1-15-10

Woke up in Sacramento in time to see the sunrise. Pretty cool. I gave my paper- all went well there- and later in the afternoon took a walking tour of the city. Below is the state capitol building...

This is tower bridge over the river, whatever river it is...

And a close-up of me standing next to Tower Bride. Photo courtesy of Jen. Jen and Igor and I went out for dinner and our favorite thing was the pesto french fries. Mmmm...mmmm
What really amazes me about Sacramento is that even though it's at the 37th parallel, it has oranges growing on trees and roses blooming. In January. Amazing.

1-14-10

Taught my first class of the semester this morning and got the sense
that it went really well. Afterwards hopped on a plane to California
to give a paper at a conference. This is a picture I took for Squirt-
it's a view of a National Forest in Arizona. He's quite interested in
that ecosystem, so this one's for you Squirt. And welcome home son. We
are so glad to have you home at last. We missed you so and love you an
infinite amount.

1-13-10

A three cup of tea day. I woke early and started attacking my to-do list. A very long one! I had to make all my final plans for the first day of class, create the PowerPoint for my presentation in California and edit my paper one final time (found "Author (2009) in the bibliography. Oops!). Plus there were errands to do in preparation for my trip, and here it is 10pm and I haven't packed yet. It will be a late night. But not as late as Dan and Squirt's. They are driving home together from Virginia and are due in around 2am. Yikes!

1-12-10

Walked to school this morning in the snow, then had meetings ALL DAY LONG. Got scolded by a colleague for something I did - but did not do intentionally to cause any trouble for anyone- and then walked all the way home in the snow. Five miles round trip! Exausted with a headache, I watched two episodes of Big Love on DVD then went to bed.

1-11-10

Meetings all day. Tonight, home alone, I took frosted chandelier bulbs and turned them into naked ones. All nine of them. Proud of myself, I am.

1-10-10

The sun came out and the fat robins came back today and hopped all over the yard. I found these footprints on my front steps. Today I went to church, attended a meeting afterwards, came home and took a nap, ate dinner, watched TV, and started on my to-do list for the week. It's going to be crazy. I teach until 12:15 on Thursday and have a 1:20 flight to California to catch. How is that going to work??? I'm just going to have to cut class short and hop in a car ready to go at noon. All packed, all cleaned up from class, all ready to go. It's going to be a tough week.

1-9-10

It started snowing again last night. The trees were beautiful when I woke up this morning.



Late morning we walked from our house to a shopping area about 2.5 miles away to visit a store that sells reproduction antique lighting. We found three chandeliers we liked for our dining room, took pictures of them, then went to lunch.

After lunch we went back to the shop and the owner's grandson drove us and three chandeliers home.
The owner met us to give us her opinion.

It was unanimous- we all liked the "Venetian."
We bought it.
Dan installed it tonight.

It has a star for the ceiling and is supposed to symbolize Galileo and his telescope in Venice. Whatever. It's very classic looking with a contemporary twist. We love it.
I think we should have gotten clear bulbs instead of frosted ones though.

Dan is going to install a dimmer switch so we can turn the lights down for effect.

I did some more shoveling so the sidewalk and driveway would be clear tomorrow, but it kept on snowing.
I made my first snow angel in ages.
It felt good.

1-8-10

If you catch it at just the right time, the sun shines through a window on our starway and casts a beautiful shadow of the wood banister poles. I wonder how this will change as the year goes by. This was taken at 9:12 am this morning.

I worked on preparing my performance portfolio all morning then shoveled snow. Above photo credit: Dan.

I finished the driveway, both entrances, and the entire sidewalk in front of the house. Then I wrote all afternoon and finished a paper I'd been working on for months. I'll be presenting it at a conference in California next week. It's DONE DONE DONE!!!

Look familiar? This is my glass lily purchased at an art fair this summer. I have another photo of it on my blog here: http://chrissysphotoaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/11-23-09.html

1-7-10

Today was a juxtaposition between the sight of snow outside all around, and the smell of paperwhites in the house. Like my house was having season confusion- spring? winter?




I liked being snowed in. Wrote all day long. ALL DAY LONG.
Discovered the bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard... Dan you'd better hide them from me!

1-6-10

Frisbee's favorite spot. And no matter how nice I make the pillows in the morning, he re-arranges them.
Today I wrote all morning and worked at school all afternoon. Intended to walk home in the cold but it was almost 5:30 before I was done and it was dark out. My dear Dan came and picked me up and we went out to dinner at Bourbon & Tolouse, a great cajun eatery. Wrote all evening. Been writing quite a lot these days.
Writing what, you ask?
DR K-12 grant due today
ASEE draft due tomorrow
Performance portfolio due Wednesday
ASTE paper needs to be done by Wednesday
Syllabus needs to be done by Wednesday
IEECI grant due on the 20th
ITEST grant due in February

1-5-10

Snowed most of the day, nice and soft little flakes. Worked, went to a couple meetings, made dinner, packaged up some little surprises for a few folks. Must write tomorrow. Must must must write.

1-4-10

The day started out all snowy, like a winter wonderland- big flakes falling.
I decided to stay home and work since it was too cold to walk and too snowy to drive.



I started a fire in the woodstove in the main house and Dan started one in the studio for the first time.
Toward evening, I saw what looked like a flame coming out the chimney of the studio wood stove.
So I got out my telephoto lens and zoomed in really close. Dan shut down the stove and the "flame" went away.
Now we need a chimney sweep to check it out.

Worked some more after a dinner of shrimp and grits (stone ground brought back from South Carolina by friends!), then Dan made bread.
2 cups whole wheat and 3 cups unbleached white flour
His first bread-making attempt.
Can't wait for breakfast!
We can use the microwave for a "bread box" like Papa used to do.

1-3-10

Today was especially cold. We went for a walk (3 miles) and boy did my cheeks sting. So I lit a fire today- first one I lit myself.

Jes left this morning so I just moped about most of the day. I did manage to install EndNote on my laptop and learn a bit about it. The above photo is of the paperwhites that bloomed. My friend at work gave me the bulbs for Christmas and they are blooming so pretty.

And Dan finished painting the beams in the studio "wrought iron." It looks SO cool. Dontcha think so?

So tomorrow it's back to work for me. Gotta stop moping about and get my work done. Two more weeks and I'll be in California- now that's something to look forward to.

1-2-10

Jes came back from her West Virginia adventure last night and today we went with some friends to the Red River Gorge in the snow for a hike.

It was cold, beautiful, and the trail was very slick. At one point I was hanging onto a tree, on the sloped path, thinking I wouldn't be able to go any further. But I did.

The ice sickles were spectacular hanging from all the cliffs. I asked Jes to get me one and she did. Now she's a narwhal.

We saw a natural arch at the end our our trail and Dan and Jes went to investigate while I stayed and took more photos. They saw a memorial to a young man who fell off the arch and died. It was sad.

We saw "The Road" last night and it was sad too.

Jes leaves in the morning to go back to the snowy west and I don't know when I'll see her again. I think I've talked her into a photo blog. Will post the link if I'm successful. She's such a fine photographer and has a brand new Nikon D60 waiting for her when she gets back to Colorado. We could have dueling blogs.

1-1-10

We live here.

It's starting to feel like home.
This year, 2010, we will live here all year long, paint more rooms our colors, and even fix up the basement so that we will have more room for the family when they arrive.

There are enough flowers, I want to plant a vegetable garden out back. That's one goal for the year- to grow our own food, some of it at least.

This house was built for us 82 years ago. We've finally come home.

12-31-09

So this is it.
Last day of 2009- a year of more changes than you can shake a stick at.
Grad student to professor.
Virginian to Kentuckian.
Active mother to empty nester.

But some things remain:
1) Dan.
2) True friends.
3) My mom.
4) My sisters.
5) My children, grown as they are, are still linked to me by an unbreakable cord. (These days some call it the cell phone, but you know what I mean.)
6) You. Yes, you- reading this blog. I wasn't sure anybody read the thing, but there you are. Thank you for peering into my world.

You can keep peering-
I'm not sure what I'd do with all my free time if I quit now. Get published? Write a novel? Frame enough watercolors to have a show? Naaa.

Off to bed. Tomorrow is another decade. Best go check on that blue moon first.
10:28pm December 31st, 2009

12-30-09

From the looks of things, our family is pretty dispersed today. Aza is in New York with her boyfriend, Squirt is back in VA visiting friends, Jes is in a cabin in WVa having a reunion with her college friends, I am here at home and.... where is my husband? Looks like he's in Milwaukee. No? Well, his phone is! It hitched a ride with his parents and still sending out a signal from a padded envelope being shipped.

Today my mom left which gave us that empty nest feeling all over again. Ham and eggs for dinner. Watched an unusual Coen Brother's movie tonight- Hudsucker Proxy. Started writing the annual family newsletter.

12-29-09

Spent the day in Berea, Kentucky admiring all the handmade crafts. Had
the best lunch ever at the Main Street Cafe. Fried green tomato
sandwich with fresh mozzarella.
Dinner at Le Deauville- not as good as lunch in Berea. This is a photo
of a building on the campus of Berea College.