Suits and tutus, a bit late

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.  The week kicked off beautifully, with Nelson sending me a photo that shows he fills out his suit quite nicely.  Yes!  What a handsome brother-sister team he and Sizzling make!

Not to be left behind in the costuming area, I jumped at the chance to join my friends in celebrating Tuesday 2/22/22 wearing [yes] tutus!

OfSnough did a bit of traveling this week (as is his wont).   Midweek, he went to Philly for a gathering in support of Ukranians (see all the blue and yellow flags?)

And later this week, he went to Virginia for an engineering gathering, where they discussed even bigger gatherings in November. 

Inkling had a lovely week at work.  In previous weeks, customers coming into the yarn shop where she works had been a bit snarky and tetchy about the store's mask requirement, but this week, people seemed much more agreeable, and the mood all around just seemed cheerier.  She is also very (very) much looking forward to an upcoming trip to see four Broadway shows in one weekend:  Moulin Rouge, Six, Phantom of the Opera, and Something-Else-I-wrote-down-in-another-room-but-forgot-for-now.  [update: it's "Come From Away".]

Me, I had a challenging week as Dean.  Short version: some people I like are resigning, a program I want to support is officially getting circumscribed into a smaller box, we're scrambling to figure out how to deal with curricular enrollment something-or-others, and I found yet another area in which I'm not particularly good at politics.  

There are also many areas that *are* going well, and for that I'm super thankful.  There's a bunch of research-grant-admin stuff that I'm working on that is both fun and productive.  I'm teaching a half-credit class which seems to be really helping the students.  I'm leading a faculty-staff show (because, apparently, I don't have enough other things to do in my life), and that's a huge happiness boost.   

Still, between the challenging and the going well, there is so very much going on that I'm finding it a bit hard to keep up.   Hence, the later-than-usual family update.  

At any rate, that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  Stay safe, all. 

family update, with Valentines surprises

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.   We learned some surprising (to us) facts this week, partly by way of celebrating Valentines' Day.   The week kicked off, as it often does, with waffles and an intense game of Boggle, in which Inkling trounced me during one of the four rounds we played.   

Be My Valentine XOO -- check it out!

Kinderling delighted me by sharing photos of her Valen-dinner, . . . 

. . . which she described this way:

Mom this one is for you- ;)

Kiss-adillas,arrows (arroz) y I'm bananas for you fried bananas for our vday dinner

My guy celebrated his romantic Valentine's Day by getting his Covid test in Paris, prior to boarding a flight bound for home.   The next day, he was greatly assisted in overcoming jet lag by getting a case of food poisoning at a local restaurant that wiped him out all day.  By the time he'd recovered, with lots of [internal cleansing] and lots of sleep, he was back on local time.  Yay?

Mathematicians sometimes like to publish what we call "proof with no words" (a graphical presentation of something cool and true); Sizzling texted us all with her "news with no words".  

This was followed by lots of congratulations from all of the Snoughlings, but of course!   

So, this lovely surprise came at about the same time I went to a talk at my campus about carbon footprints associated with various kinds of food.  Beef is seriously, seriously major compared to, like, almost every other kind of food to eat, which I already knew.  To my surprise, though, vegetarian diets aren't always carbon-optimal.  In particular, chicken has a lower carbon footprint than cheese.  Who knew?  Not me!

At any rate, after Sizzling's awesome announcement, OfSnough called her to say they should chat about her dowry:  we've decided that a flock of goats is right out, because their carbon footprint is nearly as bad as those of cows, so instead we're getting her a flock of soybeans.  

We then looked up group names, and learned to our surprise it's not "flock of goats"; it's "trip of goats", or a "tribe of goats".  That's wild.    

Nelson has been invisible, but rumor has it that next week he'll be wearing this fancy suit somewhere.   Let's check back in a week to find out whether it's true!

A group of alligator shoes is called a "pair".

My own life as a dean continues to be a learning experience, although I have to think that most of what I'm learning won't be of long-term use in my life.   The regulations involved in Radiation Safety, anyone?  How about the difference (and corresponding tax implications) between wages, stipends, and fellowships?  I've also spent a lot of time trying hard to be human/humane in the midst of bureaucratic tasks -- like trying to convince already-busy people to take on big committee assignments, or threading the fraught space between administrators sticking to the rules they know and faculty members who want to do research that spills out across the boundaries of those rules.   For example, one of the things that is taking up way, way too much of my time right now is trying to find a way for some of our faculty to take paid student researchers into the field over the summer, with our HR department seizing up because our little College isn't set up to pay taxes in other states -- or worse, other countries.    

I've taken on a bunch of time-intensive, non-dean tasks as well.  Somehow, those haven't added to the overall burden, but rather add sparks of joy.   I'm teaching a half-credit research class, and seeing the progress the students are making is fabulous.   I am giddy about the nifty thing my own small team in particular is figuring out; it kinda blows my mind.   And I'm also organizing a musical for faculty and staff (and trying to reassure other administrators it won't blow up in our faces).   Singing and dancing with my colleagues has been an incredible communal joy --- it takes so much time, and yet it gives me so much energy back.   

And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our trips and tribes.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous. 

This week in Enoughsville (and beyond), with a wall-mounted bicycle chandelier

Life here in Enoughsville continues to be rich and full, even though my fam is mostly very far away.  

Nelson, after his two Emergency Room adventures of last fall, has gotten kinda serious about taking care of himself, inside and out.   The taking-care of himself seems to be having tangible effects; he likes the way he looks, his glucose levels are back in the Not-So-Terrifying range, and he's having all sorts of good things happening inside his head, too.  He's been helping to coach a middle school basketball team.  We talked for about 10 minutes on the phone today before I got all phoned out, and that was fun.  He also texted this update:

Got to go to a Minnesota Timberwolf game today

OfSnough is off in Paris, which means Waterloo (he told me this morning), and the he sent me this cool pair of pictures, subject line "Red Baron Memorial":

. . . followed by the explanation, "He was shot down in Belgium."   So, . . . I guess my husband is in Pari-loo-gium.  Happy almost valentines' day, guy!  

And the rest of the fam chimes in:  

Inkling made crocheted flowers; Kindling carved and sanded 27 wooden disks, which Achild (dressed in her Cruella DeVille coat) painted for her classmates; and Gosling's dogs made a lovely pair.

Back here in Enoughsville, the heavy equipment across the street woke up after a week-long nap and made some rumbly noises one morning.  

The construction workers did some mysterious incantations over the new concrete pads that are scattered around what used to be a parking lot . . . 

. . . and then they all went away.  I have been spending my own week not so much thinking about noise as about dark and light.  I'm reading a book a friend gifted me -- Tish Harrison Warren's Prayer in the Night -- for one thing.  It is a lovely meditation and reflection and it gives me a chance to grieve the friend I'm missing, when I have time to think about missing him.  But also, the sunlight these days comes earlier, sticks around later, and has been so amazingly glorious.  Here is a picture of what it looked like when I arrived at work earlier this week.

I've taken down the Christmas lights at last, having left them up for my husband, who has appreciated having their soft glow.  Now that he's wandering around Pari-loo-gium and possibly Germaland or wherever, though, I packed up the Christmas lights and put up a cute lamp I'd made out of a bicycle wheel and a deconstructed chandelier.  So even the dark has a bit of light in it.  

And I guess that's enough for now from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.  

Enoughsville update, with dried fruit

 Life continues to be rich and full enough, here in Enoughsville.   

The earth shakers across the street seem to be tuckered out; they've been hunched over, sleeping on the street with their scoops tucked in like birds' heads under their wings.  The ground that they had been doing their thump-y dances on is now covered over with giant concrete slabs, and posts that look like the start of metal fencing have been erected like sentries around the dance floor.  I guess the party's over, and maybe the beasts will go home to sleep it off soon.  Shhh!  Don't wake them up, anyone.  

I don't like to think of myself as a materialistic kind of person, but just in this week alone I've asked my husband to get me all sorts of things I've been yearning for.  And without even batting at eye at the resulting expense, he turned right around and bought me

• a personal amplifier (with a mike that goes under my mask, and a speaker I can wear on my belt, to make it easier for my students to understand me while I'm teaching),
• a watch battery that cost more than the watch (which I'm pretty sure I got for free, so that's not saying anything),
• raisins (How is it I keep running out of raisins?), and  
• postal stamps.  

These last, even though I asked for them, came with a planned surprise:  who or what might the stamps feature?  To my delight I now have two sheets of Edmonia Lewis stamps,  which cause me to go down an internet rabbit hole figuring out more about who she is.  Was.  (She lived a really interesting life to read about!) And so these were perfect for Black History month, and also for getting me a sculpture fix.  

Edmonia spent much of her adult life in Rome, and so after my husband bought me the stamps, he up-and-left and flew to France.  (Okay, the stamps aren't the reason he's going; and it's not because he misses the noise the diggers across the street used to make, nor because it's romantic to spend Valentine's Day in Paris, an ocean away from your spouse -- the reason he went is for some kind of History of Science conference).   I'll miss him during these ten or so days that he's away, but more raisins for me, I guess.

Somewhat on the same theme as "artist" and "family tree" and "stuff people got for free", I want to share this picture of a tree wall-hanging that Kinderling made from torn-up sheets and other pre-cycled materials.   I have a cast-iron tree above my mantel, and so I love hers, too:

Let's see if I can get a close-up here.

Voila!

And that's a bit of the news from our family, which continues to have quite enough adventures in the family tree to make us feel wealthy.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.  

Enough technology

Life in Enoughsville continues to give us plenty to be thankful for. Maybe this is a particular week to be thankful for manufacturing and technology.  OfSnough has had multiple stories related to his fancy exercise watch. He visited the dentist this week, and noted that he's comfortable enough there that his heart rate (62-ish) was lower there than while he sleeps -- although admittedly, he's not a world-champion sleeper the way his wife is.  

A month or so ago, while Gosling was in town, her exercise watch tried to friend my exercise watch, only to discover that I'd boxed mine up and put it in the closet after my half-marathon in September.  Her watch *did* friend OfSnough's, only to discover to her chagrin that he'd bumped her from #1 to #2 in the "steps walked" category in her social groupings.  She has vowed to surpass him, but to no avail.  My guy has pointed out that there's really no way she can win; either she has fewer steps than he does [a situation which persists, despite her incredible activity], or she can brag to her friends that she walked more steps than her 68-year-old father with bad knees (and one week, with Covid).  He's headed for 100,000 steps this week. Hard to keep up with that man!

Guinness (Gosling's dog) faced another technology challenge, and "faced" is exactly the right word: how to extricate yogurt without besmearing the face.

B-child responded, noting that adding extra technology components is no guarantee of success.

Prewash explained that she faces the challenge head on.  

In other tech-ish news, Nelson called me the other night.  He told me he'd spent about an hour chatting with Inkling, and then they realized he should call me, too, and joked that I'd chat for 5 minutes before hanging up.   Well, hah!  Shows them!   Nelson and I talked for a whole 12 minutes before I decided that was quite enough time on the phone, thank you.   This ought to hold me for about two weeks, I guess.

We've been front-row observers of big tech/machinery right outside our windows.   These construction workers are fascinating to watch, although a bit less so to hear and feel.   They have been digging holes in the ground, placing concrete boxes the size of someone's bathroom inside the holes, connecting the boxes with large, green pipes, filling in with gravel, stone, and dirt, and then tamping it all down.

It is the tamping that is the most . . . sensational . . . of these operations, if we think of "sensational" as affecting many senses.  Because we live in a city row house, all is connected (like the song that goes, "the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone").  The lot they're working on is connected to the street; the street is connected to our sidewalk; the sidewalk is connected to our concrete/brick porch, and the porch is connected to the house, and the house shakes and rumbles and tinkles and jitters all day long.  Sometimes the rumbling continues well into the evening, too -- the picture above was from a night in which I got a free "magic fingers" bed until about, oh, 10:30.  It does look like the project is progressing along, though, so our days of vibrating walls and floors are dwindling.  

The construction crew were not hard at work on Thursday, so my grandkids didn't get to see the diggers and tampers when they came over.  We had fun throwing a deflated football to a football-crazed dog, and then we engaged in collaborative art projects using old (but somehow still functional) markers.  

A different kind of tech art is a trophy emoji, like this one:  🏆, which Inkling's boss sent to her, because she's been doing such a good job of holding down the fort -- or the store -- on her own these past weeks.

What else?  We got our free covid tests delivered today (https://www.covidtests.gov/).  The site was surprisingly easy to use: it basically asks, "What's your address?" and then says, "okay, we'll mail you four tests!", and then they did.  The deaths due to Covid-19 in our area are still as high as they've ever been (roughly 50 per week), but the number of new people testing positive has dropped by half from a week ago.  

And on Monday, I start teaching in person again, with N95 or KN95 masks "strongly encouraged" and some kind of mask mandatory.  In one of this lovely paradoxes, meeting in person (not via technology) will help me better teach my students how to use technology -- specifically a typesetting language called "LaTeX", pronounced "La-Tech" because that thing that looks like an X is homage to the greek letter Chi (X).   I love LaTeX so much.  So, so much.

And that's the tech news from our family, which continues to be rich in our techventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.  

Enough with the jackhammer

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.  It's been so rich, in fact, that I'm late in writing this up.  I'm late partly because I spent the weekend painting tables in a new student seminar room.  (Also involved in the project: heat gun and orbital sander).

I did NOT use backhoes, jack hammers, earth diggers, or dump trucks.  I left that particular work to the people digging up the road across the street from us, who were highly effective at shaking things up so that our whole house vibrated.  Free massages?

OfSnough returned from even colder places, where he got to visit Nelson and Sizzling.  

See that neat hat?  Two stories about that.  One is that, as people do when they're not me, OfSnough and Nelson spent some bonding time going shopping for new clothes.

Two is that, the hat is an indicator of other stuff that my offspring excel at; as my guy wrote later,

"The basketball game was a lot of fun to watch. You made a couple of three-point shots and played for almost two hours! Wow!"

And I don't even have the words to say how to think about all that this particular picture means to me these days.

At any rate, my guy is back in Enoughsville, cooking, doing laundry and vacuuming a lot of dog hair.   I am flinging emails through cyberspace and having meetings -- mostly Zoom meetings.   We started classes this semester, and I'm teaching a half-credit seminar that, for the first two weeks, will meet remotely.   Last year when I taught via Zoom, we started the year with cameras on, and that remained the default even though more and more students tended to turn them off eventually.  My class on Thursday morning was just the opposite:  a 4-by-5 grid of white names on black rectangles.   Ah, well, I let the students stay camera off; life is hard enough without adding to the stress, and we'll be in-person in February (or at least, that's the plan).

The other cool news is that at a Faculty Meeting, my boss announced the next round of Endowed Chairs, and one of them is . . . me.  (For those who don't know, for professors, being named to an endowed chair is kind of a cross between getting an award and getting a promotion.)  It also means I'll have a confusing title that includes other people's names:  Dr. Snough, the Thurston and Lovey Howell III Professor of Mathematics.  So that's fun.

And that's the hastily jotted-down news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.  

The down, blue downspout and some baloney

 Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.  We're extra down, and full of baloney, but that's actually all good.  

Here's the extra down part.  Inkling texted me on Tuesday to say/ask

Hi Mama! How are you doing? 

Also, do you know how to reattach a downspout? Mine is currently on the ground

Since my daughter very wisely bought a house that was practically on the route between my office and the house I'd buy a few years after she bought hers [hint, hint, other children!], it was super easy for me to swing by on the way home from work.   The downspout was down, and it was blue; that was for sure.  But in no time at all we had the spout back up again.  There's one metal bracket missing that helps the spout hug the porch post, but it turns out that yarn works incredibly well as an interim attach-er.  

And speaking of yarn, Inkling is reveling in her new professional perks and responsibilities.  Perks: she now has a work email address, which is [this is fake, to protect identity] "inkling@EnoughsvilleYarnStore.com". 

AND, this week, she'll be running the shop herself, as the owners are taking their first ever (or at least, in many years) vacation, and entrusting her to their baby.  She's over the moon, as is her proud mama.  What a way to be bringing home the bacon!

Her proud mama may or may not be bringing home the bacon, but I *am* bringing home the bologna!  If you've read about all those blood shortages that hospitals and such are fretting about, it's not my fault: I donated my pint earlier this week.  Our local blood bank partners with a variety of local businesses, and so just about every time I do this, there are odd freebies.  I have a "clean cotton" scented candle from a few months back, and a t-shirt or two from other times.  This time, it was "give a pint, get a bologna".  I'm not a big bologna eater, actually, so this is likely to last a while; perhaps this will become fodder for teaching a middle-aged dog new tricks (since Prewash is less wishy washy about bologna than I am).  

Prewash is earning her keep, both by living up to the job implied by her name, but also by befriending and helping me entertain the child of my colleague who passed away last month.  The three of us go to the dog park just about weekly, and often stop by the math building first so we can use chalkboards, run like maniacs up and down the empty hallways (Prewash is the maniac, not the child), . . . 

. . . and play highly entertaining games of tug of war.  

I'm very impressed by this dog.  She is both exuberant and gentle.  Ge, the child, reaches into her mouth to remove the toy, and she never snaps.  Ge has learned they can have one hand on the dog toy, put the other hand on top of Prewash's nose, and say "drop it" -- and then she does, and bounds after the toy once Ge throws it.  

On the topic of gently training, I am more than a little flattered about what Kinderling tells me what she's been up to:  "purging and reorganizing:  we have so much stuff!".  Part of the reason I think this statement is so interesting is that her house feels the opposite of cluttered; it's wide open and what is in it feels joyous and interesting.  The wooden toys she's bought/made for her kids are abstract and attractive enough to encourage even adults to want to play with them in super creative ways.  And yet, I also totally appreciate her sentiment that having less unwanted things makes the wanted things all the easier to use.  Even though Kinderling is the child who joined our family last of all, there are so many ways I think we take after one another.  

OfSnough seems to have recovered from any of his Covid symptoms, and enough time passed that he was allowed to board a plane, so board a plane he did.  Of all the places he could go to escape the frigid 20°F weather that elbowed its way into our area,  he chose Minnesota, where he will get an appreciation for just how balmy it is here when he returns.  He's visiting Sizzling and Nelson, and hasn't sent me any pictures.  Updates next week on that one, I guess.  

And that's the news from our family which continues to have enough baloney and yarn and stuff. May you and yours be similarly prosperous.