Another photo of my garden- irises, columbine, and peonies in bloom. It was cold today. It was hard to be motivated. All my joints hurt, I think, from all the lifting yesterday.
This day on 5-4
2007
2010
5-4-11
Another photo of my garden- irises, columbine, and peonies in bloom. It was cold today. It was hard to be motivated. All my joints hurt, I think, from all the lifting yesterday.
This day on 5-4
2007
2010
5-3-11
Got to school early to give an exam, stayed for a meeting at which I was supposed to present but we ran out of time, then rushed off to help load supplies being collected for the Alabama tornado survivors. It was the most rewarding two hours I've spent in a very long time. I was so touched and humbled and amazed at the generosity of people coming by with hundreds of dollars worth of things to donate. One man came with entire SUV full of brand new supplies. The main things people brought were diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, clothes, and food. We filled one POD with clothes (there I am inside that POD trying to organize things so we could get more room), one with paper products, and one with food. It's one small gesture of many around the country. Shipments going to Alabama from all over the country. Really truly amazing. And to think that just one county west of where my mom lives, devastation. I can't imagine if it were my home town in addition to my home state. My adopted home state.
After that I met up with some students heading up the student chapter of NSTA and treated one of them (the secretary) to dinner. OK, Aza is the secretary!
This day on 5-3
2007
2008
2010
5-1-11
This is an unusual photograph for me. I got the idea from a friend who knows someone in the art department here who does work like this. It's scanned with the top removed. So the background is black. This is an image of a dried daffodil. I'd picked some in April and they preserved really nicely. I suppose it can symbolize something, as all art does, but it hasn't come to me yet.
May Day
Sunday
I was deliberately lazy today just to see if I could be.
I watched the Andy Griffith Show and two episodes of House. Oh my... what indulgence!
Seven years ago today I lost my little Lily and I remember her with gratitude. Perhaps that's what the image is all about. She is preserved in my memory and heart forever.
This day on 5-1
2007
2009
2010
4-30-11
Lazy Saturday. I did a little gardening and took some photos of the back yard... nice things blooming back there. Dan and I went to dinner at a Cuban restaurant we've never been to. Old San Juan, it's called. Home cooked goodness.
The devastation in the South is really upsetting. I'm so glad it didn't affect my home town, but I feel just terrible for all the lives lost and houses destroyed and people traumatized.
This day on 4-30
2007
2009
2010
4-29-11
This day on 4-29
2007
2009
2010
4-28-11
Last day of class! I taught a great class this morning- a "make and take" workshop for my students. They took home four items for their classrooms. Meetings all afternoon, and then Aza came over for dinner. We each had work to do, so we worked until 9, watched Gray's Anatomy together, then worked again until 11. I don't want to tell her this, because it might scare her off, or make her think I want something for her life that she doesn't want, but I can really truly see her as a college professor like me one day. It's creepy but I can actually see her working on her dissertation, the whole 9 yards. Not now, years down the road. But I can see it. Maybe I'm just looking in a mirror. But when I was her age I couldn't imagine that I'd one day be where I am.
Full day tomorrow. Must get some rest. This weekend I'd like to do some gardening!
This day on 4-28
2007
2009
2010
4-27-11
Today I worked on an annual report most of the day, then ventured out for some supplies for my last day of class tomorrow. I discovered Super Wal-Mart. OK, this may surprise my readers, but I fell in love with Super Wal-Mart. I've never shopped in one before. Holy Cow! That place has everything! And the one I went to was so clean and bright and well organized, and they even had organic foods I like. I got a big glass jug for brewing kombucha and started my biggest batch today. Hopefully my days of buying the stuff will soon be over. Oh, and I got 14 Lays Snax for $1.00 each. I dumped out the potato chips because all I really wanted was the cans for a project. Tomorrow, my last day teaching, should be fun.
This day on 4-27
2007
2009
2010
4-26-11
Miss March beat me again in scrabble. I gave an exam this morning, taught my last night class for the semester, and graded papers until late in the evening. Oh oh. I hear the alarm in the arboretum. Better check the weather.
Tornado watch until 6am. Big nasty storm approaching. I'm sick and tired of this weather.
This day on 4-26
2007
2008
2009
2010
4-22-11
This day on 4-22
2007
2008
2009
2010
4-21-11
Today I woke up happy and excited to start my day. It's a rare thing, and I should dissect the reasons behind it. But I had a great day and now I'm exhausted. I taught a fun class, got a lot of work done in the afternoon, took the bus to school and back, visited with a student from last semester who stopped by for a visit, cooked a good dinner, saw Aza when she stopped by, and cleaned the kitchen. Now I'm ready for bed.
I just want to get in bed and read John Krakauer's Three Cups of Deceit about Greg Mortenson's lies.
This day on 4-21
2007
2010
4-19-11
Class this morning- taught astronomy and Skyped with a children's science book author. Faculty meeting in the afternoon. Migraine in office for two hours. Taught evening class from 6-8:30 where each student presented their culminating design curriculum idea. Here are two students testing their water wheel.
Exhausted.
Dan got Jes a plane ticket home! She's coming home in May!
This day on 4-19
2007
2008
2009
4-18-11
This morning was interesting. Our new department had a meeting with the president of the APLU and two deans, an assistant provost, and an associate provost. It felt very special, and someone even came to take a photo!
I prepared for my class tomorrow, then came home and worked with a landscape architect in the garden for FOUR hours. Boy, am I ever sore. We moved things, gave things away, weeded, and really did a number on the back garden area.
Graded papers this evening.
This day on 4-18
2007
2008
2009
2010
4-17-11
Sunday.
I graded papers.
I gardened. For four hours. In the sunshine!
I dug up a million weeds and Dan made me little cages for all my peonies. I have about 7 plants that get very top heavy with beautiful flowers, so now they will be more protected.
I will have beautiful white and pink peonies.
I hope that in 50 years after I'm gone, my grown grandchildren find this blog and feel like they are visiting with me through it.
This day on 4-17
2007
2009
2010
I graded papers.
I gardened. For four hours. In the sunshine!
I dug up a million weeds and Dan made me little cages for all my peonies. I have about 7 plants that get very top heavy with beautiful flowers, so now they will be more protected.
I will have beautiful white and pink peonies.
I hope that in 50 years after I'm gone, my grown grandchildren find this blog and feel like they are visiting with me through it.
This day on 4-17
2007
2009
2010
4-16-11
Saturday.
I spent the morning in bed with a migraine.
then...
I graded papers.
I talked with my Grandma.
I made an educational video for my students.
I cooked an awesome lasagna and a spinach salad.
I vacuumed the first floor of the house.
Tired, I went to bed early and dreamed of my Nana and Grandaddy.
Here is the dream: I haven't seen them in many years (in fact, it has been ~23 years since they died) and I go to visit. I see my Nana sitting in front of her house from my vantage point near my friend Lizanne's house; I see her face and her white hair, and I start to run to her. I'm SO happy to see her after so many years, I try to run fast, but I cannot run fast enough so I actually fly to her as if I'm swimming through water. We embrace and I feel so happy. So very very happy. We go inside and my Grandaddy is bent over the green chair with chest pains. I rub his back and tell him everything is going to be OK. Dan is with me too. The four of us decide to go to the store. We all drive there, and then when it is time to go back to their house Dan and my Grandaddy drive but my Nana decides to walk with me. It's about a 4 mile walk. She is wearing nice shoes and a dress, and she just walks and walks with me as we talk and talk. I ask her if she is tired or in any pain, and she says her feet hurt a little, but that's all. We get back to the house and my Grandaddy talks about how hard it is for him to get up the stairs to the bathroom to take a shower. We talk about adding on a full bathroom to the first floor of their house where the screened in porch is. I decide to buy them a new comforter for their bed. Then it is time to go, and I'm so so sad to leave. It's very painful to leave them but I have to.
I wake up glad that I had a little time to visit with them once again. I hope I can visit them in my dreams again soon.
This day on 4-16
2007
2009
2010
I spent the morning in bed with a migraine.
then...
I graded papers.
I talked with my Grandma.
I made an educational video for my students.
I cooked an awesome lasagna and a spinach salad.
I vacuumed the first floor of the house.
Tired, I went to bed early and dreamed of my Nana and Grandaddy.
Here is the dream: I haven't seen them in many years (in fact, it has been ~23 years since they died) and I go to visit. I see my Nana sitting in front of her house from my vantage point near my friend Lizanne's house; I see her face and her white hair, and I start to run to her. I'm SO happy to see her after so many years, I try to run fast, but I cannot run fast enough so I actually fly to her as if I'm swimming through water. We embrace and I feel so happy. So very very happy. We go inside and my Grandaddy is bent over the green chair with chest pains. I rub his back and tell him everything is going to be OK. Dan is with me too. The four of us decide to go to the store. We all drive there, and then when it is time to go back to their house Dan and my Grandaddy drive but my Nana decides to walk with me. It's about a 4 mile walk. She is wearing nice shoes and a dress, and she just walks and walks with me as we talk and talk. I ask her if she is tired or in any pain, and she says her feet hurt a little, but that's all. We get back to the house and my Grandaddy talks about how hard it is for him to get up the stairs to the bathroom to take a shower. We talk about adding on a full bathroom to the first floor of their house where the screened in porch is. I decide to buy them a new comforter for their bed. Then it is time to go, and I'm so so sad to leave. It's very painful to leave them but I have to.
I wake up glad that I had a little time to visit with them once again. I hope I can visit them in my dreams again soon.
This day on 4-16
2007
2009
2010
4-15-11
Today I rested. After a week and a half of running around and working like crazy, I took TWO naps today, did a little work, but mainly just chilled. It was gloomy and rainy outside so I stayed home and chilled. Squirt saw this bird in the bird bath actually taking a bath, and my camera was nearby, so I snapped its picture quickly.
This day on 4-15
2007
2009
2010
4-14-11
I cried. I felt a sense of heaviness in my chest that could have been joy, but was most likely longing. So, I got up and I went downstairs and played my piano. How many years ago was it that I wrote that piece with 12 movements that I performed at church on Good Friday? I think it was 1995. I played one of the sections and it felt so beautiful. I was in my element.
Plus, I finally got the results back from my MRI today. I am still cancer free after 6 years. Perhaps I'm turning a corner. Or perhaps I just had a very good day. But my Dan is home safely from his trip, Aza cleaned my kitchen, Jes is coming to visit next month, and all feels right with the world.
This day on 4-14
2007
2008
2010
4-12-11
We got home late last night, and when I woke up this morning I looked outside and the first thing I saw was dogwoods in bloom and redbuds. It felt like home. The trees were greening up and the air was cool and moist. Ahhh!
I had to teach today, and class went well. I love teaching electric circuits.
This day on 4-12
2007
2009
2010
4-10-11
This day on 4-10
2008
2009
2010
4-9-11
I conferenced for 9.5 hours today and came back to my hotel room completely exhausted.
This day on 4-9
2007
2009
2010
4-8-11
It was sad to leave and make the trip to New Orleans. We took the back way to make it interesting.
This day on 4-8
2007
2008
2009
2010
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