Taking oral exams in grad school is really a terrible experience. Even if you pass, it’s absolutely emotionally draining and it’s nearly impossible to do as well as you’d hoped..
Our friend M took her Quals recently (and passed, of course!!) and then came over to our place that evening to decompress. The picture above shows her curled up with a purry Bobette-kitty, letting the anxiety of the day drain away.
Isn’t it great how cats and friends and cozy purple couch can make it all better?
the Inaugural Brunch Bunch :)
The pic above shows some of the felted wool balls that we made and gave as gifts to our nieces, nephews and beloved furpeople last Christmas. I loved that I was able to purchase the wool directly from the farm where the sheep were raised and where it had been hand-dyed. Making the balls was also great fun–choosing colors, rolling the soapy wet masses over and over in our hands until they created tight spheres.
What are some of the best handmade gifts that you’ve given and received?
‘Tis the gift to be simple,
’tis the gift to be free,
’tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed.
To turn, turn will be our delight,
‘Til by turning, turning we come round right
‘Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,
‘Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,
And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,
Then we’ll all live together and we’ll all learn to say,
‘Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,
‘Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of “me”,
And when we hear what others really think and really feel,
Then we’ll all live together with a love that is real.
S brought a gingerbread house to our party and let all of the kids line up and dig in–eating the house piece by piece (the pic above shows the kids queued up here to take turns). By the end of the party, it looked like this.
[Note: pics by John]
I just signed up for a twitter account (you can see my tweets in the sidebar of this blog or on facebook). I’m still not so sure about this, given that I don’t want to be too tied to technology. So it’s an experiment…
Do you twitter? If so, how does it impact your life?
We have these awesome friends that John literally met on a nearby street corner one day–I believe it was when they were all waiting at a crosswalk for the light to turn green.
These friends are smart and musically-talented and the wife was even raised a Quaker.
Life sure can be random that way…but I’m not complaining! :)
PS: Spent time with said friends tonite–you know you’re in good company when you hit a charades topic like “famous programmers,” there’s consensus that Amelie is a most perfect film, and nearly everyone joins in the Spanish Inquisition Monty Python sketch re-enactment (of which GameBoy was the star)…
:)
I snapped the photo of the zinnia above while an adventure with Sara in Concord, Mass. last year. We had a nearly perfect, even ‘transcendent,’ day as we adventured all ’round the historical sites. Well, I’ve made my plans and I’m going back again in two weeks(!)*
But let me tell you a story before I spend a few moments reveling in the magic that will be my cross-country trip…
One of the joys of being a History PhD student is that I am now spending many of my days thumbing through the aged papers of fascinating people from long ago. My latest research subject is a woman who lived in Andover, MA in the 1860s-1880s. Today, as I read through her journals, I came across this entry (and can I just add that everyone around me in the rather stuffy reading room at the Huntington Library undoubtedly thought I was having far too much fun when I was grinning ear-to-ear as I happened upon this entry):
3 July 1875
“The day was lovely and Miss Carter and I took our long-talked-of trip to Concord. We were favored in finding a barge starting from the Concord station directed by a Mrs. Brooks, who had guided people about C. for a long time. We went to the library saw fine busts of Miss Alcott and Hawthorne, then drove out to points of historic and literary interest. We saw the spot where a peaceful purchase secured the site of the town from the Indians in 1636, the bullet-stricken houses and the battle-field, and the wonderful minute-men, with one hand on the plough and the other grasping a gun a perfectly life-like figure. We clambered about the hill back of Hawthorne’s and Alcott’s houses; there seemed just space cut out of the old woods for a comfortable breathing for two houses, and paths under the deep shade. We could only go into the Hawthorne where we climbed to his high study and stood at his standing desk: we climbed through the woods to his look-out but found the ladder so out of repair that we could not go up the tree. We saw the Old Manse and Emerson’s house, but could not go to them. I was much impressed by a street of houses over 200 years old: the thrifty farmers had kept them all along in such good repair that they did not look old. We were left to pass some extra hours in Sleepy Hollow we ate lunch. The rose-quartz on Emerson’s grave and the graves of Hawthorne and the Alcotts’ we reverently saw and the restfulness of the scene was a refreshment to us. We reached home about 7 after a successful day.”
BTW, I definitely want to meet you Bostonian blogfolk while I’m in town. Do drop me a line (phddillyATyahooDOTcom) if you’re game. Also, can anyone suggest a groovy cafe near a T stop for a meetup?
*The woman whose papers I am studying, when she’s being sarcastic, she adds an exclamation point in parentheses at the end of her sentences. Unbelievable. I thought only weirdo bloggers(!) like me did that.
When I went looking for some intro music for my history podcast last year, my grad student friend RJohn Williams willingly allowed me to copy some chunks out of his band’s song “I Fell off My Name.” Whenever I hear this song now, I get a little thrill, because it’s “my song,” too–I’ve listened to it over and over and over again as I’ve mixed my podcast tracks.
On Saturday night I watched Faded Paper Figures play their first-ever live gig. It was a lot of fun to see RJohn behind the mic, when I’m used to seeing him in grad student mode. Faded Paper Figures seems to be doing quite well, and I suspect that RJohn might have a career as a rockstar rather than as a professor (although why not do both, right?).
Therefore, this week’s giveaway is a copy of FPF’s new CD, “Dynamo.” If you’d like to be entered in the drawing, please leave a comment below telling me what your dream career is: rockstar, artist, novelist, lion tamer, etc.
Me, my dream career would be to be the next Studs Terkel. I love hearing people tell their life stories. Interviewing historians for my podcast is such fun, as is my time spent in the archives reading centuries-old letters and journals of people who are long dead, but continue to live on through the written word.
I put all of your names in my magic blue bowl (note the recycled paper…):
And stirred it around and picked one:
But there are two winners for this context, Bonzai (the name I picked from the bowl) and Sarah Rose Evans, because I liked her name suggestion the best. FYI, my camera is now “Frieda,” named for artist Frieda Frida Kahlo.
For the winners: please email me (phddillyATyahoodotcom) with the flickr URL of my photo that you want printed and a shipping address for me to send it to you!
For those of you who didn’t win…another blog giveaway coming VERY SOON!
If you had an email message informing you that the “soup brigade” was headed to your house tonight, then you would have heard a knock on your door at about 5pm to find K. standing there with a bevy of bags and bins. She then came in and proceeded to mix up a large pot of homemade chicken vegetable soup (free range organic, of course, with veggies all from a local farm) and giggle with you as you got caught up on the last six months of life. Then at 6:30 another knock at the door brought more friends laden with fruits, dessert, and drinks to join in the fun.
Because if this is you, you might not be at all surprised when these friends made you laugh, fed you amazingly healing food, and then washed every dish and left your kitchen sparkling clean. Because you have the most amazing friends.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had a visit from the soup brigade yourself, but if you have, maybe you are feeling like me right now–eager to get well so you can bring the brigade to the doorstep of someone else soon! :)
Note: the flower pic above is from my visit to my garden yesterday morning. My neighbors took such amazing care to keep my plants watered and fertilized during my convalescence. Maintaining my garden is a huge job. I’m not sure how I will ever repay their kindnesses.
I got this idea from Dar, who posted it as #67 of her “100 Things to Do Before I Die” list…
I would totally love to do a Pilgrimsteps World Tour to have a cup of tea with all of you groovy blogfolk. Drop a line in the comments to tell me where I’ll need to stop on my tour (your city), and also name your favorite local teahouse/coffeehouse (or bakery, yum!) for our meetup. Sound fun?
Weehaa, here we go!
For the OC tourstop, we’ll meet at Kean’s Coffee, where we can sip artisan lattes and watch the rich & famous get their caffeine fix.
Upon waking in the recovery room from my recent surgery, I realized that I couldn’t breathe. I gasped and gasped, trying to scream to let someone know that I couldn’t get enough air. Soon a nurse was at my bedside, placing an oxygen mask over my face, asking me questions about my asthma history that I couldn’t answer. Apparently she added a breathing treatment to the flow of oxygen and I was soon able to draw in air without so much struggle.
After about 10 minutes on the oxygen I was relaxed and the nurse was working around me to disconnect the breathing mask. As she stooped by the head of my bed she whispered to me, in such a way that I’m not sure if I was meant to hear it or not.
She said, “I’ll be praying for you.”
*****
For all of my openness in the blogging sphere, I’m actually a fairly private person in real life. I find it somewhat embarrassing to have strangers take such an interest in my life merely because of my physical disability. Yet at the same time, I’m continually surprised by those like the nurse–or you who read this blog–who are willing to care so much about me.
In the past I’ve written some posts about the ways I feel pitied and demeaned because of my disability. I still feel that way much of the time–especially when someone’s action seems to be more about making themselves feel good than about offering aid. And even as I feel uncertain about the actual power of prayer, I am not ambivalent about the power of human connection. There’s something beautiful and courageous, and curiously intimate, about a stranger or an acquaintance offering a prayer on my behalf.
Though I ceased praying in the Mormon fashion quite some time ago, I still spend time each day in silent meditation. Doing so gives me perspective on my life. It helps me to remember what I believe and to put my actions in line with my core values. I can’t claim that my prayers or my meditations have improved anyone else’s life, even though I think often of others as I sit in silence.
I suspect that I won’t ever approach a stranger and tell them that I praying for them. But in my own way I am saying a prayer with each post that I write on this blog–sending my thoughts, hopes, and intentions out into the ether. Hoping that each of you will know that I care even if I no longer have the faith to couch my intentions into the form of a prayer.
