2-1-10

Monday. Showed up for work and found this book and a Seed Saver's calender as a gift on my office door. A good friend in the college who knows I want to start a food garden with heriloom seeds this spring gifted me with these two special treats. Taught a lesson on STEM this afternoon which went ok.

1-31-10

Felt better this morning- walked to church and back home again in the snow. This is our street. After church I started on my project for the day- painting the first floor bathroom in the main house. Here it is with the mirror down and the tape up. I finished around 8:30pm and it took a full day.

And here is is afterwards.... scene from the door and scene from inside the room. The color is Kentucky Haze, a Sherwin Williams color. I think it's pretty. Dan painted the laundry/mud room area yesterday one of the colors we are going to use (Benjamin Moore's Library Pewter) and the other color (S.W. Powell Buff) goes on different walls. Will upload photos when it's done. It's amazing what paint can do.

1-30-10

Snow. We got 4 inches or so... I love snow. Perhaps winter is my favorite season after all what with how excited I get every time it snows.

I felt sick this evening, it was very strange. At first I was nauseous and faint and thought I had a fever so I took off my sweater and lay down on the bed to cool off. No fever. Then I got SO cold, I got under two blankets and piled all the pillows on top of me and was still cold. Squirt brought me my nighttime meds and some water and I just stayed like that and slept through the night.

1-29-10

Today was supposed to be a writing day. It wasn't. I created an assignment, did some emailing and planning for next week, went out to lunch with a friend, did the grocery shopping, cooked dinner, then curled up by the fire on the floor and went to sleep.

At some point in the afternoon Dan came in the house saying, "Get out your telephoto lens, there's something that looks like burnt tar on the roof of the studio!" So, I had a look and sure enough it looked like burned tar. I checked out a photo of the roof from before we bought the place and there was no spot there.

So.... Dan went and had a look. See, doesn't it look yucky? Turned out it was ICE. Yes, ice. You see, the products of combustion are carbon dioxide and water vapor. Apparently water was condensing on the cap of the stove pipe and dripping off onto a stalagmite of ice on the roof. Dan scraped it off, and as he was climbing down I saw a drip fall. Wierd.

I hope I have more spunk tomorrow. Must walk.

1-28-10

Taught today- it went well. The pedagogy lesson was about inquiry and the science was heat transfer. I walked home and took a tour of the yard to see what might be coming up. Above you see Lenten Rose sometimes called Christmas Rose blooming. Below are some bulbs pushing their way up through the leaf litter.

This is an interesting shot of the fish pond... reflection of the bare trees above the rippling water, and below that a water lily still alive in the pond as seen through a thin sheet of ice on top.

We are expecting snow tomorrow.

1-27-10

Woke up early and saw the sun rising... so held my camera steady and took a picture. That's my neighbor's house. The sky was beautiful. Today I judged a science fair at a local private school. It was an interesting morning- and a colleague was there judging too so that made it more fun. The school brought in a bunch of birds to put on display in the gym during the science fair. Here's a photo I took with my iPhone of an owl that hooted all during the fair. The most special part of the day was an hour long massage which was a gift from Dan. Oh, so very nice.

1-26-10

Tuesday. Walked to school, had a meeting, worked all afternoon, then got picked up by Dan. We went out to dinner then came home and watched the last disk of the Big Love season. We'll have to wait another year to rent the current season. Anybody have HBO???!!!

1-25-10

Worked at school today then walked home with miniature hail pummeling
me. Ok maybe it was hard snow. Made preppy potatoes for dinner.

1-23-10

Saturday, blue, I went on a long walk and got annoyed at the trash and at the state of disrepair of the houses I saw. Worked in the yard for a couple hours which was satisfying-- saw bulbs coming up EVERYWHERE which is exciting. Cooked a delicious dinner copied from my brother in law JL (roasted vegetables over whole wheat pasta). Watched "The Great Escape" on DVD and found the music annoying. Oh, and I photographed a bunch of things to give away and posted them all on Freecycle. Including this light which had no takers.

1-22-10

I love my house. I love my yard and all the many various plants in it. I love each room, every moment I spend here. I love my neighborhood, my neighbors, and the arboretum a short block away. Today I noticed that some bulbs are coming up in the front- different kinds in different sections all over. What will this one be? What a joy it will be to discover all the plants here just waiting to spring forth. This weekend I should do some yard preparation for spring- make room for the bulbs and remove the wilted foliage all around.

I keep on having dreams that we have to move. It's happened three times now and each time it's a terrible dream. The rooms are empty, the house has no soul. We have to say good bye and each time, we move somewhere I'm not happy. Not sure what it all means but I think I really need to carve out some time to paint, some time to garden, and some time to nest here.

1-20-10

Home from my trip to California, back at work. My husband has taken to bread baking. Tonight he made rye bread!

1-18-10

Flying across the country on today, Aza's 22nd birthday.

1-17-10

Woke up this morning at 6:20am to a crying toddler in his crib. Went and patted his head, but he wanted up. I picked him up in the dark and rocked him for a while then he decided to look and see who was holding him. He touched my nose. I said, "Aunt Chrissy" and he smiled and put his head back on my shoulder. Warmed my heart like you wouldn't believe.

This is baby Fozzie Bear below. Today we had a busy day going to our cousin's baby shower and seeing our aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandmother. I made Fozzie's baby announcement this evening using the photo below and ordered 50 copies for my sister to send out. I leave in the morning for Kentucky and will miss these little angels.

1-16-10

At every conference I get someone to take a picture of me and Igor, my friend from grad school. My how we have aged since our first conference photo back in 2005. OK, I've aged. OK, my chin has aged. So today a Harley gathering rolled into town and all the sessions I attended were serenaded by the low frequency hum of motorcycles. What a pain! Here is a view of some of them from my 24th floor hotel room. Tonight I fly to see my sister Sakura in LA-- along with her husband JL and children Buddy and Fozzie Bear. Photos of beautiful babies to follow!

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.