November 30 Block

After work I went to hear a presentation by author and cartoonist Lynda Barry.  It was one of the best hours I've spent in a long time.  Lynda was funny, poignant, insightful, and did I mention hilariously funny?  She will be giving four more presentations this coming semester as Artist in Residence at the UW.  I'm hoping to attend them all.  The blocks tonight are doodled in honor of Lynda....  Mary

November 29 Block

Rick was one of the keynote speakers at a conference in Milwaukee today.  There was a dinner last night, so the conference put him up in a really nice downtown hotel.  I decided to go along just for fun.  It wasn't a hotel room, it was a suite, a really, really nice suite.  While Rick went out to dinner with the other speakers, I stayed in, ordered room service, and watched Dr. Zhivago with no commercials.  An upgrade for us would be the Holiday Inn, so a boutique hotel suite was pretty decadent.

While Rick was at the conference today, I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see the Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper.  It was a lovely exhibit of pastels, drawings, and watercolors by the Impressionists from Cassatt to Monet to Van Gogh.

The most amazing thing about the museum though was the couple of hundred school children who were there.  There were big round tables set up in the permanent collection galleries with chairs filled with kids maybe 10 years old.  They were all writing and talking with the docents who were helping.  It was phenomenal:  Renaissance art, icons, 15th century silver crucifixes, and 4th graders everywhere!  After once having my younger daughter followed around by a security guard in a Madison museum just because she was a kid, this was a completely different experience.  Hats off to the MAM for making the museum experience so accessible for kids!

November 28 Block

Posting in the morning because I won't have a connection tonight....  Mary

November 27 Block

Even four day weekends seem too short sometimes....  Mary

November 26 Block

It's hard to believe that November is nearly over.  So far we've been very lucky weather-wise, only a dusting of snow and unseasonably warm weather.  The temperatures will be dropping tomorrow into the 30s with a dash of snow.  Time to break out the warmer coat.... Mary

November 25 Block

We went down to Streator today to see how my mother is doing after her hip replacement on Tuesday.  She's home, moving slowly, but doing very well.  Rick did all the driving despite many offers from Anne and I to trade off.  We went to visit Rosemary's new "senior" apartment, and it is wonderful.  We took pictures and measured to make sure her furniture would fit.  We'll go down in two weeks for the move to new place.

Eileen decided she really wanted to get a Christmas tree on her way home from work tonight, so we (mostly Rick) got it set up in the living room.  We'll decorate sometime tomorrow, the next day, whenever.  Since it's been a very long day, I'm invoking the JK rule and using a simple square of fabric for the block tonight....  Mary

November 24 Block

Happy Thanksgiving!  Mary

November 23 Block

Anne was over this evening making desserts for tomorrow.  The house smells just wonderful.  Eileen is on call tonight and tomorrow and is coming down with a cold.  We (read: Anne) will just have to feed her really well when she's home....  Mary

November 22 Block

My gravy experiment seems to have worked very well.  It's a lovely golden color and tastes very good.  It should be even better when we add all the lovely brown nibbly bits from the roasting pan.... Mary

November 21 Block

Cook's Illustrated has a new slow cooker cookbook that we just got.  It has a slow cooked gravy that you make in advance of Thanksgiving.  Rick and I chopped and cooked the veggies, brown the ground turkey, and made the roux.  Tomorrow morning I'll put it in the slow cooker and let it simmer for 11 hours, then strain it when I get home.  On Thanksgiving it gets heated up gently and all the good brown bits from the bottom of the pan get added.  I'm really looking forward to some seriously good gravy and potatoes on Thursday.... Mary

November 20 Block

Sunday night again.  Why are weekends so short?  But we can actually walk through the living room again thanks to the hard work of Rick and Eileen in getting things moved and sorted.  The room looks so big all of a sudden... Mary

November 19 Block

Tomorrow begins a new week.  It will be a short, but action packed one at work with another chair candidate coming to visit.  And on Tuesday, my mother is having a hip replacement.  Thankfully my brother David is there to take her to the hospital and hang out in the waiting room.  Anne and I will go down on Friday to see how she's doing and to check out her new senior apartment.  We'll go back to help with the move in early December.  The new apartment will be a much better place for her to be with another Illinois winter coming on.... Mary

November 18 Block

It's Friday, so happy, happy weekend.  Don't you just love the fabric with fat commas all over it?  Mary

November 17 Block

A scrap bag block tonight....  Mary

November 16 Block

I tend to forget from one enrollment period to the next just how many emails are involved....  Mary

November 15 Block

All the students today were very nice, but the volume will only pick up once Juniors begin enrollment on Thursday.  Our really large Physiology class have very complex enrollment since everyone takes the lecture portion, but there are then 7 lab sections and 14 discussions to choose from all with limited enrollment numbers.  Of course the labs with the best times fill up immediately, so I then get endless emails telling me how they absolutely have to have that lab or their whole schedule will fall apart.  The thing they don't know is that I can see their entire schedule and know if that's true or not.

I like the shapes in this fabric.  They remind me of very circular amoebae....  Mary

November 14 Block

The first day of enrollment started off badly.  First thing this morning a student who has to wait to enroll called to yell at me about it.  I pointed out that yelling wasn't really going to help her situation.  At least all the other students I dealt with today were very nice.... Mary

November 13 Block

A quiet weekend, then off to work in the morning.  We will have no chair candidates this week, but enrollment for the spring semester begins....  Mary

November 12 Block

Never, ever get tired of dots....  Mary

November 11 Block

It's Friday and the weekend.... Mary

November 10 Block

Crazy day, crazy block.... Mary

November 9 Block

I sure picked a good day to stay home and not leave the house.  We had our first snowfall of the season.  It was messy and sloppy and apparently 3 inches worth.  Thank goodness the 2.25 inches earlier was all rain.  The old rule of thumb is one inch of rain equals one foot of snow.  We're definitely not ready of that much snow yet.... Mary

November 8 Block

I'm taking the day off tomorrow.  I may not even get out of my PJs.  Don't think the cat will mind.... Mary

November 7 Block

Another chair candidate visit today and tomorrow, then another on Thursday and Friday.  Then we'll have a couple of week's break until the last two candidates.  Between seminars and town hall meetings, not a lot of other work is getting done.  It is a very interesting process though.... Mary

November 6 Block

Today I planted bulbs, cleaned up the dead plants, and brought the two big pots of purple oxalis into the house.  During the day the leaves open out with the light, and at night the leaves fold back and look like purple butterflies on stalks.  The plants will die back over the winter, looking completely dead.  Then a few tiny purple "shamrocks" will appear, and by spring they will be in full leaf and flower again....  Mary

November 5 Block

The coleus and impatiens are D-E-A-D!  I cleared all the dead foliage off the morning glories but left the vines and seed pods which are still drying out.  They will drop to the ground and, hopefully, self seed for next year.  Tomorrow I need to plant bulbs - daffodils, crocus, snow drops - to fill in the bare spots for next year....  Mary

November 4 Block

Very tired after a very long week.  We had two chair candidates and an out of town speaker this week.  Next week will be two more chair candidates but no out of town speaker, so I'm taking Wednesday off as a mental health day before enrollment begins the week after next.... Mary

November 3 Block

Today my mother signed the lease on a new senior apartment.  Thanks heavens!  Her current apartment has seven steps down to the "garden" level.  Last winter she was homebound for days at time when the parking lot was iced over.  The new apartment has its own kitchen so she can bake cookies if she wants, but there's also a dining room where she can enjoy lunch and dinner with other folks.  And indoor hallways for walking, sitting rooms for reading, and community activities.  We have all been advocating for this, and now we need to make good on the promise that she won't have to lift a finger for this move.  No problem.... Mary

November 2 Block

It's dawning on all of us - especially Rick - that there's nothing more to do.  There are no appointments to go to, no meds to monitor, no nurses to talk to.  We went from full tilt to full stop, and it feels pretty strange.  The girls and I are making Rick go on an all day walk about on Saturday.  Probably can't get him to leave his phone at home, but we know he can use some time off.... Mary

November 1 Block

November 1st, so definitely coming into the home stretch.  Only 62 blocks left to do.... Mary