Another May, come and gone

Part I, Pomp Under the Circumstances

Weather-wise, it's been a good enough Memorial Day weekend, today being the clear winner with temps in the mid to upper 70's, breezy, and dry. 

For the last eleven years, I have weather memories for this weekend based on how hot, wet, or windy it was sitting on the football field at Gustavus, enjoying Commencement. Because graduation ceremonies are always on the Sunday before Memorial Day at GAC,  it's not to hard to remember the weather for Memorial Day weekends. Only once in these eleven years was graduation held inside with advance notice for the grounds crew to plan for it. The other rain-out was a surprise to forecasters and to all of us on campus waiting for "Pomp and Circumstance" to begin playing. In fact, I recall that "P & C" was the signal for the downpour, as faculty, graduating seniors, administrators, and all guests in the bleachers made a mad dash for Lund Arena. I won't say pandemonium was the (lack of) order of the day, but close to it. Grounds crew members had hastily moved tables into the arena to hold diplomas, there were no chairs on the arena floor for graduates or faculty, and guest speaker Bill Holm only got to wave and say "Nice to be here." Memorable? Certainly. Weather forecasters' finest hour? Hardly!

There were several comfortable ceremonies in the past eleven years, one that qualifies as cold, and the rest? Blazing hot, Kalahari windy, or a combination of the two. One of the worst was in 2008, the first year in the sun bowl that is the new football stadium, on the horrendously heat-absorbent artificial turf. Go Gusties!

Despite varied weather conditions, one great feature of graduation at Gustavus is applauding the soon-to-be graduates as they walk the faculty gauntlet on their way into the graduation venue. The very BEST feature is handing out diplomas to the students in the Education Department. There are always a gazillion smiles and hugs, some tears, and emotions of all kinds flying in every direction. Hugs, good wishes, diplomas in hand... and off they go to the real world.

I was lucky to be a faculty member when Charlie, Annie, Tanner, and Angie graduated--right there on the field to congratulate each one of them. I also watched Charlie lead in the class of 2000 as a Student Honor Marshall his junior year.  Except for a Sabbatical year and this year, Larry/Dad/Paco/Grandpappy was with the Chemistry Department, congratulating graduates as well. Last year, neither of us was there--Dad/Paco/Grandpappy/Larry had been retired for a year, so wasn't involved. I'd just completed my second stint in the hospital in less than a month, and was still having antibiotic cocktails fed into my arm so my dr. encouraged me to stay away from crowds of people. 

I'm not sad that I won't be going to Gustavus graduations anymore. It meant a lot when someone I cared about was involved. From now on, it will be just another graduation ceremony.

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Part II

Photos and Circumstances

Birthday weekend

Birthdays are fun, usually more fun when they're someone else's. But this May 22 was a a delightful birthday for me, and it was my own. Owen, Ethan, and Miles brought their parents  along for the big party, which I appreciated since the little boys are all too short to drive. The babies and toddler were very huggy and kissy.  Just the way to spend a birthday, although having Hannah and her parents here would have made it perfect. She did send me a video in which she sang "Happy Birthday" (including cha-cha-cha at the end of certain lines)  while running around in circles on her driveway. Thanks, Hannah, and thank you little boy cousins for being so sweet to an old lady on her birthday!

Miles enjoying a talk with Cousin Ethan

Grandma Jill holding concerned-looking Owen

Snack time (Hannah: Your cousins didn't get to

eat Cheerios de colores because 

you weren't here to share them.

Miles, the cake eater

So much better birthday-wise than last year!

Some video for your viewing fun...

#1 All we are saying is "Give peas a chance".

#2 Uncle Mark, Get Set, GO!

They say it's your birthday...

it's my birthday, too!

I wrote this yesterday

I taught my last class today. It didn't seem any different from any other last class day of the semester until the very end of class when it occurred to me that I'm done being a teacher. That's both a load to carry and a load lifted...

This afternoon Miles took us to the zoo at Sibley Park while his mommy worked at an event in Gaylord. Beautiful day to follow a little boy around while he talked to llamas, baby pigs, ponies, and ducks.

 Grandpappy and Miles standing on 
the pretend cow (horned variety) and calf

 I see baby piggies!

Miles, intent on studying the big goldfish playing in the pond

Swinging with Grandpappy

 Watering the new grass for Grandpappy

Grandpappy watered Miles

Countdown

Just three class days left in the semester. Count 'em... Monday (1), Tuesday (2), and Wednesday (3). Finals start on Friday and go into the following week. Graduation is the 30th. The end of May is sneaking up on us!

Paco update

Time for a break from reading and grading unit plans/binders for my methods class. They're interesting and even enjoyable to read, but I need a breather now and then.

Update on Dad/Paco/Larry/Grandpappy:  We are now in Day 5 of recovery from bending over to pick up snowball bush trimmings. An x-ray and exam at the doctor's office on Monday reassured D/P/L/G that nothing was broken or out of place. We left with a prescription for Percocet to replace the leftover-from-2001 painkiller prescription he'd used the night before, and also a plan for an appointment for a bone scan next week to check for osteoporosis. Dad/Larry/Grandpappy/Paco's favorite actress is Sally "You like me, you really like me" Field.He's got his fingers crossed that he can be in her next Boniva commercial. Don't pass this one up, by the way. There's a twist.

L/D/G/P is never one to avoid side effects of medications, so beside the expected loopiness from Percocet, he's had a binding issue that I won't describe, other than to say that his trip to Village Drug to get some Senokot resulted in learning about similar problems experienced by Linda, one of the employees, and also Linda's husband. Linda decided that Noelle, the pharmacist, should get in on the decision-making for the relief of Dad's personal discomfort, and he nearly had a "Mom, do you need some maxi-pads" experience that Elisabeth starred in at the drugstore so many years ago.

Children and children-in-law, send P/D/G/L emails to cheer him up. A baby story or two would do the trick.

Mom's Day is over : o (

Sunday night and Mom's Day weekend is over. A good weekend, but short. Thanks to Tanner, Annie, and Miles for hosting a lovely brunch on Saturday. Fun to have 3 out of the 4 little cousins together--Ethan and Owen were sociable fellers at the brunch table-- but we missed Hannah. Fortunately, a Skype session was in the cards and we had conversation with Hannah, Elisabeth, and Evan. Hannah revealed that the new baby will be a little sister, and we saw ultrasound photos of our teeny, tiny new granddaughter. Can't tell yet if she'll resemble Hannah at birth, but baby sister doesn't look so much different than Hannah did at this stage! Miles doesn't know yet if he's having a sister or a brother, but it looks like we'll all get to wait until October to find out.

Today was a decent day until Dad/Paco/Grandpappy decided to do some yard work. He was trimming the snowball bush on Mary, Darrel, and my other brother Darrel's side of the house and did what people often refer to as "threw out his back".  He's in a lot of pain, and as is to be expected, is sharing the drama.

After getting over the initial shock and pain of getting into the house after he hurt himself, he rested a while, then moved to the bedroom. He is still in significant pain, but he's managed to lie on his back and do several Mr. Miyagi poses, pretend to be a June Taylor Dancer (think Rockettes), and talk nonstop for about an hour. This is without medication. Can't wait until he takes a pain killer before bedtime.

More on this tomorrow. I have to go take the garbage cans to the curb.

Birthday weekend

While we patiently wait for birthday party pictures to appear on either Charlie or Angie's blog (or both, if we are in luck!), here's a little bit of information about the rest of the weekend.

Miles and his mommy and daddy showed up on Saturday morning to spend the day. Windy as it was, Tanner managed to enjoy golfing in LeSueur. He and Annie went out on a date for dinner, and although Miles wanted to go on a date, too, Grandpappy and I persuaded him to stay with us for the evening. A good time was had by all reading books, playing with toys, singing, and telling Gpappy to stop snoring when he took a nap after supper. It was hard to wait for the big party on Sunday, but Miles managed to be patient and sweet. I'll let Miles tell you more...

Grandpappy checked me for color blindness with 
a Pediatric Color Vision Test. 

I showed him circles and squares that he couldn't see!

Making a Happy Birthday card for my little cousins'

first birthday is serious business. 

 

I do a great job of brushing my teeth!

Hannah, look at the fancy toast my daddy made for my breakfast!