Thanksgiving was a nice time of family visits. I went to Kentucky and stayed with Carter and Rachel the weekend before Madison got out of school for Thanksgiving break.
I drove up on Saturday, picked up Maddie (and met her boyfriend, oh my gracious), and then went to Eva's birthday party at Emily's. The party dynamic didn't lend itself to a lot of hanging with Madison because Emily needed a lot of help pulling off the event.
After the party, I drove Madison down to Elizabethtown to meet up with Lizz to spend the night. I didn't want to sacrifice the time with her, but she hadn't gotten with Lizz since before school started and I was getting to spend a couple days with her Memphis, so I let her go.
I drove back up to Louisville and met up with Carter and Rachel, and we went to the Railroad Earth at Headliner's. It was really fun to see a great band at my old stopping grounds with my favorite show pals of yore.
On Sunday morning, I played with Noah and Micah and had so much fun! Next, I drove down to Hodgenville and picked up Madison from Lizz's. We headed over to Great's house to meet up with the family for lunch. Carter and his crew met us there, along with Aunt Bonnie and Shannon and her gang. We had a lovely time together, and it really did my heart good.
After pleasant family times, Maddie and I headed back to Louisville, along with Carter and company in his car. We dropped Micah off at a babysitter so we could all pile into Carter's car and go to the Lights Under Louisville Holiday Extravanga. It was cool for several reasons: (1) I dig cheesy holiday light displays generally, (2) it was in a GIANT underground salt mine, and (3) Noah was so incredibly sweet and really loved it. Fun was had by all. I took Maddie home so she could finish up some homework before heading to school the next day.
On Monday morning, I went back over to Emily's for a bit more visiting, which flew by! I took Eva over to Carter's to play with Noah while I watched the boys for a couple hours where Carter and Rachel's schedule overlapped. After a bit, Carter came home and Emily came over and visited with us along with Graeme. We all hung out until Rachel got home and then it was time for bed. On Tuesday, Noah and I went to the Louisville Science Center and had a splendid time. I am just crazy about that little guy. Too soon, it was time to take him home and pack up. I headed over to Madison's house to pick her up after she got home from school, then we hit the road back to Memphis.
Back in Memphis, we enjoyed Thanksgiving at Missy's, complete with a highly innovative fried turkey prepared by Andrew. It was a short visit, and then Madison was headed back to Indiana.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Autumn here again
I can't believe how long it has been since my last entry, all the way back at my birthday. Since then, it's been full speed ahead.
The most exciting news first: we got two new members to our family: Clayton Ricardo Varela on 7/27 and Micah Floyd Martinette on 8/20. It is so delightful to have baby nephews!
After a fun summer in Memphis, Madison returned to Indiana the first week of August. We got together again with her, Carter, Rachel, Noah, and new baby Micah in Monteagle during Labor Day weekend, which was really great. Our friends, Jason, Jenny, and Emily Gray, and Maddie's pal, Heather, came along too. It was a quick visit, but it was great to see the family. Jenny had a healing broken ankle, and that and my generally bum ankle precluded us from doing much hiking. We visited the Natural Bridge and walked around the Assembly grounds. We had a couple of mishaps of a mechanical nature though. When we arrived, the air conditioner wasn't working in the back of the house for the master bedroom. We were lucky that a guy was able to come out during the holiday weekend, and fortunately that was resolved without much difficulty. As we were preparing to leave, the washer quit working full of wet towels and 10 more loads to go. We had to bring all the linens, etc. back to Memphis, wash them, and mail them back to Monteagle. All's well that ends well; really, it was just a minor inconvenience.
I have always believed strongly in working hard and playing hard.
For work, I had the pleasure of going with my friends, the Japanese scientists, for the last trip of the Louisiana project. Typhoon Roke delayed the Japanese arrival, and Monami came down with the mumps just before leaving. In spite of the setbacks, we managed to get done with all the planned work. It was bittersweet working while knowing it was the last time, but it was a good trip nonetheless. As soon as I returned to Memphis, I had to give a research update seminar for the department. Then I went with Melissa to the South Central chapter conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists down in Lafayette, Louisiana. The conference was held at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center, which was amazing, and here I gave my first presentation as a scientist. It went really well, and I was really proud of the job I did. I am also working on a grant proposal, which is a useful exercise whether or not it gets funded. My comprehensive exams are quickly closing in on me, which is the most terrifying concept I can think of. And, last but not least, I am analyzing my data from my May experiment in preparation for writing my first manuscript (!). I told Dr. Pezeshki that I wanted to give him a manuscript for Christmas, so the heat is on. It all keeps me incredibly busy, but I am so happy to be making progress.
For fun, I have been fortunate to have had numerous opportunities to enjoy arts and culture, including the Impressionist exhibition at the Brooks Museum, Huey Lewis and the News at Live at the Garden, checking out the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memorial Park Cemetery, riding through Mississippi along historic Highway 61 Blues Trail, Art on Tap at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, a "Know Your Neighborhood" lecture from local historian Jimmy Ogle, Bela Fleck with his wife at the Shell, the Sears Tower Crosstown Solar Lighting project kickoff, the Cooper Young Festival, paddleboat ride on the Mississippi River, the Jim Dickinson Folk Festival, spending time with my Japanese friends in southeastern Louisiana, seeing Papa Grows Funk at the Maple Leaf, visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an amazing cheese tasting and dinner at Bari Ristorante, the Pink Palace Craft Fair, staying in Lafayette, Louisiana at the Blue Moon Saloon and Guesthouse with live music nightly, and worshiping the music at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans. Whew!
The most exciting news first: we got two new members to our family: Clayton Ricardo Varela on 7/27 and Micah Floyd Martinette on 8/20. It is so delightful to have baby nephews!
After a fun summer in Memphis, Madison returned to Indiana the first week of August. We got together again with her, Carter, Rachel, Noah, and new baby Micah in Monteagle during Labor Day weekend, which was really great. Our friends, Jason, Jenny, and Emily Gray, and Maddie's pal, Heather, came along too. It was a quick visit, but it was great to see the family. Jenny had a healing broken ankle, and that and my generally bum ankle precluded us from doing much hiking. We visited the Natural Bridge and walked around the Assembly grounds. We had a couple of mishaps of a mechanical nature though. When we arrived, the air conditioner wasn't working in the back of the house for the master bedroom. We were lucky that a guy was able to come out during the holiday weekend, and fortunately that was resolved without much difficulty. As we were preparing to leave, the washer quit working full of wet towels and 10 more loads to go. We had to bring all the linens, etc. back to Memphis, wash them, and mail them back to Monteagle. All's well that ends well; really, it was just a minor inconvenience.
I have always believed strongly in working hard and playing hard.
For work, I had the pleasure of going with my friends, the Japanese scientists, for the last trip of the Louisiana project. Typhoon Roke delayed the Japanese arrival, and Monami came down with the mumps just before leaving. In spite of the setbacks, we managed to get done with all the planned work. It was bittersweet working while knowing it was the last time, but it was a good trip nonetheless. As soon as I returned to Memphis, I had to give a research update seminar for the department. Then I went with Melissa to the South Central chapter conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists down in Lafayette, Louisiana. The conference was held at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center, which was amazing, and here I gave my first presentation as a scientist. It went really well, and I was really proud of the job I did. I am also working on a grant proposal, which is a useful exercise whether or not it gets funded. My comprehensive exams are quickly closing in on me, which is the most terrifying concept I can think of. And, last but not least, I am analyzing my data from my May experiment in preparation for writing my first manuscript (!). I told Dr. Pezeshki that I wanted to give him a manuscript for Christmas, so the heat is on. It all keeps me incredibly busy, but I am so happy to be making progress.
For fun, I have been fortunate to have had numerous opportunities to enjoy arts and culture, including the Impressionist exhibition at the Brooks Museum, Huey Lewis and the News at Live at the Garden, checking out the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memorial Park Cemetery, riding through Mississippi along historic Highway 61 Blues Trail, Art on Tap at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, a "Know Your Neighborhood" lecture from local historian Jimmy Ogle, Bela Fleck with his wife at the Shell, the Sears Tower Crosstown Solar Lighting project kickoff, the Cooper Young Festival, paddleboat ride on the Mississippi River, the Jim Dickinson Folk Festival, spending time with my Japanese friends in southeastern Louisiana, seeing Papa Grows Funk at the Maple Leaf, visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an amazing cheese tasting and dinner at Bari Ristorante, the Pink Palace Craft Fair, staying in Lafayette, Louisiana at the Blue Moon Saloon and Guesthouse with live music nightly, and worshiping the music at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans. Whew!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Midsummer reflections
Time flies when you're in warp drive.
At the end of May, I ran my first successful experiment. I have not finished analyzing the data, but it appears that I have some significant results for some of the measurements. For me, this is great news. Not only does it give me a dataset of my own to work with, analyze, interpret results, present at conferences, and maybe write up into a manuscript - all of which are very exciting and important, but this experiment finally got me over a major obstacle to my goals, which was fear of failure. I didn't even really realize that I had that fear until I was initiating the experiment and some things weren't going as planned (as always). I almost called it off before doing it because I was afraid it wouldn't turn out well. But then I realized that just doing an experiment, start to finish, was worth the effort even if my results weren't exciting.
So, I ran the experiment, in spite of my concerns, and experienced a very consuming 2 weeks. My friend, Melissa, likened the experience of running an experiment to that of a musical performance: you may make a mistake, play a wrong note, lose your place, or whatever, but you have to do the best you can and make it to the end. And that's what I did.
Immediately after the experiment's conclusion, Andrew and I went to the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores. It was an excellent festival, and we had a really great time. We stayed in a condo on the lagoon-side of West Beach, which was perfect for taking advantage of the shuttles running to the festival, so no car was needed, and you didn't have to trek miles in the hot sun which was present in abundance. The festival had some great bands: Paul Simon, Ween, Primus, STS9, and a ton more. I met some of Andrew's old-school friends, one of whom was dating a manager from my Central Barbeque days (the Lyndsay Effect in effect). We are hoping to attend next year and to spend more time either before or after the festival to do more Gulf Shores enjoyment.
Right after we returned from the Hangout, we were planning to go to Wakarusa with Carter, Rachel, and Noah. Carter had gotten us free tickets, but we just felt too frazzled to do that on the heels of Hangout with our big family vacation in two weeks after that. So we got to babysit Noah while Carter and Rachel went. It was so much fun! I am crazy about that little guy. Carter and Rachel really missed him and came home from the festival 2 days early. That was a little disappointing because I really wanted to spend more time with Noah, but I totally understood. Andrew's birthday was right after he left and was a low key event but pretty fun all the same.
After Carter and his gang left, I turned my attention to setting up for another experiment. I wanted to collect plants, get them potted, and give them time to establish while we went on vacation. This plan worked out splendidly.
In Indiana, Madison was completing her last days as a middle-schooler at around this time. She was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society, which is so awesome. She also received the President's ward - Gold Level for outstanding academic excellence. Next year, she will be a high school freshman. It really blows my mind; that's all I can say about that.
About a week after Madison got out of school, she road the Greyhound to Elizabethtown, where she was picked up by Lizz Riggs, her mom and grandpa. I met the four of them near Nashville, beginning the first leg of our vacation. Maddie, Lizz, and I returned to Memphis that night, and we all set out for Florida the next day.
We drove straight from Memphis to St. Petersburg, Florida, a trip that took about 16 hours. We showed up at dawn of the day we were spending in St. Pete. We checked into our hotel, took a little nap, then set out for the Dali Museum. The museum was fantastic, a dream-come-true. Many of the paintings huge (like 13' x 10' for the Hallucinogenic Toreador). The girls enjoyed it too. That evening, we went to dinner at a restaurant our friend suggested from his time living in the area while attending culinary school, Walt'z Fish Shak. It was a tiny place by the marina. They buy the catch of the day, serve it up on a limited menu, and close when the food run out. Seafood can't be more fresh and delicious. The restaurant was in a neat little tourist area called John's Pass Village, with a boardwalk and a well-preserved old school vibe that we all enjoyed exploring. We didn't make it to Pass-a-Grille or into the ocean on this trip, but St. Pete was really great and would make a for a lovely vacation in itself.
Next, we left St. Pete bound for the Keys. We stopped along Alligator Alley and saw alligators chilling out in the canal, just doing their alligator thing. We made it to the house in the early afternoon. We were surprised to learn when we got there that the house was divided into a quadraplex, with 2 units upstairs and 2 downstairs. We were in one of the downstairs units. The splendid location abutting a state park, thoughtful furnishings, and friendly neighbors meant that this wasn't a problem, just a surprise.
Our week there flew by. The house was fantastic, situated with a canal on one side and a mangrove forest lagoon along the back of the house. There were plenty of things to observe from the porch: pipefish, snapper, crabs, a tarpon, an osprey, a sea anemone, little spiny lobsters, leaping schools of mullet, a various types of lizards scurrying everywhere. We spent one day in Key West visiting the Hemingway House, the cemetery, and Mallory Square. We rode bikes all around and survived, even with Lizz and I on a tandem bike (!). We spent a couple beach days at Bahia Honda State Park at the amazing beaches there. On our first beach adventure, Andrew and I swam with about 8 wild manatees, which goes down in the books as being one of the coolest things I've ever done. Another day we got a tour of the Keys Marine Laboratory from the lead marine biologist, which was like a fun park designed just for me. They had a bunch of touch tanks filled with interesting creatures from their dives: batfish, sea urchins, sea stars, giant spiny lobster, sea cucumbers, rock crabs, a flaming scallops, and, my new favorite gastropod, the milk conch. I did about 3 times more kayaking in a few days than I had done in my whole life. I am totally addicted and want to get one, a pair, a few, whatever. On the way back from the Keys, we stopped in at the Everglades National Park Visitor Center on the first day of driving. On the second road day, we stopped at the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Site in Birmingham, Alabama. I was completely enamored of the place with its larger than life smokestacks and industrial components everywhere. Then we were back to in Memphis and back to real life or something like it.
Many more vacation photos are on Facebook at this link: Family Vacation 2011 photo album.
A couple days after returning to Memphis, we adopted a kitten, a sweet little girl we named Nola. She is spunky and fun! A couple days after that, I drove up to Kentucky with Madison and Elizabeth to take Elizabeth home. The BFFs since birth still couldn't bear to be parted, even after almost 2 weeks, and Madison persuaded me to let her spend the night with Lizz and go to Anime Club at the Hodgenville Public Library the next day.
I headed up Louisville to Emily's house to spend time with her, Eva, and baby Graeme. Eva is amazingly precocious at 3 years old, not that I am surprised given Emily's mothering. Graeme is adorable and good-natured. Emily cooked dinner for me at her new place with Scott. It was like the old days. That night we went to Vernon Lanes, where Scott works, and hung out while Eva and her friend, Nina, bowled. That maybe doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it was a blast. The bowling alley is the oldest in Louisville (since 1886) and was so totally retro without trying. I just loved it. Also, Eva was the most enthusiastic bowler imaginable, jumping for joy after every ball rolled. It did my heart so good to see Emily and, especially, to see her getting back on her feet. She has worked hard and endured a lot and come out uncompromised, and I really love her for that.
I also was fortunate to get to visit with an old high school friend, Lora Lamb (forever Lora Setter to me). She lives in Hodgenville, and we have kept up with each other on MySpace and Facebook, but I have no idea when I last saw her - like 10 years maybe. Her mom met me and Lora and Jonas, Lora's 2 year old son, at the Sweet Shop of the Hodgenville Square-cum-circle. I was lucky Lora ran a couple minutes late because I needed them to compose myself. Being at the Sweet Shop really was making me miss Mom, as she was always a supporter and even sold her Lincoln Licences there. Seeing Mrs. Setters was kind of startling too. It turns out that she's always has MS, even when she was my high school Physics teacher, my teacher for Gifted and Talented, advisor of the Math and Science Club, and coach of the academic team. I have always held her in great esteem. She's the only person I've ever known that is a member of Mensa. But the MS has gotten pretty bad in the last few years, and it hurt to see her struggle with the condition and know what that meant for Lora and her family. Lora and I had several classes together and were in the aforementioned clubs as well as several others. After high school, I worked for her dad as a clerk at the pharmacy next door to the Hodgenville Clinic where Mom worked. Also, I wound up in a course at UofL with Lora's older brother, Philip. He was older and I never knew him very well, until we took Rural Sociology the same semester. In all, that makes me connected to Lora's family on more levels than most, and I was thrilled to catch up with her, even if it was a little bittersweet.
I stopped in to visit Mom at the ol' cemetery. Her headstone was looking good. Someone, Great probably, had stuck some silk flowers in the ground by the stone which matched the ones on Poppop's gravestone. I left her a sea shell I had found in Florida. As I was leaving, I saw a bird's nest that had been blown out of a tree near her gave, so I set that with her stone too.
When Madison got out of Anime Club, I picked her up and we went to Great's house to visit and eat dinner. It always makes me so happy to her, still spry and always the same. It's reassurance for my soul. After a visit, some dinner, a walk around the garden (the daylilies were stupendous!), and collecting my last few items from Great's storage building, Madison and were bound back to Memphis.
Independence Day passed fairly quietly for us. With hot temperatures and sporadic thunderstorms, we didn't make it to any fireworks. We had a few friends over to enjoy Andrew's efforts with the smoker and the grill. It was an interesting amalgamation of folks, none of whom knew one another, which made for a fun dynamic.
The second weekend in July was dominated by the Memphis Anime Blues Con. Madison and her pals went all three days. Initially, I was totally dismissive of the event when I first heard about it a few months ago because the whole thing made me uneasy ("It's at a hotel!" "There's a rave!"). But, after discovering that a trusted mom was going along for the ride, I felt a lot better about letting her go. It seems to be good that we did because she acted like it was the coolest thing ever. When she got into the car after the dance the first night, she flopped back in her seat and said with a contented sigh, "Thank you so much for letting me go to this." She had the weekend of a lifetime, and, even though Andrew and I felt jealous of the time we weren't spending with her, her happiness with the experience is undeniable and made us feel better about sharing her.
Madison and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum one day recently. I've wanted to go ever since we moved to Memphis, but I just never seemed to make it. One other time, Maddie and I attempted to go, but I got a little lost downtown and kept driving around the same few blocks trying to find it. With each pass, we'd see the same restaurant, the Happy Mexican, and now "There's the Happy Mexican!" is a family code for what I like to call orienteering (when you're kinda lost but close to your destination). This time, I looked up directions and found it without incident; we did pass the Happy Mexican - "Look! There's the Happy Mexican!"
The museum was quite an experience. It's highly emotionally charged, being housed at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination - one of the great stains on the collective conscience of Memphis. The museum is about the civil rights movement in general, but with a large focus on Dr. King's role. One room had museum clippings from when Dr. King was coming to Memphis to help with the sanitation workers strike, others about the assassination, and more about the motel's transformation to a museum. There were some period furnishings from the motel rooms and a couple of telephone directories that were particularly cool. Then we watched a film about Dr. King's time in Memphis and the immediate aftermath of his death; it made me cry. After, we walked through the informative exhibits where Maddie was less engaged, so we spent less time with those. Next, you are sent to another part of the museum across the street. Here's there is a replica of the boarding room that James Earl Ray stayed in while plotting the assassination. This exhibit should have given me an idea of what was to come. But, when I followed the path upstairs, I totally unprepared to find myself standing at the window that it's believed that Ray fired the single fatal shot. I found it very emotionally unnerving to be in that space without having any mental preparation, and we didn't stay in that spot long. Next was an exhibit that laid out the FBI's case against Ray, who was at large for over 2 months. A little further down, they also presented some information about the theory that Ray may not have been the assassin or was possibly the scapegoat for a larger conspiracy. This information piqued my interest, and afterwards, I did a little reading about Ray's role as the shooter. There are a lot of inconsistencies with the official story, very JFK style. Also there were a lot of issues with how the security was handled on the day of the murder, pointing toward a larger plan. It's worth reading into, if it's of interest to you.
Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I had a lot of fun kicking it off a day early, along with Vicki and Jose who also have birthdays in the next few days. We all went to dinner at Andrew Michael's Italian Kitchen which was really tasty. I tried pork cheeks: amazing! Then we went to Yo-Lo for dessert. Afterwards, Andrew, Madison, and I went to the Happy Potter opening in 3D! It was so great! We loved it, and I thought it was a really great end to the era. That was the day before yesterday, so that was a great start. Yesterday, we went downtown in the evening. We were going to go the Arcade Restaurant, the oldest restaurant in Memphis, but we foolishly believed the website when it said they were open until 8pm. When we got there at 5:30pm, they were closed. Our salvation was across the street at Earnestine and Hazel's in the form of a Soul Burger. As a bonus, after we ate, we got to go explore the upstairs area that had been used as a brothel for about a hundred years all the way up until the 1990's. It was cool and felt a little risque. Next, we hopped on the trolley and rode around. I thought that was an entertaining activity in itself, so I suggested we ride past our stop and back for the full effect. We got off at Beale Street and walked that historic and commercialized bit of Memphis. I stopped in Dyer's to get a huge, blue Walk Me Down frozen concoction and milkshakes for Andrew and (no burgers this time!) before we went to walk around Handy Park. There was a band playing and folks were selling stuff in booths. We made our way further down the street, and I was happy to see that there several buskers out plying their trade. We stopped in Tater Red's because it is always fun to see the kooky tchotchkes and voodoo supplies. We headed home after that. After a bit, Maddie and I made a run to Gibson's Donuts, which was slammed at 11pm. In all, it was a really fun-filled day.
I also spent a lot of time thinking about my goals for the year ahead. I haven't achieved any of the goals that I set for myself for my thirtieth year. But, upon reflection, I made improvements in all the areas I had set out to change. So, even though I'm not where I want to be yet, I can honestly say that I am working toward getting there and am closer now than I was last year. Will this be the year that I finally get it all together - all these things I need to fix and do better? Maybe, maybe not. But at least I know that if I continue to apply myself over time, I can look back in a year and see that I'm getting there, slowly but surely.
At the end of May, I ran my first successful experiment. I have not finished analyzing the data, but it appears that I have some significant results for some of the measurements. For me, this is great news. Not only does it give me a dataset of my own to work with, analyze, interpret results, present at conferences, and maybe write up into a manuscript - all of which are very exciting and important, but this experiment finally got me over a major obstacle to my goals, which was fear of failure. I didn't even really realize that I had that fear until I was initiating the experiment and some things weren't going as planned (as always). I almost called it off before doing it because I was afraid it wouldn't turn out well. But then I realized that just doing an experiment, start to finish, was worth the effort even if my results weren't exciting.
So, I ran the experiment, in spite of my concerns, and experienced a very consuming 2 weeks. My friend, Melissa, likened the experience of running an experiment to that of a musical performance: you may make a mistake, play a wrong note, lose your place, or whatever, but you have to do the best you can and make it to the end. And that's what I did.
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| Polygonum hydropiperoides under treatment |
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| Data collection with the CIRAS-II infrared gas analyzer |
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| Not your mama's Gulf Shores |
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| The sweetest face! |
In Indiana, Madison was completing her last days as a middle-schooler at around this time. She was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society, which is so awesome. She also received the President's ward - Gold Level for outstanding academic excellence. Next year, she will be a high school freshman. It really blows my mind; that's all I can say about that.
About a week after Madison got out of school, she road the Greyhound to Elizabethtown, where she was picked up by Lizz Riggs, her mom and grandpa. I met the four of them near Nashville, beginning the first leg of our vacation. Maddie, Lizz, and I returned to Memphis that night, and we all set out for Florida the next day.
We drove straight from Memphis to St. Petersburg, Florida, a trip that took about 16 hours. We showed up at dawn of the day we were spending in St. Pete. We checked into our hotel, took a little nap, then set out for the Dali Museum. The museum was fantastic, a dream-come-true. Many of the paintings huge (like 13' x 10' for the Hallucinogenic Toreador). The girls enjoyed it too. That evening, we went to dinner at a restaurant our friend suggested from his time living in the area while attending culinary school, Walt'z Fish Shak. It was a tiny place by the marina. They buy the catch of the day, serve it up on a limited menu, and close when the food run out. Seafood can't be more fresh and delicious. The restaurant was in a neat little tourist area called John's Pass Village, with a boardwalk and a well-preserved old school vibe that we all enjoyed exploring. We didn't make it to Pass-a-Grille or into the ocean on this trip, but St. Pete was really great and would make a for a lovely vacation in itself.
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| The Salvador Dali Museum |
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| Get it while they've got |
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| Alligator Alley with alligator |
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| View from the back porch at the house at Long Key State Park |
Many more vacation photos are on Facebook at this link: Family Vacation 2011 photo album.
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| Nola |
I headed up Louisville to Emily's house to spend time with her, Eva, and baby Graeme. Eva is amazingly precocious at 3 years old, not that I am surprised given Emily's mothering. Graeme is adorable and good-natured. Emily cooked dinner for me at her new place with Scott. It was like the old days. That night we went to Vernon Lanes, where Scott works, and hung out while Eva and her friend, Nina, bowled. That maybe doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it was a blast. The bowling alley is the oldest in Louisville (since 1886) and was so totally retro without trying. I just loved it. Also, Eva was the most enthusiastic bowler imaginable, jumping for joy after every ball rolled. It did my heart so good to see Emily and, especially, to see her getting back on her feet. She has worked hard and endured a lot and come out uncompromised, and I really love her for that.
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| Old sign at Vernon Lanes |
I stopped in to visit Mom at the ol' cemetery. Her headstone was looking good. Someone, Great probably, had stuck some silk flowers in the ground by the stone which matched the ones on Poppop's gravestone. I left her a sea shell I had found in Florida. As I was leaving, I saw a bird's nest that had been blown out of a tree near her gave, so I set that with her stone too.
When Madison got out of Anime Club, I picked her up and we went to Great's house to visit and eat dinner. It always makes me so happy to her, still spry and always the same. It's reassurance for my soul. After a visit, some dinner, a walk around the garden (the daylilies were stupendous!), and collecting my last few items from Great's storage building, Madison and were bound back to Memphis.
Independence Day passed fairly quietly for us. With hot temperatures and sporadic thunderstorms, we didn't make it to any fireworks. We had a few friends over to enjoy Andrew's efforts with the smoker and the grill. It was an interesting amalgamation of folks, none of whom knew one another, which made for a fun dynamic.
The second weekend in July was dominated by the Memphis Anime Blues Con. Madison and her pals went all three days. Initially, I was totally dismissive of the event when I first heard about it a few months ago because the whole thing made me uneasy ("It's at a hotel!" "There's a rave!"). But, after discovering that a trusted mom was going along for the ride, I felt a lot better about letting her go. It seems to be good that we did because she acted like it was the coolest thing ever. When she got into the car after the dance the first night, she flopped back in her seat and said with a contented sigh, "Thank you so much for letting me go to this." She had the weekend of a lifetime, and, even though Andrew and I felt jealous of the time we weren't spending with her, her happiness with the experience is undeniable and made us feel better about sharing her.
Madison and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum one day recently. I've wanted to go ever since we moved to Memphis, but I just never seemed to make it. One other time, Maddie and I attempted to go, but I got a little lost downtown and kept driving around the same few blocks trying to find it. With each pass, we'd see the same restaurant, the Happy Mexican, and now "There's the Happy Mexican!" is a family code for what I like to call orienteering (when you're kinda lost but close to your destination). This time, I looked up directions and found it without incident; we did pass the Happy Mexican - "Look! There's the Happy Mexican!"
The museum was quite an experience. It's highly emotionally charged, being housed at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination - one of the great stains on the collective conscience of Memphis. The museum is about the civil rights movement in general, but with a large focus on Dr. King's role. One room had museum clippings from when Dr. King was coming to Memphis to help with the sanitation workers strike, others about the assassination, and more about the motel's transformation to a museum. There were some period furnishings from the motel rooms and a couple of telephone directories that were particularly cool. Then we watched a film about Dr. King's time in Memphis and the immediate aftermath of his death; it made me cry. After, we walked through the informative exhibits where Maddie was less engaged, so we spent less time with those. Next, you are sent to another part of the museum across the street. Here's there is a replica of the boarding room that James Earl Ray stayed in while plotting the assassination. This exhibit should have given me an idea of what was to come. But, when I followed the path upstairs, I totally unprepared to find myself standing at the window that it's believed that Ray fired the single fatal shot. I found it very emotionally unnerving to be in that space without having any mental preparation, and we didn't stay in that spot long. Next was an exhibit that laid out the FBI's case against Ray, who was at large for over 2 months. A little further down, they also presented some information about the theory that Ray may not have been the assassin or was possibly the scapegoat for a larger conspiracy. This information piqued my interest, and afterwards, I did a little reading about Ray's role as the shooter. There are a lot of inconsistencies with the official story, very JFK style. Also there were a lot of issues with how the security was handled on the day of the murder, pointing toward a larger plan. It's worth reading into, if it's of interest to you.
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| At the National Civil Rights Museum |
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| Tater Red's Lucky Mojos and Voodoo Healings on Beale Street |
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Phase One down, halfway through Phase Two
Progress is being made. It even feels like I may be developing some momentum.
Semester highlights include:
I have had 3 plant species ready to experiment on: black willow (Salix nigra), maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), and smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides). They were doing really well until some watering miscommunication dessimated my willow. I think they might have bit the dust this time. If that is true (I haven't given up on those hardy buggers, yet, though), I will still have 2 species to do a comparative study. And, this fall, I can collect some more willow wildlings and work with them over the winter as I had planned this past winter, but now I have the experience to hopefully pull that off. At any rate, 2 species look great. I had planned on taking baseline data this week, but I am laid up with a sprained ankle and have to stay off of it for a few days.
During the semester, I did have lots of fun times:
But, not all news from the semester was good. A terrible earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan have been events that cause us worry for our friends who live in Japan, as well as for the global implications of the nuclear situation. Closer to home, while I was in Colorado, JoJo was attacked and killed by a roaming pack of stray dogs. He was my best friend, and I miss him terribly. It's not the same around here without him. I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that, although his life was cut short, he lived every day to its fullest and was a very happy creature while on this Earth.
The future looks promising though: an experiment to run, some festivals to attend, Madison's summer visit, a week relaxing in the Keys, and maybe a kitten adoption.
Also, I am proud to say that I have 5 months of my daily photo project under my belt, and it's been a source of a lot of fun and creativity for me.
Semester highlights include:
- Having my first meeting of my dissertation research committee,
- Defending my dissertation prospectus,
- Forming the Biology Graduate Student Association,
- Winning President of the BGSA,
- Making an A in Plant Ecophysiology, and
- Best of all, getting plants to grow.
I have had 3 plant species ready to experiment on: black willow (Salix nigra), maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), and smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides). They were doing really well until some watering miscommunication dessimated my willow. I think they might have bit the dust this time. If that is true (I haven't given up on those hardy buggers, yet, though), I will still have 2 species to do a comparative study. And, this fall, I can collect some more willow wildlings and work with them over the winter as I had planned this past winter, but now I have the experience to hopefully pull that off. At any rate, 2 species look great. I had planned on taking baseline data this week, but I am laid up with a sprained ankle and have to stay off of it for a few days.
During the semester, I did have lots of fun times:
- Visited Monteagle with Andrew and Madison and went to the Tennessee Aquarium,
- Saw the CAKE show at Minglewood with Andrew,
- Visited Reelfoot Lake with Andrew to see bald cypress and bald eagles,
- Went to Louisville to celebrate Madison's 14th birthday and got to see her, Carter, Rachel, Noah, Elizabeth, and Grandma (good visit!),
- Got miracles to the Bassnectar (by myself) and Railroad Earth (me and Andrew) shows at Minglewood,
- Surprised Emily by making it to her baby shower at the last minute,
- Drove to Colorado for a week during my spring break to see the Rockies and a String Cheese Incident show (thanks Carter and Rachel!) with Carter, Rachel, and Noah,
- Found out that Kate and Jose are having a baby boy (!!!),
- Madison visited Memphis during her spring break,
- Andrew (mostly) and I have been working on gardening and it's coming along great, and
- Madison got to come to Memphis for a long weekend for MusicFest.
But, not all news from the semester was good. A terrible earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan have been events that cause us worry for our friends who live in Japan, as well as for the global implications of the nuclear situation. Closer to home, while I was in Colorado, JoJo was attacked and killed by a roaming pack of stray dogs. He was my best friend, and I miss him terribly. It's not the same around here without him. I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that, although his life was cut short, he lived every day to its fullest and was a very happy creature while on this Earth.
The future looks promising though: an experiment to run, some festivals to attend, Madison's summer visit, a week relaxing in the Keys, and maybe a kitten adoption.
Also, I am proud to say that I have 5 months of my daily photo project under my belt, and it's been a source of a lot of fun and creativity for me.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
One hundred weeks
After a meeting with the Graduate Studies Coordinator last week, I was really feeling the pressure to make sure I graduate on time. This is particularly stressful because my research has not produced anything other than learning experiences and character building. During the meeting, I realized that I needed to have my research completed and to have produced several manuscripts by December 2012. I knew that was my timeline all along, but I had not stepped back to think about what all that implied.
In trying to find a way to mentally process this pressure without having a productivity-debilitating anxiety attack, I realized that that date is approximately one hundred weeks away. One hundred is kind of a big, vague number though, so I thought about Andrew's school's schedule. His students take one subject every ten weeks, called a phase. In that time, the students learn about and achieve a proficiency in one culinary subject. So, I decided to divide my 100 weeks in to ten 10-week phases. The way I figure it, I can run one experiment, set up for another experiment, and begin writing up the first one in each 10 week phase. If I can pull that off (or something even close to it), I will be a very successful Ph.D. candidate and will be on track for an on-time graduation that will reflect a high level of productivity.
So that's the plan. One hundred weeks to success. This is Week One, Phase One and already I have felt more in control and been productive. I plan to blog about the project along the way, to keep some pressure on myself for a little public accountability. Wish me luck!
In trying to find a way to mentally process this pressure without having a productivity-debilitating anxiety attack, I realized that that date is approximately one hundred weeks away. One hundred is kind of a big, vague number though, so I thought about Andrew's school's schedule. His students take one subject every ten weeks, called a phase. In that time, the students learn about and achieve a proficiency in one culinary subject. So, I decided to divide my 100 weeks in to ten 10-week phases. The way I figure it, I can run one experiment, set up for another experiment, and begin writing up the first one in each 10 week phase. If I can pull that off (or something even close to it), I will be a very successful Ph.D. candidate and will be on track for an on-time graduation that will reflect a high level of productivity.
So that's the plan. One hundred weeks to success. This is Week One, Phase One and already I have felt more in control and been productive. I plan to blog about the project along the way, to keep some pressure on myself for a little public accountability. Wish me luck!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
My latest project
I have embarked on a new project I call 2011 daily photo(s). I will take a photo a day and post it on Facebook (which is easier for me to upload pictures onto than here). Now I'm a week into it, and it has been a lot of fun. I hope I can keep up it up for the whole year.
The album is available at the following URL, even if you're not on Facebook:
The album is available at the following URL, even if you're not on Facebook:
2011 Daily Photo(s)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A New Year
The holidays are over, and a new year is here. I'm sure my optimism will return with the increasing daylight hours. It makes sense to me that the longest night of the year occurs a few days before Christmas. Given that Christmas starts in October and requires a month of psychic recovery, this horrible ordeal consumes almost 1/3 of my year. I wish I could move to a Muslim country from October to February (except for the years that Ramadan falls during that interval). I've been so stressed I missed December's period, a physical manifestation of my emotional distress (don't panic - two tests have shown I'm not pregnant; sorry if that was too much information).
It was great to have Madison here in Memphis for a week - felt like old times. She seemed to have fun, in spite of contracting strep and being quite sick for 3 days and then Andrew and I getting it and being pretty sick for 2 days after that. All that sickness really impaired all the fun plans we had made, but she seemed quite content mostly sitting around the house. She did get to do some fun things with her friends: movies, bowling, and ice skating. The crazy thunderstorms on New Year's Eve required us to cancel our plan for doing the South Main Arts District trolley hop, so we wound up going to our favorite, Three Angels Diner. Vicki joined us, and both she and Madison said they really liked it too. Afterwards, Maddie and Vicki went to a party while Andrew and I went to play Trivial Pursuit with our pals, Ben and Nichole, until 11:40pm when we had to leave to pick up Maddie from her party, over promptly at 12:05am. Now she's back in Indiana, and we hope to go up in February for her birthday (which is actually January 31, but close enough).
I had been planning a trip to see my family, going through Greensboro to visit Aunt Debbie and Uncle Sean, then up to Virginia Beach to see Dad and my brothers, then up to DC to Jamie and my nephews, and then home by way of Kentucky to see Carter, Noah, Grandma, and Aunt Bonnie. I didn't see any of my family for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so I had really been looking forward to this. But after a rapid succession of expenses, including the Christmas drain, my car dying, a new battery for Andrew's car, and a broken washing machine, our budget just couldn't accommodate a road trip too. It's only been a year and a half since I've seen Dad, Jesse, and Jadon, but it's been like four years since I've seen Jamie and his gang, and I guess it will be longer still. It was good have something to look forward to while I was trying to endure the holidays, so I guess that actually was the important function . Maybe I can work something out for the summer.
It was great to have Madison here in Memphis for a week - felt like old times. She seemed to have fun, in spite of contracting strep and being quite sick for 3 days and then Andrew and I getting it and being pretty sick for 2 days after that. All that sickness really impaired all the fun plans we had made, but she seemed quite content mostly sitting around the house. She did get to do some fun things with her friends: movies, bowling, and ice skating. The crazy thunderstorms on New Year's Eve required us to cancel our plan for doing the South Main Arts District trolley hop, so we wound up going to our favorite, Three Angels Diner. Vicki joined us, and both she and Madison said they really liked it too. Afterwards, Maddie and Vicki went to a party while Andrew and I went to play Trivial Pursuit with our pals, Ben and Nichole, until 11:40pm when we had to leave to pick up Maddie from her party, over promptly at 12:05am. Now she's back in Indiana, and we hope to go up in February for her birthday (which is actually January 31, but close enough).
I had been planning a trip to see my family, going through Greensboro to visit Aunt Debbie and Uncle Sean, then up to Virginia Beach to see Dad and my brothers, then up to DC to Jamie and my nephews, and then home by way of Kentucky to see Carter, Noah, Grandma, and Aunt Bonnie. I didn't see any of my family for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so I had really been looking forward to this. But after a rapid succession of expenses, including the Christmas drain, my car dying, a new battery for Andrew's car, and a broken washing machine, our budget just couldn't accommodate a road trip too. It's only been a year and a half since I've seen Dad, Jesse, and Jadon, but it's been like four years since I've seen Jamie and his gang, and I guess it will be longer still. It was good have something to look forward to while I was trying to endure the holidays, so I guess that actually was the important function . Maybe I can work something out for the summer.
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