5-18-10

 

My first vote in Kentucky. The polling place was at a church which seemed really strange and you had to say out loud to the poll worker whether you were a registered Democrat, Republican, or Non Partisan. So much for privacy!

5-17-10

 

I have a problem. I try to stop and can do so for a day, but then I'm back attacking my fingernails again. I guess it's nerves and it's a good thing I can't drink alcohol because I think I would start drinking to calm myself down if I could. Where is this coming from? The uncertain future of an open-ended summer? Yikes!

 

5-16-10

View of the rain out my bedroom window.

Frisbee likes to gather his toys here on this bed. My mother-in-law made shams for the twin beds out of scraps from my quilt reduction surgery, and I received them this week.

Today we had some special guests visit from the deep south (a writer and an historian), and we went out to brunch with them. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo, which is a shame. We went to Doodles, a really special place well worth the wait.

This afternoon it rained and I stayed inside working on some random things. Vegetable stew over rice for dinner. Not too good, but palatable.

5-15-10

Woke up this morning with no idea what the day would hold, and Dan suggested we go to Frankfort, the state capital, for a tour of historic homes. We had lunch with my neighbor's mother who lives there, and made it to all but one of the historic homes. My favorite was the old governor's mansion- the backyard of which is pictured here. The coolest part of the tour was seeing how many homes had a painting by the previous owner of our house here. He was a faculty member of the art department and quite well known. And good! I think it would be wonderful if we could eventually own something that he painted while he lived here.

5-12-10

Today I attended a "retreat" that the College of Education sponsored. It was not so much a retreat as an enjoyable way to have a meeting. We met at Spindletop Hall , a club owned by the university. I just took a couple photos with my iPhone and they don't do it justice. It was a beautiful spot just outside of Lexington. We had lunch, and the coffee was good, and it was nice to discuss things outside the normal venue.

5-14-10

Today was the last day of my academic year. I spent the day writing and managed to almost submit a paper for publication. Before submitting it I vetted it with my former adviser and he suggested I beef up the discussion section, so alas, I did not submit the paper.

Here are some garden scenes. The irises are in bloom, even the ones in the water garden.

5-10-10

Today starts the last week of my first year as a college professor. Dan and I went for a long walk in the arboretum this evening and I took a picture of him with the biggest magnolia flower I've ever seen. It's called Big Leaf Magnolia, appropriately. Another Big Event of the day was receiving in the mail two VHS tapes of this season's episodes of HBO's show Big Love. I received the tapes from my good friend Moonie whose father taped them for her. My neighbor lent us an old VCR since ours busted years ago, and we have a Big Week of Big Love watching planned.

5-9-10

I took my camera to our favorite place to let Frisbee run, and snapped some photos of him playing his favorite game with us. We each have treats and call him back and forth to get them. He loves it, and it's fun to watch him run like the wind.

5-8-10

Yeah! Aza is a college graduate!

5-7-10

We left this morning for Virginia to attend Aza's graduation from JMU. Driving over the Blue Ridge Mountains, I kept checking my emotional temperature to see if it felt like "coming home" or not. It's still so strange to be an ex-pat Virginian. It was wonderful seeing Aza and her new kitty "Little Gray."

5-6-10

April 2                                                                    April 11



April 25                                                                    May 6

I think that if I washed this SunChips bag out in the sink I could actually put more SunChips back in it, it looks so good after 5 weeks buried in compost.

Today my colleagues and I met for most of the day to work on a proposal together. We work well together. We were treated with cakes to celebrate accomplishments made recently. What a wonderful group of science and math educators I work with!

5-5-10

Wednesday. Went to work early, gave final exam. Took friend out to lunch to celebrate her making tenure. Cooked hamburgers, had dinner with Squirt and my Dan who came home early from Boston...

5-4-10

Tuesday. Hauled soaked rug out from the basement to dry. Went to work. Made crock-pot chicken and veggies over rice for dinner. Watched LOST. Missing Dan...

5-3-10

Monday.Swept water in the basement. Went to work. Cooked peanut chicken over couscous for dinner. Missing Dan...

5-2-10

Our basement, the one we were going to finish into a TV/rec room is now under water. The sump pump is going off every 10 seconds, pumping at least 2 gallons each time for a grand total of 12 gallons a minute, 720 gallons an hour, and it's been going since 10am this morning (12 hours) for a grand total of 8640 gallons total today. It will be raining all night so it will likely pump another 8000 gallons before morning.

You can see this scene in the den shows the rain outside and the storm clouds over Kentucky on the TV.

I'm in a monsoon.

5-1-10

Today we got to see my brother-in-law go through the ceremony to become commander of this military thing. I can't keep it all straight. About a dozen or more of his buddies from back in Oklahoma came too and played practical jokes all day on my B-I-L and his new digs. They raided his office, turned his big walnut desk around, put Okies stickers on everything, raided beer from fridges in offices, and took the money from his wallet. It was nice to see such good-natured camaraderie.

4-30-10

Today we drove to Carmel, Indiana to see my sister and her husband. They are moving there in June and this is the house they bought. We were able to witness the deal go through- and take a tour of the house. So exciting! She will only be a three hour drive from me.

The town of Carmel is really nice. Very artsy, nice restaurants, and fresh policemen. Below is a photo of me and Stae. Don't we look alike?

Very friendly people live there... they don't even mind sharing the morning paper with you up close and personal.

This evening we went to see the movie, Date Night with Stae and her husband. It was hilarious! A fun date night for the four of us. Probably the first time we've done that since the kids started coming 24 years ago.

4-29-10

Last class of the semester. I liked this group of students and I think they liked me too. I'm looking forward to teaching middle-level science ed majors in the fall, but I've really taken a liking to teaching and motivating these elementary ed majors who just three months ago didn't like science, didn't want to teach it, didn't know how to teach it. Today they presented their interdisciplinary unit. Here is one presentation:

My dragon carrot seeds have germinated and sprouted in the garden! Photos to follow.

4-28-10

I have no idea what this flower is. The greenery lasted all winter and I really wondered what it would be. Isn't it lovely?

Well, the Squirt has a job. He's been going all week now- yes, he's a Census Enumerator. This is his black bag full of secret documents I'm not allowed to see.

And Aza is almost a college graduate. We received her announcement in the mail this week, and I might add, a very fine announcement it was. What a scholar she is! She starts graduate school two weeks after graduation. So much for a summer break... We will watch her graduate on May 8th...

As for me, I'm just taking it one day at a time. I had lunch today with a new friend from church and it was so nice. She was a transplant from Virginia herself at one time, and she kept reassuring me that it takes a good year or two to adjust to a new job/town/state/etc... We had lunch at an African restaurant and this evening I tried to recreate my wonderful lunch--- pretty darned successfully. I will most likely be a regular at that place.

I'm looking forward to seeing my sister Stae this weekend. She and her family are moving to Indiana, about 3.5 hours north of here.