2-20-08

Mom's birthday! And a lunar eclipse! Here's my best picture out of like 80something that I took. Jes came over and she and Squirt and I stood outside in the cold watching the moon get eaten up by the Earth's shadow. Dan came outside for a while but he was too cold. Jes was all wrapped up in a sleeping bag, which helped.

2-19-08

It's a pretty day out and I've been working really hard on re-writing Chapter 3. Now that all the Marzipan is gone, I'm going through withdrawals. And feeling chubby! My mom called today because she got my present-- a book I had made for her. She was soooo excited about it. I'll take a picture of it because I had one made for me too.

2-18-08

OK, so like, I ate some marzipan. Well, SOMEBODY ate it. There was 2 pounds on Valentines' morning and now this is all that's left. It's almost gone. Jes must have snuck over here and eaten it, or else Squirt ate it what with his ability to stay up all night and do things we only learn about days later.

2-16-08

We drove to see Aza and she took me to the place where she got her hair done. I said, "Make mine just like hers!" and look- it is! We had dinner at a nice restaurant and Aza had a BLAT-- bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwich. It looked awesome.

2-15-08

Today I went to meet with my advisor about my dissertation chapter 3. I found out that I have a lot of work to do and I'm not happy. So I'm going to just eat marzipan and forget about it for a day or two.

2-14-08

Valentine's Day. I made chili for dinner for my "boys" and Dan gave me 2 pounds of little marzipan candies shaped like fruit. I love them!

2-13-08

Squirt turned 17 today. At 6 feet tall, he's not much of a squirt, but I've been calling him that since he was 2 years old, so it stuck. The girls came over and we all went out to a Japanese steak house for dinner where the cook prepared everything in front of us in flames with lots of flash and bang.

2-10-08

Today Dan and I went for a walk around campus. We also stopped in at Brooks Hall where Jes has some photos on display. She did an ethnographic study of a bowling alley through film.

2-8-08

Uncle Raven I and have been friends with each other and with Murph for 30 years. We went to Murph's funeral today and did a eulogy together. He was a pall bearer. We went out to lunch afterwards with the family and close friends. It was a really really hard thing to do, but our heavy hearts were eased because we had our spouses with us, and RavenHawk's new little baby girl.

2-7-08

2-4-08

Felt better today and made plans for going to Murph's funeral later this week. Took some chicken pictures and framed one of K's Buddhist prints. Feeling blue.

2-3-08

This morning my high school friend of thirty years, Murph, died. She died of heart failure while waiting for a transplant. I was actually coming out of my crummy slump around noon when I got the news. Dan took me for a walk by the river, me with my swollen red teary eyes, and I took a picture of the river thinking of life.

2-2-08

Dan and I have been walking different places around town recently. Today we walked around a section called Belmont. It was really interesting. Then we had dinner downtown. I felt crummy though- tired and achy and kinda crummy.

2-1-08

It iced today. Squirt had off school.

1-30-08

This is a painting my mom gave me three years ago, I think. It is an original by a well known artist from her area of Alabama. She gave one to each of her daughters and they are each different. This one has mysterious symbols. The number three, two wine glasses (white and red), a Q coming from the neck, and scribbles on the forehead. Now that I've been having chiropractic treatments to my neck to try and address the pain I have in my forehead, the symbolism becomes very clear. So do the wine glasses, for wine is a major headache trigger.

1-29-08

Today Jes came over with her roommate, a tripod, a black sheet, a big lamp thing, and borrowed my camera to take photos for her roommate's application to music grad school. She took like a hundred photos. This is one that obscures her roommate's identity a bit. They were all fantastic photos. Now she wants a camera like mine to go with all her other equipment.

1-28-08

Breakfast of French Toast at the Tavern, then a walk around the cool old neighborhoods nearby.

1-27-08

Today Kathy came over to see my purple office and we had a cup of tea together and talked with Jes, who snapped this photo.

1-26-08

Today I hung and framed pictures for my purple office. Almost everything is organized save for one medium-sized pile on the floor in the corner which I will tackle tomorrow.

1-23-08

In preparation for this weekend's sleepover (Jes and her friends)I am organizing all the detritus I dragged out of my office when the girls painted it for me. I took a huge long pile of journals, notebooks, binders, and crud on the den counter and organized the good stuff into nicely labeled binders in my office. Next: the junk in the foyer.

1-22-08

Today I found out that there is an article about me published in the University's research newsletter that comes out three times a year. I was interviewed back in the fall, and photographed in my classroom in November. This is very cool. Every faculty member gets a copy of this publication.

1-21-08

NUCCA
National Association for Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care. Or something like that. I had my first treatement today by Dr. Mike. It felt like nothing and seems like hooey. But I'm going to give it a try and see if it helps with my head pain.

1-20-08

Aza came home and we spent the weekend eating well. Breakfast this morning was stuffed French toast with hot maple syrup, smoked chicken and apple sausages, and pineapple with blueberries. Yum! Her headlight was out so I had a bit of anxiety when she left this evening. But she called me when she made it home safely in her "new" car.

1-19-08

Saturday night. Just like old times with the two Ds over to jam in the basement with Squirt. Aza was home tonight and I made a nice dinner with Jes and her roommate, and even the two Ds came up for ice cream cake.

1-18-08

Today is Aza's 20th birthday. It was also Ian's dissertation proposal defense and he passed with flying colors. Here is a photo of my neighbor's colorful flying flag to remember this day. I took the photo out my office window with my zoom lens.

1-17-08

It snowed! Yeah! We got three inches in three hours. The school situation was a mess because the kids had school but it was snowing and then they could leave if they wanted to... a mess. Squirt rode the bus home because I wouldn't go get him in the snow. I finished my paper today and sent it in.

1-16-08

This is the decaf coffee I love so much. Mmmmmm! When I run out of half & half I'm sad because I miss my warm creamy water-processed decaf. Today I spent all day working on the paper that's due Friday for the conference this summer.

1-14-08

Today I got up early, went to the dentist to get a cracked tooth fixed, then spent 7.5 hours at school cleaning out my classroom and loading up my car to the brim with stuff. I wrote a farewell note to my students who would use the room for two more days this week before switching over to social studies. I will miss them.

1-12-08

Last day of the conference. I attended some really good sessions and a workshop in the afternoon. Around 4:30 we went for a walk to see the St. Louis Arch. It was getting dark, but I still could take photos somewhat. Here I am holding onto one of the arch bases.

1-11-08

Photo of one of the rooms at the hotel. A very very nice hotel!!!

1-10-08

Me and Igor at the conference.