"Us"

hello

2009-11-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hello, my loves. I have nothing much to say except hello, I thinking of you, wondering what each day is like. We've been through a lot this last year and a half, haven't we? Some more than others.

Tonight I'm home with a nascent cold, which I would really like to get rid of before this weekend, which is a weekend of yoga with a visiting teacher that I've been waiting for. That sentence seems a little unwieldy. I'll leave it. I'm watching No Reservations and drinking hot ginger tea, and taking some truly awful tinctures. We'll see.

Today I got paid, and wanted to go buy some expensive yarn. I resisted.

What did you do today? This one day, sometime in November?

Remembering Topher

2008-08-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

In response to Lesley's e-mail with the eulogies, I started to think about how I knew Topher, and where it all began. This is what I wrote to her.

I remember the first night I met him . . . I think. Now I'm not so sure. I remember visiting you when you were a freshman. Christian Challenge (though I recall it being named BSU back then) went to Manhattan for a dance. That could have been the night, though now I don't remember the part he played in the evening.

The first night he made a lasting impression on me was at your house. So it was probably Christmas break? He showed us all sorts of card tricks. Actual good ones that took some skill. Though I guess part of me was all "Lesley's dating a guy who does card tricks??" I knew at that time how deeply in love you were, and I loved him for being so cool and nice to your nerdy young friends.

I have since experienced being immediately liked, by that I mean given a chance based on knowing someone else (street cred, if you will?), but he was the first one to do it: automatically assume we would enjoy each other's friendship because we both had something in common: loving you.

And I remember you showing us (probably another time) this long love letter he wrote to you. Not so much for content, but for style. The one where he took that huge piece of wrapping paper and covered the entire back side with teensy script, probably professing his eternal love for you. At the time, I was, of course, madly envious because I wanted a guy like that, and also heartened that you had found one (therefore, it was entirely possible that I could find one, too). And in retrospect, I am doubly impressed, as whenever I sit down to write a love letter, it usually goes like this: "Dear Tim. You are the love of my life. Ok, bye."

I have a picture of him at your wedding, with us bridesmaids. He has a gleam in his eye, no doubt provoked in part by being surrounded by bridesmaid beauties, but mostly by the recent ceremony linking him to the light of his life.

Happy birthday, Lesley!

2008-08-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, Lesley! Hope the skies are clear tonight!

Can I have this dance?

2008-06-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Field day I didn't block it out

2008-05-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

I know why I don't remember field day! We moved there in fifth grade, so I vaguely remember that field day, but I spent most of May in the hospital my 6th grade year because of my stupid appendix. I'm not going crazy. I just only had one.

Not that the whole "Why does the place mat say Topeka, Kansas. We aren't in Topeka. That makes no sense," is any testimony to that fact.

Yeah.

Maybe I need a better supplement.

Because of him

2008-05-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Because of you, we loved him. Because he loved you, it made us love him more.

Happy Cinco de Sarah!

2008-05-05T12:26:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday, Sarah! Hope it's a good one. :)

Photos

2008-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

springing into nostalgia

2008-04-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

When this time of year rolls around, I always find myself reminiscing about the campouts at Ellie's. In fact, I will probably have to hunt for some of my old photos today, just to satiate my nostalgic mind. What photos of campouts do any of you have? If you could share/post them, that would be great, and I'll try to do the same at some point.

Oh, and is it just me, or has the word verification become really hard? :)

Happy Birthday, LeAnn!

2008-04-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks Hannah!!!

2008-02-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

I got these as a nice suprise in the mail today and I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby!

2007-12-01T19:51:00.001-08:00

Weekend fun

2007-10-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

2007-10-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hope it's happy! It was fantastic to see you last weekend.

Good Times :)

2007-10-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

I had such a great time this last weekend! Really wish my camera had been working Saturday morning when Jennifer and Hannah were around... but at least i got these! Hope you like them... and if you would like to see more, just go to my Flickr! page... Ellie's "El Camino" dance is in there, shot for shot. And can i just say... it's PRICELESS. :)

I know a little boy...

2007-09-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

who just turned 32...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARRETT!

Memories

2007-09-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of this weekend, I started rereading our blog, starting from the very beginning (have to page down to the bottom and read up). Two years, we've been going at this! Wow!

Reminded me of a lot of memories we'll have to rehash. Go back and reread! I'm so excited to see everyone so soon!

home

2007-09-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys,

So. It sounds like most of us will be home for OSD, and of course we should get together. I'm hoping, also, that we can include a memorial for Mariah. It seems really important. Any ideas? Locations? Times?

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to leave sooner than I had expected, probably the night of the 29th in order to attend the memorial for another friend outside of Chicago on the 30th. Which is all very sudden and sad, and necessitates changing my flight. Any suggestions on how I might do that with a minimum of charges?

OSD

2007-09-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

As it happens, I'm going to be in Kansas the week of Old Settler's day. I know Jen is having her reunion...are you going? I was thinking of heading up to Salina for the Land Institute Prairie Festival, but that seems less and less likely.

Eliza is having her tenth year reunion. I think it's telling of the different ways that we felt about high school that I was way the hell out of the country for ours, and she is making a special trip all the way from Madison to go to hers. Not that I don't completely value our friendships, guys.

Go Facebook

2007-09-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

I changed my mind about Facebook.

It still annoys me that they broadcast every little thing, like, "Ellie just wrote on Lesley's wall: 'hi!'" but a lot of my classmates are on it, and I just discovered you can play SCRABBLE!

So. If you're not on it, get on it, and we'll start a Scrabble game.

Happy Birthday to Ellie!

2007-08-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

How's your day? Hope you are having a good one, Ellie!

sorry for this but...

2007-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

I just have to vent a bit about how much I hate myspace! I guess it's my own fault because I'm so backward that everytime I try to tweak my profile or be creative with something it all backfires. So I am sorry for any weird posts that pop up from me there. I somehow don't understand why all the online activity I do has to be broadcast -- it's the same reason facebook grates on me. And I never have the patience to change my settings, and when I try, they don't save anyway. Sorry for my bitch fest here, but I am just the village idiot when it comes to communicating via myspace, so I thought you all deserved fair warning. :)

Happy Birthday!!!

2007-08-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Lesley!!!

Belated pictures

2007-07-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hello, is anyone out there?

Lesley visited me a few weeks ago! I meant to take lots of photos but then, I always do but never manage to.

These are in my neighborhood, right after we went out for breakfast at Lula Cafe with my brother-in-law Chris, Eliza, and her husband Ben. (Though it appears to me that Katie and Eliza married pretty much the same person, for identification purposes, Chris is in orange, and Ben red.)

This is the "square" in Logan Square. Really, it's more a round-about.

happy (belated!) birthday, hannah!

2007-05-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hannah! Hope you had a good birthday. Were you working? Has it been dry there? I was watering everything yesterday, and the ground here is like cement.

All of these recent birthdays made me wonder if blogger has some way to program in birthdays, anniversaries, etc., for our group members. It would be cool to have some way to have them pop up in the blog or via email.... Like some sort of blogger calendar. Do you know of anything like that, Ellie?

summer is almost here

2007-05-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Even though summer never slows down anymore, I wonder if you all have any specific plans during the next few months? Vacations? Trips? Jobs? Goals?

And is anyone who doesn't live in Kansas planning to visit this summer? I am thinking I will spend at least one weekend in the Sunflower State. And speaking of Kansas, poor Greensburg. For some reason, I keep thinking I knew someone who had ties to that town, but then I often think that about *any* Kansan small town.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

The Brush I love

2007-05-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is the brush that I love. You can find a variety of brushes here. You can find distributers of the brushes here. Just search by your state and city.

and now.... happy birthday, Sarah!

2007-05-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am a day early though, right?

I got my hair cut yesterday and that makes me think of you, Sarah. I think you could help me out of my current rut. Anyway. The woman who cuts my hair always remarks how long my hair takes to dry (it really does take forever). Yesterday, she told me that paper towels were the secret to getting the most excess water out of your hair. Better than terrycloth. I love it. All these expensive hair products, and what will really work on my hair? Brawny.

She also say that fabric softener sheets are the secret to getting rid of flyaway dry hair in winter. I love that she never tries to sell me the pricey stuff. She sends me to the household section. I wondered if you have hair secrets like this, too, Sarah?

And, how will you spend your birthday?

Happy Birthday, LeAnn!

2007-04-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hope you have a good day, LeAnn!

Marion gossip

2007-04-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

This might be old news to some of you.

I guess it's pretty sad, but I'm not going to lie about it. My initial reaction was to shriek with laughter/disbelief when Paula told me about it.

Allison Ford (Schults now) was the president of an organization that was like PTA or something, but not called PTA. And it just came to light that she embezzled about $6,000. I guess the treasurer was kind of slow in figuring it out that there was something going on with the money, and mom tried to be all "innocent until proven guilty" but then she told me the day after it was found out, Allison had a sick day and it was announced that she had resigned, but she also wrote a letter in which she basically admitted to it and apologized.

(She always did like writing dramatic letters.)

I had a long and complex relationship with her, as you might know. If not, I'm sure I will write a blog entry reflecting upon its complexities one of these days.

Anyway. I feel sort of evil about it, but I am totally not surprised by this news whatsoever.

Hello

2007-04-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

I could pretend like I'm super suave, a computer genius, but truthfully, I logged on to Google/Blogger several times today, and once, the US blog appeared! I'm not even going to question it.

So I was just fooling around with colors, and am not particularly wedded to this combo.

One of my favorite time wasters online is this: Visibone Webmaster's colorlab/

Come up with your own new color scheme!

Where did they go?

2007-03-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ellie where did our archives go? And why when I am at the dashboard are there 2 US blogs?

digital camaras

2007-03-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Anyone have any advice as to what kind I should buy? I want decent quality, user friendlyness and I don't think I can spend more than 300 dollars. That's the absolute highest I can go, and I'd rather spend a lot less.

I hope that you are all doing splendidly. I am sick of this drabness and coldness...for the last couple of weeks I have barely left the house except to go to work, and pick up copies of Grey's Anatomy at Blockbuster. How is everyone else dealing with winter? Or maybe it isn't winter in Kansas anymore.

Just thinking.....

2007-02-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking that I would say hi to everyone. I am enjoying my job. That is with the exception of having a stalker. Maybe that is someone else's idea of fun and entertainment, but not mine. I am hoping that I will not see him this weekend. Anyway HI!

cold week, warm fire

2007-01-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

It's been cold and snowy this week, to say the least. We're the only losers on our block who didn't shovel our driveway. Too lazy. Just like a cat. This is her favorite spot and mine, too. Keep warm this weekend, everyone!

This One's For Sarah

2007-01-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

I went to the aveda institute this morning. This is what they did to my hair. I will never do this to myself, but it's kinda fun for today. They thinned it a little in the back and angled it around my face.

How is everyone doing out there in your lives? I was sorry to miss the gathering, but really, we must try to do it again. Thanks for all the christmas cards!

Random Pic

2007-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

I found this picture from the reunion on my phone the other day. I didn't take this so I can't imagine, JENNIFER, how it magically appeared in my photos on my phone

Reunion Photos

2007-01-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Flickr won't let me post here since I've switched from the old blogger to the new and "US" hasn't yet. So, you must go here to see the one's I've posted.

Picture me looking both disappointed and contrite!

2007-01-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all...I am so sad that I missed the reunion. I couldn't go that night, and it was mostly my own fault. I've been so bad about logging on and seeing what's happening, and by the time I checked back to see if we were doing anything this Christmas, the reunion was in 2 days and I couldn't arrange for anyone to watch my boys.

This is a good time to complain about nursing a baby. Some people find it fabulous. I find it purely functional. Going places will be much easier for me in 9 months when this is over.

Anyway, I am so bitter and jealous that I wasn't there. And very very sorry that I didn't do a better job of checking in.

And now, just for me, I need someone to promise me that we will do this again in the not-too-distant future so that I can participate. You all are going to be very bored by me now, I'm afraid, since I have so few interesting stories these days, but it will be enough just for me to bask in the glow of all of the stories I will hear from you! Someone give me some hope here because I almost cried when I couldn't go!

A few photos from last Saturday

2006-12-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Memories

2006-12-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

I'll let someone else recap the reunion, when there are pictures online. For now, I wanted to tell everyone how my dad locked me in the guest bedroom tonight and made me organize about a million boxes I haven't looked at in yeeeears. A lot of it reminded me of how into my church camp and Presbyterian youth organizations I was in high school. Then another gift bag reminded me of creative writing class.

I think it was senior year. Christmas. And we had to give each other "gifts"? This is what I found:

From--

Charity: total, 24-hour art therapy
Amber: A week away from Mark so I can have some peace of mind
LeAnn (aka Peaseblossom): A grand piano; an A in trig and physics; a position in Erik's [a church camp friend] band as a keyboard player, "only I'd be SO jealous!! :)"; hair down to your ankles; a trip ("avec moi, of course") to Franace!; P.S. also a S _ _ _ _ _ _ (from Jeremy) which I can only assume is a long-lost inside joke.
Gabrielle Longhofer: 5,000 guys just like Art! (huh? Anyone remember this?)
Mrs. Clark (a student teacher?): A gold nose ring along with a gift certificate to Claire's for one free nose piercing or any other body part that you may want pierced.
Charity: "To Elly and Mark: For you, one free weekend get-away to Prairie View! Hey, I can can see when my friends are in need! Have fun getting to know each other and discovering yourselves!"
Garrett: A clay jewelry shop.
Mrs. Longhofer: "May you always find what you have lost in the drawer where you keep extra stardust, pieces of blue sky, and summertime snowflakes."
Catie: "If I had the power and the greatly needed stability, I would gladly give you this for Christmas: [magazine cutout of the Blind Melon CD with the bee girl on it]. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that I am only financially stable enough to give you this: [magazine cutout of a patriotic stovepipe hat topped by a cheeseburger??]. I know you appreciate my honesty."
Mark: A shopping spree at the Red Room

And one of my favorites:
Mariah: "I give you 4 more weeks to go back to camp to see all your "hot" people and be able to come back and tell us all about it, without us getting bored. Either that or marriage to Eddie Vedder! Take your pick!"

And this is what I gave everyone--

Hannah: A clearing in the woods near a clean, fresh spring, and you are totally self-sufficient and you know how to braid flowers into your hair
Mark: A motorcycle
Kristine: An in-color sculpture of guess-who (Kadon, maybe?)
Gretchen: A trip to Texas after Nov. 24 (No idea whatsoever)
Charity: A sea-green convertible Corvette
Mariah: A tree with seven apples
Garrett: A muzzle and an interview with Stephen King
LeAnn: A guy on a motorcycle
Lesley: A knight in shining amour
Mrs. Longhofer: A sewing kit for our lips

wow, and now it's thanksgiving!

2006-11-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

Holiday greetings, all. What's everyone up to this Thanksgiving? My parents are coming tomorrow, but I don't have to cook because we're all going to see Topher's family up in Naperville (Chicago suburb) on Thursday.

And as of this week, we're a month away from our approaching reunion. What's the plan? Can you tell I'm just a little eager?

happy halloween! (and a question about books)

2006-11-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

A day late, I know. Did anyone do anything cool? Not us, per usual. I think we had five groups of trick or treaters while we crashed on the couch with some Chinese take out and more Veronica Mars.

More exciting for me (and something completely unrelated to Halloween) is that I got my teaching assignment for the spring. I get to teach a women writers course! I spent yesterday afternoon tracking down ISBN numbers for the novels I want to assign and writing up the course description. I am planning a theme of women writing utopian/dystopian communities -- it's loosely-based on a class I once took myself -- and I already have a range of 6-7 books, medieval to modern. I would like to add something different to the mix -- any good suggestions? (This is also a ploy to find out if anyone has read anything good lately -- and I know we're all insanely busy, but I get my best book recommendations from this group, so I'm always wondering.)

have a good November 1

Blog Business

2006-10-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Periodically I Google myself, mostly to pat myself on the back at how prolific (or so it appears--ha.) a book reviewer I used to be, but also to make sure nothing bad (or naked) appears.

I've heard that nowadays, people's Internet past can come back to bite them in the ass when they interview for jobs (though HR can't ask any personal questions, they sure can look them up online). That's probably the corporate world. I sort of doubt that would happen in my line of work--the shelter doesn't even have Internet--but still. Better safe than sorry.

So usually I just see book reviews and my name in old mastheads of library journals. Minor heart attack today then, when I tried another search engine (either Yahoo! or Dogpile--can't remember which), and found a few of our posts here.

Unless anyone speaks up soon with a compelling reason against this, I'm going to put in some coding that will exempt this site from showing up on searches.

Now that I have a computer...

2006-10-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I can regale you with pictures of my past.

This was just after Christmas last year, Sandra and her kids washing sea clams to make ceviche. It was pretty good

This is my best Ecuadorian friend, Sandra, with her son, who is my godson in theory. We were at an outdoor mass, just before christmas 05. I would not have gotten through those tow years with out Sandra and her family.

Right before I left, the kids from the school came to say good bye. They broke my heart. I took this picture in my garden.

If You Weren't Doing This...

2006-10-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

What would you do? I mean, we all have the thing that we are engaged in now, like social work, and medieval research and photography, etc...but what is your second love?

I was thinking about that this morning. I love agriculture and growing things and art and colors and working with my hands. But there is this other thing that I think about sometimes, a path I didn't take because I never even thought about it, and it seems so unlike me. Radio, public radio. What if I had gone into radio journalism? Could I do that even now? I probably won't, but it's somthing I think about from time to time.

I bet you all have something like that. What is it?

The Announcement

2006-10-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is the official word. The kid's three weeks old and I haven't even told you all yet. It's been a little difficult to find time for the computer since he was born. Yes, we have another boy! He's been a good baby so far too. He came on September 19th and we've named him Jonah Gabriel. I'll attach a picture which looks pretty much like you'd expect. :D

happy birthday, jennifer!

2006-10-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

... and happy first birthday to "Us"!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

2006-10-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a day early. But happy anniversary to US! Go back, read some old posts, laugh that we are all almost thirty. I love you all!

Ren Fests

2006-10-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

So I've decided I will never attend another Ren fest without people who appreciate it(see my blog and you'll understand why). SO my lovelies, as of today, we are going to start a new tradition.
Once a year we will all get together in Bonner Springs, rent hotel rooms and spend the weekend at the renaissance Festival. Dressed up. No excuses, no I'm too busy.

And as of now I'm setting the date. We will get together the 5th of October, stay in a hotel that night and go the ren fest all day Saturday. Stay over the 6th, eat breakfast together in the morning and head home that Sunday afternoon.

Write on your calendars now. Start planning your costumes. No excuses. Besides, who else can I get bawdy and medieval with?

december

2006-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

I got to wondering tonight if we had set the actual date for our December reunion. I know we can't get everyone together at once, but let's just decide, like Sarah said. December 22 or 23, day or night? Discuss.

I hope all's good where you are.

Well??

2006-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

What's the word on the latest Malaschak baby? Has he or she arrived yet? I'm dying to see new pictures!

my cooking class

2006-08-31T08:16:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't posted pictures in a while, but I promise, I'll only do one. Actually this picture is from back in July but I enjoy it, so:

Are you ready to decide?

2006-08-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so since no one else is saying it I will . I think we need to decide (maybe not right this minute) if and when we are going to have our "reunion". Obviously we aren't all going to be able to be there at one time with us a bit spread out. Maybe if we get the details figured out or in the works at least we can make it happen when a lot of us can be there. Thinking about things I think that the "we shoulds", "we'll have tos" can slip right on into nevers. Nevers don't get anyone anywhere.

Obviously it won't be old settlers day.

Christmasish? I think that was mentioned. Let's really decide.

30, 30, 30

2006-08-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

happy birthday, baby Ellie!

Not catching up!

2006-08-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hey all...I'm getting famous for these sporadic all-encompassing posts where I say how long it's been since I visited the blog, so here's another one. I decided not to overwhelm myself by trying to read down and catch up with what's going on so if there are any really vital things happening, post a comment and then I can feel like I at least have some clue about the rest of the universe.

Here, things are busy since we're getting ready for baby. We have about three weeks left (I hope) and I am panicking more than usual. Asher will hate the baby, I think, but he moved into his new room yesterday and already has gotten used to that, so there is the good news. He's very attached to me and so things are going to be tough for him for a while. He just had his half birthday yesterday so he is officially "going on 2".

Does anyone have name ideas for me? We are pretty much solidified for a girl and trying to decide between 2 boys' names at this point, but I love to hear other people's ideas. And we have NO idea for the boy's middle name. Asher's named after someone in my family and so we want this one to be named after someone in Jason's family. I would prefer his dad, but the poor guy's name is Gary Gene. Argh. Hence, a dilemma. And it reminds me of how Nick Voelker always used to call Garrett "Gary" just to annoy him. Other family choices are Anthony, Michael, James, Thomas, and Dmitri. I feel weird using some of these since they are people I've never met. And I can't ask you guys for help since you don't know the first names they are supposed to match. We're sworn to secrecy. Dmitri is kinda neat-o though, huh?

Anyway. I'm taking Asher to visit my parents on Thursday morning. I think my dad has plans about tractor rides or something. He likes having boys in the family finally. Other than that we are pretty much focused on baby preparation. Of course Jason isn't nervous. Nothing scares him, except when he has his spider dreams. I will try to check in often in the next few weeks and tell everybody what is happening. My main goal is just to keep the kid in there as long as possible at this point.

Lothlorien?

2006-08-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our back yard! There are some pictures of the actual house over at my blog, if you're interested.

Beautiful!

2006-08-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Meet in Chicago

2006-08-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hannah and I biked downtown to have breakfast with Lesley. It was a lot of fun!

#4

2006-08-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

My tattoo artist is so dreamy. I have a huuuge crush on him.

And he's goooood.

But I still hate needles. I am trying not to pass out.

Now I'm fixing to pass out from happiness after I hear the words "all done."

Yep. All done!

Three Days Grace

2006-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Have any of you heard of this band before? I hadn't until this last week. I guess I have heard a couple of their songs on the radio without knowing their name and they're not too bad. Anyway, point being, David and I were able to go to a private concert they were giving at Cirque Lodge (a fancy, schmancy treatment center here in Utah.) I was very impressed with their lyrics and the real passion they sing their songs with. The lead singer is in recovery and had a question/answer session after the concert, it was VERY cool!

Anyway, how is everyone? Ellie, I hope you got moved ok. Hannah, have you already moved to Chicago too? I haven't been on here in so long that I feel like I've missed out on things going on. Hope all of you are doing great! Good luck in school Ellie.

Hannah And Ellie together again!

2006-08-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hurrah!!!!!! She's back!

baby quilt

2006-08-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hey, all you people with babies. I want to make a baby quilt for my cousin's as yet in utero child. What I'm wondering is, should I be concerned about tying it rather that quilting it? Like, what if it chewed on the ties and then choked on one? Am I being paranoid?

And I guess I should probably make it flannel, even though it's so danged hot.

Don't worry, Ellie, this doesn't mean I'm not worrying about your wedding quilt.

HOT

2006-07-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

OMG, is anyone else as hot as I am? Today Chicago is like a giant sweaty elephant sitting on top of me.

It got hotter in Kansas. This is for sure true. But there I would just take myself on down to the movie theater and hope a three hour flick was showing. They only cost three fifty. Here, it's almost a ten dollar investment.

Days like this, it's hard to remember coolness, and frost, and anything refreshing. People are angry when it's this hot, especially in the city.

Today, I've decided that moving to the mountains is the only choice. I hope you all are doing well.

Footloose

2006-07-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was flipping channels the other day and footloose was on. It brought back memories of dancing to this song and a variety of others at various slumber parties and one in lesleys basement. I want to say halloween. Where did the time go? I also when did the music we listened to then become the oldies of today? I noticed this while at the dentist. Micky by tony basil was one of the songs being played over their system. Sigh. It made me feel a little old. Then i left and felt fine.

2006-07-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

I decided a while ago that I needed to buy a computer. Well, wanted to. So now the time is drawing near to actually suck it up and lay down some cash, since I'm going to be a real independent person. However, I don't really know how to pick one. And who better to ask than you all. I've decided that it's got to be a laptop, since I'm so mobile still. Other than that...I don't know much about the damn things. I want to check my email and use the internet, write stories and essays, and possibly, in the future, use design programs. I'm thinking of going back to school for a masters in Landscape Architecture, which would probably entail some sort of CAD program or something. This is not for sure. It would also be nice to be able to watch movies on the thing.

So, what do you suggest? My brother in law told me to get a macbook. My dad thinks I should buy one on Ebay, but a friend of mine got burned that way...he had saved enough money from his peace corps allowance to get a laptop, and then the guy never sent the computer.

a job

2006-07-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have been long absent, it seems. But, I have good news, at least for myself. I'm going to teach english to immigrants in chicago. This is probably not my first choice of ways to make a living, at least the english teaching part, but as I don't know what my first choice is yet, this is a good way to earn a little money. And it will be great to work with immigrants. I'm so excited to be getting closer to having a life. First, though, I am coming home to kansas next week...peaches and sweet corn are in season.

Holidays

2006-07-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

How'd you spend the 4th?

I volunteered to work, actually, because I thought Tim would have to work (he didn't), and I got 16 hours of holiday time for doing it. It was just me and a relief worker covering the admin's desk, so I worked on some freelance proofreading, and got some satisfaction at being paid triple for sitting at my desk.

Then I got some clearance things at the Gap, and went home to die from heat exhaustion. Seriously, it was too hot even to get up from the bed, put on my swim suit, and walk twenty feet to the pool.

In the evening, Tim and I organized and packed things in preparation for the move, until we decided it would be more enjoyable to pack while high, which, wouldn't you know it? killed our productivity in approximately thirty seconds. We ended the evening sitting on the floor listening to Zepplin, planning videos that would go along with the music.

So no fireworks or anything!

How about you?

I have a home!

2006-06-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

(Barring any unanticipated problems with our credit check. I've never been turned down for anything involving a credit check before, so it's probably fine, right? RIGHT??

Oh crap. I hope I don't jinx it by posting this now.)

An awesome apartment in a GREAT location! It's small, but liveable. (Katie and her husband live in a two-floored one bedroom right now, but they said they could probably fit just fine in this one.) It's on the 3rd floor, which I like for safety reasons, but oof. I'll get some good muscles from climbing the stairs!

Ok, the pictures hide the awesomeness a teensy bit, because my BIL sent low-res files, and the current tenants are in the middle of packing. I think you can see its potential, though. (Hannah: It's on Logan Blvd and California. Three blocks from the Calif blue line stop.)

Outside. It faces a boulevard, so tons of grass and trees.

Welcome to the mess. Living room area. The brown door through the doorway in the back
is to a closet or the bathroom. Past the entertainment center on the right wall is another doorway to the dining room area.

Looking back at the living room. One the left side is the foyer area. The paned door is mirrored, and it's the closet.

Dining room area. There's enough room in there for our table and maybe the computer desk. Door to the right goes to the kitchen.

Another view of it. Katie and the landlady's husband have their backs to the living room.

A TON of counterspace and cupboards in the kitchen.

It looks pretty small--and I'm sure it is--but it's bigger than the kitchen we have now--which is a decent for just the two of us.

Back porch. Small, but should fit a few chairs.

Bedroom.
Small, though larger than the picture appears to be. Will fit our dressers. Just not a desk like they have crammed in there.

Bathroom.
Eeek! How cute is this? Everything looks brand new, and I'm going to have to copy the small delicate plants at the window! They look like bamboo shoots, which are really expensive at flower shops, but crazy cheap at the vietnamese markets on Argyle.

There's also a storage space in the basement that will fit our bikes plus other stuff.

I'm so excited! Plants! Sunshine! Hardwood floors!! CHICAGO!! Paula is flipping OUT coming up with decorating ideas. I think my 30th birthday is going to be a lucrative one.

I just . . . I can't even express how relieved I am about finding a place--and one I like, and how in awe I am. I'm moving back to Chicago! This is REAL!

Thong, th, thong, thong, thong

2006-06-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

I thought we needed a bright and cheery pic. Since I have no more puppies I decided to put my thong here to share with all of you. Here it is do you like it? It smells good too! LOL!!!!!!!!!

'Hood vs Home

2006-06-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

What do you take into primary consideration for your home: the neighborhood or the actual home?

I'm in a conflict right now searching for a place, and to make things worse, I'm only vaguely sure of what I'm thinking about--I can't actually see these places that Katie is looking at for me.

She saw a place today that is 2.5 bedrooms, huge kitchen, tons of windows and sunshine. It's close to my school, and near an interstate. The problems are, it's actually TOO near an interstate (try half a block), and just generally in a neighborhood I don't want to live in. (I'm a north-side girl, this is kind of south.) The hood is fairly residential, though an artist's community, but it doesn't necessarily have many restaurants, bars, sidewalk cafes in the area, and so forth. I'm not even sure where any grocery stores are in the area. It's also not in a great location for Tim (the theatres and agents' offices are mostly on the north side) so he'd have to drive everywhere instead of biking and taking public transit.

On the north side, for the same price, we'd probably be in a smaller one-bedroom, but in a cute, darling neighborhood.

(Also, even though they are developing a park across the street from this big apartment, on the north side, there are tons more trees.)

Arg. This is stressful.

2006-06-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

how is everyone? what's up? the blog has been quiet and I miss you all.

Aside from getting ready to move, we are pretty ho-hum here. I'm continuing to write my dissertation -- I'm nearly done with my second chapter and hope to have the third drafted by the end of summer -- and Topher is keeping on, keeping on at work, designing levels to a game that will be the sequel to one his company will release this August.

We've been winding down in the evenings to episodes of Deadwood -- really good western series from HBO. It's gritty and sleazy, to say the least, but seems like the most authentic western-themed show I've ever seen. The characters and stories are really well-written, as long as you can just get past some fiercely obscene language. We are a season behind. But we need to start Veronica Mars! Is anyone else watching anything good right now? Movies?

This morning is slower for me than most -- I've put off writing until this afternoon.
Last night, I got a wild hair and started writing a short story. Not about anything in particular. I wonder what it will be. Summer does that to me. Has anyone else written anything as of late? Thought about writing/drawing/creating anything? I am just being pesky and curious.

Hope you are all doing well!

no offense to the adorable puppies.....

2006-06-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

.... but we need a new post here. However, I'm the one doing it, and I have nothing really amazing or great to say.....except that we would gladly take a puppy if there weren't a possibility that Kit and Mil would go all cat ninja on a new roommate.

Did everyone have a good Memorial Day weekend?

Oh, wait, maybe I do have something cool to post. I just realized that I hadn't posted a picture of our house-to-be.

This actually makes the exterior color look sickly yellow, but it is really more goldenrod to tan. And it has rained so much that everything is wonderfully green and growing all around! We close two weeks from today.

2006-05-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

These are the last two puppies we have left. The other night we saw the bad dog that came into our fence and Steve followed it home. So the guy that owns the dog came over and looked at the puppies. He is going to take the black one in like a week I think. So in the meantime we are still looking for homes for the other two. The light colored one is a girl and the carmel one with the black face is a boy. They are sweet and good natured. The carmel colored one is a bit shy, but is getting better. He is probably a week behind because he is the smallest one. They will probably be medium sized 30-40 lbs maybe, the small one I would say 20 lbs. Who wants one and when do you want me to drop them off!?! So if you know anyone who is looking for a puppy send them my way.

School's out for summer

2006-05-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

School is out! And of course being the punk that I am, taught the fifth graders I work with how to make a butt with their knee.

Everyone should have a cool party trick.

This is our cutie!! :)

2006-05-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

Big News in our Lives

2006-05-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I haven't posted in awhile, so thought I'd update. We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. We're getting our house in order so we can take in a foster child. He's five years old and absolutely adorable! He's actually a boy that I teach at Head Start right now. He won't move into our home until August. We have to take the training classes and get his room ready this summer. I think we're also preparing ourselves mentally, emotionally and physically for all the work that he's going be! :) David and I are both ecstatic though! We get visitation with him anytime we want and I'm taking him to and from school Monday-Friday. Oh, his name is Timmy. Anyway, that's our big news for the summer. :)
Hope everyone is doing well. David and I are going to be visiting my family for a few days in June. I'm so excited! I haven't been to Kansas in over a year now, so it will be nice to see everyone. Oh Yea, Andy is getting married in August too. WHEW!! There are so many things going on this summer I hope I can keep my sanity! :D He and Melissa are getting married in Oklahoma City, which is where she's from. My family's glad that it's relatively close to Kansas so they don't have to travel very far. So, I guess David and I will be back out there at the beginning of August for the wedding. Then, we have to hightail it back to Utah so we can get ourselves ready for Timmy.
That's about it for now. Have a great weekend!

Happy 30th!

2006-05-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, Hannah! Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled, memorable birthday!

I love my mom

2006-05-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

And you too, LeAnn, Sarah and Jennifer. Hope you are having a great day!

My Announcement

2006-05-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Oh, yeah, when you go to the bookstore next, look for a cookbook called The Real Dirt on Vegetables. It just came out, and it's by the farmer at Angelic Organics, where I used to work. I did some illustrations for it, and I'm fairly sure they are included.

christmas

2006-05-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

hey, guys, what's going on? Sounds like a lot...everyone has an announcement these days.

I was wondering though, should we change Mariah's memorial to around Christmas time, instead of OSD? Just because it seems like people have a lot going on around then, and even though Christmas is busy, maybe more of us will be around? I know that I just applied for a temporary job out of the country, and even though I don't know if I'll get it, or when it would be, I think there's a good chance it would overlap OSD. But I'm NOT missing another christmas with my family.

Lemme know what you think.

No more school, no more books......Oh, wait, I am the teacher with the dirty looks

2006-05-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last final is done. It's so weird to say that. I realize that may change if I go back and get my masters (not that THAT'S going to happen anytime soon), but for now, last test is done.

So for you, all my lovely, far flung friends you can watch me 7:00 pm friday evening at www.shockervision.tv It will be the Commencement: Barton School of Business link.

Wish me luck so that I don't fall off my fabulous shoes!

A poem I found that I thought I would share

2006-05-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

I found this poem online and I think it kind of sums us all up!

Friends you and me,
You brought another then there were three
We started our group
Our circle of friends
There is no beginnning
There is no end

Sarah had a birthday!

2006-05-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

And I didn't forget, but I haven't signed on for over a week!! Happy birthday. I remembered that whole weekend because Emporia has gigantic Cinco de Mayo celebrations and I felt as though I should have painted your name on a sombrero and worn it around town or something. Sadly, I lacked the courage and also the sombrero.

Writing

2006-05-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

I was reading Hannah's blog, and this line: "It was just one moment out of many, coming from one and leading to another," made me realize why I like blogs, in general, so much, but mostly all of yours.

Well, my love of blogs comes from enjoying hearing people talk about their lives and their thoughts--particularly if they are good at writing about it, but all of yours remind me of creative writing class, and how much we used to share our writing. I miss that creative outlet. I don't even really write anymore. My last poem was about five years ago, and I think the blog is actually stunting my writing ability.

Thinking about all this, I went back to my most prized possession: a book Hannah created for high school graduation, filled with all our memories.

Towards the end, one spread was filled with one of my favorite poems ever to come out of the creative writing classes, that ended with: "And I was feeling as though I was almost worthy of this day."

I love that thought and idea, and reading it again made me miss all of your words.

Catie, Catie... The Soon-To-Be-Married Lady...

2006-05-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! guess who got engaged last week!? :)

Again, I still exist

2006-04-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

Let me just tell you we have been having the most wretched computer issues the last few weeks or so. Adware, spyware, and about a dozen lovely Trojan viruses and they are still not completely resolved. Jason fixed some of it and then had to call a computer guy, and we are still having problems but the guy won't call us back now. Luckily most of the problems seem to be somehow associated with Jason's ID on the computer so I can now use it fairly easily. :D

Anyway. I wanted to try to post on Mariah's birthday and couldn't, but I have scanned back through a few posts and glimpsed the wonderful pictures that someone (Catie I think?) posted that day. I didn't read everything but I will try to at some point. Thanks, by the way, for that SO flattering picture of me that was in that set. You know, the one where it looks like I'm falling asleep or something. At least I'm not taking a bite of food. Everyone has seen one of THOSE pictures of themselves, right? It's not flattering.

So I thought since I've been away, today would be a good day to get back here and see what everyone is doing. Lesley, I got your card and pics in the mail this week and you were right, they weren't really so bad. :D Asher STILL has never had his hair cut and so there are some curls in the back that will probably eventually have to come off.

We're having thunderstorms this morning...hurrah!! We just finished one a little while ago and I had the baby out in the rain so he could see what was making all those funny-looking round spots on the ground. He makes me think twice about almost everything now...like this morning. I wondered to myself if I had never actually stood out in rain or felt it coming down, would I know what it was or would I just think there were spots on the ground and I couldn't see across the street very well today? So I took him outside. He seemed interested.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Psych ward, here I come!

2006-04-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

I've been talking to social service agencies in Chicago, trying to find an internship for next fall. I had a phone interview last Friday with an intake coordinator for a south-side, inner-city psych ward in the adolescent wing. The placement sounds amazing for what I want to do: leading therapy groups, doing psycho-social assessment, family counseling, discharge planning, and some admin (learning how to deal with insurance stuff. Ok, so that's not the most interesting, but important, still).

And I harbor a secret desire to work with adolescents. I don't know if that's an area I'll be good at all in, but I figure an internship is the right place to figure that out.

Anyway, the intake coordinator said she had a few more students to interview, but would contact me one way or the other. AND, she just called me and said they want me!

I'm fairly dizzy with excitement. I am so SO thrilled (and terrified)! But also, it just feels GOOD to start nailing down things for beginning school!

adding to pics

2006-04-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

We saw LeAnn and Jason and Asher over Christmas and finally got the roll of film developed. So, here they are! Personally, I think we all look pretty durn good.... ;)

Some current pics of us . . . finally! :)

2006-04-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

David and I, blissfully happy after stuffing ourselves with crab!!

All of us at a freakin fancy, expensive restaurant on Debbies b-day. Stressful, but fun!!

I love this pic of David in a tree across from our house.

Sadie and I playing by the river.

This is Tyler, down by the river in our back yard.

Playing jenga at a cute coffee shop in Salt Lake. Oh, how we love the simple things in life! ;D

Exhausted after a long night of eating and playing jenga! :)

We went on a carriage ride down town that night, cold! but beautiful. Those are our best friends Mike and Debbie.

We do get out and have fun occasionally, as you can see. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Mariah!

2006-04-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a Child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked. "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time."

~ From THE VELVETEEN RABBIT by Margery Williams

Here in my heart i am Helen;
I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least.
I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Stael;
I'm Salome, moon of the East.

Here in my soul i am Sappho;
Lady Hamilton am i, as well.
In me Recamier vies with Kitty O'Shea,
With Dido, and Eve, and poor Nell.

I'm of the glamorous ladies
At whose beckoning history shook.
But you are a man, and see only my pan,
So i stay at home with a book.

~ SONG OF ONE OF THE GIRLS by Dorothy Parker

"We came to the street light on the corner, and i wondered how many times Dill had stood there hugging the fat pole, watching, waiting, hoping. I wondered how many times Jem and i had made this journey, but i entered the Radley front gate for the second time in my life. Boo and I walked up the steps to the front porch. His fingers found the front doorknob. He gently released my hand, opened the door, went inside, and shut the door behind him. I never saw him again...."
"...Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."

~ From TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
All of these beautiful stories of love, humor, understanding, hope and faith... for Mariah. Happy Birthday, Kiddo. I love you and miss you.

Happy Easter!

2006-04-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys, Happy Easter! I hope you are all having a good day. Eliza and Ben dyed eggs with red wine and lilac leaves last night, and we're having spanikopita and asparagus for dinner...this is my first holiday with my family in over two years. It should be a nice day. What about the rest of you?

house!

2006-04-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

I have some good news to add to the list: We got a house! We won't close until June, but we're really excited. I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post any pictures until much later, after the closing. It's got a wonderful kitchen, a screened in porch, hard wood floors. And we'll have a guest room -- finally! -- so make your plans to visit us next year!

Also, (completely unrelated) I saw Nickel Creek in concert last night. They were excellent, needless to say -- **But I mainly wanted to tell Sarah that they did a hilariously great cover of Britney's "Toxic"! You would have loved it.**

Hope everyone is doing well this week!

Now I know what tear gas feels like

2006-04-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Friday I was in Cuenca with a bunch of other volunteers and Ellie's cousin Andy, who was visiting. My friend Sarah, Andy and I decided to go up to the Mirador, which is above the city, to have a look at the panarama(by the way, it's a beautiful european style city, and if any of you would like to see it, I plan to come back in a year, so I need a travel partner). We walked back. We were getting close to the university when we heard a dull crash. We commented on it, but noises like that are common enough. So we kept on going. We came up on the Banco de Pichincha, the main bank in Ecuador. The front windows were all smashed in, and there were lots of police and armored vehicles around. We turned around, trying to decide what to do. Because of course, we wanted to see what was going on, without getting killed ourselves. Andy wanted some pictures...he was suddenly walking much faster than before. Sarah wanted a milkshake...because she's just like that. So we skirted the campus, and crossed the river and walked to a point where we could see that there was a sort of battle going on between the police and some students. Well, Andy and I did. Sarah was back getting her milkshake. She caught up to us, and we got a little closer, Andy taking pictures all the way. He even got some video. I've been to a lot of protests, but none quite like this. There were rocks being thrown and fires being started. Pretty soon my throat and nose started to tingle, and as the protest got more intense, so did the sensation.

It turned out that the protest was because a student had been killed by what sounds like a guard at the bank the day before...and of course the free trade agreement that Ecuador will be signing soon. I don't know what I think about protests like this anymore. But at least my eyes stopped watering as soon as we got a few blocks away. And what a way to end my time here.

Catching up

2006-04-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yea, Well my last few weeks haven't been quite as exciting as some of yours, but they've been more enough to stress me out.

I now have a new sobriety b-day to my still lasting shame and humiliation. Yea, it was one of those, "I have no idea how it happened" kind of things. Anyway, I have just over 30 days AGAIN. The good thing is, I now have a really good sponsor who I'm actually WORKING the steps with. She's a no nonsense, won't put up with my lies and bullshit type of person. She's GREAT!

Then, about 2 weeks ago I had a day off work and got a wild hair up my ass to go give plasma. Well, not a bad idea you say? For me, it was the worst. I've given plasma twice in my entire life and passed out both times. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result each time. Well, I passed out AGAIN, only this time I was DRIVING!! Yup, ran right into this poor lady with a 3 day old 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee, her first EVER brand new vehicle. Well, I didn't find this out until a week later. I didn't come to until the ambulance pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. I was in there about 30min and David came running in, frantic that I was bleeding to death. Nope, get some juice and cookies in me and I'm good to go. Well, that's not the end of it. They impounded my damn car because unbeknownst to me the fucking insurance ran out and my registration was revoked. So, I gotta pull $300 out of my ass to get new car insurance, reinstate my registration AND get my car out of impound! Right now, my car is in the shop attempting to become drivable again.
So, that's been my FUN, EXCITING past few weeks! :) It's damn good thing I have a great sense of humor, or might just get depressed over the past few weeks.

Work has been GREAT!! I absolutely LOVE working at Head Start! The kids are adorable(most of the time) and my hours are awesome. So, my shining stars right now are David and work. :) Hey, at least I've got some shining stars!

jet plane

2006-04-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well, four more days in this crazy country. I can´t believe it, though I´ve been saying goodbye and making final purchases for several weeks now. But indeed, I´ll be flying into Wichita on the 11th. Wow.

Deep breath.

Graduation

2006-04-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

While all of you will be getting announcements, I know not everyone will be back in time, so I'm posting this.

WSU now hosts the commencement ceremonies live on the web. The link is www.shockervision.tv. I graduate at 7:00 central time on May 12. Now you just have to wait till the N's and can do other things during the boring parts (those that don't include me!).

hello again

2006-03-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

hey everyone... i haven't been online for a long time, but it was really nice getting back on and catching up with everyones' news.

first off congratulations LeAnn; i'm really excited for the both of you, and wish you the best!

congratulations on your new job Gretchen. it sounds like it'll be a good change, and it's always nice to know that you were apprecitated at the old job. strangely enough, Stef and i are now officially working together at the same restaurant.... the money will be much better for her there, but it was really difficult for her to leave the friends she'd made at her old job.

Hannah, i hope your transit back home is safe! i look forward to hearing more.... i'm sure it's going to be a crazy culture shock. what are your plans now?

i'll just get my news out quickly. there's been so much happening with me these last few months that i barely know how catch up myself. i quit my band in December; i'm getting married September 16th in Pennsylvania, and Stef and i are moving to Prague in January to teach English (we're going to try and rotate between the Czech Republic and Italy where Stef has family for about a year)!

anyway, i'm pretty much reeling.... Garrett and Eric are going to be groomsmen.....

as you can imagine, i feel like years have gone by in months. if you'd like, please email me your addresses (which i'd like to have anyway) so that i can send you announcements. talk to everyone again soon. marke610@verizon.net

photography of interest

2006-03-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

I am listening to a local radio program right now, and the guest is David Plowden, a photographer whose subject is "disappearing America." I checked out his website, and lo and behold, found a photograph he had taken of Marion in 1973, one of his many small-town America, black and white compositions he seems to specialize in.

They are sad (in fact, he and the radio host are talking about that now), but I can't stop looking at them. There are many on his website of barns, rural landscapes, deserted houses. They capture that starkness of the plains -- and reminded me of what Ellie had talked about on her blog a while back.

I don't know if I'd say, enjoy, necessarily, but they are worth a look. They appeal to my enjoyment of strict perspective.

3 weeks

2006-03-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

I've been out of touch for a while, but I have been reading the blog whenever I get the chance. I love the duck photo.

Well, it's getting close now. Last night I slept in my little adobe house for the last time. My neighbors who bought my stuff had already taken everything away, so all I had was the mattress on the floor. I had my stereo playing ellie's I Remember CD. It seemed appropriate somehow.

It's been a tense couple of weeks. Ecuador is in the middle of trade talks with the US, about a free trade agreement, and for a variety of reasons, the indigenous groups called nationwide strikes, effectively cutting off transportation through most of the mountains. There wasn´t much activity where I lived, just a lot of mud piled in the road in a few places for a day or two, but up north it was pretty bad. And, for a couple of days it looked like I wouldn´t be able to leave because of road blocks farther north. So I was a little panicked, trying to get everything organized to leave, say goodbye, wrap things up.

Here's the thing though. I've made some good friends here, and they all cry and get emotional when I tell them I'm leaving. But, I do believe I'll be coming back to visit, and anyway, in my head I'm already planning my new life. So I don't cry, and I don't really know how to handle it when someone else does. I wish I could be more in the moment...I mean, my gosh, I'm not at home yet...and who knows how it will REALLY be once I get there...

But, Yay! not long now. I'm planning some little gifts for all of you...