This blog needs a cool name

And it's the first day of school!

2011-09-05T15:31:00.002-05:00

Again!

The first first day was back in August.

They went to school for three whole days, and then we left for England-Germany-England.

Here they are on their second first day. Don't they look so smart in their uniforms?

Kathryn is in Year Six, which is really 5th grade, and so I guess she's repeating a grade. If she were to go on to Year Seven, she would have to go to the high school in Grantham, and it's just easier to have her in the village school (less than a mile's walk away) with Rebecca.

Rebecca should really be in Year Two (1st grade), but that class was full so they placed her in Year One. They 'tested' her today and decided at she might be bored in Year One, and so she's going to Year Three, as long as it works out socially. They told her all this beforehand, and when John went to pick her up from school, she explained the whole situation and declared, "So I'm going to give it a go!"

Didn't take her long to pick up a little British!

We had some special guests at the manor today

2011-09-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

A group from The Old Vic came and performed some scenes from Romeo and Juliet, using the Great Hall's balcony for the balcony scene. No pictures, unfortunately.

But afterwards, there was a question/answer session, and we WERE allowed to take pictures. It's not a great shot, but I think you can tell who came...

It was a brilliant evening.

Opening convocation and the High Table dinner

2011-08-29T13:29:00.001-05:00

We processed down the Cedar Staircase behind the bagpiper, Billy James:

Here's a better picture of Billy:

Listening to the convocation speech in the Long Gallery:

That evening, we missed the principal's reception in the Great Hall, because our fancy academic robes were locked in a closet and there was a little trouble finding the key...

But we did make it to dinner in the Long Gallery

complete with more bagpipes.

Classes started today. Pictures of me teaching wouldn't be particularly interesting, so there aren't any.

August 14-15: Germany, day 1

2011-08-27T05:00:00.002-05:00

Day one was loooooooooooooooong. In retrospect, we were a little nuts. Or I was, since I made the crazy decisions. It was a planes, trains and automobile day.

Automobile: Drove to Evansville airport.
Planes: Flew from Evansville to Detroit. Sat around for 3 hours. Flew from Detroit to London. Sat around for 6 hours. Flew from London to Frankfurt.
Trains: Caught the train from Frankfurt to Bingen, which is on the Rhine.

The stretch of the Rhine that we were interested in seeing doesn't have any bridges, so it can be slightly convoluted to get from a town on one side to a nearby town on the other. Since the train we were on goes on the 'wrong' side of the river, we needed to change to a train on the 'right' side. We got rather confused when we arrived in Bingen, and convinced ourselves that the train sitting RIGHT THERE couldn't possibly be the one we wanted. So we didn't get on. It was. The next train came an hour later. It was a long day - we arrived in Bacharach at 7:30 pm on 8/15. We had left Evansville at 1 pm on 8/14. The entire trip took 23.5 hours.

But worth it, because this is Bacharach.

Bacharach has a castle. Today it's a youth hostel. We didn't stay there; I couldn't imagine climbing to it laden with luggage.

Dinner was Döner and pizza. Not traditionally German, but yummy, and more importantly, still open.

I can't believe I'll be teaching in this room this semester

2011-08-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

I think the students are going to be a little distracted. Heck, I think I'm going to be a little distracted. I mean, the view out the windows is something like this:

And the building looks like this:

Unfortunately (not really) I sleep in a different building.

There's my front door in the center of the picture.

I think it's going to be a good semester.

Happy birthday to me!

2011-05-31T23:27:00.000-05:00

I shopped for myself this year, and told everyone else not to bother.

With perfect timing, both packages showed up on the doorstep this morning.

That's one summer top for me (teal), one backpack for Kathryn (deep blue, from a pattern that's in the book), one summer top for Becca (the rest of the blues and the green), and one pretty dark red something - maybe a shawl - for me.

At least, that's what they'll be someday.

Trying again...

2011-05-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

A little randomly for now, until I get caught up a little.

No, I haven't managed to take a picture every day. Either my life is rather routine, or I have little imagination. Probably some of both.

On April 6 or so I cast-on for a little shrug for Kathryn. She wanted it for Easter.
By late evening I had made good progress!

No other interim pictures, but I got done for Easter dinner! Didn't make it in time for church though.

It fits!

(Pictures were actually taken on Mon, Apr 25. Easter was a tad busy.)

No. Time.

2011-03-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

It's the crazy part of the semester. Who am I kidding? It's all crazy. But this week is worse, since my spring break (two weeks ago and too short) doesn't coincide with the kids' spring break. It's been a fun-filled week of dragging the kids to sit in my office. Or John's, for a change of scenery.

Someday I'll catch up on the pictures. I've only missed a handful of days - I think.

But for all of you who are eagerly waiting, here's a good one.

Friday, March 18. The first lost tooth!

It's official...

2011-02-24T18:27:00.002-06:00

I think it's ok that this photo isn't in order...

Look what I got in the mail today.

And yes, John got one too. And they only had to change about 4 words on it!

Time to breathe...

2011-02-19T11:42:00.000-06:00

The past 2 weeks, more or less:

Sunday, 2/6: Kathryn singing in the choristers choir. She glared at me, but I took the picture anyway.

Monday, 2/7: Kathryn and Becca opened a restaurant! Here's the menu. Unfortunately, I came home after the restaurant had stopped serving for the day.

Tuesday, 2/8: You should read this book. ALL of you.

Wednesday, 2/9: A bit of workplace 'harassment'. I was just the photographer; I was totally innocent...

Thursday, 2/10: Rebecca's love note to me:

Friday, 2/11: Valentine's Day party in Rebecca's class. I have never seen such a well-behaved group of 5 year olds. Kudos to the teacher!

The craft project - a Valentine's hawk, for the school mascot.

Saturday, 2/12: We watched Gnomeo and Juliet, but it was dark in the theater, so no pictures. Rebecca LOVED the 3-D glasses. I didn't love the $3 upcharge per person quite as much. I'm cheap.

Sunday, 2/13: Kathryn had a gymnastics meet in Indianapolis, but Rebecca wanted to stay home so she could go to church and choir practice and see her beloved teacher, Judy. I did have to get up at 6 am to do Kathryn's hair. And she scored her first 9 of the season - a 9.1 on the beam!

Monday, 2/14: Kathryn and Rebecca came to my office to bring me a V-day present, and left a present on Ann's whiteboard next door too.

Tuesday, 2/15: I deliberately didn't take the picture of my present till today. My game, my rules!
"And mommy, when you kill these, you can still plant the bulbs in the yard!" Ah, my family knows me well.

Wednesday, 2/16: Kathryn finally got to be in the 9.0 club picture at gymnastics! I'll save my thoughts about whether this is rubbing it in for the less successful girls for another time.

Thursday, 2/17: Darwin Day lecture. I (in a moment of insanity) volunteered to participate in the panel discussion and give a short presentation on how Darwin's work relates to the stuff I think about. I think my preparation time to presentation time ratio ended up being about 30 to 1. And that's only because I went about 15 minutes over time. But the story of how butterflies make spots is just TOO DARN COOL.

More catching up

2011-02-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

Sunday, January 30: Rebecca singing in the cherub choir at church. Thankfully, this was just the rehearsal. She was (slightly) less grumpy during the real thing.

Monday, January 31: After procrastinating for weeks, I finally opened the package of student evaluations from last semester. This was one of the TWO comments I got for my majors' class. Sigh.

Tuesday, February 1: Out of focus, but since it's the only picture I took today, it'll have to do. Kathryn bringing the team trophy (3rd place!) to the coaches.

Wednesday, February 2: Frogs? Yes! Frogs (Xenopus laevis for the geeks among us) that my students will be working with this semester. I've never worked with 'real animals' before. They are big. And need care. I think they should've stuck with the fruit flies.

Thursday, February 3: Happy Chinese New Year! I'm going to cheat and use this picture, even though it was taken on Saturday. Thanks to PoPo for sending lucky money! (How funny! This was file number 888. Lucky picture!)

Friday, February 4: Seems like I'm getting in the habit of forgetting to take pictures on Friday...

Saturday, Febrary 5: Talent show day! Kathryn's group did a wonderful job, and Rebecca loved the whole show. I couldn't get a good picture of the show, so here's a backstage one. The halo around Kathryn's hips is the hula hoop.

First gymnastics meet of 2011

2011-02-06T20:42:00.000-06:00

Saturday, January 29. This was the Judges Cup, at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. I actually took a few pictures this time - usually John takes all of them. These were all during warm-ups; Kathryn says that it makes her too nervous if we take pictures during competition.

Back walkover (I think):

Cast on the bar:

Dismount:

Full turn on the beam:

Handstand dismount off the beam:

And two 10th place finishes!

Catching up

2011-02-06T19:51:00.000-06:00

Yikes! Guess this is what happens when I actually have to work...

Saturday, January 22: Ahh... bliss!

Sunday, January 23: We were responsible for bringing Sunday supper to church tonight. As usual, we overestimated the food we'd need. This is fried chicken leftovers for the forseeable future.

Monday, January 24: Progress on the DNA scarf!

Tuesday, January 25: My current book: The Help. Excellent.

Wednesday, January 26: Rebecca practicing, and happily!

Thursday, January 27: Talent show practice. Act is Camp Hoop: The Hula Jam. Kathryn makes it look completely effortless.

Friday, January 28: Oops. Oh well, 27 days in a row isn't bad.

A work week's worth of pictures

2011-01-21T22:42:00.005-06:00

Except Monday was a holiday.

The best thing to do on a holiday? Take an afternoon nap. So I did. And when I woke, I came downstairs to find this.

This is the spot where the Christmas tree WAS. John and the kids put everything away while I dozed. What a treat to not have to pack all that stuff away!

On Tuesday, I made pulled pork. It was good. So good that I couldn't wait (aka: forgot) to take a picture before eating. So here's a picture of the dirty Dutch oven instead.

On Wednesday, I walked into my office, looked at the picture that's been on my whiteboard for close to two years, and decided a photograph of this masterpiece was way overdue.

No, I did not provide input for any of the content.

On Thursday, it snowed.

3 inches, maybe? Two more days of school cancelled for the kids. Oh, joy.
I wish it would REALLY snow. Like 6-8 inches, minimum. If we're going to have to deal with all this inconvenience, it might as well be for SOMETHING.

When we were in Singapore the Christmas before last, Becca was fascinated with this waving cats that we saw in stores all the time. I think the cats were supposed to be bringing good luck, or something. Dear Aunt Wee Lim remembered Becca's obsession, and sent her one this week!

So here's lucky cat, waving goodbye to a long week.

A musical weekend for Kathryn

2011-01-16T13:20:00.003-06:00

Today she sang "I have a dream" in church in honor of MLK Jr.'s birthday.

This was after she spent 5 hours on Friday and 9.5 hours yesterday singing at the EVSC Honors choir festival. She was one of six kids from her school picked to be in the choir. They put on a fantastic concert at the end of the festival.

Guess it's time to take down the tree

2011-01-14T21:15:00.002-06:00

and the rest of the Christmas stuff. We'll probably stall on that long enough to me to take pictures of the newest decorations.

Like this beauty that Rebecca made:

On to project #5

2011-01-14T21:07:00.007-06:00

This one had been hibernating for a while; it's not really a mindless, TV watching-conducive knit. But it's so much fun!

I have a little more than two patten repeats done at this point. "Project" 5 is to do two more repeats. I have to break the projects into smaller pieces, because there's no way I could get a whole sweater done in a week. And keep my job, that is.

Someday I'll get pictures of project #1 and 3 up. Becca's scarf on 1/1 was project #2, because I was all gung-ho and started early).

Project #4

2011-01-12T14:25:00.004-06:00

is done!

This has been languishing in my closet for 3-4 months, with only the button band to finish and the ends to weave in. I decided that the original button band was too wide, so I unraveled half of it. Then I was too lazy to unravel more so I could make buttonholes, so there aren't any buttons.

I bent the rules of 'take a picture' because my arms aren't long enough to take a decent picture of myself.

Well, ok. Here's one attempt of taking a picture of myself.

January 10-11

2011-01-11T19:18:00.002-06:00

January 11: Snow day! We lasted about 5 minutes outside before we decided it was too cold. No, I didn't make a snow angel.

January 10: First day of classes, and my desk shows it. I think I was more or less ready by the time I actually had to teach...

January 7-9

2011-01-09T19:17:00.006-06:00

January 9: There were much more interesting pictures I could've taken today, but of course, I forgot. So here is Kathryn, reading OUR new Nook. I should exercise my right as parent and take it from her so I can read, but I'd rather not face her wrath. ;) I love that I can borrow books for the Nook from the library. I'm reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It's keeping my interest very well, which can't be said for most books.

January 8: This is the swatch for my next sweater. I love the beautiful variegated red of this yarn. I was so conscientious - knitted a sample swatch, and even washed and dried it before measuring. Unfortunately, it's too big. Back to swatching with smaller needles.

January 7: First snow of the year. I love snow. This snowfall was even better because amazingly, there wasn't a snow delay! Since we live where a 2 inch snowfall can mean 2 cancelled school days, this was completely unexpected.

I'm just not a very good photographer

2011-01-06T18:05:00.009-06:00

I guess that's why I usually let John take the pictures.

I'm not sure why, but on a whim, I decided that I would join this challenge to take a picture every day this year. Maybe I just need another thing to not accomplish. But oh well.

So far it's been quite difficult. Mostly because I just forget, then scramble to take some random picture late in the day when the lighting is lousy. At least, that's my excuse. But here's what I have so far:

Jan 6: One ball of a beautiful yarn that I splurged on a little while ago. I'm always drawn to RED. Someday soon it'll be a sweater (see other challenge). Of course, Becca had to be in the picture too.

Jan 5: Lousy picture at the gym. I initially forgot to turn the flash off, but that picture was even darker than this one. And the zoom on this little camera is a bit too wimpy. But hey! Proof that Becca also does gymnastics!

Jan 4: Kathryn spends a LOT of time in this position. Like mama, like daughter. But I have outgrown the pen-chewing.

First day back

2011-01-03T15:08:00.002-06:00

calls for an after-school treat?

I think she enjoyed it.

(actually, I was just trying to clear the freezer out a tiny bit.)

Pigs in blankets

2011-01-02T19:09:00.004-06:00

Can't remember the last time I made a recipe from America's Test Kitchen and was disappointed. This was from the latest issue of Cook's Country, and involved homemade biscuit dough.

The kids are already asking when we can have them for dinner again.

A new year...

2011-01-01T17:07:00.004-06:00

And maybe more blogging? Who knows?

Let's start with this.

Rebecca and her new scarf, which I cast-on and cast-off for today. #1 in my 52 projects in 52 weeks 'resolution' for this year. Starting off easy...

Start of a summer family tradition?

2010-07-03T22:37:00.003-05:00

The girls and I went blueberry picking. John stayed home to watch Germany dismantle Argentina. I think those were the teams. Football, for those of you wondering. Oops. Forgot. You people probably call it soccer. Anyway.

It went something like this:

"Mama, is this one ripe?"
"What about this one?"
"And this one?"
"Look, I picked a blueberry."
"I'm sweaty."
"Look, my fingers are blue."
"I'm hot."
"I need a drink."
"I need to go potty."
"I'm tired of bending down."
"Can we leave yet?"
"Look at my blueberries!"
"Are we done yet?"
"I want to pick more!"
"The flies are biting me!"
"Well, they're tickling my legs!"
"I want to go!"
"I want to stay!"
"Aren't we done yet?"

Fun family tradition, I tell you. Don't you wish you could have come too?

By the way, if you didn't know (and I certainly didn't before today) - blueberry bushes are about the height of a not-very-tall adult female (me). The berries grow in convenient clusters, about the size of your hand. There aren't any thorns. People around us sat on stools to pick. These are E.A.S.Y. to pick. Easier than cherries (and you've heard the phrase cherry-picking, haven't you?). Easier than strawberries (oh my aching back!). Easier than blackberries (Ow!).

We came home with this:

Twelve pounds of freshly picked blueberries.

I froze some, refrigerated some, and made a cake.

Blueberry pound cake (slightly adapted from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook)

2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup (4 oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 oz low-fat yogurt*
Cooking spray
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice

*recipe called for lemon yogurt. I found lemon chiffon yogurt, lemon meringue yogurt, lemon creme yogurt, but no plain old lemon yogurt. And the low-fat stuff was sweetened with aspartame or Splenda, which I think just tastes yucky. So I went with my standby - Stonyfield farms low-fat vanilla yogurt, and added the zest of a lemon.

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat granulated sugar, butter and cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes, or in my case, until I assembled all the other ingredients). Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. (Oops. I just realized I forgot the vanilla.)
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and blueberries in a small bowl; toss to coat. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in blueberry mixture.
Pour batter into 10-inch tube pan coated with cooking spray. (I didn't have a tube pan, so I used a bundt pan. Apparently a tube pan has a removable bottom. This is important later. I also didn't use the cooking spray, because I think it tastes funky in baked goods. This is also important later).
Sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles. (I think I tapped many times. This might not have been a good thing.)
Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Mine was done in an hour.)
Cool cake in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove cake from sides of pan. Cool 15 additional minutes on wire rack; remove cake from bottom of pan. (Assuming the sides and bottom of your pan come apart. Mine didn't. I just let it sit until it was time to go to the party I was taking this to.)
Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl drizzle over warm cake. Cut into slices using a serrated knife.
(Or struggle to remove the cake from the pan because you didn't grease it properly, before giving up and cutting it directly in the pan, since the non-stick finish is apparently not non-stick anyway. Mangle some slices. Notice that the blueberries mostly sank to the bottom of the cake, and wonder if that rather spirited 'sharp tapping' might have contributed to that. Eat. Enjoy.)

A quick little project

2010-06-28T00:24:00.003-05:00

Turned out quite well, I think. Took only 3 days or so around the craziness of end-of-the-year grading and stuff (well yes, I knit when I have too much to do. And yes, it took me a long time to get this picture taken and downloaded.) I still need to get to the store and find a clasp for it, but it's been worn many times already.

Becca has placed an order for a 'rainbow' one. I'm working on finding the perfect yarn.

I may never eat again

2010-06-09T22:14:00.002-05:00

I'm currently watching Food, Inc.

Don't watch this movie if you want to enjoy cheap supermarket food ever again.

It's compelling, and disgusting, and horrifying, and depressing.

I learned a lot I didn't want to know. And I had considered myself pretty knowledgeable about food production.

Now I wish I could stick my head in the sand.

In the summer, I get my vegetables from a CSA. I love it. I'm thinking about joining a meat CSA too.

I'm lucky I can afford these options. But what about those who can't?

The problem with this blogging thing

2010-06-06T17:06:00.002-05:00

is that I forget to take pictures.

And then I think I can't blog about whatever it was because I didn't take any pictures of it.

This post has no pictures. I was too busy being in the moment to take pictures (read: too lazy).

This weekend:

I brought home 20 plus pounds of cherries after less than two hours of cherry picking.
I pitted more than 10 pounds of cherries.
I dried 5 pounds of cherries and froze the other 5.
I learned that 5 pounds of cherries, dried, equals something like 1 cup of cherries.
I discovered that only half my family actually likes cherries.
On a non-cherry-related note, I dropped my first-born child off at camp.
I think I will survive 5 days without said first-born child.

Gotta say something...

2010-04-27T20:53:00.003-05:00

to revive the poor, ignored, languishing blog...

Today was the last day of classes!
I gave an exam today!
I already had over 3 inches of grading, before the exam!
Whee!

Maybe I should rethink my course schedule...

I have plans for the summer though. Plans! And they may even be interesting enough to blog about. We'll see.

A new look

2010-02-13T09:33:00.003-06:00

A year of knits

2009-12-27T22:08:00.020-06:00

(Yes, you've seen some of these pictures before. I just wanted to put them all in one place.)

The year began with the Warm Woolies 10 for 10 campaign - 10 items for kids aged 10 or older. It took me till the end of November to finish all ten.

Then there was the 6 for 6 campaign - 6 items for 6 year olds. I think this one was finished sometime in August.

And the FeelGood campaign of the last post - here are the pieces I made.

One more pair of socks for Warm Woolies, just because...

And some non-charity pieces:

The tally: 10 pairs of socks, 7 sweaters, 4 vests, one shrug, one scarf, one pair of booties, and one hat (not pictured).

Not a bad year's work. Especially considering I had never made anything but flat pieces (blankets, scarves, shawls, throws) before January.

Warm Woolies FeelGood Campaign

2009-12-24T02:08:00.006-06:00

Back in October I received a package. About 7 pounds of yarn wound into two huge cones, one purple, and one black. This was a donation from one of my favorite classic clothing stores, Lands' End, which had teamed up with Warm Woolies to provide clothing for children on tribal reservations here in the United States. (Lands' End garments made from FeelGood yarn can be purchased here. No, I didn't hand knit any of these :) )

With the help of my good friend Heidi, (almost all) the yarn was knitted up into sweaters, vests and hats.

Here is our handiwork, minus one hat, which was cast on and completed while I proctored final exams just before I packed up the lot and shipped it off. I still feel guilty about the 4 oz or so of yarn I didn't manage to use up (could've made another hat!), but there was just more yarn than time.

Puppy dog eyes

2009-12-17T18:21:00.005-06:00

During that long, long, long flight, we were lucky to have personal on-demand screens on the back of each seat. Rebecca watched Bolt about four times in a row.

Yesterday, Rebecca spotted Bolt again. She REALLY wanted us to get it.

That face almost made me give in. And no, we don't have an Xbox 360.

Christmas vacation!

2009-12-15T23:27:00.005-06:00

We got on an airplane (or three) and took a long, long trip.

Enjoying Twizzlers for sustenance while waiting to get on the plane in Chicago. Becca was still in a good mood, having no understanding of the concept of 27.5 hours travel time.

We came to Singapore for Christmas. Becca has never been, and Kathryn doesn't remember much of it. We met cousin Khloe for the first time and bonded immediately.

Note how Khloe looks cool while Kathryn and Becca have hair plastered to their faces. Guess you have to get used to the heat. And no, not a dry heat. At all.

To cool off, I introduced the kids to ice kachang - shaved ice covered in syrup over weird stuff like undercooked red beans (the kachang). The ice was a huge hit. The kachang - not so much.

My favorite source for spices

2009-11-24T21:03:00.004-06:00

I admit it. I'm a food snob. At the very least, I'm a food snob wanna-be. Sometimes I cook. From scratch, even. I was telling my friend today that I actually went to the trouble of making the bread for the Thanksgiving stuffing. Once. And I made a pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin. Once.

But I digress.

I always get my spices at Penzeys. I don't remember how I heard about them, but I've been mail-ordering my spices from them since they were just a mail-order catalog and two stores in Wisconsin. Then they opened a store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. What a treat it was to go there. I'd open every jar of herb and spice to take a good whiff. And they had hot pepper flakes that were actually HOT. And 3 different types of cinnamon!

Then we moved to a god-forsaken city with no Penzeys, (Los Angeles) and I mourned the loss.

These days we're three hours from at least three Penzeys stores (St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati) and I try to make a point to stop in when we're in the area. I think we went around last March, to the one in Columbus, OH. (Another gymnastics meet. Nothing else in Columbus, you know.) I browsed, John broke a jar of cinnamon (they were really nice about it) and the kids sat in the kids' corner and drew pictures.

Today I got a Penzey's catalog in the mail. Check it out here. Page 13, especially. (Hint: Check out the ART on page 13. Anything look familiar?)

Here we go again...

2009-10-18T14:01:00.011-05:00

Look! I have time to knit again!

That can only mean one thing.

Meet season is upon us!

On Saturday we drove four long hours to New Castle, Indiana, home of some high school fieldhouse that's apparently pretty big. It was all set up for a gymnastics meet.

We sat for four more hours on bleachers that weren't that comfortable, trying to keep Becca amused,

and watching Kathryn compete for a total of maybe 5 minutes. More good knitting time (when she wasn't competing, that is).

Good pictures were a little hard to come by - we were more interested in watching the action.

Start of floor routine:

Some move on the beam whose name I don't remember:

Getting ready for the run to the vault (which happens so quickly that we've never managed a picture):

No good pictures on the bars, because the bars are always in the way.

At awards, she won the judge's award (a package of candy!) for "best scale". My (bad gymnastics mom) reaction - "What's a scale?!"

Here's the scale.

My back hurts just looking at it.

She also got a few other awards. I think she did pretty well.

The team did great too - note all the little girls with the same leotard also receiving awards. The team took 3rd place overall, but we couldn't get a picture of 7 screaming, excited little girls.

Here's the haul.

Becca needed to get in the picture too.

Full results:
Level 5, 9 and under age group:

Vault: 9.100, 2nd place
Bar: 8.000, 12th place
Beam: 8.550, 5th place
Floor: 8.900, 2nd place
All-around: 34.550, 3rd place.

One down, a bunch more to go! There'll be a lot of car-riding, bleacher-warming and knitting in the next few months!

(P.S. I don't know why some of the pictures are off-center. It's the upload, not the photographer.)

Quotes from the four-year old

2009-10-14T17:51:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was picture day at preschool.

"The picture-takener was SO funny. We all laughed and laughed. My GOD she was funny. She was 100 pounds of funny."
_________________________

I had gotten a notice about a field trip they were going to take, to watch Rainbow Fish. I think it's a play. Not sure. Anyway, at pickup on Monday:

"We saw a movie today. Rainbow fish."

I was suspicious. I hadn't gotten any reminders about the trip. And I didn't think it was a movie.

"What's the movie about?"

"There's a shark, and a rainbow fish.
And the rainbow fish is in his house, and the shark says, "little fish, little fish, let me in."
And the fish says "Not by the hair of my finny fin fin!"

( I checked. No field trip, but they did read the book. And no, that's not the plot either.)

World Communion Sunday

2009-10-04T23:08:00.005-05:00

Today was World Communion Sunday. Frankly, I don't know how many churches celebrate it, or what denominations. I had never heard about it before I moved to Indiana. I might not have been paying attention.

In Southwestern Indiana I'm a bit of an anomaly. I stand out. People remember me wherever I go, which is terribly embarrassing when someone says hi to me at a store and wants to make conversation and I have no idea who they are.

I have only been attending my church for a few months. People know (of) me though, because I stand out. I got an email earlier this week asking me to read a few verses of a Psalm in 'my language' for today's World Communion Sunday service. I assumed she didn't mean that I should read in English, although I really can't read much of anything in any other language.

Thanks to Google I manged to find a Chinese translation of the Psalm in which I could recognize more than half the characters. I found a nifty Chinese to Pinyin translator so I could actually pronounce the characters, even if I didn't know what they meant. And then I found a Chinese to English dictionary so I could actually figure out what I was saying.

Then I read the passage this morning, butchering it, leaving out words because I was nervous and because my tongue just isn't accustomed to making those sounds. I consoled myself that nobody knew what I was saying anyway.

World Communion Sunday. A day to celebrate our oneness in Christ and to remember the world that the Prince of Peace called us to serve. I loved that we ended with an old hymn from my childhood (with lyrics changed to be more inclusive):

Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
the peace that was meant to be
With God our creator
children all are we
Let us walk with each other
In perfect harmony
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow
To take each moment and live each moment
in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me

Yes, indeed. Let peace begin with me.

...and in a non-sequitur but not really, I love what Michael Moore had to say about capitalism today. Read it. It's a good one.

Faith and science

2009-09-08T20:50:00.009-05:00

I don't think there's a person that reads this blog (that is, if there are indeed people reading this blog) regularly that doesn't know that I'm a scientist. That part of me is pretty darn public, since I happen to be a biology professor.

Maybe it's slightly less well-known that I also happen to be a Christian.

I was watching Kathryn at the end of gymnastics practice tonight when this conversation started around me:

"Yes, my daughter is enjoying middle school too. Love her homeroom teacher Ms. A. She's great."

"Oh, Ms. A is my daughter's science teacher. She's wonderful. I was worried because my daughter was at the Christian school, and they didn't teach creation there..."

(here my ears perked up. A Christian school in these parts not teaching creation?!)

"Well my family believes in creation."

"I mean, the Christian school didn't teach evolution..."

(oh boy. the E word.)

"...and I asked the teacher if this would be a problem that we believed in creation and she assured us there would be no conflict..."

"... I just tell my girls that they need to learn the answers that they're taught in school, and then we just laugh about it at home..."

"...her teacher said that the earth is millions of years old, but if you look at the timeline in the NIV bible, it's clear that it's only about 7 to 10 thousand years old..."

"...they were taught that thing about wooly mammoths in 2nd or 3rd grade, and we just laughed about it at home..."

"...my daughter was asked to draw her beliefs about where people came from in science, and she thought she'd get in trouble for drawing the Creation story... I told her her beliefs couldn't be wrong..."

(why are teachers asking about beliefs in a science class?)

"...there's nothing to lose with believing in the Bible..."

"...I think that if I didn't believe in God and Jesus I'd just be going around committing crimes and being immoral and stuff like that..."

Thankfully, practice ended at this point. I might have bled to death from my tongue otherwise.

I could write about how Christians aren't the only ones with claims to morality, but I think that one is (hopefully) obvious. The question of faith and science, however, is perhaps more troublesome.

As a (good) scientist and a (faithful, or at least trying to be faithful) Christian, I am deeply troubled by the often pervasive notion that faith and science are incompatible. And I get it from both sides. (Many) Fellow scientists imply that I'm a superstitious fool. (Many) Christians look at me as a heathen bound for eternal damnation.

This semester I have at least two students who have been quite vocal about their belief in a literal Creation story. They have offered their opinion (in writing, so far) already, 1.5 weeks into the semester. One even offered that, like the gymnastics mom I encountered tonight, she would 'give (me) the answers desired', while presumably going home to laugh at my folly. What inspired this? I'm not completely sure; I haven't covered much material beyond the components of a cell and how cells divide. (I don't imagine that she expected I was going to describe mitosis in terms of 'God causes each chromosome to move to its correct location'.) I'd be surprised if there weren't more students who shared their beliefs; I'm sure I just haven't identified them yet.

I happily reconcile both my science and my faith. I teach about molecular evolution (mutations accumulate in DNA sequence over time, and are more commonly seen in sequences not used to code for protein) and then go home and say a blessing before dinner. My research on fruit flies is based on evolution (as in, the research is applicable to humans because you're really not that different from fruit flies) and I will sing in a church choir (after a 20 year hiatus!) starting this Sunday.

Why can't I accept (not 'believe' - science is about observation, not belief) the geological evidence that the earth is millions of years old, or the biological evidence for descent with modification (a.k.a. the E word) and still believe that it was all set in motion by an all-loving God?

I can, and I do.

Maybe it's time to rename the blog

2009-09-06T22:00:00.005-05:00

to 'Joyce has nothing to say'. Except I do, but haven't gotten around to it.

Stuff that has happened in the past few weeks which I haven't gotten around to blogging about:

I have a 9 year old! When did that happen?!
I survived said 9 year old's birthday party. A slumber party. 10 girls, including mine. Miraculously, all made it out alive.
I am teaching again. It's like a marathon, and I didn't train anywhere close to enough.
I am singing again. It's good.
I have about 6 pounds of yarn donated from Lands' End to knit into warm clothing in the next 3 months. 6 pounds is a LOT of yarn.

Mom's done with her meetings!

2009-08-12T18:48:00.022-05:00

So we went to the Magic House. It's ostensibly a children's museum, but I think the adults have at least as much fun, which is why John was under strict orders not to take the kids there by himself.

The kids went downstairs via beanstalk, (John and I took the stairs. We're boring.)

where they found the nation's capital.

They raised the flag,

then Rebecca took some phone calls at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

while Kathryn held a press conference.

Next, the court, Judge Becca presiding.

Being a judge is hard. So they switched to construction.

If only she'd do this at home.

On to more literary pursuits.

Rebecca played the 'harpsichord' a la Beauty, of Beauty and the Beast fame. She actually looked at the color-coded notes on the music, matched them to the colored keys, and played them in the right order, without being told what to do (not that she'd have listened if she were told). My budding musician!

They also got to play dress-up.

Cinderellas:

Characters from Lan Po Po, a Chinese folk tale:

Sacageweas?

All that, and just in the first two hours! (Then the blogger got tired of uploading photos...)

We played at the Magic House for over six hours, and had an awesome time. It's not that easy to thoroughly engage both the 4 year old and the 9 year old, and this place did it impressively. If you're in St. Louis with kids, you MUST take a trip here.

We loved it so much it made our hair stand on end.

Building an arch

2009-08-11T15:59:00.011-05:00

I would have liked a better title for this one, with technical sounding physics/engineering terms, but I didn't actually see the exhibits. Had to work. Poor me.

John built an arch at the St. Louis Science Center. It was so well built that the kids could actually stand under it.

Then they learned about optics.

And they did some brain teaser called the tower of Hanoi.

The teamwork exhibited in this picture is amazing. And rare.

Success!

Then they balanced 12 nails on one.

I am a little perturbed that they apparently learned a lot more physics/math on this trip than biology. Guess that's what happens when I'm not around to make sure they get a well-rounded education.

Mini-vacation!

2009-08-11T09:18:00.010-05:00

I had to go to St. Louis for a workshop, so John and the girls tagged along to take advantage of the free room and mileage.

While I attended meetings in an over-cooled room with no windows, Rebecca and Kathryn brushed goats,

rode frogs,

sat in a hippo's mouth,

and climbed on a REALLY big bug.

They also saw some cool butterflies,

and goofed off in front of the penguins.

Tomorrow: the St. Louis Science Center.

What I did in July

2009-08-06T10:08:00.005-05:00

We've come to the point in the summer when I realize that it's about time I started thinking about fall classes, fall syllabi, fall schedules. The luxury of not working for a living is almost past. And as usual, I have about the same list of to-do's at summer's end as I had in the beginning.

Sigh.

I feel so un-accomplished.

Except that I did teach in June. And supervise research students in June and July. (Yes, the 'not working for a living' thing is a sad myth.) And rip up a deck. And watch the Tour.

And I knit. Warm Woolies has a contest this summer. Six for six - knit six items that would fit a six year old child and win some knitting gifts. Sounded good, so I decided to go for it, even though I haven't finished the ten for ten contest - ten sweaters or pairs of socks suited for a ten year old.

I got started around July 6. And finished the last piece August 4.

Maybe I did accomplish something this summer after all.

2009-07-22T23:14:00.001-05:00

Welcome, baby Isaac! Can't wait to meet you!

How to build a bomb shelter for spiders

2009-07-19T12:16:00.002-05:00

(Or "How to build a deck that will frustrate the next home owners who need to remove it.")

There was a deck in our backyard, built around a big old maple tree. I suppose it once was a nice deck, but then the tree grew and buckled the deck. Besides, the deck wasn't particularly close to the house, so we (not known for ever going to any trouble) have never used it.

There was a big wind storm last fall, the remnant of a hurricane. It blew down some big limbs off the old maple, which unfortunately fell on the kids' playset. Then there was a big ice storm last winter. Big limbs cracked under the weight of the ice, and fell on what remained of the playset. Thankfully nothing fell on the house. But everytime I looked at that tree I saw a ticking time bomb.

The tree had to go. Which meant the deck had to go first.

Day one of deck demolition. After an hour or two of work, John managed to pry up ONE board.

We figured his lack of success was because we don't own the right tools. So a day and a trip to Lowe's later, he tried again.

That pick-axe ended up being flimsy and not particularly suited for the task, which necessitated yet another trip to Lowe's. I felt quite empowered walking out of the store with the new pick-axe and a crowbar. Deadly weapons, both of them.

Day two's work was thankfully accelerated by Bryan's arrival. I can't believe that he willingly spent his weekend helping us rip up deck boards, but I am grateful beyond words. (Yes, I know I keep saying 'we'. I helped. I, um... handed them hammers and crowbars and stuff. And threw away nails. And hauled a few boards away. Once in a while, I even got to wield a crowbar, just to prove to myself that I have no physical strength whatsoever.)

End of day two and 8 man-hours (and 4 woman-hours) of work: half the boards ripped up.

Why so slow?

Here's why:

Three spiral nails across the width of every 2 X 6 deck board to hold the boards to the joists. Joists spaced one foot apart. The deck was about 15 by 20 feet. You do the math.

Necessary? I suppose if you were building a bomb shelter for spiders...

Another reason why this took so long: we painstakingly removed every nail from the boards and piled them up neatly.

On day three we wised up.

End of day three and 8 more man-hours: Almost done with the deck boards!

Day four: Just John and I working today, for about 2 hours. Ripped up the last few deck boards and removed the joists. Luckily the tree roots had caused some of the brackets holding the joists to the wood underneath to pull out. There were LOTS of brackets.

Day five: John and I and less than two more hours, and we're ALL DONE!

Yes, yes, I know there are still 4 X 4 posts standing.

We suspect (since every single aspect of this deck-building was overkill) those are probably 6 feet deep into the ground and embedded in concrete. We'll just borrow a saw to cut them off at the ground surface and call it good enough.

Stay in school, kids. Manual labor really isn't fun, even if you get to take pictures and blog about it.

Birthday!

2009-07-18T21:07:00.001-05:00

Rebecca turned 4 the other week.

The celebration started with a Dora pinata.

(Note that Becca's clothes match Dora's. NOT my doing.)

The pinata and mini-cupcakes were taken to preschool so that we could bless the teachers with 20 over-sugared 4 year olds.

When we got to school, Ben had to give Becca a birthday hug. (Ben as in "Yes, I want those yellow cupcakes because yellow is Ben's favorite color. Oh my.)

After preschool we came home for present-opening. We accidentally went overboard (PSA: only shop ONCE. Not multiple stores on multiple days.) and the grandparents also sent gifts, so she made out like a bandit. A very cool-looking bandit.

Wait. No birthday party?

But of course.

Since Kathryn had been psyching Becca up about her party for oh, a year (!) we couldn't escape this one. Since Becca had been talking about Sydney's Chuck E. Cheese party for the last eleven months, the venue was a no-brainer.

So we had two little friends (Sydney and Wyatt) and their parents and siblings, and two grown-up friends (Ann and Bryan) join us at CEC on Monday afternoon.

The party started with some playtime. Adrenaline junkie loved the roller coaster simulator.

Then came food and cake and the goofy Chuck E. Cheese stuff.

Our party coordinator was fantastic, but Becca was not going near that crazy mouse. So Kathryn went instead.

And then we continued with more playtime and more roller coaster simulators.

Everyone (yes, including the grown-ups!) had a great time. We made the dangerous discovery that you can actually get beer and wine (!!) at CEC. I think that John, Ann and Bryan are planning to sneak there some night after the kids are in bed to play pinball.

And since the party was 5 days after the real birthday, Becca seems to think she's had TWO birthdays and is now five. Oye.

Too painful to talk

2009-07-07T22:37:00.001-05:00

My due date was Monday, July 4th, 2005. At my doctor's appointment on Thursday, the 7th, the doctor announced that if I didn't have the baby by the next Monday, that she would perform an induction.

"But I really think the baby will come this weekend."

Yeah, right. She had said that for the past 2 weeks.

I was bound and determined NOT to be induced, although I really didn't have a good plan for avoidance. Perhaps it was the strength of my will that caused the contractions to start that evening. After a few hours, I called the doctor.

"You really don't want to come in until the contractions are too painful to talk through."

OKayyyyyy...

I went to bed, hoping for once in my life to be woken by pain. But at 7 I got up for the day, grumpy that I was still quite able to talk through the contractions.

In an attempt to push (hah!) things along, I decided to walk Kathryn to preschool. It was about 1.5 miles round-trip, but we generally were lazy enough to drive the distance. Not that day. I strode with purpose. But still, talking? No problem.

At 11, I decided to call the doctor again. This time, I got the other OB in the practice.

"Well, since this is your second child, you really should come in now."

Now? Immediately? Sure. No problem. I made lunch, ate it, then went to pick Kathryn up at preschool. (We drove this time.) Dropped her and mom off at home, then made our way to the hospital.

The first time stamp on the monitor trace was 1 pm. The nurse - Gregg - was quite convinced I was in very early labor - I was laughing and joking too much. Very disappointing. Whatever - I could wait a few more days. I said that if he were right, I would just go home (and sulk) and come back later - that 'too painful to talk' later. Gregg was quite surprised to find that I was 4-5 cm dilated. I could stay. Yippee!

*bunch of not-terribly-interesting labor stuff deleted*

2:50 pm: Water broke.

Sometime in the next 25 minutes: Doctor FINALLY showed up. He had figured that the epidural was going to slow down labor. Apparently nobody told him that I didn't get one. NICU people showed up 'just in case'. All these people started talking. really. slowly. to. me. like. I. didn't. understand. English. or. something. Push. Push. Push.

3:16 pm: Baby girl was born.

(The part about not coming in to the hospital until it hurt too much to talk? It NEVER hurt too much to talk. Actually, towards the end I couldn't shut up. I got pretty rude and bitchy. (At least, more so than normal.) In retrospect, it was quite hilarious.)

Finishing stuff up

2009-07-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

I have a short attention span. Seriously, my mind has wandered to 4 different topics in the time it has taken me to type this line. (Maybe I need to learn to type faster.) So these past couple of weeks have been a time of BIG accomplishments. I'm actually completing knitting projects (slightly) faster than I'm starting new ones.

When I first started knitting again (I learned before college. That sweater was never finished, and I have no idea where it is.) Kathryn begged me to make her a sweater. This was when she was young enough that mommy was omnipotent and omniscient. She asked many times, but I always declined. I really didn't think that I had the ability to actually finish something before she outgrew it. So I stuck to knitting blankets for her dolls, and dishcloths which were promptly co-opted as blankets for her dolls, and baby blankets that became blankets for... you know.

Then I discovered Warm Woolies and motivation, and finished a sweater in a month. Kathryn, older and wiser, declared that I had no excuse for not making her a sweater. But winter was just about over, and nobody in their right mind would wear a sweater in Evansville in the summer, so I compromised with a little shrug.

And I actually finished it while it still fit! (it took about 3 months, if you're wondering, but I took a long hiatus for the scarf.)

A change of pace

2009-06-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

I've knit a lot this year. (So much that I've been asked who's doing my day job.) Knitting recharges me and allows me an escape from the stresses of life. (And exchanges it with other stresses. Instead of worrying about tenure or the state of the U.S. economy, I stress about whether I have enough yarn to finish a sweater.) And since I have the attention span of a puppy (Squirrel!) it's a good thing to do while I'm doing other things - watching TV, reading, prepping for classes...

I knit my first socks this year. And my first sweater. And started to feel like I'm actually pretty good at this thing. Time to try something different. Something more challenging.

I found a lovely pattern on this great knitting website. The pictures were gorgeous, the model so chic and fashionable... I couldn't resist.

Lace is quite different from a chunky woolen sweater made for a child who has no coat, or thick wool socks made for a child who doesn't own shoes. Tiny needles. The finest yarn.

It was an experience.

And here it is, in all its glory.

The color is truer on the second picture. I'm much better at knitting than photographing knitting. It looked pretty good while on the needles (but I forgot to take a picture) but just blossomed after my (rather amateurish) blocking.

It's strong, warm, and beautiful. Just like the person for whom it was made.

Knits

2009-06-29T20:38:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I received a package of yarn. Opening it felt a little like Christmas - I didn't know what I was going to get. Warm Woolies is this great organization that sends hand-knit woolens to children in orphanages in China and Russia, among other countries. They will also send you yarn for the price of shipping, so that you can knit lots of socks and sweaters for them. I love it.

My previous shipment contained skeins of a lovely wool/cashmere/silk blend, which I (not-so) promptly turned into socks and sweaters:

This time, I got three different yarns, and I'm still trying to figure out what they will become. To warm up, I made a pair of socks that Kathryn wanted, but which didn't fit her (and which she couldn't have anyway).

It seems weird to be making thick warm woolies when it's been so hot that today's 89 degree high felt like a cold snap, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Irony

2009-06-20T21:34:00.000-05:00

Remember the song "Ironic", by Alanis Morissette?

That song drove me nuts. A long list of things that weren't ironic. Rain on your wedding day? Bad luck. Traffic jam when you're already late? Ditto. Black fly in your chardonnay? You get the picture.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't do the great outdoors. At least, not when it's warm out. (Ski slopes with fresh powder? No problem.) Certainly not on a day like today, with temperatures in the mid-90s and high humidity. Summer and I do not get along.

I didn't stray from my urban habitat today. Divided my time between work and home. Spent maybe 15 minutes between my driveway and garage, helping a friend move boxes that he needed to store here temporarily. Went to dinner. Sat on the bench outside the restaurant for a few minutes waiting for a table.

Our names were called. We sat down, ordered, waited for food. I happened to look down. Hmm. How did I get that scab on the back of my knee? Looked more carefully. That's no scab. That's a tick!

Visions of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Are there ticks on the kids? How long do I have to sit here before I can get this THING off me? John tells me not to pick it off with my fingers. I, true to form, freak out for the remainder of dinner.

Finally, we get home. John performs his minor surgery (I can't look!) and expertly removes the darn thing. Healthy, very much alive, and thankfully, flat. I expertly identify it, with the help of google. A lone star tick.

Now, that? Is irony.

Thirteen years

2009-06-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

One lost parent. Just three weeks after we married. I remember the shock and grief, and I was glad to be there for you.

Two children. Children so obviously ours. They look like you (lucky them) unless they're pouting (which happens so very often). They have your gorgeous eyes and my temperament (oh boy). They're beautiful and smart and funny and emotional and loud. So. Very. Loud.

Three states. Minnesota, where we started our lives together. California, where we had met, and then went back to, and then couldn't wait to leave. Indiana, where we would never have imagined ourselves, but it's working out pretty well.

Four moves. To California, the 2000 mile trip with the 1 year old who decided in Bakersfield that she was done with being in a car. She screamed all the way to West L.A. In rush hour traffic. In California, from the too-expensive ritzy apartment to student housing, where we were cramped, but it was good. To Indiana, the 2000 mile trip with the 3 week old who decided in Colorado that she was done being in a car. Colorado is quite a distance from Indiana. My shoulder still cramps thinking about holding my pinky in her mouth as a pacifier. At least the almost-5 year old was a good traveler. In Indiana, from the mouse-infested (OK, I exaggerate) house to our current home, where I hope to stay a good long time.

Five 'jobs' (for you). From grad student to postdoc to postdoc to lecturer to professor. We made it through all that! And a few more jobs for me.

One neurotic dog. Many dead fish. Countless moments, with the good outnumbering the bad. Some unmentioned number of extra pounds. More gray hairs.

Two weddings, both with plenty of people that at least one of us had never met.

Would I do it again?

Well...

I think maybe eloping would have been a better choice. :)

Succumbing to peer pressure

2009-06-14T22:20:00.000-05:00

Fine. I'm here.

Truth is, I'm here because I'm really supposed to be prepping for tomorrow's class and I left my textbook at work so I guess I can't. Bummer.

Hardest thing about this blogging thing? Coming up with some witty name. Everyone else seems to be able to do it, but not me (or is it I?)

So I thought I'd go with what I expect to put on here.

Kids. Two. Spirited (and that's an understatement), funny, aggravating, amazing.

Knits. Make them, but don't often keep them. I like it that way.

Eats. Always preparing them. (as in the noun. I needed to make the title grammatically consistent. I'm obsessive that way). Sometimes I even come up with something good.

Work. Yeah, have that too.

Other stuff. Of course I can't be expected to limit myself!

And that's that for now. Back to the work part...