fair this summer. Below is our fig tree ready for cold weather.

This is a true rendering of the color of the studio. Look how well it goes with the cork floor and with the two pub signs we have for the room. We finished painting this color today, and now need to choose a complimentary color for the panels showing on the second story. We'd like a lighter color that matches.

11-22-09 afternoon

Before and after painting with the selection we decided on. (It was the paint on the wall in the lower right hand corner.) The picture isn't the exact color, but it's close. A warm brown. We love it.

11-22-09 morning

Dan went to Lowes and picked up four more samples of brown paint for the studio. Which one to choose? We deliberated all morning then made our decision.

11-21-09

We had breakfast at The Tavern with our dear friends this morning. Jes introduced "Red" and "Purple" to each other while she was in college, and they got married six months later! "Purple" and "Orange" and I have been friends for over 20 years, raising our children together who were all about the same age.

We visited with more friends for lunch, and more friends for afternoon tea- then headed home to Kentucky. I got silly and tried to capture a photo of the amazing cresent moon setting in the west, but got a piece of artwork instead. Got home around 10- made good time.

11-20-09 part 3

Dan picked me up around 2ish and we went for a walk along our beloved
river. Aza called while we were there saying she and T were driving
through town. We met them for tea/coffee and I should have taken a
picture! We are visiting some friends in the morning then heading back
to Old Kentucky.

11-20-09 part 2

Took the trolly from the hospital downtown and ate lunch at my
favorite pizza place ever. From there walked to my old school and the
teachers I knew were out on a field trip. Walked from there to MJ
hospital for my last appointment of the day.

11-20-09 part 1

Woke at 6:15 for my day of exams. Watched the sunrise over
Monticello. It all went OK except for the way my neck was positioned
in the 45 minute MRI. Still hurts. Managed to slather my hands in
numbing Emla cream an hour before the IV poke. No results yet but I
think someone would have called my oncologist if something was awry.
No worries whatsoever.

11-19-09

After working all morning on 1)student evaluations, 2)the NSF grant
proposal, 3)reviewing applications for our faculty opening and 4)
meeting with the STEM Ed team, we headed east toward Virginia over the
rainy foggy misty mountains. I got a kick out of this scene below.
Settled in for the night with our friends.

11-18-09

Which color? Thanks to Sherwin Williams I was able to virtually paint all sorts of colors on the wall. We have our favorite picked out. What's yours?

Leaving tomorrow for C'ville to get my annual cancer screening Friday. Coming up on 5 years as a survivor! Oh but I hate the IV and the needles. Yuck. An entire day of poking and prodding... I'm looking forward to getting it over with then coming home to paint the studio!

11-17-09

Does this remind you of anything? Perhaps this day?
This evening went like this...

7:00pm
Dan: When should we lay the cork flooring?
Chrissy: Half before this weekened and the other half after before Thanksgiving.
Dan: That will never work. {{Sigh}}
Chrissy: Maybe we should do it all at once.
Dan: Good idea. Let's start tonight.
...Lug...Haul...Heave...Ho...
Dan: Well, now that it's empty perhaps we should paint after all.
Chrissy: Good idea. What color????????
10:00 pm

11-16-09

It's getting dark so early, by the time I get home it's scary dark out. These two pictures were taken on my walk home today. The first is the College of Design, which houses the School of Architecture (hint hint, LS). A lovely building with chandeliers inside!

As I got closer to home I could see the traffic piling up, and I loved the silouette of the tree against the setting sun and beautiful clouds. So nice to walk and not be sitting in a car in traffic.

11-14-09

There is a story behind this cake. A co-worker's husband made it and brought it over for dinner this evening. Needless to say we couldn't finish it. Probably because it was 3 feet tall, none of us were name Carol, and even though I feel 65 some days, I'm not. Yet. We had a nice dinner though, and plenty of dessert!

PS We ate home-grown sprouts in our salad. Yumm!

11-14-09: day 6 sprouts

Sprouts look ready to munch on. We'll see how they taste in a salad at dinnertime!

11-13-09

Friday the 13th. Writing group meeting minus one math educator at my house for breakfast and discussion about research articles. I set the camera on the kitchen table and set the timer. Oh, what a day. A visit to a middle school, a meeting with a student, leftovers for dinner then a great movie, "Atonement."

11-12-09

This is where I had breakfast today- at the President's house. Very very nice. Walked there in the morning with Dan, who then carried my sneakers back home. He's so sweet.

Step down for lunch. Hmmmm.... not so nice. Got a migraine afterwards. The apple smelled like Expo Marker. Maybe it was the grape jelly? I dunno... but Dan had to pick me up 'cause I was in too much pain to even take the bus, and came home and went to bed for a few hours. He's so sweet.
Reviewed apps for the math ed position and watched Grays' Anatomy. Rough ending to a good morning.

11-11-09 day 3: little roots

Hey, why does this picture of my sprout-growing system look so much better today??? hu???


Because I got my camera back!
It's like my right arm has re-grown.
It works great.

See me in the reflection of the glass as I take a cool picture of Frisbee at the front door?
So glad to have my camera back. That was quick.

Today I had a couple students over for tea after school. Also got some stuff lined up and some stuff written and some stuff read. Tomorrow I'm having breakfast with the President of the University! Seriously. I was one of a few dozen invited to his home for breakfast and conversation. I hope to get a minute with him at least. I'll see what I can do about sneaking a real photo....

11-10-09 day 2: the draining

Drained water and washed seeds.

Attended faculty meeting today after walking to Chevy Chase for lunch
with friend at French cafe. Wrote a summer grant proposal today.
Productive.

11-9-09 Day 1: the soak

Growing sprouts in my French Press. The first batch was sooo gooood
that it's gonna be a regular happening around here. Took about 4 days,
got a whole French Press full of delicious alfalfa. Did I ever mention
I used to be a sprout farmer? Yep. Ran a sprout operation on Opelika
Road. Dayspring Sprouts. Alfalfa, mung, garbanzo, radish, lentil....
So I'm gonna grow my own again. Nothing like the taste of fresh sprouts.

11-8-09

This is our fig tree all wrapped up in burlap ready to be surrounded by raked leaves, bedded down for the winter. Check back in 2010 to see if the fig tree made it through!
I wrote today until 3pm when Dan convinced me to go on a hike. We headed down to Raven's Run and found that the trails were closing at 4:30pm. So we went on a 45 minute hike. Once again, iPhone camera-quality photos.
This is the Kentucky River, I think. Pretty sure. Had leftover gumbo for dinner. Mmmmm.....