Return to the Blog

Two months and one cross country move later, I return to my blog. If you are on facebook, you've probably already seen these, but I thought I'd share Pancake Day here, too, since it was such a wonderful morning. Nora had literally been dreaming of Jason making pancakes so she decided that he would become the pancake chef, and he did. His first batch was pretty great and I'm looking forward to future pancake days. Part of Nora's decree included wearing these Daughter and Daddy matching Steak and Shake hats. It's Nora's favorite restaurant, but really, there's not much for Jason there.




This is the pantry, or what Nora calls the Little Kitchen, and right now it' s my favorite part of the house. That could have something to do with there being no boxes there.

Jason's reptilian like pattern on his arm is from Nora playing tattoo parlor. We've tried to discourage this since it is difficult to wash off (Crayola lies about the washable nature of their washable crayons).



We are settling in okay. Nora is having the hardest time, since we just want to unpack boxes and run to Ikea and do other boring things. She's seen a lot of TV the past couple of weeks. We have tried to get across the street to the park everyday (we didn't make it today) or out someplace at least. Unfortunately, the Dinosaur Footprints park was not as exciting as we hyped it to be. Fossilized dino footprints aren't that obvious to the untrained eye and there was no dinosaur recreation which would have made her happy. I think we've got to spend a day this week, doing everything she wants to do to balance it out. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh have I mentioned that it's been hot here this week? 90+ degrees. And we have no AC.

It's been a rough week

We lost Karl, Jason was disappointed in a promising job prospect and Nora said her goodbyes to the Sunshine Room and has graduated to the Red Room. But we also had some goodtimes too. We celebrated Nora's 3 1/2 mark and the coming of summer at the Zoo, we sweated and rode pink elephants at the Marine Homecoming with Aunt Linda, Leah and Mete, Friday night, and Nora had her first horseback ride thanks to Aunt Lynn and Ellen yesterday. Oh and I burned my scalp in the sun at the pool Saturday, but luckily that was all. I don't have pics of Nora up on Shadow, (I'm hoping Ellen will e-mail them to me from her camera), but I do have some shots of Jason and Nora on the Pink Elephants. Webster Community Days begin this week, so maybe they will be riding more amusements together, but honestly, I wouldn't count on it. Jason is a big chicken when it comes to rides.


Okay, these are left from the Merry Wives of Windsor, but I love this picture of Natascha.
Jason is always telling Nora "Get Down, Get Funky". See, she sometimes listens.
One of the hottest days of the year at the zoo.



Last day at the sunshine room - Nora gets a cake that everyone (even she) can eat. Unfortunately it isn't as tasty as the ones we make at home. Damn that no baked goods from home rule.

Nora eagerly awaits the Triad Marching Band. Well, not really, they don't have candy. But everyone else does and Nora gets lots of it. We all have blue tongues by the end of the night.

Amazingly, my timid daughter has insisted on riding the pink elephants. She stood for a full 15 minutes transfixed by their big blue eyes and gaping mouths, while we waited for Jason and Aunt Linda to join us after taking the chairs back to the car. Fortunately, Jason is ready to be a Daddy-O and is willing to board the monster with her.

Oh, I forgot to tell him, the Elephants go airborn too. Did I mention that Jason hates rides?

The Graduate

Jason walked this past week, I think mainly so he could get the regalia. His parents came up. It was a nice time - we had the most beautiful weather. There are absolutely no pictures of him walking across the stage and getting hooded by his advisor while they read the title of his dissertation, because my camera would not cooperate and I got a picture of my shoe instead and it was way too far way anyway since we were in the basketball arena. SLU did take some that we can order, and we might since several of them have Jason humorously superimposed over SLU landmarks. And they did get the photo of Jason and his advisor and another of him walking across the stage to get his hand shook by the chancellor (Jason was eyeing his big gold medallion and chain). Here's the photos I did get.



This one was taken just moments before the Billikin Mascot walked out of the elevator. Nora didn't scream when she saw him, but she didn't want to shake his hand either. Unfortunately I have no pictures of Jason and the Billikin together.

Trip Pictures

A few sights from Texas:


Texas was really dry - no bluebonnets but this cactus was nice.


Jason's grandmother at the old tree

Nora and I with Bonnie

A little bit unhappy about waking up, but bluebonnets make it better.

Fire! In Goliad.

Nora and I on the beach

Oh No!

Something terrible happened today. These came in the mail. Readers you decide, which of these is the worst? Vote in the poll over on the right.





At least one of us is happy.

It Might Be 15 Degrees Outside, but the KC Hall was on FIRE!

We had a blast last night at the Farewell Tour for the Starlighters, my Uncle Bill's dance/wedding band who's last gig was 20 years ago. We got there around 6:30, and the place was absolutely packed. Thankfully, Ted and Linda had saved us a seat and Ted, who'd been standing in the beer line for 10 minuets already ($4.50 for a PITCHER of Bud Light), took our beer orders, we went with the pitcher. After a close call with the fish plates (they had already run out of slaw, and we got fish right under the wire - not really a big problem since there is now a pretty good Mexican kiosk inside the KC hall too) we settled in for what turned out to be a really fun night. Lynn and Ellen had clued us in that the band had practiced only 3 times prior to this evening, and they were pretty nervous. You sure couldn't tell once they got started. Amazingly, it appeared that 80% of the hall, did I mention it was packed?, was here to see the band, including Bill's Psychology class from SWIC - they even had shirts! The Starlighter's repertoire includes a mix of oldies, country and polkas and this crowd, which ranged in age from under 3 to 93, was really into it.

Nora had a great time on the dance floor, but often had to make sure she kept out of the way of the the serious dancers who were on their feet through just about every song. It made me really wish I actually knew how to dance, even a polka. One of the neatest things about the evening was the multi-generational makeup of the dance floor. The older folks put us all to shame (except for one fabulously nimble-footed teen-aged pair) and it makes me think that the Starlighters really need to consider this as the beginning of a reunion tour instead of their final performance.

Here's some shots of the night:

I give you THE STARLIGHTERS

My Uncle Bill, obscured by mike. I understand that there was a plan for multiple changes of headgear, but that the person in charge of wardrobe "forgot" to bring them.
Fans Uncle Ted and Aunt Linda joined us for fish


And on the dance floor:

Aunt Lynn and Ellen partnered Nora throughout the evening on the dance floor, they agree that Nora needs to take lessons from someone other than Jason, who could use some lessons himself. The table behind us was in agreement.
Nora and Aunt Lynn take a break and admire the drums

Jason and Nora get down
Nora leads Aunt Lynn back to the dance floor after getting some coaching in moves from her both of her Aunts.

The evening finale (for us) Smoke on the Water, notice the addition of shades, which were thankfully not entrusted to Wardrobe. While we were busy dancing it was reported that Bill took the power stance and performed the windmill twice (he also removed the shades for the sax solo - but maybe it was because he needed his glasses to read the music), BTW, those two in the foreground - the aforementioned teen dancing duo:
Nora and Aunt Lynn are feeling the Purple Haze

New Years Resolutions

I don't have any. Nor do I have a five year plan or even a one year plan. This may have something to do with playing too much Civilization at the warlord level. Or maybe it just is what it is. If I made New Year's resolutions, I should probably include one about blogging more, especially since due to Facebook, I now have more readers stopping by, at least for the moment.

I still don't know what I think about Facebook. Sometimes it makes me super-happy. Just seeing the interconnectedness of the Hendrix diaspora. And I enjoy the silliness of it as well. And the strange disconnect but also connect between ourselves as highschoolers, as college students and whatever we are now, I guess that would be adults. But I also sort of resent the minute to minuteness of it all too, that our lives are measured by the continually updated news board of what we are doing right now. And then there is this weird sense that we are somehow staying in touch through cheerful notices about our fandom or tossing philosophers about.

Anyway, in an effort to keep you all apraised of our activities, here's what we've really been up to (when we're not making virtual buttons with My Pretty Pony Newborns on them):

This week, Jason went back to teaching classes, thus ending his long winter break. We broke down and subscribed to super duper soccer dish tv, so now there is even more soccer in our lives than before. And lots of Monk. And Dr Who - not that we watch these things, we just record them. There is only 5 hours left, we've got to get cracking. And he bought a new winter coat with a velvet collar (so very unexpected).

Nora went back to pre-school after taking a day off to finally purge the stomach virus that has been plaguing her. Now she is staying there later too and is (happily for her parents) seeming to really enjoy being there. Or is at least no longer really upset when we go. She is still touch and go on this potty learning thing. Some days are all about the big girl pants and other days we could care less. Since Christmas, we've been receiving phonecalls from Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus on Nora's red phone. They are all on at once, not sure if it's a conference call, three-way, or if everyone is just bunched up around the phone. This is my mother's doing, but I think I'm okay with it for right now.

I've been back at work for the past week, and while nothing new is happening, I did get to meet up with the group of women I've been working closely with for the past 4 years (some of them for longer). We all belong to different programs in the area and externally we couldn't be more different (we span at least 40 years in age, are various races and marital statuses, some of us wear suits and heels others (me) sloutch on by in cords and tees, some of us are moms, some are grandmoms and moms and some are moms to pets, etc) and we've been meeting monthly as a committee over this time and we've done some really amazing stuff around literacy and advocacy and student leadership and all sorts of things. I've realized that I've really come to appeciate our value on the process as well as the product and the complete lack of ego, turf, and grandstanding that too often happens in meetings that are supposed to be about getting something done. Over the years we've learned so much about our lives outside of work and the stresses that drain us at work and figured out how to keep ourselves and our little group going and moving and building. It's nice, and I just thought I'd share.

I started swimming again, and hopefully I'll keep with it since it's relaxing and exercise (amazing that it can be both) and those are both good things.

Karl remains the ever loyal dog he's always been, but is starting to show his age - which would be somewhere between 13 and 14 years. His eyes are starting to cloud over with cateracts and he's not hearing as well as he used to, but he still tries to give the squirrels a run for their money.

My parents are in Florida so the kitchen wars have stalled right now, but look for a return to the battle of the toaster oven when they get back. We are also strangly aware of the lottery right now.

This weekend is the farewell tour of the Starlighters at the Maryville KC Hall. I have to say I'm excited about going.

Hmmm, that sort of covers the updates.

Anniversary

Yesterday was our 13th anniversary. It seems like both a long and short time. This was the first year we didn't have any special plans. I did take off work, Jason wasn't teaching, and Nora went to daycare as scheduled, so we did spend the day together. We had a big breakfast at Chris' pancake house after we dropped of Nora and then we spent the rest of the day catching up on our Netflix and Toddflix (all the shows Todd tapes for us - thanks Todd!). We're still wayyyyyy behind, but it was fun to spend the rainy day on the couch, just the two of us. It was also nice to pick up and drop off Nora together. I think we finally manged to do all of our check in and check out parental duties (sign in, fill out daily form, make sure she has her lunch box, backpack & Meowy, pay, etc.). Then we ordered dinner from the King and I, tried to get Nora to run all of her excess energy off inside, and then we shuffled off to bed. We're such an old married couple. It's nice.

Old Home Weekend

Our first trip without Nora was really quite fabulous. Although leaving was difficult. I tried really hard not to cry, and failed miserably. But I cheered up on the drive down. The weather was lovely, although it was much more humid in AR in in STL. We made it in good time even though we stopped at the Dixie Cafe for our obligatory sides of veggies and giant glasses of diet coke.

in front of the Dixie Cafe

When we arrived, Jason and I felt like visiting dignitaries at Hendrix. They put us up in the visiting professors apartment (Thanks Sarah!), he got an honorarium, free meals in the cafeteria (possibly the only place on Hendrix that is still recognizable from our era), and there was a lovely reception after the reading of the play and Q&A with Bob and Jason.

Posters!
The orange post-it is a parental advisory for adult content and language warning

The reading of the play was really fun. Thrillingly, I got to sit between the director and the playwright and while there was at least one point when we were the only ones laughing our heads off, for the most part, the rest of the audience seemed to think it was funny too. It was really something to hear the actors reading the words Jason wrote although sort of disconcerting too. Many of you are familiar with aspects of this play - Jason had been thinking about it since we were at Hendrix, and while it changed and improved over time, there are still elements that are recognizable from conversations we've had. But seeing it up there, with people who traveled miles and put a lot of time into making it happen, made it a really amazing experience. When I read it all the way through for the first time last week, I really liked it, but I wasn't sure if I liked it because I love Jason and I know Jason, and while I know people think he's funny, I hoped that the other parts of the play would come through too. I think that they did ultimately and while I know Jason wants to make some changes, I don't think that much really needs to be changed because it works. When the audience is laughing so hard that they are missing the next joke, that's a good thing right? Crowning it all was the Q& A with Jason and Bob fielding questions about the play from the audience. I could tell Jason was having the time of his life and that it was made even sweeter by Bob's and Sarah's participation in project.

Bob and Jason in Q & A

Cast, Director and Playwright

center. After sleeping in the next morning we checked out the campus. I think the thing that surprised me the most, was that despite that there is a new building every 20 feet, it still feels like home. I'll try to post pictures of how things have changed, but for those of you who haven't kept up, there is of course the new library, constructed just after we graduated, but also there are 2 new science buildings (Buhler and Reynolds still exist, the new ones are behind Reynolds and the other has taken the place of the former library), a new recreation center, including new sports fields and a pool with a retractable roof ( this is across the street from Couch in the East Hall/Mabee Center/Track area), several new dorms/residential housing (in the former soccer field behind Couch), the new Murphy Building (where Sarah works and where we were housed - it sits between Hulan/Campus Center and Reynolds - now called Axiom), and a new student and technology center is being built as in the former location of Grove. They were breaking ground on the Hendrix Village across the street, which will be retail and apartments serving both the community and the campus. Oh and they spruced up the Campus Center several years ago, but I think it and the cafeteria will soon be relocated into the new Student and Technology building. With the exception of East Hall/Mabee Center and the old Library, all of the other building are still standing and in use. Surprisingly some of them look much more attractive now - Buhler has been covered in vines and is actually quite fetching. There has also been a great deal of landscaping done with new gardens and a labyrinth out behind Trieschmann (I think there was a sculpture garden there before). Also missing is the WWI memorial, and as far as I can tell it hasn't been relocated.

Beautified Buhler

You would think all of this construction would render the campus unrecognizable and incredibly busy, but it really doesn't - you sort of are surprised when a building pops up where it wasn't before, but they fit in with the other buildings (despite being very large ones) and it doesn't really feel that crowded. We ate breakfast on campus, which gave us more surprises. While the cafeteria looks almost exactly the same (they have added some strange faux foliage and nice vinyl tablecloths), there have been some changes for the better.

same but different - odd addition of plastic foliage

There are now clearly marked, multiple, vegetarian and vegan(!) options. For breakfast there were eggs, bacon, sausage, veggie bacon, vegan sausage, 3 make your own omelet stations, a waffle station, gravy, vegan gravy, biscuits, vegan biscuits, grits, oatmeal, and lots of fruit, toast, bagels, and other breakfast breads.

blueberry waffle - note the new tablecloths

At lunch & dinner, I am told there is always an express meal bar with burgers (including veggie burgers)/other fast food sort of stuff, a build your own sandwich/panini bar as well as the regular lunch fare which includes meat, vegetarian, and vegan items. You can see weekly menus here. Oh and they have a frozen yogurt machine, which unfortunately couldn't be transported to Mills/Cabe for the reception, but was fabulous to see, nevertheless. I admit that I don't think I ever made it to breakfast while I was at Hendrix, so I can't really compare, but the vegan gravy rocked.

The rest of our visit included visiting with Jess and Sam and Eli at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock (I'm happy to say that the Oyster Bar is still as glorious as it always was - as was our company). We did a fast tour of the Clinton Museum, which I found interesting from a museum design perspective, the content probably would have been more interesting to me on another day, but I lived through all of that, and wasn't really in the mood to do it all over again. The museum is high on detail, which I liked, and found at times overwhelming and at other times, charming - I especially enjoyed the menus from several state dinners and the binders with all of Bill's daily schedules throughout his presidency. But unless you are a HUGE fan of Bill, I really cannot recommend paying the additional 3$ for the audio tour, which is just him talking on and on.

in front of the Clinton Library

On the way back to Conway we dodged the numerous mini-tornadoes spilling out from Ike to the southeast and northwest of us and fortunately made it back a Hendrix that still had power. After dinner with Bob, Sarah and Zelda and a nice visit and cookie making/eating, Jason and I returned to our apartment around 10:00, just in time for Hendrix to begin their evening festivities - Ike or no Ike. Despite our close proximity to the campus center dance and the high winds and rain, Jason and I slept through the night easily - I think it was the best sleep I've had since I was pregnant with Nora. While the campus looked a little wind blown the next morning (more fabulous vegan gravy for breakfast) and there were many downed limbs there didn't appear to be too much damage. Miraculously, the rain and winds went directly north and not north-east so we had a clear drive home on Sunday. It was a fun trip, but I was so ready to see Nora who was , of course, just fine without us all weekend and barely said hello when we came and got her.

Here we are in our matching Hendrix Media Center tees. Thanks Bob!

And We're Off!

So the press blitz has begun. Jason had an interview yesterday with the Conway Log Cabin Democrat and this morning he made the Arkansas Democrat Gazette about the reading of his play, Yum, Yum, Yogurt, Ulysses! tomorrow night at Hendrix. Fortunately, the Demozette used the press release from Hendrix which was A. more coherent than his interview and B. included the mention of Jason and Todd's essay in Star Trek and Philosophy, which made the paper too! Both articles quote Bob as well, since he's directing. Hooray for the Hendrix publicity department! Jason is a little distressed with the Log Cabin interview, it sort of rambled all over and the reporter mentioned that Nietzsche was a great influence (he's not) and his offhand remark about absurd sexual fantasies of one of the characters got in, making the play sound a little more scandalous than it is. Nevertheless, don't bring your kids - Kevin Smith definitely was an influence.

We leave tomorrow for Conway and we're looking forward to seeing Bob, Sarah and Zelda as well as anyone else who might be at Hendrix these days. The reading will begin at 7:30 pm tomorrow night if anyone else wants to come see it. Jason's already gotten word that a couple of high school friends plan on attending. I admit I'm starting to get excited about the trip, but I'm a little worried to about leaving Nora so long. I know she'll have a great time with my parents, but this is the first time we are leaving her and I'm a little nervous about how she'll do.

Weekend Update

This past weekend, Matt came to visit. He and Nora hit it off. And Karl picked up his Matt-worship right where he left off when Matt moved back to DC several years ago. This caused some jealousy on Nora AND Karl's part when Matt gave some attention to the other (as far as I can tell, Matt was not jealous of Nora's adoration of Karl, but maybe I was wrong). You can see, sitting next to Matt is a much valued position.
Often Nora would attempt to get up between Karl and Matt, but climbing on top of Matt was even better:

Matt's visit got us out of the house, much to Nora's delight. We went to the Farmers Market where I bought a cute purse from the St. Louis Craft Mafia booth.
I admit that I initially thought Nora needed this purse, but then I decided to appropriate it. It's a little too big for her, but just right for my wallet, keys, and sunglasses. I wish it had a little pocket inside though. There's an apple on the back as well. I feel very "first day of school" when carrying it. We also picked up one of Companion Bread's Mystery Boxes. These are a big box of pastry goods for $15. It was delicious, but really we needed more people than the three of us to get it eaten. Inside we had a chocolate croissant, several plain croissants, several danishes, muffins and scones. About 8-10 items all together. Very, very yummy.

After the Farmers Market we headed to O'Connell's, a favorite haunt of Matt's (and ours). We feasted on roast beef, burgers and fried yummy things and a pitcher of beer - O'Fallon Weach (possibly one of the best deals at O'Connell's).
Nora was very good throughout the long wait, and we kept the tiger nearby to remind her that next we were going to the ZOO!!!!!

Unbelievably, Matt never visited the zoo throughout his time here and as everyone knows it's one of our favorite places to go. It was a really hot day, which should not have been surprising for August, but we had been really spoiled with mild weather all month long. After hitting the the Rivers Edge (sorry we forgot photos) and seeing the Rhino and the Cheetas up close (all four of them where right up front) and glimpses of the Jade the baby elephant, we headed off to see if our luck would hold and if the baby tigers were out. Disappointingly, they were not, although Jason and Nora and I had gotten a great view of them on our earlier visit. We did check out sea lions, the bird house, the big cat country and then meandered back through the snake house, which I haven't seen in a while. The American alligator was giving us a wicked grin when we decided we really had had enough of the heat and that we needed to head home.

That night, Jason and Matt brought us carryout from Cherrokee Street, and it too was terriffic. Nora and I went to bed and the boys stayed up to late talking, which no doubt they regretted when they got up at the crack of dawn and took Nora to see Tottenham vs Chelsea at the Tigin. I stayed at home and read a book.

Before Matt took off back home we tried to visit some of his old haunts, but it's hard to find things open in STL on a Sunday morning. We had lunch at the Schafly Brewhouse and then took Matt to the airport. Since he left, Nora's been asking about him everyday, so we'd better not wait so long to see him again - it's hard to believe it's been nearly 6 years!

On Monday we hit the Japanese Festival and ate noodles. It was wonderful, but I'm really happy we went early, since by noon it was sweltering and very, very crowded. We forgot the camera, so no pictures of the festival but here's Nora's lunch from Tuesday: Mac and Peas, oranges, cookies and juice.


Unfortunately, Nora is reaching the stage where mixed up things are no longer acceptable. While she loves Mac and soy cheese and loves peas, they now need to be in separate dishes. I'm sad, they looked so nice together.