12-19-09

Aza sent us this picture from her phone camera this morning. She is stuck en route to Kentucky... and luckily made it off the interstate last night to a warm hotel in West Virginia. This morning she started digging her car out. We have no idea how long she will have to stay there before she can drive home. What a mess.

12-16-09

Squirt arrived yesterday after a two-day delay in Colorado because of the snow. Tonight he cooked dinner and is making himself at home.

12-13-09

Dan finished painting the ceiling of the studio kitchen today. I finished painting the walls last night. It's less funky, for sure. A little more stoic but with some stuff on the shelves and a nice little rug, it will be perfect. Goes well with the rest of the room, as seen below. I wonder if I should paint the back of the shelving the trim color. Hmmmm...

Party tonight at the 7000+ sq. ft. home of my Dean. We had a good time and the house was great for large parties. Squirt is stuck in Colorado, no flights leaving any time soon. I am very anxious to have him home safe and sound.

12-11-09

Moss ball from Texas has gone to seed. I'd like to plant some of those seeds and see what happens!

Friday. Faculty meeting.

Our motion passed to create a new masters degree program but we got in an ugly argument with other faculty members about the new department we have been encouraged to develop. It was so ugly. Had my first thoughts of not staying here during that faculty meeting.

Dan made me watch The Big Lebowski for therapy this evening. It helped.

12-10-09

Before and after photos of the bathroom in the studio. It was a bear to paint, all those tight corners. But painting is a type of therapy for me, and I enjoy the thrill of completing a project.

The front yard was full of birds that looked like robins. Big fat robins. Do robins migrate south? Could they have been robins on their way south for the winter? Today I had a migraine and stayed home in bed fighting it off with OTC meds since I'd gone over my limit on triptans this month. Went to school to grade some presentations, but other than that just stayed home on a sick day.

12-8-09

Tuesday. This day I taught my last class of the semester and gave a teaching evaluation out to my students. This day I sat in my office with the door closed, missing the college faculty meeting, and cried in that brown chair for three hours. This day I found out my son will not finish his first year of college and is coming home on Sunday (there is more to that story... too personal even for a personal blog). This day was full of grief. But I went out to dinner with my science and math faculty friends (three of them pictured above dressed as the blue woman group) and drank two cups of coffee to drown my grief in while eating coconut shrimp.

12-6-09

Sunday. We painted more of the studio. The upper color is actually a grayish sage green. Future photos in good daylight should reveal the true colors. But you can see that the floor is down but the kitchen is still funky purple with an orange ceiling.

12-5-09

First snow. This blog post (being typed on 12-13) demonstrates how vapid my memory is. Without a clue or context, I forget my life. The 5th of December. It snowed. It was a Saturday. I look at my calendar and see that we had a dinner date that we cancelled. Ah, now it's coming back. We cancelled because Dan was sick. I wasn't feeling too great either, recovering from a migraine the day before.

12-3-09

My sister had a baby today! My brother-in-law sent me these photos of my new nephew, 6 lbs. 2 oz. Fozzie Bear.

It was difficult day at work, and a difficult day in my head as I wrestled with some family news. But the miracle of new life trumps all. Welcome to the world, little bear.

12-2-09

My students made wind turbines and water turbines today, measuring current, voltage, and calculating power. I need to work on this lesson some more, as it was a challenging exercise for them.Perhaps not appropriate for elementary preservice teachers, perhaps so.

12-1-09

December 1st. My brother W is here visiting and we went down to the Kentucky River today. Crossed over on a car ferry to the other side.

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.