4-25-10

April 2 ...........April 11 .......... April 25 ....

When I dig out the bag from the smelly wet decaying WARM compost, I find that the bag is in great shape. No decomposition at all.

In other news, I graded papers today, played with Lego solar cars, and ate leftover fudge sauce from last night's dinner. Dan went to C'ville for meetings so I'm home with the Squirt and Frisbee trying to hold down the fort.

4-24-10

 

This morning was really difficult but the afternoon got better. We decided to invite some friends over for dinner and I spent the afternoon cooking what I thought would be a replica of what I had for dinner last night at Jean Farris Winery and Bistro. I had the sea scallops and they were SO good I just had to try and replicate the experience. Not...even...close. Oh well, we enjoyed our company then settled in for a tornado watch and thunderstorm/flood warning. Photo courtesy of Dan.

4-22-10

 

 

Thursday. Earth Day. I had lunch with some friends then Dan picked me up and we went to Keeneland to see the races. Only stayed an hour or so. I really don't like crowds. We watched the movie, The Lovely Bones, tonight and it was terrible. The book was so good and it was a shame to see it hacked to pieces and rearranged into some funky wierdo thing.

4-21-10

 

 

 

Wednesday. I've had bad headaches all week. Today I finally took a Maxalt to wipe it out. Managed to photo some of the garden this evening.

4-18-10

 

 

 

 

Sunday. Went to Farmers' Market. Framed my friend's painting and hung it in the den. Took pictures of flowers in garden. That's about all I remember.

4-17-10

 

 

 

I did it. It took nearly all day (actually it took two years but who's counting!), but I framed my Rodrigue print. I found the perfect frame in an "as is" section of a frame store (it has a slight defect). It's gold leaf, very very nice. I got the part to fix my mat cutter a couple weeks ago, and got new blades. This morning I ordered the glass and picked it up around noon. I'd purchased the acid-free archival-quality mat board last weekend so I was all set to go. "Measure twice, cut once." It came out beautifully! Many thanks once again to the American-Mexican musician/professor who made all this possible.

This evening I celebrated after dinner by crawling in bed with a book and a Dove Bar (thanks to Squirt and his trip to Kroger). What a treat. I'm reading "The Help", a gift from Aza.

4-16-10

 

A day of meetings. 9am meeting to discuss my paper. 10am meeting to discuss stuff while other faculty meet with the dean. 11am lunch meeting to discuss what was discussed with the 10am meeting with the dean. 1pm meeting with other faculty with whom I'm conducting a workshop in May. 2pm meeting to finish up proposal. Finished by 4, home by 4:30, asleep shortly afterwards.

This photo is of my Rodrigue print and the frame I found for it. This weekend I'll order the glass, cut the mat, and assemble the whole thing. Hopefully by Sunday night you'll see a photo of it hanging on the wall! Dan was going to make me a frame from a piece of molding my neighbor gave us, and he even bought a clamping system for framing, but then I found this one and it's perfect.

4-15-10

 

 

 

 

Today was pretty amazing. I got up early and went into work to get set up for class. We had a special guest coming, and I was so nervous about my lesson and the guest. The guest was the president of the university and he just simply walked in my classroom at 10:30am. It was just simply amazing. He spoke with our students for about an hour. What a gift! I came home later that afternoon pretty exhausted and saw a beautiful sunset. As the sun was going down the light on the corner was stunning so I captured it in this photo. Also I photographed one of the many Jack in the Pulpits in my yard, a mystery flower that might be a Lily of the Valley? and an updated photo of our fig tree.

4-14-10

 

For those of you who are wondering what Frisbee is up to, he's having a good time running in the Arboretum, watching out the front door for when our car comes home then running around to the back door to greet us, sleeping in his sisters' beds, living the good dog's life.

Today I made my last observation of the semester- it felt good to be done with that part of my job. Went to the doctor to have a couple things checked out. Worked on planning for my lesson tomorrow. I still have to go to the store to buy Neodymium magnets, light bulbs for dissecting, and some brass wire for making motors.

4-13-10

Polyploid strawberry so big I couldn't bear to cut into it. I got my seeds from Seed Savers today and I've never had a garden that I actually started myself from seed- I've either inherited fully grown plants or bought plants from a nursery. Let's see if I can grow Dragon Carrots, Wisconson Lakes Peppers, Thai basil and Climbing French Beans!

Today I spent most of the day in meetings. Had a productive morning working on preparing for my class Thursday. The President of the university is coming to my class so I'm working extra hard to make it a great one!

4-12-10

I framed some things this weekend- my first watercolor in Kentucky and a print I bought about six years ago in Door County, Wisconsin. What did I frame the sailboats in? A door! Dan and I went to a place called Cowgirl Attic on Friday and I bought a little door with glass then used it as a frame.

The garden is still full of surprises. Dogwoods blooming, more bulbs popping up, it's pure entertainment to go outside each evening with my camera to see what is showing off.

Today I observed a student teacher then came home and slept most of the afternoon. Talked with my sister which was nice, and my Mom later on, which was nice too. My church had a dinner thing at a local pizza restaurant so I went with Dan and Squirt and it was nice to see my new friends there.

I miss my old friends. I made this break from Virginia and the memories of painful events there, but as the painful memories fade I realize how much I miss my old friends. So if you're an old friend from Virginia reading this, I miss you. And if I haven't spoken to you or called you or emailed you much, it's because of a lot of emotional crap I've had to deal with and pass through as I root myself somewhere new. We are coming back for Aza's graduation on May 8th so hopefully I'll see some of you then.

4-11-10

April 2nd............................................. April 11th
Buried under a deep layer of leaves, garden debris and kitchen scraps the 100% compostable SunChips bag still looks pretty good after 10 days. We will keep track of its progress (or lack therof) in becoming soil. Things take time to decompose and transform.

4-10-10

 

Saturday. This photo is for Jes who, as a child, had quite an affection for bunnies. No papers to grade today, I had a wonderful time just hanging around.

4-9-10

Spent the evening in Frankfort. First dinner, then a stroll around town, then we went to the Grand Theatre to hear the Clack Mountain String Band and Kentucky Wild Horse. The fiddle player in KWH is simply amazing. Here is a view of the river. I love rivers.

4-8-10

 

 

 

 

I'm a coffee drinker again and loving it. My class went wonderful today. I had the best time and my students learned so much. The theme was energy and the 64 million dollar question was, how does coal become electricity?

Here are some pictures of 1)a fern unfolding 2) a mystery blue flower and 3) the fig tree budding. The last picture is of the cabinet Dan installed today. It replaces a mini-fridge that was built in there. Now the fridge is in the studio and we have another cabinet. Hardware to follow.

4-7-10

Woke up and drank coffee. Picture me mid-morning happy and pain free. What was I thinking? Worked until 6:30 at school, then graded papers until very late at night. Looking forward to my class tomorrow.

4-6-10

 

Tuesday. I had a grant meeting this afternoon and on the way back to the office I stopped and got an iced tea from Starbucks (to treat the lingering bad headache) then toured the solar house on UK's campus.

This evening I was so happy to be watching LOST. It was a wonderful episode! The best! Afterward I went to bed early to try and fight off the headache. Not getting much grading done today...

4-5-10

Monday. I had a bad headache this morning. Shot myself with Imitrex and managed to pull through in time to teach a class at 1pm. Class went well, then I came home and this is where I sat. Doing what? Guess what? Grading papers. At least I had a nice view! But I went to bed with the same bad headache. Not happy. Missing coffee.

4-4-10

 

 

 

Easter Sunday 2010. I graded papers again today. Also went to church which was long... but nice. Today for some reason (it was on my to-do list) I gave up coffee. By 4pm my head was hurting. I hoped a good night's sleep would help. But alas... giving up coffee is not an easy thing to do.

4-3-10

Saturday. I graded papers all day. That's all I remember. The flower in the middle is a mystery. Anybody know its name?

4-2-10

Good Friday 2010. Photos of my garden. Here I am blogging about this day nearly a week later and I have no memory of this day at all except for the moments I was outside taking these photos. I think I graded papers this day.

4-1-10

Click on the above picture to read the text.

Two years ago I posted on 43Things that one of my life goals was to own an old signed Cajun print by George Rodrigue. I'd been to his gallery in New Orleans and the prices were just way too high. I figured I'd just have to settle for cutting up my 25 year old edition of Talk About Good, a gift from my grandmother. But last month, an amazing thing happened. A teacher/musician in Mexico found my post and offered to sell me a print from 1978 he'd had for two decades. We made a go of the transaction and today in the mail I received a tube with my Rodrigue inside. The seller received his payment through PayPal and all is good. Ironic that the print image I chose to represent what I wanted on 43Things really resembles what I got. A dark haired woman with two old men- one wearing black pants, one wearing white.

My next task is to preserve this treasure and frame it, then hang it in my dining room. I can't wait to tell my Grandmother!

3-30-10

Today I went on a field trip to see a school being built in northern Kentucky, a school that is going to be net-zero energy with its solar panels, wind turbine, solar tubes for lighting, and highly efficient with water- a gray water system, an underground storage tank for rain water, rain gardens, etc. I took pictures and will upload them later. I'll be writing two grants with folks from this school system to design environmental engineering curriculum for the teachers and students.

3-29-10

Back to the grind. I worked on my to-do list today and in the end didn't feel very accomplished. Late in the afternoon, after the rain, I did get the chance to go outside and photograph my new additions to the garden. What have we here? Primrose, tulips, daffodils, vinca, grape hyacinth, and some mystery plants. Lower left??? Lower middle??? Upper middle???

3-28-10

We stayed in town until mid afternoon to celebrate Dan's brother's birthday. The Vienna Torte was divine. Headed home through Chicago, Gary, then south toward Indianapolis. In northern Indiana I got the chance to take some cool photos of a wind farm. See, the collage represents how the source of all energy is the sun. The sun creates the changes in temperature which affect the atmosphere and cause the wind. No sun, no wind.

Frisbee and I were huddled down in the back seat together while Squirt and Dan played music up front. Crossing the Ohio River felt like coming home.