Anniversary

It is the one year anniversary of meeting Lt. Green Hornet. I have to say it was one of the best weekends of my life. Yes, i was ignoring all housework and grad school work and grading that needed to be done, but quite literally, I had the time of my life. And yes I hope you are singing that in the Dirty Dancing version well I've had the time of my life. And I owe it all to youoooouuuu. It's annoying. Here are some pictures, I still don't pull off thirty-one or otterbutt's glamour in photos... But picture me with 3 less chins and we're a hit! It was quite fun

Autumn in

Sadness about my friend Ned (who looks like Superman on certain days and Hugh Grant others) lost his wife, Stephanie, to cancer at the age of 33. They had just married this summer and she was diagnosed on August 1, and died September 16. The funeral was yesterday and it was the tragic. Our department was there for him, but it's hard to know what to say. He has to return to school next week, we only get 5 days of berievement. Truly makes one value what we do have each moment.

first days of school

Best first start in 5 years. All is running smoothly. I am knocking on the wood in Otterbutt's dining room. Z is playing with the dogs and the parents are out at the bank. I'm taking Molecular Bio very interesting. We get to read the original papers by the classicist i.e. Watson and Crick and Franklin and Wilkins. No one ever remembers the girl or the chemist but W&C did steal a glimpse of their work before publishing. Franklin didn't win the Nobel prize with them because she dies (due to x-ray crystallography work on the DNA molecule). I wonder why so many early female scientists worked with cancer causers?

ANYWAY my teaching classes are wonderful the kids are great. Z is crying now must go...

nephew losing teeth...great first days of school.

Summer Sweet Corn

Otterbutt's new house, new backyard, new neighborhood, new internet connection, new grocery store, new lake, new birds, new bugs, new mosquito bites, new school, new mailman, new sheets, new broom, new mop, new garbage can... is beautiful, clean, fresh like sheets outside on the line - full of promise, excitement - and inevitable mess to clean again. But exciting none the less.

Not as plain as the Iowa countryside, full of corn as tall as I am as far as you can see, it surrounds your entire soul. Made me want to lay down and watch the clouds - I was very sleepy. I will spare the details of the trip except to say we spent most of it either at Wal-mart or on the couch. I read Anna Karenina almost all the way (150 pgs to go) and my man got me a new laptop exactly like the one he broke. Oh yeah we ate corn!

Dismantle

The world is dismantling tomorrow. The rug pulled beneath the feet. A planned pull, but a pull none the less. It is good to change, change is the only constant in life. But it is also hard - and as I know from personal experience that its easier like a bandaid. Running away without any mention. But maybe planning will have a benefit. Maybe less tears... Or tears for less time...

Dogs

Lt. Green Hornet's Family Dog Died Friday. We're going to visit them in August, very soon, but they are all really sad. It is sad, and hard not to make it about myself or my own pet deaths... I don't know what to say because I am probably making it worse.

We had a nice weekend so far (except Heidi's passing). We went to ARTscape with TnT and the little Coach. I took the lightrail and met everyone down there (little coach and the lt. also took the lightrail, it is really fun) The art was great, I saw a raku cat Maestra would love, but I couldn't pick the color and when I went back I couldn't find the guy (maybe because I took my friend Kendall (a lot of my friend Kendall) with me.) They had great music, food, and fireworks. Living in the city has its perks. It was nice to be so close to the action but be able to rest and use T's A/C. TnT just got two new little pug puppies. They are sooo cute. Blaise and Isabel! Lart's piece at artscape is a greenhouse with fake flowers in it. I think it's a statement about how we can't grow fake flowers in a greenhouse, aluding to the fake keeping up with the Jones' but she has titled it with 3 family names of people who appeared happy and then one spouse killed the other. I worry about Pork&B's safety ha ha.

Saturday we went to dinner and to see Superman Returns (awesome movie). Quite a date I must admit. We brought the little coach with us. I can't say anything about returns because I'm afraid I will ruin it, but I think Crash would love it! They had a preview for Spider Man 3 next spring and I got very excited!!!!

Im also excited about teaching. This course I'm in is really helpful and I won't have to reinvent the wheel for Forensics anymore. Epiphany in Baltimore keeps freaking about his new schedule and allIthe advice he gets mentions that he shouldn't take 2 grad classes with 2 class preps. I have 3 class preps and taking 2.5 grad classes. It is too much. But with the Lt. around working hard is contagious and I guess I'll just be working from 04:00 to 20:00 each night and then maybe salvage a weekend. Epiph is just amazing as well, he got a student from the city a full ride to U of M and it is just so wonderful to see his responses to this experience...

We're discussing a dog nanny and a housekeeper for this time. We both are tolerant to the slob lifestyle but I think it would be easier to study, grade, plan, study, plan, grade, watch movies, instead of worrying about the house all the time. But it makes me sound a little bourgeoisie but of course I am. Planning a second wedding makes anyone a little bourg... I've been looking at dresses, flowers, invites, tuxes, champagne toasts, I've already made the music playlist (Engaged, and Engage!) I can't wait to marry him. It will be de-lovely. 10 years between weddings, 5 since divorce, it's plenty of time to forget how fun this is. I didn't do any of this stuff for my first wedding except buy an ugly dress at ZCMI and flowers from a girl Lart new...

Silent Men

At the house where it is always quarter of eight, the men don't say much anymore. They sit, sleep, laugh occasionally, but there is a noticeable silence. Maybe because we talk too often and too loudly for anyone to get a word in, Maybe because they are comfortable and well fed, Maybe because what they want to say is unsayable or impolite in front of a grandmother or to a grandmother, Maybe because they would rather be...

It is better than the time when there weren't any men, or the lack of them was an emptiness that could be felt for miles. As we prepare for the new void, an empty screaming silence that makes us hungry and lost, maybe the men are just practicing the newness or embracing the sadness with a tinge of excitement. It's the end and the beginning - again...

Yes!

By the lamppost where we first kissed
Sunny afternoon
On one knee
I said yes!
A thousand times yes!

Reading blogs...

It's so funny because all the teachers from NYC, LA, Baltimore, Utah... everyone has the same gripes... NCLB, bureaucracy, testing... It's like one big grad school bitch fest, you know when everyone starts complaining about the system.

Yesterday, I wore a tshirt with a peace symbol. Lt. Green Hornet gave it a very weird look, then said it was great. I want to take a picture of him in his uniform and me in my peace t. I wonder though, if it is in some way a little offensive to him. Again, complaining about the system.

I planted a garden this year on my balcony. I have two tomatoes, that I fear need to be in separate pots and are together, and herbs; basil, rosemary, lavender (?), 2 oreganos (?), thyme, tarragon, sage, parsley. I hope you are now singing the S&G song and wondering why I didn't write them in that order....

Time Zone

One excellent advantage to writing a journal on a blog is the ability to edit. My journal was never actually intended to be private, but when Otterbutt read it on a trip home from college in 1989, it became aparent that I thought it should be. That was back before the electrons began floating everywhere. We didn't have cell phones, we had to call each other at home and actually both be home to talk to one another. We sent mail, actual mail for correspondence. Anyway, it is hard to write in a cyber journal that may be read, may not be, but could be, it feels as though I'm leaving the diary unlocked.

My dependence on electronic energy is so drastic. I feel such calm and safety in the fact the lesson will be successful when I am teaching, if I have some sort of electronic e-gadgetey thing that will aid me in this. As summer begins, I find myself talking to the air via blogging, waiting for family to email, my horoscope to be texted to me, my diet and exercise to come from the net. TV, DVD, iPod, Videogame... Oops, check the email again. I am not interacting with any human energy at all, I'm just interacting with electronic gadgets.

Doing yoga on DVD this morning. I plan on turning on other electrons later. It is raining in Baltimore.

Epiphany in Baltimore

Epiphany in Baltimore

Sisters

My two beautiful sisters: Poets, Chefs, Mothers, Runners? Otterbutt and Thirty-one are Officially correct about EVERYTHING! Including blogging. A bandwagon I've of course been slow to start, and I will be equally as slow with the running... I'm sure it will become aparent soon that I do not have the poetic graces you both have and you will probably be able to see my Queen of the Nerd and Science Teacher Abilities too easily, but forgive my first official blog...

It has come to my attention on my first official day of summer, no school, no work, no grad school, no kids, nothing to do, that being a teacher does have its perks in June July and August. I found myself working on lesson plans last night (with my best friend Kendall) with intermittent bouts with the video game Tomb Raider Legend on XBOX.

I miss the kids. They are wonderful. My nephew Crash is truly one of the best people on the planet. My niece, the flower, loves to speak in code and I became aware of her excellent ability to get a crowd of 7 people out of the house in a timely fashion with a rallying cry of "let's go" I also heard my favorite sound of a little girl whom I will nickname Goose however some say it is a pterodactyl sound. I must admit, I'm not old enough to remember pterodactyl noises, but the rumor is that my boss Big Daddy had a pet one once...

This morning, I awoke to the Green Hornet aka Lt. Davis, "good morning, will you marry me?" followed by "I miss Lily"