William Blake

"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was slightly chaotic, fun, full of food!! Neen and I did a stellar job in the kitchen - almost forgot the cranberry sauce - while the "boys" all played touch football! G'pa survived, while Mr. D. injured his knee!

We have played lots of cards and games, and read some stories, played with the wii, and now it's time for bed.

Neen and Mr. D. have gone off on an "overnight date" to Houston. We expect them back tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, we don't know what is in store for us tomorrow except that we know we will have donuts, somehow, for breakfast!

We'll just play it by ear after that.

After traveling most of the day, we are now in San Antonio, spending thanksgiving with family. We did a bit of last minute food shopping and other absolute essentials(!??) on tuesday. Today, we went to Seaworld. THe day started out cool, but soon the clouds burnede off and the sun came out. Just as well, since we got wet on a couple of different rides. I liked the log flume ride best!

I also really enjoyed the Shamu show. It's amazing what the great whites can be trained to do. I wouldn't go on any of the big roller coasters - they looked positively awful!, but I went on the baby one with the two younger grandkids. the two older boys went on a HUGE roller coaster that went upside down and round and round and twisted all at once!!! UGH!

We came home all tired out, but everyone agreed that it was a very fun day!

G'pa made spaghetti for dinner - that was yummy too!

What with the waffles that I made for breakfast, and the shortbread that McK and I made last night, we hae lots to eat! I think we will have to take a long walk tomorrow - after the turkey!

Yesterday we raked leaves from the yard into the street. The city will be coming round on Monday and Tuesday to pick up all the leaves. It was good to be outside in the crisp fall weather, and good to be doing some physical work.

Now it's monday morning! There's a frost on the lawn, the skies are clear, I think it will be a beautiful day. I have to finish my packing, take the animals to the vet and then drive to the airport in Spokane for the trip to San Antonio, Texas, where we will spend Thanksgiving with family. I am looking forward to that! It's always relaxing and loads of fun to spend time with children (big ones!) and grandchildren. We have the full slate of activities - school visits, Sea World, turkey day, etc., planned to keep us busy. To say nothing of painting, gardening, and other things that need doing around the house. I also sorted out some knitting to bring with me. and of course, some work as well. I have some reading, editing, and grant thinking that I can be doing. It never seems to fade completely!

Time flies! The last couple of days flew by. I had a friend and colleague in town, and so we visited and ate and drank and time passed.

This morning it is very quiet. G'pa is taking tickets at the Apple cup, UW vs. WSU.

I am trying to find the energy to clean house - it has been sorely neglected over the past week or two and everything needs cleaning, tidying, straightening, washing etc. In short, the place is a mess!

I've called everyone I know, read the paper, had another cup of coffee, done the Sudoku puzzle - I guess it's time to get to work! No wait, I haven't called M-moo and K-wiggles to say happy birthday!

I had a good day today, felt a lightness in my step and I'm not sure why. Maybe because recently the College of Science published the bio's of new faculty, including me, and at the same time reported that my institution is one of the 20 top institutions for science faculty to work at!

See the October issue at http://sciences.wsu.edu/newsandevents/sciencenotes.html

I feel proud to be part of that faculty, and proud of myself for all I have accomplished.
I am also working on a grant with one of the engineering faculty, and we are enjoying brainstorming about our proposal. I am realizing that I do have lots of experience to offer! I have learned a lot over the past twenty years or so that I have been doing this. I am really glad to have been given this opportunity to recharge, refresh and jump into such exciting collaborations.

I read all these creative blogs with poems and photos and other fun stuff. I don't have much to say. I went to work today, read about an initiative that 32 states are involved in to improve and increase the science and math teachers across the country, only to find out that no institutions in Washington State are involved - at least not yet. However, I wrote to some of my administrators to try and get them to sign on.

I also thought more about three grants that I am working on writing to secure funds to try to improve math teaching at the University. It sometimes seems like an uphill battle.

But it wasn't all bad. I took a break today and had a non-fat mocha with whipped cream! (How funny is that!).

I also survived the panic that we had forgotten to make arrangements and didn't have anywhere to leave the cat and the dog while we fly off to our Texas contingent for Thanksgiving! Several phonecalls later (thank you G'pa) we have it all taken care of.

Life goes on. I made chinese pork and cabbage for dinner. G'pa is taking tickets at the basketball game.

I became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse today. I haven't joined a church in a long time, but this community is very warm and accepting. G'pa and I both signed the book, accepted a rose, and later joined members for a welcoming party.

I learned a useful phrase for meditation today:
...try to cultivate an attitude of gratitude .. I picked up on someone using that phrase during the church service today, and it stuck in my head. I think it might be worth trying to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude" as an approach to living.

I had a very peaceful day here today. Not much energy but that was OK. G'pa went off to help out at the football game, which left me with the WHOLE DAY to myself. Since I still have a cold, I wasn't feeling too ambitious. I read this morning and then took a long nap after lunch. Later in the day I made French bread using the new pan that I bought to make it in. It's in the oven now so I'll let you know how it turns out.
That's about it for my boring day- watched a strange movie this evening - and now I will watch G'pa use the flowbee to give the dog a haricut!

Sunshine! After almost two weeks of rain and clouds, we finally have sunshine this morning. Does that really improve one's attitude. Even though I am coming down with a cold, I feel happy inside just looking out at the sunshine.
I finally found the cold remedy that Mama-V recommended to me after going to about 6 stores and calling several more. It's called Umcka and it's based on a Zulu herbal remedy. We'll se if it helps. It's supposed to shorten and lessen the effects of a cold.

I want to know how it got to be Thursday already. Somehow I missed Wednesday totally, and didn't blog! I think I am coming down with a cold so went in search of Umqua, a cold remedy that Mama V told me about. I finally found it - according to the label it is based on a Zulu remedy using an extract from a geranium plant. I took it - we'll see.
We saw some blue sky today for the first time in a long while. Yesterday was really blustery and rainy. I made a soup for dinner. It was that kind of day. I also made a loaf of date and walnut bread - just like my mother used to make, and wow was that good! I hadn't made it in years. But I would be happy to share the recipe.
Here's what I have been pondering lately: Is mathematics discovered or invented? Do mathematical objects have an existence separate from that which we give them in our discourse about them? I think this question is akin to the one about the tree falling in the forest?! In other words, does a mathematical equation have any intrinsic existence, outside of the discourse in which we construct and use it?

OK. So I am playing with the format of my blog. I put a picture in the heading, but G'pa says that it is so big that all he could see was nose hair! I can't seem to make it any smaller! Help! It's fun to have a day to play though. Seems like I never have the time to just play around with things like this. That is a sad commentary on my life.

another rainy day

I hope that I have fixed the previous blog with pictures. Let me know if you can see them. They were there when i posted the blog, but then coming back to it they were gone! Strange!
Today is a quiet day, still rainy. Veteran's day is a day off work. G'pa is fixing some electrical things around the house. I have promised Riley a walk in the rain with some ball fetching and chasing.

Saturday morning 7:30 am at the playground! Take 2.

M-moo

K-wiggles

Miss D

All three girls at the playground with G'ma and G'pa and Riley the dog at 7:30 am! It was cold and damp and trying hard to rain, but we had fun anyhow. The park is just at the bottom of the hill we live on so we all walked down and back again.

Boy is the house quiet now. We had low level pandemonium for 4 lovely days and now it is back to usual.

This will be short, again. it is 9:35pm but it feels like midnight. Don't know if it's the weather, or what, but it was a very strange day. It began with the girls waking early and all of us plus grandpa and Riley going to the park to play at 7:30 am. Getting such an early start made the day seem out of kilter, and it seemed to be later than it actually was. I was ready for lunch by 10:30 am.
After some false starts and disappointments (see casallamedos.blogspot.com) we settled in at home in our jammies by 2pm, and hunkered down with chili and cornbread to watch movies.
Grandpa spent his first day as an usher at the football game (which we lost - again!).
The rain has stopped, at least for now, but it has been a cold and damp day.

We all went to breakfast this morning, in Moscow, at the Breakfast Club. Yum! We then went to the Palouse Science Discovery Center. Lots of great displays and activities. We had lost of fun. And then, we went to Merry Cellars wine tasting in the evening. Great wine! We brought a bottle of Carmenere home for special tasting.

Thursday, November 6th. Cold wintry day in Pullman today. The season has changed. Visited the Appalousa Museum in Moscow, ID today. Some interesting facts and figures. Relaxing day with children and grandchildren.

Today is our (Irv's and my) third anniversary. It's been an interesting and sometimes difficult road. But I am not regretting having embarked on it. Just wish that it were easier sometimes.
Momma and the girls - Miss D, M-moo and K-wiggles are visiting for a few days. It is great to see them as always. I am just amazed at how fast they are growing up. They are all three little girls now, no more toddler stuff.
Basic health care should be a RIGHT! Just because we don't have a cure for every possible diseease does not mean that citizens don't have the right to basic health care for everything that we DO know how to take care of. How can one possibly justify denying healthcare (care that we do know how to supply) to someone simply because they do not have the money to pay?!!! I can't fathom that mindset.

Day 4, November 4, election day!

I just typed a whole huge blog about how happy I am that Obama is our new president. And then I lost it by going to another site. Oh well.
What a day. Full of anticipation and expectation, peppered with a large dose of anxiety. We gathered with like-minded friends for the evening and watched the returns. This is a truly momentous time in the history of America. The entire world is behind this result. Cehck out this website http://iftheworldcouldvote.com/results to see how the world would have voted if they had the chance to vote.
Now I have to try to sleep, and then wake up in a different America tomorrow.

Day 3

On this day 39 years ago, my older daughter Vicky was born! I called this morning to wish her a happy birthday. Irv and I drove back to Pullman from Lolo early this morning. Both the dog, an airdale named Riley, and the cat, named Isaac, travel back and forth with us. They are quite used to traveling now. We passed a gas station sellling gas for $1.99, but in our greediness we thought we would see it cheaper just down the road on the reservation and so did not stop. But then, Irv was in a zone, and I was dozing and we passed it without noticing! Oh well!

I went to my "stitching bitches" women's group this evening. But we were all tired after the weekend time change (clocks back), so we quit early. The weather is changing too. A chill in the air. I made chicken pot pie for dinner!

I set this up last night just to see if I could do the "every day in November blogging". Not sure, but here goes day 2. We are in Lolo this weekend. We love it here. It is so peaceful. Today it is grey and rainy but still great to be here. We have soaked in the hottub, and read and played cribbabe, and gone for a walk, and just relaxed. That was until the outside faucet leaked into the downstairs and flooded the carpet. Now we are working on drying it out, and replacing the faucet that we didn't know was broken. It must have frozen and cracked befire we bought the hosue, and we never knew it.
Oh well, back to Pullman and reality in the morning! Even the cat and the dog love it here! they both travel back and forth with us.

trying it out!

OK so i am giving it a try. Just checking to see how this works!