herb's garden retreat

government and economic facts

2011-09-03T16:46:00.000-04:00

Government subsidies for those who don't need it, and do

In my own little corner of the world, I'm a cog in the government wheel testing people for Medicaid coverage for nursing homes. If you don't think you'll ever need Medicaid, answer this question: do you have at least $7000/month in disability insurance or retirement income? If you don't, you're a stroke or a bad car accident
away from needing Medicare.

Family Vacation to Delaware

2011-08-21T17:17:00.000-04:00

Mom and Dad had decided a while ago that to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, they wanted to go on a family vacation with their kids (and significant others). Everyone agreed on the first weekend in August, and Dave & Sarah made such an excellent case for the Wilmington, Delaware area, so that's what we did!

We all got to our motel in Wilmington Friday afternoon. That evening we went to Longwood Gardens, which has more amazing and beautiful kinds of plants than I've ever seen. And the Italian Water Garden was pure beauty.
When we got back, Dave and Sarah got out a bottle of champagne and we all toasted their engagement. They've been looking at some beautiful places in the Albany area to have a catered reception, and Sarah has pictures of about nine gowns she wants to try.

Ralph and Dave have not lost their humorous touch. For example, while at Longwood Gardens...
Mom: What's in the Conservatory?
Ralph: Mr Plum with the knife.

Also, the boys decided our new Honda Insight looked like a Transformer, a Decepticon no less (those are the evil Transformers) and gave it an appropriate name: Otakron. (I had just gone to Otakon the previous weekend)

below: Ralph with Otakron

The next day we went to the Hagley Museum, where the du Pont family started making its millions by manufacturing high-quality black powder for guns. This was Ralph and Ken's favorite (possibly Dad's too; I didn't poll him)--lots of cool 19th century technology. I enjoyed the foreman's home with its middle-class late-1800s furnishings and all the bits of social history along with it, and the river where the mills were.

That night we had dinner at the Wilmington Riverfront at Iron Hill Brewery--great food, service and of course, beer. I am not a beer person and I drank nearly all of my sampler of their delicious blackberry-flavored specialty ale.

Sunday we hit Winterthur--I'd been there twice but we had a great guide through the house, and the natural-style landscaping is always lovely.

Monday we thought we were out of luck for a place to go, but the Brandywine Museum was open, so we enjoyed three generations of Wyeth paintings and other art. I actually liked George Weymouth's work as much as any of the Wyeths.

Naturally, we had to go to the beach (Sarah and I both love the beach, and Mom has a thing for funnel cakes), so we drove 1 1/2 hours there. Ken and I had just been to Rehoboth in May and loved it: cool stores, a short boardwalk but with everything from the necessary funnel cakes to "nostalgia" portrait photography, and a nice beach.

at left: Dave and Sarah at the beach

I rode to the beach with Ralph so we got to talk about some serious stuff, such as why he wants to be a psychiatric nurse (he has 2 semesters of nursing school left, and did his psych rotation last semester). So good to have a real talk in person (and with no 3 year old interrupting)!

The whole vacation was just as good as my best memories of vacations when we were all kids--and in some ways, better. No sibling fights, and no getting stuck on the swan boats (though Ralph and I agreed we should go to Dutch Wonderland again for nostalgia's sake, and take his kids with us.)

I know, it's been a long time...

2011-07-17T15:05:00.000-04:00

I'm finally moved into the new work location closer to work that I was supposed to be in last October, and mostly settled in (I still need a phone with a working voicemail system). My commute is now cut in half three days a week (I'm spending at least part of the day twice a week at the old office to pick up mail and bring really complex issues that require bringing binders of papers to my boss). Hurrah!

And I'm commuting sometimes in our NEW CAR!!!

Ken's (formerly his mom's) 17-year-old Honda Accord was having clutch issues and other problems, and Ken's research led him to believe it would need to have new hardware installed to carry a child safety seat properly, and the driving around here is not friendly for a stick-shift. So, we bought a 2011 Honda Insight--we preferred the visibility, braking, and dashboard layout to the Prizm, and we could get a new Insight for the cost of a used Prizm. We're loving it--the handling, the lower mileage, and the marvelous hookup and screen for our iPods. So we have good music wherever we go! Of course, we have friendly debates over who gets the Insight for each weekday morning and who gets the 11 year old Prizm.

Friday night Ken and I enjoyed seeing old friends and enjoying one of our favorite folk bands, Broadside Electric on Friday. They had a couple of new old ballads dusted off and rocked/klezmered/Broadsided out, as well as some old favorites. One had audience members asking what the time signature was. Band members' replies: "Something like 23/8." "9 plus 11 over 8, I think." "We don't even try to figure it out." Lots of British Isles and central European pieces, many of them so danceable I almost got up to pull out some of my international-folkdancing moves, and regret I didn't.

I've worked up my own not-hot salsa recipe. I season it up with onion, garlic, and two cilantro substitutes I found on the Internet: mint and basil. Both of which I have in plenty so yay, I don't have to buy cilantro plants! It's pretty good. Husband likes it too, though he likes more onion than I do. It's great with Food Should Taste Good brand chips (I like Olive with the salsa, Ken prefers Sweet Potato.) And we just got homegrown tomatoes free from a fellow gardener at Quaker meeting, so I will make more soon! Pity I didn't bring some of my oregano to meeting to go with the tomatoes...

Next post: a trip back in time to my New Paltz trip where my brothers and I surprised Mom and Dad for their 25th wedding anniversary!! I hope to nab photos from Sheila and Sarah.

Balticon, or Nerds Taking Over a Hotel and Having Lots of Fun

2011-05-30T20:20:00.000-04:00

Tom came up and Fran came down and the four of us went to Balticon, a little north of the actual city of Baltimore.

Things we did:

Wore appropriate T-shirts dealing with Star Trek, Babylon 5 (I'm delighted my "Ivanova quotation" shirt still elicits happy recognition from many fellow B5 fans.

Bought books (duh).

Chatted with up-and-coming webcomic artists including the creators of Snow By Night.

Met a small boy in a crayon-red Dalek costume his parents had made.

Attended lectures on current medical research on depression and on how to analyze a medical-journal article.

Ate homemade pasta at an excellent local Italian restaurant.

Saw gorgeous, grotesque and humorous artwork from paintings of cats (always a beloved subject) to a Rube-Goldberg-like steampunk-style contraption.

Sang along with a professional classical pianist as she played "Desperado," "Piano Man," and "Your Song." We also sang the closing song from Portal (it's a computer game.)

Stuff I did on my own:

Danced Victorian-era dances at the Steampunk ball, older traditional dances as the Medieval Dance, and to contemporary music at the Time Travelers' Ball.

Went to a workshop called "Cthulu in a Hat" where the moderator pulled three random items out of a hat and three authors had to write a story incorporating all three items. For example: a Goth-style bracelet, a bumper sticker, and a stingray (the animal, not the car). Audience members could write too, and later that day we read our stories for the group. Great fun and an excellent creative writing exercise!

Met two highly excitable teenage Hetalia fans, costumed as Hungary and Russia. We had a delightful five minutes talking about the anime together.

Sat in on a live podcast.

Attended a "Needleworkers' Tea" where I saw all kinds of knitting projects in the making, drank tea, ate scones and cucumber sandwiches, admired medieval-style embroidery, and worked on a small quilting project I've been neglecting for about 4 years.

Chatted about cats (and bragged about Ivan, of course) at a late-night party.

on open adoptions

2011-04-09T22:34:00.000-04:00

Our adoption agency sent out an email of helpful websites that included a wonderful blog by an adoptive mom blogging about her family's experiences with open adoption (theirs is more open than average).

Infant Care class!

2011-03-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

This month's Waiting Parent Support meeting at our adoption agency was infant care class. I couldn't resist. Naturally we both went.

Of course I walked in, saw the baby dolls on the table and squeed, "I was hoping we'd have baby dolls to practice on!"

Yes, I know how to feed and burp and diaper a baby, but I haven't actually done the diapering thing in *years* and there are adoption-specific things to know. Our teacher was great--three hours of infant care and I only looked at the clock three times.

Yes we got to practice. Ken had the baby in "football carry" before the teacher even demonstrated it. And he diapered the baby first, with a newborn Pampers. He did an excellent job. When he was putting on the onesie, I remembered a great trick--"gathering" the fabric of the sleeve in your hand so you don't have to spend forever trying to pull it up on the baby. While they're wiggling.

I wish I'd brought the camera; it was very big deal and heartwarming.

Oh, adoption-specific things? The baby should be held and cared for by the adoptive parents most of the time, so the bonding can start. We've lost all those months a baby hears its mother's (and often father's/other caregiver's voices) and feels the heartbeat while the mom is pregnant. I remember before Sheila was born, Ralph's voice was often the only thing that would keep her from kicking like crazy, so he used to read to her. So, for us, birth, or even a few weeks after depending on the baby's situation, is the first time we get to start that bonding. This doesn't mean grandparents, aunts and uncles and so on won't get to hold the baby--just not for long. (You can do all the cooking and laundry you want, though!)

Other things: we learned some good soothing methods, especially for babies who were drug-exposed, tips on finding a good pediatrician who's experienced with adopted children (there's usually little family history such as allergies and illnesses available), and going ahead with doing a baby registry. Adoption baby showers are done after the baby is born, since one doesn't know how old or big the baby will be and often has a week or less notice between being picked to get a baby and getting the baby.

Each support group class helps me feel the adoption process is going to end in a baby!

My Blackberry Is Not Working! - The One Ronnie, Preview - BBC One

2011-03-04T16:56:00.000-05:00

One of the advantages of being sick at home is surfing the Web. This one was linked from Ira Flatow's blog on Science Friday, one of my favorite radio programs...

Gosh, it's been a while!

2011-02-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

Since November...

We got a large-screen HD TV. Movies we have seen in HD include Casablanca and The Dark Crystal. I wish Disney would give up their slow-and-limited-time release schedule and hurry up with the HD versions of Miyazaki's movies. So far it's just Ponyo and, I think, My Neighbor Totoro.

We're loving Netflix Instant Queue--we've been running through the new Doctor Who series at the moment and are on the third season. David Tennant has replaced Tom Baker as my favorite Doctor. It was great seeing an episode with the (older) Sarah Jane Smith again. And K-9 too!

Christmas came and went with family gatherings.

I was so glad to be able to join in the Gould Family party and carol-singing with Joe on the piano! And I finally got to meet Jeannette (Aunt Bonnie's daughter) and her kids--three wonderful people!

Christmas in New Paltz was excellent as always. Lots of yummy seafood and family time on Christmas Eve--and Christine bringing a wonderful boyfriend! Doesn't seem that long ago that her dad first brought her mom to Christmas Eve dinner (gosh, I'm sounding old!)

Library jobs are few and far between: I've sent in a total of one resume a few weeks ago. Nothing else I qualify for has turned up within a feasible commuting distance (my current commute is barely feasible!) ::sigh::

Stasa and Sue visited overnight in January--it was great to see them and to talk folkdancing and cats, see some cool YouTube videos with them on our new TV, and eat oatmeal-bread French toast in the morning before they left.

We tried a local Indian restaurant a couple of weeks ago--good food but far too noisy for us. I want to learn to cook Indian food, now that I have a few Japanese recipes under my belt.

I started cold-weather crop planting today: spinach and catnip. I'm experimenting to see if attracting local wandering kitties helps with the mole and vole problem. And we can rub a bit on the scratching posts to tempt Ivan away from our shoes and our new (closeout sale) computer chair.

We are thoroughly enjoying having a painted home. Pale-sage-green walls surround me at the moment. ::happy sigh::

I just registered us for Balticon (one of the better science fiction conventions, and right in Baltimore!) Memorial Day weekend. Tom Z. is coming up to visit for the con!

Painting in progress!

2010-11-26T20:06:00.000-05:00

We've had a wonderful painter fixing up our walls (there were actual gaps between the top of the walls and the edge of the ceiling in most places.) and painting. The first room, destined to be the nursery, is done!

Painting In Progress 112610

2010 Gardening Assessment

2010-09-24T19:52:00.000-04:00

Beans: Awesome. Definitely planting them next year--maybe 2 packets' worth.

Cucumbers: I'll do them every year, I think, along with nasturtiums--they really keep the bugs away from the leaves, and look pretty too! I'll mulch them right away, though, to keep the moisture in. Same is true of basil.

Pansies: also going in every fall and/or spring whenever the existing ones die out.

Peppers: 3 plants, and only 2 tiny peppers before September. Now, of course, there are 5, but we'll see if they get big enough to actually eat before the first frost. Not worth the money and effort.

Tomatoes: 2 plants, 3 small tomatoes, not counting the one the bugs got. Again, not worth the effort.

Carrots: Not nearly as tasty as the baby carrots I planted last year. Doing the babies again next year, again with parsley as the companion plant.

Spinach: Too late to get seeds for this fall, drat! Definitely buying 2 packets as soon as seeds come back: some for early spring, some to plant in the fall.

Daikon Radish: Also too late to get seeds. Getting some to grow sprouts--they make the most delicious, slightly-spicy sprouts, excellent for hummous or chicken wraps!

Geranium: The one I got at the Adelphi Friends Meeting's spring festival has been so pretty--white flowers with bright pink around the edges of the petals! I think I'll get 2 for next year.

English Ivy and Swedish Ivy transplanted from the ground cover to the hanging pots: About half the plants lived. Going to continue in the hanging pot that wasn't knocked down by the recent thunderstorm (we lost two HUGE branches from our corner tree, and a branch on one of the side trees is ready to go.)

Parsley and chives are such abundant perennials I don't need to buy seeds for another year at least to have all that I need.

All in all, a very good year!!

Thunderstorm!

2010-09-23T19:15:00.000-04:00

We had a moderate but close--very close--thunderstorm last night. I kept hearing a "pop" sound, much like fireworks, and finally looked out the window. It looked like fireworks out there--one of the electrical wires across the street was on fire and sending up sparks like crazy! One emergency vehicle was already there, and by the time Ken had come downstairs to see what was going on the fire trucks were arriving.

The firefighters had to break into the building cati-corner to us, hunting for electrical fires in the wiring in the walls. Fortunately, no one was hurt and mostly the roof and the interior were damaged. No one was sufficiently injured to be taken in an ambulance that we could see.

We lost two huge limbs--better than 12 feet long--from the maple on the corner of our property. One is still hanging from the tree and our coop's maintenance department has been alerted about it. (No, Mom, I'm not going anywhere near that tree.) The other was chipped up by our city public works department this afternoon--I'd called at lunchtime and got them just in time. Or perhaps they were simply looking for all downed limbs in the area.

All's well that ends well--our unit wasn't damaged, no one was seriously injured, and we didn't even lose power.

Book Review: Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other

2010-09-11T19:43:00.000-04:00

my Goodreads is having an attitude about transferring this, but here's my review of an adoption memoir I'm currently reading:

Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption by Scott Simon

Warm and humorous if rambling memoir about one of my beloved NPR radio hosts and his wife adopting two girls from China.

I'm a bit put off by the highly non-chronological order, but it's still an engaging and very real book of the joys and challenges (paperwork! intrusive questions and clearances! more paperwork!) of adoption and parenthood.

This slim (178-page) memoir a heartening book for people like me still going through the long pre-child adoption process, and a good way for non-adoptive people to understand the physical and emotional details.

I confess I'm getting all mushy, even over the spitting-up stories. And reading some of the humorous moments to my husband.

Finally, Otakon pictures!

2010-08-15T13:26:00.000-04:00

I can't even begin to describe the con, unless you know the fandoms. Every year it's a place to watch new anime, check out people wearing costumes, shop in the dealers' room for commercial anime and manga-related stuff, shop in Artists' Alley for amateur and semiprofessional artwork, comics, jewelry, bookmarks and other stuff and go to panels with titles like "Hetalia Mock UN" (I missed that one, sadly) and "Feminism, Fanfiction and Fanservice")

Oh, and get together with friends and meet other anime and manga fans with similar interests.

One picture being a thousand words, here's an album-full of them.

A few highlights:

-The CLAMP photo shoot. I've noted which one that is in the pictures above. I was Yuuko from Xxxholic (she's also in other stories by CLAMP, primarily Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle). I had such a blast playing at being Yuuko and meeting other fans.

-Visiting my friends' Kevin & Sarah's booth, and buying a copy of Ensign Sue Must Die! by Kevin and his friend Clare.

-The Yoshida Brothers concert. Amazing shamisen players who perform with rock bands and on their own in a range of traditional Japanese to rock with other genres mixed in. They did a wonderful blues-influenced number.

-Playing with my roommates' ball-jointed dolls. One of them, Andrea (second from left in the last photo in my album) actually makes the dolls from molds. She also makes some of the clothes, and paints the faces (she has a lovely hand with makeup, tattoos and so on).

-Sunday Brunch with my roommates--see that last photo.

Throwing Pots and Playing in the Dirt

2010-07-17T21:13:00.001-04:00

I haven't mentioned that I'm taking a pottery class: Intro to Wheel. So far I've thrown three reasonably good items: what's going to become a small herb-growing pot, a small pitcher and..what was the last one? I think it's going to be one of those straight-up-and-down Japanese tea mugs. Because *no one* needs another vase. Or mug. (I have a zillion of each)

I haven't done pottery since a community-school class I took while I was still married for the first time which means...twenty years ago or more? (Yes, I'm that old). And I thoroughly enjoy this. I decided to focus on the wheel because I've never been able to throw a decent pot--and the first night we got to do our own, I did a pretty good one! (the flowerpot). This teacher is excellent. I'll even get to try out some of our local dirt-clay! Heaven knows I dug up enough this spring.

I also want to take advantage of my free "open ceramics studio" time and make...a maki-roll platter like the ones they have in Japanese restaurants. I remember enough about slab-clay building to make one. Ken and I discussed texturing the bottom and I'm going to take his suggestion of using cheesecloth. I'll probably glaze it in cobalt blue, like most of the rest of our bowls and dishes, and our good glasses.

Garden Update

2010-07-04T20:50:00.000-04:00

* My beans have beans!! I discovered that Monday evening. Now some of them look almost ready to eat
* The biggest tomato is about golf-ball-sized and mostly bright red. I might be able to make one serving of no-cook tomato sauce some time this week!
* Cucumbers are growing like crazy. I need poles!
* There's one section on the side yard where nothing will grow, not even the English ivy that loves to take over even amidst the super-hardy ground cover. I may just strew it with mulch and give up.
* BUGS have been eating the leaves of my beans, basil and some other plants. I decided to use a recipe I found for organic all-purpose bug spray: finely chopped garlic and onions or chives (I used chives since I have tons growing here) that you let sit for a week. Ken says it should just be called "repellant" because he can't stand it. I sprayed it this evening. If it doesn't work, at least I've pre-seasoned the beans...

Independence Day!

2010-07-04T19:54:00.000-04:00

And what do Quakers do on July 4? We had a Meeting for Learning (that's Quaker for "Adult Religious Education") on the peace testimony.

Then, time for a nap. I came downstairs to find Ken watching 1776, probably my favorite movie for 4th of July (how can you resist a musical about the writing of the Declaration of Independence, with lots of jokes from Ben Franklin?). We skipped the end, leaving the Continental Congress wrangling over the wording of the Declaration, to have dinner at...Hana, our favorite Japanese restaurant.

Then we came home to Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney. What a great celebration of old Broadway and musical theatre in the pre-Rodgers and Hammerstein days.

All really very American, enjoying freedom of religion, food of a former enemy turned ally, and songs of so many great things about our country.

"The land I love, the home of the free and the brave."

So many people worked and still work to keep it so: those men of the first continental congress, Abigail Adams exhorting her husband to "Remember the Ladies" (a hope that didn't come to fruition until decades of suffragists endured beatings, prison and forced feeding to bring half the country the vote), and others struggling for equal rights from Sojourner Truth up to my friends working for marriage equality. Each of us does our part to help this country truly provide liberty and justice for all.

New job!

2010-06-23T20:57:00.000-04:00

So, I've been at the new job for three days now. I'm an "Income Assitance Program Specialist" for long-term care, which means I'm doing evaluations and database searches and paperwork and so on to determine whether people qualify to get some of their nursing-home or other long-term care paid for by the government.

The first big part of my training is reading a 3-inch-thick manual with state and federal regulations, categories and formulas--it reminds me of federal tax forms than anything else I can think of and much of it is boooring. Thank goodness it includes examples so I can read how things play out in certain situations. And it's intended to help people with long-term problems--old people in nursing homes, people on permanent disability and so on.

And I get to play with databases and forms (I'm one of those weird individuals who loves forms and surveys. I worked with surveys my very first job at Peterson's Guides and have a soft spot for them). Plus I have a nice cubicle with my own computer (at my old job we had to share), and the other staff have been pleasant. Best of all I have a supervisor who's bright, comfortable to talk with, and dedicated--and has a great sense of humor. Example from Monday: "the first thing we're going to have you do is kill people." Meaning I'll make the appropriate changes to the database for people who have died.

Eventually I'll be dealing with actual customers, some of whom get obnoxious, but hey, I've been dealing with that for 12 years now and most of these people will be on the phone, not in person.

The commute is nasty--1 hour by car, 1 1/2 by subway--but only till my training period is over (oh and for about a month I'll be training even further away, ack!!). But after that I'll be working at a site closer to home.
And in the meantime, there's my iPod and books...

Note: Writing this was complicated by someone nudging and moving around the mouse. Someone wants to be scritched and petted...

The Last week at My Library Job

2010-06-20T19:58:00.000-04:00

First off, my coworkers put up a poster announcing the party, and they got the perfect picture from Xxxholic to put on the party poster.

Then there was a power outage the morning of the party (we open late on Wednesday, so the party was 11-12:30) so they were late getting together and wouldn't let me in till everything was done. Our youngest page, who is a fellow nerd and anime fan, came to the Information Staff office to amuse me with anime stuff on YouTube. We watched two eps of YuGiOh! Abridged.

My coworkers had set up many of my favorite foods--homemade chicken lo mein from one of my awesome Taiwanese-American coworkers, strawberry-rhubarb pie, brownies, pumpkin pie (I don't know *how* Margarete found it at this time of year but she did!). Then we had presentations--flowers from one of my coworkers and from our Friends of the Library, a framed picture of a little girl reading that I love especially because of the quotation that goes with it ("Disgusted with life, she retired to the society of books"), a card with a manga page on it with sad girls and a penguin (the city's mascot--and the library's--is a penguin) and lots of good wishes from coworkers written inside.

Then came the musical numbers. Our head page Mark sang a song for Margarete who is being transferred in two weeks, then for me, and then the two of us did a duet of the Les Miserables song I rewrote (with assistance from Margarete) for the staff. It's rather incendiary about budget cuts to the library and the staff in particular. Everyone loved it--staff and Friends of the Library alike are extremely unhappy about the cuts.

Then we ate some more. I got lovely separate cards from Michelle, a children's librarian from another branch who was my mentor when I started, and from one of my favorite volunteers, Susan, a retired art teacher who helps with our infant & toddler storytimes. (She drew pictures of the bells and scarves we use at infant/toddler storytime on her card). There was much sadness on all sides seeing me go. One of my favorite teen volunteers was there with his mom--they've been regular patrons since he was a baby, and mom regularly brings us homemade goodies. So sweet of them to come--I'm glad it was the day after school ended so they could come as well as Josh!

It's awful leaving, but somehow a bit easier because I know people care about me and will miss me. And they keep insisting I have to keep in touch and visit.

I felt so loved.

Home last weekend

2010-06-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

We went up to NY State for a wonderful family weekend, taking the train as usual (so restful and a great time to catch up on reading and napping!)

My Uncle Tony (Mom's big brother) and Aunt Sheila celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They had a beautiful Mass of Thanksgiving at our hometown church, and then a luncheon reception. So many relatives, especially my "relatives-in-law" on Aunt Sheila's side, were there! I was especially happy to see Rachel and her husband Joe for the first time since their own wedding and to get some time to talk with them. Also seeing older relatives--my Great-Aunt Edith is in her 90s and still looking wonderful!

Looking through Uncle Tony and Aunt Sheila's wedding album was another highlight--I recognized my "Uncle" Ray right away as best man, and enjoyed picking out other people including Mom in her very poufy bridesmaid's dress--so much like the ones Aunt Sheila and Mom's other bridesmaids wore the next year when Mom & Dad got married.

The food was good too (can't have an Italian-American event without good food!) The cake (chocolate with a lightricotta-cheese filling!) was my favorite, I think.

I hope my cousins send or post pictures: Matthew was busy with his camera as always, and Chelsea was snapping couples pictures at the tables.

***but wait! There's more!***

After the reception we went up to Saratoga for dinner and to hear Dave's band, October Circle. Dinner was good, the Saratoga architecture is lovely, and I want to try the mineral springs! They have various herbal baths at one of the spas. Also a Museum of Dance that Mom and Dad said is great.

The band was better than ever--these guys have developed a lot of talent and just keep growing musically and with their repertoire of covers plus originals. Brad did amazing things with the theremin--unfortunately it cut out at one point and he hurt his hand getting the mechanism to work again. And I love Yetta the puppet!

Dave sang lead on a couple of songs--great pipes, baby brother! And your bass playing is excellent. Plus you were right--you guys play great dance music (which is why big sister was the first one up to dance)

Pictures: of Ivan, alone and with some humans

2010-06-06T13:55:00.004-04:00

Ken took several pictures over the last few days.

The first couple are of Ivan with our friend James. James and Mary came over for lunch and to pick mulberries from our tree--and, as it turned out, from many other mulberry trees in the "community area" that adjoins our backyard.

We had plenty to eat--I made my two Japanese specialties, soba with sweet walnut paste and cucumber maki rolls. Then we picked loooots of mulberries: James and Mary picked a gallon between them and I, with some help from James, Mary and Ken, got nearly half a gallon for us.

We also had a wonderful time talking and, of course, adoring Ivan. Ken picked him up to hold him so Mary could pet him--and Ivan reached out to her, so she took him in her arms. And he clearly liked James also, as you can tell from the pictures...

(if you want to see a photo full-size, just click on it!)

Other pictures are of me (with my new, slightly different haircut) petting Ivan, and of The Most Gorgeous Cat in the World on his own.

My new job

2010-05-31T10:43:00.000-04:00

I start June 21. I'm trying not to think of this as "I start not being a librarian on June 21--I'll always be a librarian. And it's not a bad job. I'll be processing paperwork and working with nursing home residents who need help paying for their health care (Medicare, etc.) The hard part will be when rules require me to deny their requests. There will be tons of paperwork--up to 5 years' history on each person. And I will be trained on computer software, and on other things (one training will take 3 weeks, in Baltimore).

I talked with my new boss for a while the other day--she seems nice, and easy to talk with. I'm wondering when I should tell her about our adoption situation: "Oh, yeah, not only am I eager to get back to library work, but I might become a mom and need three months' family leave on as little as two days' notice."

But it will all work out somehow. I've got so much experience from my years of work (and unemployment, and freelancing, and dealing with difficult bosses/coworkers/customers). And I have so much support from family and friends. ::hugs you all::

Tech Love

2010-05-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

Ken ordered a new GPS from Garmin last week. We've been getting it in parts--first the stand that holds it on the dashboard, then the case. He's been waiting anxiously for the delivery guy to come by with the actual GPS.

A few minutes ago he heard a quiet noise near our front door and raced to open it. Sure enough, it was a delivery person with the Garmin. He's like a kid at Christmas: tore it open right away, looked it over, and now he's gone. I'm sure he's installing it in the car as I type this.

This behavior comes as no surprise to his mom, of course.

Oh, and we went to Target this morning. Ken was all over the wide-screen HDTVs, and I squee'd over the baby clothes and even the (bisphenol-free plastic) bottles. We managed to control ourselves and get the toothbrush heads and scrubbing sponges we needed.

Oh, the Trauma! Taking Ivan to the vet

2010-05-19T11:32:00.000-04:00

This morning Ivan had a vet appointment to get a checkup and his distemper shot, plus to have his bad breath checked out in case it was a sign of a problem and not just his diet of healthy kibble, holistic fish treats and the occasional salt-free tunafish.

Ivan does not like being confined or travel. I tricked him into the cat carrier with a catnip mousie. He was crying piteously within seconds. I got him into the car, eventually succeeding in buckling in the carrier. He was not going for the soothing cassette of folk music I was playing, so I sang to him on the trip, which cut the crying by about two-thirds (it was still a long 10 minutes!)

Once at the vet's I decided to take him out of the carrier so he'd be in my arms and petted and, I hoped, happier. All was fine till he decided to escape. Over my shoulder and back. Several times. Felt like I was being beaten with a cat o' nine claws. Apparently his claws weren't clipped recently enough (they don't look that sharp, but!)

I was just threatening to put him back in the carrier when the vet called for him. He was pretty good--went to be weighed without a fuss (he's lost 1 ounce since last year). Then he submitted to having his teeth checked. They're the bad-breath culprit: he's developing tartar. The vet recommended waiting till the tartar gets worse, as they'll have to knock Ivan out to clean his teeth properly. After my experience with the clawing, and considering how he is about getting his claws trimmed, I agree there's no way he'd put up with it while conscious. Otherwise he's fine: no problems with his ears, stomach, etc. He even took his shot without a cry.

Then I had to shove him in the cat carrier again and pay the bill. The vet assistant told me Ivan needs a rabies shot in December. Guess who's taking him? I told Ivan, "I'm recommending that Daddy wear his leather bomber jacket when he takes you."

Then, finally, we got to go home. He didn't cry this time (probably over-traumatized and hurting from the shot) but had his back to me for the first half of the trip. So I sang to him again. I checked on him at a red light and he was facing me and seemed a little happier, so I kept singing.

Oh, and I got to go to work after that (after taking a shower and slathering antibiotic on the surprisingly small claw marks.)

Playlist for the trip included:
Skinnimarink
If Ever I Would Leave You (I forgot half the words!)
A Groovy Kind of Love
A Bushel and a Peck
All My Loving
Old McDonald (while we were driving through the Agricultural Experimental Station on the way home)

Can you stand more garden news?

2010-04-26T19:39:00.002-04:00

I finally fulfilled a years-long dream: I bought and planted a lilac bush a week ago. Amidst amazing amounts of azaleas.

Click on the picture below for photos--run the slideshow and you can see full-size versions, with captions...

Garden Late April 2010

Now the tiger lilies are trying to take over too. They are massing along the side wall of our townhome. I expect them to come in the window soon and start watching NCIS with us. So I dug up several of them: planted some in the sunnier parts of the front yard where it's pretty bare, and gave a couple to Rosalyn, our next-door neighbor. Then I tried digging up more and the darn things have such strong roots (with lots of bulb-like nodes on them) that I broke my trowel! Need to get a new one from Behnke, evidently. Along with more manure for the rest of my spring planting, since I've used up the 40 lbs. I got three weeks ago.

Great adoption news!!

2010-04-25T17:58:00.001-04:00

Our homestudy update was finally appproved!!! So we are eagerly awaiting requests to "show our book" to birthparents.

MLA Conference

2010-04-25T17:55:00.002-04:00

I spent Thursday and Friday at the Marlyand Library Association Conference, in beautiful (really) Ocean City, Maryland. Here are some highlights...

-A lot of warmth, a fair amount of news, and a bit of good gossip from friends from my old library system.

-Eating my picnic lunch on the beach. The conference center was right on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean! I love the ocean off-season. And, yes, I took off shoes & socks and waded in just up to my ankles. The water was the temperature of a good cold glass of water.

-I bought awesome ankle socks to support the library association (picture below!)

-Teen Interest Group meeting was made of awesome, from making "minimal-mess" tie-die socks with permanent markers and rubber bands (my creations are with the "library-association" socks below) to getting tons of bookmarks sent by publishers.

Click on the photo for a close-up. In case you're wondering what the little red thing on the library-association socks is, it's a crab with glasses. Reading a book. You can see why I had to get them.

-Had dinner with two former coworkers, one of whom said of Otakon, "those people are weird." "Yes we are!" I replied proudly (he's retired boss of our computer geeks *and* a science fiction fan so he knows weird from the inside).

-The after-dinner speaker was Rafael Alvarez, former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and an excellent storyteller, not to mention the kind of library advocate that warms the heart. I bought his book Storyteller, and have read three of the short stories so far--excellent. I recommend him to

-Closing workshop was on Laughter Yoga. Seriously fun and helpful for stress reduction. Which is important as my job is still in question. I do have two interviews for available jobs elsewhere in the county next week, though--both in Health and Human Services (not a huge leap from public librarianship, especially the job helping low-income people with financial information and processes...)

Garden photos!

2010-04-18T16:57:00.002-04:00

GardenMidApril2010

Easter 2010

2010-04-12T21:47:00.001-04:00

We had an excellent time at Easter, spending three days with many of Ken's relatives at his uncle and aunt's home. Bonnie and Ed were, as always, excellent hosts. Easter celebrations included an excellent family brunch and the annual Easter Egg hunt in Bonnie and Ed's yard! Ken and I hid the eggs for the older kids, perhaps too well--three eggs were extremely difficult to find! The little ones found theirs much more easily.
Photos, mostly of the egg hunt, are in the album below--just click on the photo of Bonnie:

Easter 2010

For a few days after Easter, Ken and I were hosts in turn for his cousin Janet from Northern Ireland and her boyfriend Peter. We spent Monday in Baltimore, seeing Edgar Allen Poe's home and gravesite (just outside an appropriately dark and mysterious-looking brick church), the Constellation (one of the last of the US Navy's sailing ships) and a WWII submarine. Tuesday Ken took Janet and Peter into Washington for a whirlwind tour of the major monuments and other sights, including the cherry blossom trees just past their peak. We enjoyed getting to know our new relatives better, finding many common interests including music and cats (Ivan enjoyed the extra attention).

Adoptive Parenting Prep Class

2010-02-21T17:03:00.001-05:00

Well, this wasn't your typical parenting prep class! One prospective dad said he came in expecting to hear about diaper-changing, but as the presenter (a social worker who worked with addicted pregnant women before working for our agency) told us, we could learn that stuff from books, friends and family.

Sooo...what did we learn about? We started by hearing each other's stories. There was one prospective mom there who's even older than me! I made sure to chat with her during the first break; us middle-aged moms need to support each other!

Then we watched a film on "Adoption: Then and Now" and had to laugh at the 1950s-era informational film at the beginning.

Major things we learned:
How hard this is for birth mothers. I'd read about this in books but the video really brought it home. Several of the women interviewed were sure, even years later, that they made the right choice, but they loved their babies and missed them. The film included a couple of birth dads, one who said "I pray for my baby every night." These days, most birthparents in the US can have at least occasional contact if they want, which usually works out well for everyone. Some birthparents want only letters, others think no contact till the child is grown up is best, and others have occasional visits with the adoptive families, gettting to talk and play with their birth child.

The presenter strongly recommended that we contact birth parents only through the agency, at least till we're absolutely sure we can trust the birth parents. Some are immature or have problems that mean they can't behave in a way that allows security for the child and adoptive family. We're planning on sending letters and photos to the agency twice a year to go to the birth family, and if it seems safe for everyone and good for our child we'd like to have in-person visits, with the first one or two at the agency.

"What if the birthmom or dad wants their baby back?" you are thinking. Our agency is very careful about that. They won't let an adoptive family take a baby home till (a)both parents have signed relinquishment papers and (b)the birthparent's (usually just the mom) social worker is sure she won't change her mind. If they have doubts, the baby stays with a foster family till the relinquishment period (30 days in Maryland!) is over, then the chosen adoptive family takes their baby home. The parent can't get the baby back unless something is done wrong legally, and the agency's very careful about those matters (Yes, they have an attorney on their staff).

This way seems much better for everyone than the old one. Adoptive families, including the child, can know a lot not just about the birthparents' medical history, but their personalities and interests (things adopted kids really want to know as they get older) and sometimes have contact with them. The birthparents aren't pushed to forget their child forever and can learn how their birth-child is doing. Kids are brought up knowing about being adopted. (My friend's little girl learned at age 2 when her mom explained that she was getting a baby brother who was coming on an airplane from Korea, just like she did.) I'm glad we'll be able to tell our child some things about his or her birth family. Also, we can show them the album we made (which many of you have seen) and say "this is what your mom used to pick us to be your forever parents" and keep track of the adoption story from our first decisions--one reason I'm writing this blog!

The agency is available to help all the way--they have several groups for adoptive parents all the way through the teenage years, not to mention a zillion workshops on everything from communicating with birth parents to dealing with drug withdrawal. Most drugs do not cause permanent damage (though weaning a baby who's been bored addicted is harrowing). Alcohol is the worst--even one drinking binge can cause terrible permanent damage. We've been really conservative about how much alcohol we're willing for the birth mother to have had.

We also talked about bonding--extremely important for adopted babies so they quickly learn to trust their adopted parents and to feel safe and loved.

And we did an exercise, watched a video and talked a lot about transracial adoption. Not an easy decision. It's not enough to "just love" a child as transracial kids have even more identity issues than adopted kids of the same ethnic group as their parents, who have more identity issues than bio kids (and we know how bio kids are about identity, especially as teenagers!)

So, a lot to learn and think about. Fortunately, we got to make comments and ask questions a lot. The presenter gave Ken & I the name of another agency person with connections with county governments to see if our very-long-delayed child-protective-services clearance can be speeded up.

Being with other future adoptive parents was great--we had some things in common (being older like the one couple, not having any kids yet like most others) and some that were different (five prospective parents had been adopted themselves--one transracially).

And the presenter recommended that we keep a blog about our journey, so our child can learn about it when he or she is old enough. That encouraged me to write this--for all of you and for our future child (or children if we get twins!) as well.

Next Tuesday, we learn about Outreach--ways we can directly look for possible birthparents if we want to. Stay Tuned!

Surviving the Snowpocalypse

2010-02-07T16:26:00.002-05:00

We're fine; got home in good time from work Friday afternoon, with plenty of food and books at home. We lost power Saturday from 6am to 4pm, but the three of us kept each other warm.

Yes, we took pictures...just click on the 'cover photo' below:

Snopocalypse Feb. 2010

Photos and Videos from Dad's Birthday Party!

2010-01-29T22:45:00.005-05:00

Sorry I'm a month and a half late, but here they finally are!

Just click on the picture, and that will let you into the album. You can either click on "Slideshow" to see them all, or click on each pictue as you like.

Dad's party

Adoption Update: In the 'Baby Pool!'

2009-11-11T17:48:00.001-05:00

We were both so freaked out this morning before our visit with our adoption agency to hand in our birthparent letter & album, to sign the agreement, and pay $1/4 of the basic fees.

Ken rarely freaks out, as many of you know. He read over the legal agreement with the agency and freaked over the supplemental costs!! Thank goodness Laura (the agency person who works with prospective adoptive families) was so helpful explaining what was unlikely, what was likely and how much each amount was probably going to be.

You ask, why do you have to pay to adopt a kid who is going to cost you tens of thousands over the years??

The agency staffers, usually licensed social workers, talk with birthparents and help them decide whether they really want to put their babies up for adoption. They visit us and decide if we'd be good parents and if the home is OK. They work with freaked-out adoptive parents like us at every stage from information sessions through the first six months after we get the babies, and they host support groups, visits with birthparents and other stuff through the child's life as well. They have a legal specialist to work on the legalities of reliquishing children and adopting them. They advertise, provide training and a zillion other things.

Then there's other stuff to pay for--for our homestudy we got fingerprinted, had our background checked and get safety visits from state & county officials (fire safety officers have been very nice!). In the future, we may need tohelp pay labor & delivery costs, and will have additiional homestudy updates and possibly other expenses.

But the good news is, we got all our questions answered, from how likely we are to meet the birthparents before they decide (about 1 chance in 3, to what support the agency offers now that we're in the baby pool (monthly meetings with families, an online group, emailing the agency staff with questions), to what visits with the birthparents and our child would be like (at the agency, with a social worker there, unless we got really comfortable with the birth family)

And both Laura and the person who works with birthparents liked our letter and album!!

So now, anytime between a month and 3 years from now we could become parents!

Thank you all for your support and assurance! I'll keep you all posted.

Ralph and the Kids Came to Visit!

2009-08-04T22:11:00.002-04:00

I really like being able to see them more than once a year--three times this year so far! It's a good thing because omigosh they are all growing and changing so fast! This time Sheila had eye makeup on--and does it pretty well. Brian got his hair cut short--I think it makes him look a little older. And Jett...the phrase "into everything" is an understatment. Fortunately Ralph headed him off before he could eat some of Ivan's dinner. (He's fond of cat food).

We had an excellent time at the playground near our townhome. Brian & Sheila spun around on the "merry-go-round"--the simple disk-with-bars-to-hold-onto kind. We put Jett on and Sheila held him. At first he looked as if he wasn't sure whether he should be enjoying it, but then he was grinning. Later he explored the various ladders (he's not into slides, only the way up) while the "big kids" spun around like crazy on the merry-go-round. Good thing it was a while after dinner.

Brian rode with me to the CVS, where Ralph got supplies--milk, water, and Crazy Cores Skittles--the last being Brian's choice of candy. So I got introduced to them (one of each flavor) as well as learning a bit about Gaia, the Internet community Brian and Sheila are on. It's mostly games, avatars and conversation. They both really enjoy it.

We hung out at the hotel because our home has too much for Jett to "discover"--from our new tire pump to the mysteries behind our air filter. Lots of good coversation till Jett finally started dropping off (after hitting every item in the room, trying to get out the door, and dribbling milk on my shirt). Then I talked quietly with Brian & Sheila. Ralph conked out shortly after Jett did--Jett had his little hand under Ralph's chin as if they'd fallen asleep mid-tussle.

So good to spend time with family!

Animal Rescue

2009-07-23T20:10:00.004-04:00

I went out this evening to water the plants, and discovered a huge black snake tangled up in the net I've used to keep my basil safe from chewing rodents. I tried untangling him but I think I made it worse.

So, remembering that Ken used to work in the herpetology building at the Oklahoma City Zoo, I called him outside. We looked at the poor guy--s/he was really beautiful, black with an iridescent blue sheen--and went back in for heavy work gloves and scissors. He said it was "probably a rat snake" and definitely not poisonous.

With Ken holding the snake and me cutting, we freed most of the net. There was one section tightly wrapped around the snake's body. Ken said, "If we don't get that, he'll die when he sheds his skin or tries to swallow something too big to fit through. Of course, I felt awful. I'd put the net out there and I hate to see any animal die needlessly. Plus, I like snakes.

Fortunately, Ken is brave and held the snake a good long time to allow me to snip close to the snake's body. Ken was bitten a couple of times but don't worry, Mom, we put on plenty of antibiotic. Finally, I snipped the last of the netting away. The snake sensed the total freedom and writhed harder. Ken let him go and he rapidly slithered into the nearby bushes. There seemed to be a bit of a cut around the area where the tight netting had been, so we hope no infection gets in and the snake is fine.

We came back in and sure enough, it was a rat snake (see the picture).

Visitors!

2009-07-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

Had a lovely time with Tom Z's parents Ellie and Russ. They stopped by "my" library on their drive up to New Jersey--and surprised me while I was working on the circulation desk. (Usually I'm on the information desk but we were really short of people to do checkouts.)

We had lunch at Noodles, a cafe chain that serves, well, noodles from various cuisines (Pad Thai, udon, linguine, and so on.) Caught up on the news and just had a good time after not seeing each other for two years.

an update of our latest home and garden news

2009-07-05T22:21:00.004-04:00

I never did mention here that most of the edamame eaten by the woodchuck (I presume; may have been the squirrels but they seem mostly to enjoy digging, not eating) actually survived. Not only survived, but even the ones I pulled up by the roots sprouted new leaves! So, after some thoughts and theories I came up with plans, which you will see the results of in the following pictures. First, though, comes my First Adventure in Masonry. Oh, and a warning for the fainthearted, there's a snake too.

Just click on the first picture...

Home & Garden July 5, 2009

Finally! DC Trip with Ralph and Family

2009-07-05T22:15:00.008-04:00

I finally got around to uploading pictures with captions from our visit to the Natural History Museum with Ralph, Kathryne and the kids.

Just double-click on the slideshow to enlarge it and read the captions.

I hope you enjoy these!

Cymru!!

2009-07-03T20:52:00.006-04:00

Today Ken and I went to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and, of course, focused on the Wales/Cymru section.

It was as awesome as I'd hoped. We rushed to get there in time for the Welsh male choir (can't have any kind of a Welsh cultural festival without a male choir!) This particular group, Only Men Aloud, takes the tradition and updates it with contemporary arrangements and a bit of choreography. The intent is to get younger people (both singers and audiences) interested in the tradition and to keep it going. And, of course, to make phenomenal music! We got there halfway through their first song, a traditional hymn. What a range of music they did! Hymns, traditional Welsh folk songs, "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?," "Goldfinger," and more! They finished with "Don't Rain on My Parade"

We also heard two wonderful Welsh harpists playing on the traditional harp, which has three rows of strings. As one of the musicians said, "fiendishly difficult and complex, just like me." I leaned toward Ken and said, "like all Welshmen." So beautiful. The woman--Sian, I think her first name was, had a lovely soprano voice and sang some traditional folk songs as she played. Mostly about being unlucky in love (probably The Most Common Traditional-Song Theme) but there was a fun one about counting goats.

For lunch we each had a delicious bowl of cawl--lamb and vegetable stew that included leeks, the Welsh national vegetable. Ken also had the fantastic Welsh beer (he can't remember the name, how sad!)

Then we browsed the Welsh traditions tents: language, pottery, textiles (some beautifully woven wool blankets and lovely quilts), stonework (we watched a man chisel calligraphy-style letters in slate) and other crafts. Ken talked with a genealogist about his Grandpa Chandler, and we found his birth record and his ship manifest for his emigration to Canada online.

We bought ourselves good wool socks--made by Corgi, "by royal appointment to the Prince of Wales." Princes William and Edward wear their colorful socks (I got taupe ones with teal-green polka dots; Ken got black with teal heel, toe and top-trim)

A wonderful, wonderful day, and a great time to enjoy an ethnic heritage we share, thanks to Dad Jenkins and Mom Chandler!

[unprintable] rodents!

2009-06-08T21:08:00.003-04:00

Some [expletive deleted] animal, probably the groundhog, ate the leaves of nearly all my edamame plants!

I am supremely ticked. Tomorrow after work I'm buying and installing a fence to protect the last couple of edamame plus my little cucumber and nasturtium seedlings.

I'm doing my best to be philosophical about this. I've lost only about $3 plus a couple of hours' work. It's not like we have to rely on our crops for our food the way subsistence farmers do.

Garden update

2009-06-06T22:11:00.004-04:00

First off, did I mention that our Garden Pool has become the Suicide Pool for local small fauna? The count for the last month has been five birds and a squirrel. The pool got drained yesterday and today, needless to say. Now there's just enough water to keep the two-legged tadpoles alive till I can transfer them to a nearby stream.

The pool is possibly going to become a zen garden, though I'm more inclined to just make it another planting bed.

Some kind of animal--my best guess is either squirrels or the local groundhog--has been marauding in *my garden*. I'm betting on the groundhog because the carefully placed cat-hair combings did nothing to save my six newly-planted sunflower seeds or all-but-two of the sunflower seedlings from two weeks ago. Then there's four or five demolished cucumber and nasturtium seedlings.

$%)#$ nature!

The edamame are growing beautifully though; they're nearly a foot high already. I just hope the rain stops soon because now everything could really use some sun (including us humans!)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2009-05-28T11:39:00.001-04:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

2009-05-25T17:23:00.005-04:00

Here's Ivan about a day after he'd had his distemper shot. He was well enough to play with his Feline Flyer--got quite a strong grip on it, in fact!

He doesn't seem very thrilled with having his recreation preserved for posterity, does he?

Further below are a pot of bok choy seedlings growing in one of our pots, and pansies in another.

Garden Pictures

2009-05-04T21:50:00.002-04:00

Our garden in late April...

Once you've clicked on the link, you can click on each picture to enlarge it.

Happy Birthday, Sheila!

2009-04-30T20:10:00.001-04:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Save money, live green, and be healthier too!

2009-04-30T12:58:00.001-04:00

Great suggestions from Yahoo. I already do many of these.

Cherry Blossom Festival

2009-04-19T19:59:00.000-04:00

So I had a "treat day" Friday before last. instead of sleeping late, doing laundry, catching up on my email and so on, I went into Washington DC and experienced the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I didn't take my camera as thunderstorms were forecast, so no pictures! Not by me anyway.

I took a "Cherry Blossom Secrets" tour. I'd already learned the basic story from the festival website, but getting extra bits of the story and visiting cherry trees all around (they're all over the city, not just at the Potomac Basin) was delightful.

The first tree was a lovely weeping cherry tree in a Smithsonian Institute garden that's modeled on a Chinese monastery's garden. The picture of the Moongate Garden on the Smithsonian's website is taken from the vantage point of that tree so you can't see its beauty. Though the rest of the garden is lovely and restful in that understated East Asian manner.

Some of the secrets: The champions of the trees were mostly women--two world travelers (one was a travel writer herself), the third was Pres. Taft's wife. All 3 had visited Japan and were captivated by the Cherry Blossom festival, especially the trees. The first set of trees, paid for by a Japanese-American doctor, turned out to be diseased and had to be burned. 18 somehow went missing, but it seems that the local National Park Service headquarters has trees of that age in the front of their building. Hmmm.... The first two trees in the second batch (carefully checked in Japan; you can imagine the political hot potato the "diseased trees" were) were planted in 1912, the day after they arrived safe and healthy. We got to see them--rather gnarled but still blossoming beautifully. Most cherry trees last about 50 years but these have been lovingly tended for decades.

Walking under the trees that surround the Potomac Basin is sooo lovely. I don't have the words to describe it: it has to be experienced. They arch over the walkway circling the basin. When I went they were past peak, but that meant petals were falling in a most romantic fashion. No wonder the trees are both a sign of first love and of the fleeting beauty of life.

And just as in Japan, people picnic under the trees. Families come by the hundreds to visit and walk. (I took photos for one family).

I didn't make the sake tasting (which sells out early) and had only a lame quasi-Japanese lunch, but I did see one of the cultural performances at the Jefferson Memorial, Rhythmaya. They're an East Indian fusion dance troupe that also gives classes. I'm pretty sure this picture is of them. You can see the Potomac Basin and the lovely cherry trees in the background. After their last dance they called up people to do it with them. Guess who was the second one up? I even went on stage, though mainly because I figured the back of the stage would be a safe place to stash my purse since there was no one to hold it. Such fun, and their teacher/leader was excellent. I was wondering how we'd do one move, but she called out "light bulb"--and yes, the way you moved your hands was just like screwing in a light bulb!

After the dance, I hit the Freer and Sackler galleries for some Asian art. The Chinese porcelain was probably my favorite, though I also enjoyed seeing a variety of images of Buddhas from around East Asia.

I definitely want to go next year. Who's coming with me?

Freedom of Religion

2009-04-14T21:43:00.005-04:00

For the past several months I've been reading about how conservatives, usually identified as Christians, have objected to doing work in their field that goes against their religious beliefs: prescribing or handing out emergency contraception to rape survivors, providing fertility treatment for lesbian couples, and so on.

I understand how they feel. As part of my job I have to pleasantly search for and provide materials offensive to my religious and social beliefs. I do it because I believe, as a librarian and as a human being, that people are entitled to hold their own beliefs as long as they aren't hurting anyone else. In my opinion, they need to find a workplace to that is in keeping with their beliefs without denying patients or customers their rights (many of those complaining worked for a publicly-funded organization or were the only provider available in that place or time.) I don't blame them for having the courage of their convictions--I blame them for blocking others from living according to their own beliefs and needs.

"But what about their freedom of religion?" some might say.

Religious freedom. Could someone please give it to my friends and acquaintances? One couple I know were married in a Quaker ceremony much like mine and Ken's but have none of the legal benefits of marriage as our supposedly "free" government doesn't recognize it. The same is true of thousands of couples married in many United Church of Christ, Unitarian, Jewish, Pagan and other religious as well as secular ceremonies. You know what I'm talking about. I'm still trying to figure out how gender is a central concern in marriage these days. Centuries ago, marriage was for merging, holding and passing down property, and ensuring (or trying to) the parentage of children. These days families don't usually merge their property by marrying off their children. A paternity test can determine parentage. Women can keep their own money and property. Many married couples can't or don't have children. Marriage now is about love, commitment and security. Couples need to know they can be by each other's sides in the ICU. Children need to know that both their parents can pick them up at school in an emergency.

Even if you don't support same-sex marriage personally, think about this. Do you support freedom of religion? The Constitution of the United States?

The Joy of Bok Choy, or, Spring Gardening

2009-03-29T18:50:00.003-04:00

Today we played hooky from Quaker Meeting--went out for breakfast and to the local nursery instead. Ken was rather patient while I cooed over pansies and shopped for seeds, then we got a pond skimmer (Ken said, "I could play lacrosse with this." That was it for him, though--I'll go back on my own to get more seeds and look into getting blueberry bushes!

Sooo...I cleaned and drained the pond. No dead mice this time, thank goodness, just a lot of live earthworms. I like worms, so that was cool--they all found new homes in various places in our back yard. I had to get into the pond to do the last of it; it was kinda fun, like playing in mud puddles. Refilling time after that, and I replanted the water mint (it smells really good--important because even a clean artificial pond gets some slimy bits in it.) Ken set up our solar pond fountain and we floated that up on top.

While the pond was draining I planted bok choy in a couple of prime locations. It's an early summer plant (bok choy tends to wilt around late June in Maryland) so this was a good time to plant. In about a month I'll plant cucumbers and basil, and possibly green peppers.

I flipped through an organic-gardening book and found some nice flowering plants to keep away bugs. So my cucumbers will be growing amidst nasturtiums! I've got the garden pretty much plotted out on paper now. Next step: set up a compost pile!

In case you were all wondering...

2009-03-25T08:23:00.001-04:00

What librarians do after they close the library at night...

Things that make me happy

2009-03-13T21:46:00.002-04:00

Rich came to our home last week. He insisted on a tour of the yard before it got dark and was duly impressed. He'd also met Ivan, who actually walked up and introduced himself (and got petted.) Ivan usually stays a few feet away from new people, except for persons he likes right away (like Ms. Stasa, my primary rival). Rich brought the best housewarming gifts: Trader Joe's Low-Fat Cats (original flavor) Trader Joe's One-Pound-Plus dark chocolate bar, and kitty snacks for Ivan.
We went to Royal Jade where we ate great Chinese food and had a wonderful time catching up!

Last Saturday I had my appointment with the wonderful Dr. S, whose treatments have been improving Ken's health over the past six months. Good news--he's just about certain I don't have Lyme! I do have a systemic yeast infection, though, so I'm taking meds for that. No major side effects so far, except for some digestive stuff that isn't as bad as an IBS attack, so I'm cutting back to 1/2 dose as he suggested in such a case. Between that medicine and adrenal supplements (evidently my adrenal glands sorta shut down because of all the stress I've had for so many years (my first marriage, corporate b.s., job losses, etc.) I have more energy and am happier already.

I was off today because I'm working Saturday and got some errands done. Finished all the paperwork to roll over my retirement from my old library job, did some enjoyable grocery shopping at (all together now:) Trader Joe's, and bought some beautiful pansy plants on sale at Home Depot. Then I unpacked the groceries and planted the pansies in pots all over the lawn. Some are purple, some purple-and-yellow, some white-and purple. Lovely--and I discovered that no less than 6 of my narcissus bulbs came up! Two have buds already. I did plant about 18 bulbs, but the local vermin dug them up and spirited them away for nefarious purposes. I bought narcissus specifically because rodents (mice, squirrels, voles, etc.) don't eat them. Apparently they play some obscure kind of ballgame with them and I've supplied the Final Four of the Greenbelt Rodentia Conference. Or maybe they poison their enemies with them, I don't know. Maybe little CSI or NCIS rodents will show up soon to investigate. I'd like to see a vole in black pigtails and Goth-wear...

Health update

2009-03-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

I went to the wonderful doctor Ken's been going to for treatment of his long-term Lyme and the rest of his complex medical situation. Good news: He's just about certain I don't have Lyme disease! I do have significant yeast infection, so I'm on fluconazole to start knocking that out. I also have all the symptoms of low adrenal function so I'm taking supplements to help out my adrenal glands. I am feeling a bit more energetic, despite a minor respiratory infection. Which, by the way, is having little effect except making me a bit tired--and my voice is just about shot. Fortunately I was at work only in the morning, when we weren't open, and at a workshop in the afternoon, so I didn't have to talk a lot.

We'll see if I can speak well enough to work on the desk tomorrow. At least it would keep me from talking too loud (yes, I'm a librarian who has to be "shushed"!)

Life is a movie musical

2009-03-03T19:55:00.002-05:00

We watched Oklahoma! tonight on TV. Sang together on a lot of the songs, "Let people say we're in love..." "All or Nuthin'" and commented on everything from the ballet sequence to the shivaree (no wonder Ken wouldn't tell anyone where we spent our wedding night!)

Ivan watched too...he was fascinated with the ballet sequence and actually reached up to try and grab "Laurey" at one point.

We're still waiting on the adoption homestudy...have to talk to a new social worker (our wonderful Bev was "phased out," sadly) about my new job.

Work's very busy for both of us. Ken's still in charge a lot. And oh, yes, we did OK with the snowstorm. It's one of the few things that made people drive sensibly on the Beltway.

It's cold tonight! I'm very glad we have the space heater, and I have my cozy quilted full-body wrap. It's like that thing they advertise on TV only warmer.

Pictures of our visit with Ralph and the kids!!

2009-02-18T10:20:00.003-05:00

As promised...

Click here for pictures and a video. When you get to the Picasa site, just click on "Slideshow" near the top at the left. Then click on the right-pointing arrow under the first picture to see full-size pictures, plus a full-sound video with all of us (including Jett banging on the air filter!) Yes, I took the video ::bows::

We had a great time, giving late Christmas presents to Ralph and the kids (the iTunes cards were a big hit), playing with Jett (who can walk now--and get into all kinds of things), and going to the Silver Diner (a favorite of both families--they have one near their home). Brian, Sheila and I also went to the playground, where I got dizzy on the self-propelled merry-go-round and I found out they're both Fullmetal Alchemist fans!

My numbers...

2009-02-18T09:27:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Tom, I just learned that I have my own numbers!!

Hey, how can you have an infinitely countable set? Isn't that an oxymoron? Tom? Dr. Amy?

Latest news

2009-02-16T22:10:00.002-05:00

My older younger brother came to visit today with the kids. Awesome from beginning to end--even with Jett screeching. Yes, there will be pictures in my next post. And possibly a video.

Hey, sibling unit with offspring, OK if I put the vid of you and the kids on Youtube? Not like anyone besides family is likely to see it except for Mark and maybe one of the teens from my anime club who's a Youtube friend of mine (she makes great anime music videos)

Also, I'm on Facebook, finally.

Went to dance class (tango & salsa) tonight--and spotted a flyer for Scottish Folk Dancing on Tuesday nights! (I can hear Stasa squealing with happiness from three time zones away!) I work every other Tuesday but it's a drop-in class each week.

Protecting families

2009-02-12T09:23:00.003-05:00

You might know some of these families that need our support. Not money or a job or a green card, just the right to be a family. Some have kids, some don't. They're firefighters, librarians, professors, and store clerks.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

They're not asking to be married in your church; just in a court so they can pick up their kids when they're sick at school and visit their spouse in the ICU if, heaven forbid, they end up in there.

I'm not asking you to sign the petition, or even watch the entire video. Just to reflect a moment about what "marriage" means to you, and what it would mean to them.

Still unpacking and getting settled

2009-02-08T19:54:00.002-05:00

Ken has been going through his boxes and boxes (and boxes...) of books, sorting out the ones that should be thrown out, the ones he wants, and the ones that can be donated. After I bring boxes to work tomorrow, we will have donated 5 boxes to my new library system's book sale. Our bookcases (and we have a lot) are very nearly full. I unpacked most of the rest of my books and organized them, and we have about 1 shelf left--one low shelf suitable for paperbacks.

This afternoon we took 2 library books back to my old library system. I could let my own new branch send them to Annapolis, but I know from patrons' experience that interlibrary returns can go astray. Besides, it was a chance to chat with some old colleagues (Poor Ken was lost sometimes amidst the library-ese and talk of internal politics). Ken wanted to go to Hana, our favorite Japanese restaurant, and since it was library-closing time, I said, "Why don't I call Mathew and see if he wants to meet us?" He usually works Sundays at a library near Hana. We dropped in at "his" branch and yes, he was there. The poor guy was in charge and had had a rough day, so Japanese food with friends was most welcome. The three of us had a great time and utterly delicious food.

And when we got home and loaded the donation books in the car...the night was so clear we could see *stars*. We can't usually, as close to Washington DC as we are.

Finally, about my new job!

2009-01-28T11:04:00.003-05:00

It's been three weeks since I started my new job as head children's librarian. I've been sick most of the time, argh! but I love it.

I liked my supervisor right away, and got a warm welcome from staff who'd met me before at the parade and holiday party as well as a couple I hadn't met yet. Also there was a welcome sign and chocolates for me in the kitchen!

I don't have my own computer, but I do have a window desk (with a view of our parking lot, but there are nice trees across the street) and lots of desk space. And we have a storytime *room* not a mere closet! It's a mess, though, so re-organizing it is one of our short-term plans.

I got thrown into dealing with budgets right away, something I never really dealt with at my old job. Trying to spend money in the most useful ways in three days is not easy! But we should get a good teen program and lots of children's program supplies out of it.

The catalog system is the same as the older version we'd had at my previous job, which helped a lot. But the library layout is complex and confusing and of course the policies are all different! DVDs check out for 7 days, not 3; nonfiction DVDs and videos are mixed in with the books; The Lord of the Rings is in the *children's* section, and...the confusion just goes on.

But reference questions don't change, the online databases are the same, and (sadly) there are still difficult patrons and computer problems. Lots of computer problems. Fortunately, I hit it off withe computer/equipment guy, who is a fellow statistical outlier (as my husband would say) and not easy for most (mainstream) people to get along with.

My fellow children's staffers are both good people, though very different from each other (and occasionally butting heads, but that's normal). They both work hard, which is great--few things are worse than having a slacker on the staff.

What it means to be head children's librarian: I do reference work (answering questions) for adults, teens and kids, but do programs and deal with signs, displays and collections (weeding books and asking for new ones) only for the children's areas. I can get involved with teen programming too--the teen librarian and I have been talking about that.

I only hope I can get over these respiratory infections! I'm on my second set of antibiotics--this one for a mycoplasma infection. (Mycoplasma are bigger than a virus, smaller than a bacteria.) Yes, I bought stuff with live acidophilus cultures at the local health food store--and all kinds of healthy prepared food, including soup!

O Christmas Tree (and kittycat)

2008-12-21T19:10:00.002-05:00

Here's Ivan with our tree. Note his disinterested, "no, I wasn't just chewing on the Christmas-tree branch" expression.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-15T17:27:00.001-05:00

more animals

Christmas is coming!

2008-11-30T20:06:00.004-05:00

Advent begins today! I spent part of meeting for worship with the children's religious ed group, where we talked a bit about Advent and lit the first candle in an Advent wreath. Very minimal ritual, just Ellie lighting the candle and saying "I light the candle of Hope" in a rather dramatic voice (she's very fourteen), followed by silent worship.

I'm full of hope for many things. For our adoption process, of course; for a F/friend and her husband expecting her first child; for improvement in our economy and environment; for my new job starting in January.

We've been preparing for the holidays in our new home. Ken struggled with our database of addresses for sending out our holiday letters. I put up the tree and ornaments, listening to my beloved Cambridge Singers performing some lesser-known traditional Christmas carols ("What Is This Lovely Fragrance?," "Quittez, Pasteurs," and "Still, Still, Still," to name just a few.)

Ivan has not discovered the tree, (non-breakable) ornaments, or Nativity figures. Yet. Last year he knocked over St. Joseph once, then left everything alone.

Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Festivus preparations to all!

A New Job!!

2008-11-25T07:29:00.003-05:00

Well...I've accepted a new job. Sent in my resignation letter Monday at my current beloved but oh-so-very-far-from-my-new-home job.

So, starting January 5, I will be the head children's librarian at the Silver Spring Branch Library, in a new public library system that's only 1/3 of my current hideous commute away. And I'm making more money for roughly the same level of responsibility and probably a busier workday.

I didn't post anything before,because some bureaucratic bits had to be done, and I wanted to meet my future boss before saying "yes" as a bad boss can wreck one's job satisfaction no end. Thursday the bits were done, and when I got home that night there was a message from my new manager. He invited me to meet my coworkers and get an introduction to the community by taking part in the city's parade Saturday morning if I was interested.

I thought it would be a good way to meet him and my coworkers--and it was. Got there at 8am in freezing weather. We were all wrapped up in coats and hats, except for the staff members dressed in costume: Mother Goose (a children's librarian, very friendly and dedicated), the Big Bad Wolf (senior librarian), Red Riding Hood (library aide). Other staff, Friends of the Library and their assorted children were there (many of the kids wore their Halloween costumes). It was a great way to meet everyone: riding to our parade staging site in the Bookmobile, helping to finish up the float (the flannelboard animals kept falling off the flannelboards attached to the back of our float wagon), eating muffins and donuts, trying to keep warm, figuring out how to hang the sign with a teen shelving assistant (Josh and I hit it off almost instantly), and then parading down the street, passing out bookmarks and hearing enthusiastic shouts of "It's the Library!" Talk about community culture--we marched behind a Latin dance group and in front of a high-school band. Other cultural, community support, school and oh, all kinds of groups took part.

Back at the branch, I got an impromptu tour and was invited to share some of birthday cake, chocolate treats and heated cider (it was the manager's birthday) . Then I talked a bit with my future coworkers about practical stuff, including the weekly schedule and an upcoming program in Februrary (this with "Mother Goose"). I think I'm really going to like it there. Though I have a ton to learn--when I first browsed through the nonfiction section, I realized, "omigosh, I'm going to have to learn what their weeding policies are!" ("Weeding" is when you take items out of a library because they're outdated, not getting checked out, too battered, or otherwise no longer "right" for the library). But overall, I'm a lot less nervous having spent some time doing things (not just talking!) with everyone.

The News from Lake Greenbelt

2008-11-20T08:37:00.004-05:00

First off, we had snow flurries on and off most of Tuesday afternoon. Pretty! And it's gotten cold. We're learning our living room has some insulation issues. We definitely need to get a good storm door for the gardenside door this weekend!

Tuesday night we went to information night with "our" agency. The presentation was by the director of the infant domestic adoption program. This is the same person who sent the abrupt and upsetting email we got this spring about the huge increase in would-be domestic infant adoptive parents and how much harder it would be (and how much harder we'd have to work) to adopt.

We were not impressed with her. The information night was billed as being for all 3 programs (domestic infant, domestic school-age child and international) and running from 7 to 9 pm. She focused mostly on domestic infant, barely covered international (the main reason we were going) and closed everything down at 8:15 saying she "had to be somewhere at 8:30). Plus she put a rather negative spin on being able to adopt. She could have been more encouraging without actually lying.

The good news: there are still babies to adopt. We met many wonderful prospective parents (it's heartening just to be in a room with other couples and singles in the same boat we are). Plus a lovely couple who recently moved from Massachusetts who brought their 5-year-old son. They'd adopted him from Ukraine through a New-England based agency that was fantastic. I got the name of their agency (since we're encouraged to connect with agencies outside our area to broaden the "available birthparent pool") and gave them my email and our phone number. I loved hearing their adoption story and chatting with them.

Our plan: I'm going to call the international adoption director with my questions about Bulgaria to see if that might be a better option for us. We can't swap to the other agency we liked (I just called this morning) without doing an entirely new homestudy (expensive and a real pain in the rear!)

I'm still in the process about a possible (now likely) new job closer to home (more if it goes through; I should know by early next week).

We'll be having a Quaker Thanksgiving again, at F/friends' home with people from our meeting. We're bringing the acorn squash.

We should be with my family for Christmas Eve (and yes, I'll bring the hummous!), driving to Vermont on Christmas morning to spend some time with Ken's family.

That's the news from Lake Greenbelt, where the women are strong, the men are good looking (Ken lost 15 pounds in the last couple of months!) and the kitty cat is waaaay above average.

If you think the media is hiding things from you, you're right...

2008-11-20T08:32:00.003-05:00

Here are 25 stories neither the "conservative" nor the "liberal" media covered. And it's not just political--check out #23.

Yes, citations to support each story are included at the bottom of each one.

Thanks to my new online friend Patricia for emailing this to me!

I've been thoroughly birthday'd!!

2008-11-14T12:38:00.004-05:00

Everyone has been awesome!

It started Monday, when I got a box in the mail from Tom Z. He gave me a book (big surprise): Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. Plus two other books that he'd intended to bring up as host gifts when he visited.

Tuesday I got a card from my Mom and Dad with a most generous check. I already spent part of it on a fashionable blue bamboo-and-organic-cotton dress at the Green Festival. (Picture to come...) Today or tomorrow I'm planning on hitting Behnke's for their sale (winter pansies!) And of course I'll be placing a manga order with Amazon.com.

Wednesday my coworker Annette, who'd got my name in our birthday/holiday drawing at work, hosted my birthday celebration at work. I got a chocolate angel-food cake with whipped cream (low-fat and yummy), a card, and several little gifts. The most amazing was peppermint starlights: 385 of them!! I put some in my dish at work, some in Barbara's "free for all" dish, and some in my purse. The rest are stowed in the kitchen. Boy are they heavy!

Yesterday I got a card from Ken's Mom and Dad with a lovely Macy's gift certificate. I'm going there too, of course, for clothes shopping. Then, it being our anniversary, Ken and I had a lovely dinner at the 104th Aero Squadron (a restaurant my mom and dad discovered when they visited). I suggested, and he agreed, that we'll buy a solar and/or gravity-operated waterfall pump for our mini-pond as a mutual anniversary gift. Ecological and beautiful.

I spent my actual birthday driving all the way up to Roseland (east of Baltimore) to co-coordinate an all-day program on teen services for libraries. Specially for my birthday the traffic up was not horrible and drivers were not over-aggressive (not so good on the way home, which was during rush hour). The workshop was excellent--I learned a lot, especially from the experienced, funny, and gifted presenter on teen reluctant reader and great books to suggest (or leave around the teen section for them to "discover" and devour).

Ken had to work late at a special presentation, so I got home, popped in a soy-cheese pizza, and ate that and a slice of my angel-food cake with dark-chocolate sorbet while Ivan snuggled and then chased a hapless cricket around the room.

And this morning I got an email from Bev, our adoption-homestudy social worker, that she sent in her homestudy write-up on my birthday!! What a welcome and long-awaited gift!

An amazon.com box from Ken is forthcoming. So is my birthday dinner!

lolcats strike again!

2008-11-12T12:41:00.002-05:00

As I keep telling all of you, Russian Blue cats are brilliant....

more animals

Caption is cut off: it reads (in plain English): More light please... and hand me wrench.

Dad, you need an assistant mechanic? We can bring up Ivan at Christmastime....

Maybe I should get Ivan to balance my checkbook and manage my mutual funds. He is quite at home in front of the computer already.

Done!

2008-11-04T16:47:00.001-05:00

We finally finished our adoption homestudy revisions paperwork last night. I dropped off the papers at the agency (a 15-min. drive from our home via the Beltway, which I actually drove on for 5 miles: go me!)

Whew! Now we wait to see if our homestudy is approved.

Meanwhile, we're going to an international-adoption information night because we qualify for adoption from Bulgaria. We may be able to be in both the domestic and international programs at the same time and get whatever child comese first. We'll see if it's a good idea...

Halloween

2008-10-31T21:21:00.003-04:00

Our visitors included princesses and fairies, Spiderman, two ninjas (one in black, one in red), a glittery witch, a little brown bear, a parent who was a ghost and another who was a fairy-in-black-leather (cool mom!) and many more.

Gave out 2 1/2 bags of candy (mini Kit Kats and itsy-bitsy Tootsie Rolls).

Ate homemade chicken soup and watched season 5 of Bablyon 5 in between trick-or-treaters.

A very happy Halloween to you all, from here in our new home!

Gardening Success!

2008-10-28T09:26:00.002-04:00

As of Sunday, all the narcissus bulbs are planted (with eco-friendly anti-rodent mint oil granules sprinkled around them) and the huge overgrown climbing rosebush is fully trimmed.

Ken cut the grass short enough last week that it probably won't need more than one mowing.

And we got lots of good food at the Farmer's Market: fresh sirloin and green beans for dinner Sunday, roast chicken and sweet potatoes last night.

Speaking of food, we have a local diner with good stuff: sweet-potato-and-pecan pancakes with (lightly) fried bananas for me; chicken-fried steak with scrambled eggs and roast baby potatoes-with-the-skins-on for Ken. Nutritious (except for that steak being fried) and yummy. Not exactly New Jersey diner fare but it's nice to have a diner to go to again...

Just the facts, ma'am (and sir)

2008-10-28T09:22:00.003-04:00

Want the truth about accusations made against the two main presidential candidates? Courtesy of the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times and Congressional Quarterly (the latter is a non-partisan publisher of information on actions of the US Congress).

I'm amused by the category for "worse than false" allegations... "pants on fire"

Gardening Joys and Woes

2008-10-25T11:37:00.004-04:00

It's fall. So I started planting my bulbs: planted one dozen daffodil bulbs last Sunday. I got daffodils and narcissus because deer and rodents (we have mice and/or voles; can't tell for sure. And we definitely have squirrels!)

Tuesday morning I went out to water them: and half of them were dug up. Apparently the rodents either noticed the loose dirt or smelled *something* and thought they could get dinner. Then they got down to the bulbs and decided "Yuck! Narcissus bulbs! They're icky" and just left them there. Thanks, guys.

Well, now I have special eco-friendly mint-oil granules to keep them away. We'll see how well they work.

And I bought a pruning saw to finish the rosebush before it finishes me off (between the amount of labor and the zillions of thorns)

And the pond is nicely full again, with the net over it to catch most of the leaves (they are a nuisance to dredge out, especially since I don't have a long-handled net. Need to get one.)

you might find these in your Christmas stocking...

2008-10-25T11:34:00.002-04:00

Prepare for world domination by

Ivan Vorcatril!!

That's our Ivan!

2008-10-17T10:19:00.001-04:00

Ivan just came galloping down the stairs, leapt off one of the lower ones, bounced off the top box in a stack of boxes by the door, and landed on the back-door rug, startled but unhurt.

Actually, it kinda looked like fun...

Lawnmower Precision Drill Team: At Last!

2008-10-12T19:59:00.000-04:00

Remember waaay back in August when I told you about the Lawn-Mower Precision Drill Team that performed at our community Labor Day Parade?

Well, Ms. Procrastinator here is finally posting their website for you, which has a video of their multiple-award-winning performance at the parade:

For Your Viewing Enjoyment

One-word meme

2008-10-09T08:55:00.002-04:00

Stasa posted this in her blog and I can't resist a good meme, so...

YOU CAN ONLY TYPE ONE WORD!

Not as easy as you might think. Now copy or forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to send back to the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Where is your significant other? work

3. Your hair? salt-and-pepper (that's one word!!)

4. Your mother? warm

5. Your father? loving

6. Your favorite thing? words

7. Your dream last night? toilets!

8. Your favorite drink? cocoa

9. Your dream/goal? happy

10. The room you're in? living

11. Your hobby? writing

12. Your fear? torture

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Mom

14. What you are NOT afraid of? presenting

15. Muffins? fruit

16. One of your wish list items? manga

17. Where you grew up? mid-Hudson

18. The last thing you did? email

19. What are you wearing? pjs

20. Your TV? DVDs

21. Your pets? Ivan

22. Your computer? Oldish

23. Your life? full

24 Your mood? optimistic

25. Missing someone? yes

26. Your car? transportation

27. What you're NOT wearing? underwear!

28. Favorite store? TJs!

29. Your summer? moving!

30. Your favorite color? green

31. Last time you laughed? yesterday

32. Last time you cried/teared up? weeks

33. Who will resend this? Dad?

Progress on the Adoption Front!

2008-09-13T20:44:00.003-04:00

Our social worker, Bev, came for her final visit and to check out our new home on Friday. She loved the place, had no problem with the pond, and was encouraging about our chances to find a match with a child despite the tighter "competition." We expressed our fears about prospective birth parents not wanting us because we're "old and nerdy" and she reassured us, mentioning a family with a disabled parent that had recently adopted a child and saying she thought we would be able to find a child in a year or two.

She's sending us some additional paperwork to do because of our home change.

And after she left, we set up our fire-safety inspection (our last inspection of all!!) for this coming Friday morning!

So, progress is being made. We'll get to work on our "niche marketing" soon!

Another Squirrel Story

2008-09-11T15:55:00.002-04:00

It all started when my coworker S discovered a baby squirrel on her front porch. She waited for the mom to come get it, but Mom didn't show. S didn't want to call Animal Control and had no idea what to do with the little thing herself so she decided to call our coworker D, who is famous for being good with animals (they have at least 4 species of pets in their household).

So D came over, fearlessly picked up the little squirrel in a towel, and took it home. She bought cat formula and fed her (it's a girl squirrel) with a syringe every three hours. She named the little squirrel Peapod after a squirrel on a TV show.

Little Peapod went to the vet, who said squirrels should get puppy formula, not kitty formula. Since Peapod needed to be fed every few hours, D. brought her to work in a cat carrier, along with the formula, syringe, grapes and peanuts. (Peapod loves grapes!)

Coworker M referred to Peapod as "that rat."

D: well, they are in the rodent family.

D lets Peapod climb on her shoulder (like Ralph used to do with our cats) and even around to the back of her neck. I petted Peapod cautiously, once with one finger.

We all swear D missed her calling and should work for a vet or an animal rescue place.

I haz lolcat adikshun

2008-09-10T15:37:00.000-04:00

I luvs lolcats

but doan love morningz...

more animals

A Greenbelt Labor Day--updated!

2008-09-01T12:37:00.002-04:00

Today was one of our city's biggest celebrations: The Labor Day Parade. There's actually a weekend-long festival with carnival rides, information and food booths by various organizations (everything from the Literacy Council to the local Bahai community). But the parade is Very Big Deal. In this New Deal city (we were founded as a New Deal program, with the coop I live in being built as affordable family housing.)

So we caught it right at the beginning, with Scottish bagpipers. Lovely music, I mean that (heard outdoors, as bagpipes are meant to be). There's a wonderful tradition of most groups throwing wrapped candies--one of our local politicians did it in a big way, throwing mini-Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Some highlights:

The local high school cheerleaders! They did an incredible dance to a hip-hop tune: awesome moves and fine synchronization!

The Greenbelt Pride group: theme was Olympics of Marriage Equality. Husband and I gave them a huge cheer. One couple had a baby in a front pack.

Our co-op's float: theme was "It's a Small World" (without the song, I might add). Included some people in ethnic dress, including traditional Turkish clothes and a woman in a cowboy hat, star-spangled shirt, and white shorts with three European flags stuck in the pockets. "I love your American costume!" I thanked her.

The elementary school PTA had a "bookmobile" car with a Cat in the Hat bowtie on the front bumper and tall hat on the hood. Members gave out free secondhand books.

The Greenbelt Democratic Club combined with the county Obama-supporters group: They got one of the biggest cheers of all (oh, how I love living in the Great Green Successful Social Experiment instead of Redneck Republicanland!). The announcer asked, "Can anybody tell me who Obama is?" I called out, shortly before he answered, "The next President of the United States!"

Near the end was...

The Reel Lawn Mowers Precision Drill Team. They had their little push-mowers decorated with tissue-paper flowers and Christmas-tree garland. They each had a card with a letter, spelling out "KICK*GAS". And they were a precision team--"presenting arms," at the start, doing "the wave, " spinning out and making two pinwheels, and more (I even saw at least one high kick in there!"

And there were the usual fire engines (some fine-looking antique ones), Girl and Boy Scouts, politicians, the town pageant winners (poised and attractive young girls--we need one for boys!) and so on. Oh, and I almost forgot, the Lone Ranger and Silver.

Sadly, we did not bring our camera. Next year!

All in all, a great parade. Next year I wanna march with our coop.

Ready for more Otakon pictures?

2008-08-30T11:44:00.003-04:00

You know you want to.

Me cosplaying a teenage boy (Hikaru from Hikaru no Go), tons of gorgeous costumes, and a loooooong kitty!

Please post comments, either on the Picasa album or here! I want to know what you think!

Speaking of lolcats

2008-08-25T13:55:00.004-04:00

This one's for Sheila, our family Hello Kitty fan...

Behold the Hello Kitty Cat Humiliation System!

I would not do this to Ivan. Ever.

The translation from the Japanese at the bottom is to die for. (Warning: one four-letter word in comment at the end.)

lolcats help wit teh bluez

2008-08-23T10:43:00.003-04:00

better than Prozac, less fattening than chocolate...

more lolcat posts

Otakon pictures!!

2008-08-23T10:15:00.002-04:00

Ken took these, which is why he's not in any.

First batch of selected Otakon pictures--you know you want to see the gorgeous costumes and fun times!

Dangerous Gardening

2008-08-19T12:49:00.003-04:00

I've learned that when pruning climbing roses, watch out for falling branches! I got scratched by a thorn.

No harm done. (Stop worrying, Mom.)

In other new-homeowner news, we (thanks to Ken's brilliant use of our garden hose and gravity) have drained the miniature garden pond (it's about the size of a plastic kiddie pool). Tonight we get to clean out the gunk left at the bottom!

Another reason to love Unshelved, the librarians' webcomic

2008-08-12T13:29:00.004-04:00

Ever wonder why history textbooks are so boring?This comic explains

Challenged and controversial books are juicy books. Read one today!!

If you want to see what I'm reading and have read in the past year (plus some of my all-time favorites) just click on the Goodreads bar at the left and click on a book category you'd like to explore!

Finally, pics of Ralph and the kids!

2008-08-05T23:13:00.002-04:00

Ken uploaded the pics to our computer, and I got them here with the aid of Picasa! (Thanks, Dad, for recommending Picasa--it's great!)

Just click on the picture to see more...

Ralph and the kids

We had an awesome time together in case you can't tell.

Settling-in update, and family visits!

2008-07-31T20:23:00.003-04:00

We've done a buttload of yard work--clipping hedges (mostly Ken), weeding (me) transplanting our flowers and herbs (me), and mowing our lawn (Ken). Number of boxes in the living room is down to about 8, about half of them being my scrapbooking and other craft stuff. We have maybe 6 boxes in the master bedroom. The spare room, on the other hand... We won't talk about it. I'm just impressed that I finally was able to move the bed away from the hutch so I could rescue the spoons trapped behind the hutch drawer and put away our electric blanket. Ivan is very disappointed abou the latter--that blanket was his favorite nap spot!

Ralph and the kids came to visit and we had a wonderful time! (pictures to come). Toninght I'm picking up Ken's parents from the train station after work (9:30 pm, works out nicely with my evening shift) for a long-weekend visit.

One of the zillion reasons I love Unshelved

2008-07-22T18:29:00.004-04:00

On the effect librarians have in the world...

Other things we change:
PINs
computer mice
due dates
procedures
call numbers
where the Young Adult books are kept

Advantages of the move

2008-07-15T10:39:00.001-04:00

Last night I came home to Ken making his excellent spaghetti sauce. He'd also done the dishes and bought me a bottle of Riesling.

We're no longer drowning in boxes...

2008-07-08T19:02:00.002-04:00

...but there's still a heck of a lot of them unopened, let alone unpacked. We have accomplished a lot since we got back from FGC Gathering, though. (More on the Gathering later, with pictures!)

As of last night, we have air conditioners installed and working both upstairs (in the master bedroom) and downstairs (in the living room). We found Ivan's hairbrush a couple of days ago and have been giving him much-needed combings (three and a half full combs the first night!) We know when recycling and garbage pickup are and how to separate items. And a lovely woman from a nearby "court" in the co-op came over last night with a bagful of welcoming goodies (coupons, info on the co-op that wasn't in our blue official homeowner bider) and, on her own, a plant. Turns out she's a Quaker too! As well as a cat person--she was duly admiring of our Ivan.

Heard a major crash this morning--fortunately, all Ivan had knocked over was our metal clothes-drying rack (and it was even empty, so no clean undies on the floor!)

We love the neighborhood--fairly quiet (very quiet except when a bus goes by), highly walkable, lots of nearby shopping ranging from the grocery co-op to Starbuck's to an awesome tiny pastry shop (yummy Napoleons!) And certainly more amenable to our social and political interests, judging from the bumper stickers and area events.

More later as we have more time. I should take some pics of our still-box-laden living room...

We Are Homeowners!!

2008-06-14T21:21:00.003-04:00

We closed on our townhome Friday! We signed, oh, at least fifteen different documents (okay, a few of them were duplicates) in a big room with the lawyer, realtor, loan officer and rep from the co-op. Tina (our loan officer, lovely woman) gave us a sheet of address labels, a National City Mortgage cloth bag, and a bottle of champagne! Kathie from the co-op gave us a packet from the co-op including a fridge magnet with the most important numbers (24-hour maintenance service!). And we got the keys!! We will have the locks changed next week, for safety's sake--free service of the co-op! Well, part of the $325-ish we pay every month, actually.

We went over after the closing and did a bit of work: Ken pulled the crown molding off the living room walls (it's *plastic*--ick!) and I investigated the upstairs rooms, pulled the bedding of the bed the former owners left (tossing the pillows which were in sad shape but the sheets, blanket and comforter are fine), and picked up fallen branches around the yard. I was never so happy cleaning up a yard, because it's ours!

Ken put in a day at the place today (mowing the lawn, doing laundry in our washing machine and dryer!) I worked at the library--we had more kids and a few teens signing up for the Summer Reading Club--are you joining the one at your local library?--and possibly one dad. Yes, we have an "adult activity sheet" that encourages them to check out our wonderful databases, book-news emails and other cool stuff. And my coworkers congratulated me on the closing!

Tomorrow I have Ministry and Worship Committee meeting, then more work on the townhome! I made measurements of major living room furniture (sofa plus all the bookcases) and am bringing the measuring tape to see what can fit where.

We'll let you know when we're ready for visitors! We have that extra double bed (mattress is in fine condition!) and can rent out a "guest house" through the co-op. There are also several hotels around.

We will email the address and our new phone number out soon, and send by snail mail eventually.

New home--update

2008-06-11T15:04:00.003-04:00

We close on the townhome this Friday at 2 pm. Eeeeeeeeeek!

We're moving the 20th. Double Eeeeeeeeeek! I plan on buying a new White Mousie for Ivan, throwing it in the cat carrier (of course he'll follow) and hoping he won't be too traumatized by the trip.

Packing completed so far: 1 suitcase, 1 large box.

Ants! and one kittycat

2008-05-28T22:28:00.003-04:00

Now that we've vanquished the sugar ants (the teeny kind about the size of chocolate sprinkles only skinnier) after three weeks' battle, we have the BIG ANTS. Some of them are the size of tractor-trailers! Well, SUVs. (Would you believe, Matchbox cars?)

Two applications of Orange Guard didn't work, so I think I'll try a repeat of what finally worked for the sugar ants:
1. serious cleaning of kitchen countertop
2. wiping down countertop with bleach
3. letting bleach stay on a while.
4. washing off bleach and applying Orange Guard.

Oh, and speaking of chocolate sprinkles, for the libray's Summer Reading Club kickoff (theme this year: bugs) one "Bug Olympics" event will be "eating bugs"--that is, eating chocolate sprinkles off a plate without using your hands. I hope I get stationed in that room for part of the time, though I did volunteer my face-painting skills to paint butterflies and such on kids.

Speaking of the library, we are in Major Budget Turmoil. I won't trouble you with the detail. No one will lose their jobs but we could get some deeeeep materials budget cuts (which I suspect will just about kill any chance of picking up new manga series) and close on Sundays.

Ivan has a new meow--specially for letting us know he wants to play with the Feline Flyer, The Greatest Toy Ever! Speaking of Ivan, he was just making mysterious noises in the bathroom. He'd opened the vanity drawers and was looking for toy mousies to play with. (Of course Ivan can open drawers! What do you think, we have a stupid uncoordinated cat?) Sooo, I got a mousie out of the High Hide-Things-From-Ivan drawer and let him go at it. Poor mousie's nearly lost half his tail already.

Life...lemons and lemonade

2008-05-24T11:11:00.006-04:00

I didn't get that promotion I applied for. All I have to say about that is, [commentary in video below; rated PG]

Our loan and mortgage were approved, and things look good so far for our application to get into the co-op, so we'll be moving next month anyway (Yaaay!!) That will keep me plenty busy!

NerdPic of the day (specially for physics and cat lovers)

2008-05-20T16:45:00.003-04:00

When you're bored at work and type "lolcat" into Clusty's Image Search you find something cool likethis.

We're still wading through financial paperwork on the townhome, and the co-op has received our application.

It's raining. A lot.

Our new home!!

2008-05-13T10:32:00.002-04:00

We met with our mortgage loan officer yesterday--delightful woman, very helpful and explained everything cheerfully--and took another look at the co-op townhouse, partly to decide whether we want to keep the mattress the sellers left. For details on the mattress, and numerous pictures by Ken the excellent picture-taker, see the web album on my Picasa site!

Gotta download some financial data for our loan officer now before I go to work...

Now that the homestudy is just about done...

2008-05-08T10:54:00.004-04:00

We're buying a townhome!! Ken just heard from the realtor that the buyer has decided to go with our bid (for a 2 BR one bath townhome in, yes, Greenbelt Co-op (see previous blog entry for details.) Ken fell in love with this one Saturday; I went to see it Sunday and fell in love too. The yard is fantastic--large (the townhome is an end unit) and beautifully landscaped, with azaleas and a fishpond (!) The best is, though, on one side it links to a common lawn and on another it backs onto a forest preserve (part of a national agricultural station). The other two sides are the side yard and a side street and of course the townhome. Which is in move-in condition with a nice galley kitchen (a bit larger than ours), a dining/living room, and then two bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and an attic above that.

Pictures to come!!

Since we will be moving very soon (mid-June!), we may hold off on submitting our homestudy till we can get anything necessary (sanitary inspection, etc.) done on the new place till we submit the final homestudy. Our social worker is checking on that.

Oh, and tomorrow I have an interview for a promotion at work...

And now for something completely different...

2008-05-01T20:35:00.005-04:00

Well, now that the homestudy paperwork has been submitted, we've started looking for a home to buy. We are both very impressed with Greenbelt Homes, a co-op community started as a New Deal initiative in the 1930s. Most of the buildings were built in the 1930s and early 40s so they are very sturdy! We went to an information night, because a co-op is not quite like a condo--see the website's section "what is a cooperative?" for details. (No, it's not like a commune...much)

We saw our first townhouse (most of the community is made up of townhouses in blocks of 4 or so) Monday night. It's a 2-bedroom, small but nicely built and impeccably maintained (though we weren't crazy about the paint colors in a couple of the rooms.) The coop rarely allows rentals or sublets so just about everyone has "buy-in" to the welfare of the place, and they're big on preventive maintenance.

We're looking at the frame-construction 2-bedrooms. As I said, small but there's storage space (an attic crawlspace where you can stand up in the middle--I said I'd send Ken up there with his laptop though with a baby he may want to go there for peace and quiet!) There are also family events both in the coop community and in the town. And, as the name implies, trees and a woodland trail (and playgrounds!)

Lastly, Ken's commute would be about 1/2 hour each way; mine would be about 45 min.

On the adoption front, we meet one more time with our social worker next Wednesday, and the paperwork is in process. We should get the "green light" from the agency in a month or two. In the meantime we've been encouraged to select pictures for a family photo album and to start writing a "dear birthparent" letter for people considering placing a baby for adoption, so they can see what wonderful parents we would make!

Ultimate nerd LEGOs!

2008-04-26T21:44:00.001-04:00

Just a slice of Nerd Heaven...
Escher, Star Wars vehicles, steampunk, and more!