Happy Holidays
Compared to recent years, this one was pretty dull. We're still living in West Virginia, in a bungalow rented from the college where I work. I'm still teaching physics to premeds, education majors and engineering technology students. Josh is still working from home, contributing to Hardball Times on a weekly basis, as well as their annual. He's also been picking up hours working for Trackman, a Danish company specializing in golf analysis machines. The company is trying to port their product to baseball, but being Danish, they know very little about baseball, so they've brought Josh on board.
Our kittens have grown. Olive is a hefty 11 1/2 pounds and Celie--who we call "little one" and "baby-girl" because of her small size--is actually a hefty 9 pounds. No matter how big she gets, though, Celie will undoubtedly always be the little sister. She behaves just like a little sister, following Olive around and irritating her. She eats when Olive eats, and out of the same bowl (even though there are two), when Olive sleeps Celie will often bat at her trying to get her to play, and whatever toy Olive has is unfailingly the one that is most interesting to Celie.
Olive likes the outside. In the summer, we'd leave the porch door cracked most of the day, and she'd divide her time between exploring outside and sleeping on our bed. (When I say "our" bed, I mean it belongs to all four of us--Celie and Olive clearly think that they have as much right to it as Josh and I do.) Being confined for the winter isn't making Olive happy at all.
Celie, much like a human 15-month-old, has begun to learn to speak. For her first year she was pretty much mute. Even when she opened her mouth and looked like she was trying to make noise, she didn't. Since a post-natal upper respiratory infection is the suspected culprit of her scarred left eye, we wondered if her vocal chords were damaged. Then she just seemed to figure it out. All of a sudden, when she opens her mouth, sound tends to come out. It's only soft, high-pitched mews like a newborn kitten, but it's cute.
With Josh working in baseball, summer is his busy time, and of course the school year is my busy time, so we don't find a lot of time to get away. We spent a weekend in Cleveland at the expense of the Indians, who were interviewing Josh for a job. I had been to Cleveland before, visiting my sister who was doing an REU at Case Western University, and I liked it just as much (if not more) this time around. I think Cleveland would be a great place to live, but unfortunately, the Indians decided "to go in a different direction."
We spent a couple days at my aunt and uncle's in Pennsylvania. My parents were staying with them, so we made the (relatively) short trip to make it a family gathering. It was also the first time I met my cousin's son. I was really impressed with how responsible a parent my cousin seems to be.
We also made a "working" trip to Washington D.C. and stayed with my sister Christine. The "working" part of the trip was meeting up with some of Josh's internet baseball buddies at the Nationals game. We saw a lot of baseball this summer. As fun as it was, Josh was always kind of in "work" mode, which seems to have paid off with some notoriety.
I was able to traipse after Josh because I wasn't teaching over the summer. I spent a lot of time at the computer--a little bit at work, a lot at play--and in the garden. Gardening here has been a real challenge. With permission from our landlord, we began digging, and found a mixture of rock, clay and broken glass. Buckets of broken glass. Also a yo-yo, the stiletto heel off a woman's shoe, and a hydraulic screen door closer, among other things. Somebody clearly kept a trash heap out there.
After digging out as much trash and clay as we could, we began to replace it with organic matter. Kilos and kilos of organic matter. And unlike our garden at Fermilab, where the piles of horse manure were replenished for free, this was a lot of purchasing bags and hauling them from the home store. When we finally got a mix resembling soil, we planted. Watering, though, was a problem, as it all tended to just run down the hill, taking our expensive soil with it. We did have some successes, though, particularly with the flowers. I repeat the gardener's mantra, "it will be better next year." And with professional grow lights my husband got me for my birthday, I'm sure it will be.
Like I said, nothing too exciting for us this year. Just daily life. But daily life has been good, and we're happy. We hope that this holiday season and new year find you happy and healthy as well.
Our kittens have grown. Olive is a hefty 11 1/2 pounds and Celie--who we call "little one" and "baby-girl" because of her small size--is actually a hefty 9 pounds. No matter how big she gets, though, Celie will undoubtedly always be the little sister. She behaves just like a little sister, following Olive around and irritating her. She eats when Olive eats, and out of the same bowl (even though there are two), when Olive sleeps Celie will often bat at her trying to get her to play, and whatever toy Olive has is unfailingly the one that is most interesting to Celie.
Olive likes the outside. In the summer, we'd leave the porch door cracked most of the day, and she'd divide her time between exploring outside and sleeping on our bed. (When I say "our" bed, I mean it belongs to all four of us--Celie and Olive clearly think that they have as much right to it as Josh and I do.) Being confined for the winter isn't making Olive happy at all.
Celie, much like a human 15-month-old, has begun to learn to speak. For her first year she was pretty much mute. Even when she opened her mouth and looked like she was trying to make noise, she didn't. Since a post-natal upper respiratory infection is the suspected culprit of her scarred left eye, we wondered if her vocal chords were damaged. Then she just seemed to figure it out. All of a sudden, when she opens her mouth, sound tends to come out. It's only soft, high-pitched mews like a newborn kitten, but it's cute.
With Josh working in baseball, summer is his busy time, and of course the school year is my busy time, so we don't find a lot of time to get away. We spent a weekend in Cleveland at the expense of the Indians, who were interviewing Josh for a job. I had been to Cleveland before, visiting my sister who was doing an REU at Case Western University, and I liked it just as much (if not more) this time around. I think Cleveland would be a great place to live, but unfortunately, the Indians decided "to go in a different direction."
We spent a couple days at my aunt and uncle's in Pennsylvania. My parents were staying with them, so we made the (relatively) short trip to make it a family gathering. It was also the first time I met my cousin's son. I was really impressed with how responsible a parent my cousin seems to be.
We also made a "working" trip to Washington D.C. and stayed with my sister Christine. The "working" part of the trip was meeting up with some of Josh's internet baseball buddies at the Nationals game. We saw a lot of baseball this summer. As fun as it was, Josh was always kind of in "work" mode, which seems to have paid off with some notoriety.
I was able to traipse after Josh because I wasn't teaching over the summer. I spent a lot of time at the computer--a little bit at work, a lot at play--and in the garden. Gardening here has been a real challenge. With permission from our landlord, we began digging, and found a mixture of rock, clay and broken glass. Buckets of broken glass. Also a yo-yo, the stiletto heel off a woman's shoe, and a hydraulic screen door closer, among other things. Somebody clearly kept a trash heap out there.
After digging out as much trash and clay as we could, we began to replace it with organic matter. Kilos and kilos of organic matter. And unlike our garden at Fermilab, where the piles of horse manure were replenished for free, this was a lot of purchasing bags and hauling them from the home store. When we finally got a mix resembling soil, we planted. Watering, though, was a problem, as it all tended to just run down the hill, taking our expensive soil with it. We did have some successes, though, particularly with the flowers. I repeat the gardener's mantra, "it will be better next year." And with professional grow lights my husband got me for my birthday, I'm sure it will be.
Like I said, nothing too exciting for us this year. Just daily life. But daily life has been good, and we're happy. We hope that this holiday season and new year find you happy and healthy as well.
Hi Julie!
Happy New Year. Thanks for the holiday card. Hope you are healthy and enjoying 2009 so far. I know you are a hell of a lot warmer than we are, and for that I am jealous. -20 here this morning, before wind chill. But hey, no school!
