November - December 2008

These are snaps of people I LOVE. My college class made me weepy so that I just wanted to be around people I love. Fortunately, I got some sweet doses of lovely faces and warm hugs during the semester. The last time I was in school I was tough and bullish, this time around I just want someone to hold me till it's over. Time is slipping by so fast and I haven't the fire in my belly to keep up with the demands. However, visits with loved ones came at just the right moments for me spiritually so I could keep on working.



This is me and my niece Emily. Em cracks me up! Also, she knows what movies I will love.


Yay! Carrie came home from Africa! She is looking beautiful. Kadie was so shocked!



Jen with Mariah Quine. Little Mariah is a miracle baby that has been much prayed for. It will be hard for her to comprehend how much she was wanted.


Kadie at Arington Ice Rink. We did this over Thanksgiving break. What a nice time.


This is Mia eating Thanksgiving pie. Mia thinks I am "magical." FINALLY somebody gets me!


A few weeks before Thanksgiving Joel and Jennie came home for a visit. It was so nice to see them. Of all my children Joel makes me laugh the most. My children have well developed senses of humor, but Joel not only recognizes what is absurd, but also knows that the ridiculous sometimes makes life fun. Joel likes to make faces like me. When story telling we like to over emphasize emotion with visual and auditory expressions. Joel has some unexpected expressions that will make me stamp my foot laughing.
Kadie does this too, but it is Kadie's line of questioning or reactions to events that will crack me up. Randy has the most sophisticated humor in the family. Randy has a comic's sensibility because he sees connections between things that the average person doesn't recognize. His humor is often surprising.

More Snapshots of Autumn 2008

Jeff at the end of football with his "rally beard."

Bulldog Jeff mid season.

Tinker Bell!

My student Jasmine gave me a baby blue spotted salamander (I loved him). I let him go back to the woods because everyday I woke afraid he was dead. Even the most amphibian fearful couldn't help but comment on his cuteness.

Picture Album Late Summer and Fall 2008

September at Art-A-Licious with artist buddy Emily Pierce. Em makes the coolest jewelry of felted spheres and plastic tubing.
Check
http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=5380102
to see Em's stuff.

At Art-A-Licious with Carlos Tobar. I bought a goat print which seems apropos seeing how Johanna Spyri's Heidi had a grandpa who made goat cheese and who had a crush on goat herder Peter. Interesting note is that Carlos's right arm has some paralysis so he carved the wood block with his weaker left arm.

Randy and me at Pee Wit's Nest (the coolest slot canyon in Wisconsin).

"Iron Man" at Tom Every's sculpture garden