catching my breath

Just logging in long enough to report (to those of you who know about the family crisis I've been living for the last year) that my mom is settled in Chicago. We still aren't sure how we pulled it off, but clearly the fall and second trip to a skilled nursing facility brought home to her the high degree of vulnerability her age and current mental state represents. My sister-in-law escorted her on the flight, while my brother and I, along with TH and MP2 (poor kid!--not much of a Thanksgiving Break) loaded the furniture from her assisted living apartment (unoccupied since her fall and long-term stay in the nursing home) into a u-haul truck for return to her house or the drive (my brother's) to Chicago. MP1 and MP2 saw her house (she didn't want that to happen, but it was good for them to see what we've been dealing with) and reminisced about memories of running around it as kids. That made me happy. I'm leaving out the details of the crisis on the Chicago end when my SIL and mom arrived to the facility into which she was supposed to move only to discover that they'd overbooked their skilled nursing facility (where she was supposed to be for a few more weeks before release to her assisted living facility in the same Senior Home). She spent Friday through Wednesday night at my brother's house meeting her great-grandkids, etc. Last night she was in the new apartment (and I mean new as in she refused to go back to the one originally reserved for her). Her cast is off and she is walking again (still needs lot of physical therapy, though). Last night I didn't wake up in a cold sweat worrying about her or her house. I SHOULD worry about her house, but I think I'll wait till January. Maybe I can write coherent posts by then.

progress

My brother and I have been frustrated and worried because my mom (since we moved her into her assisted living facility in mid-May) hasn't been joining the other residents down in the dining room for meals. Instead, she's been isolating herself in her room and eating there, and missing out therefore on social opportunities that will improve her mental health. Whenever one of us visits, the staff will inevitably remark on the fact that she doesn't come out of her room. Yesterday she told me that she went down for televised church services and that she's been going down for dinner (not sure about the other meals). This makes me SO happy. And I can hear the improvement in her voice.  Further, I had a conversation with her about her house. She tends to worry about maintenance issues constantly (hello!, she deferred it for 11 years--why worry now?), but anyhow--when she said we need to call termite people to spray so the house doesn't "fall down," I gently suggested that this was a waste of her money (like fixing the roof in any permanent way). I told her we need to clear the house out and sell it, so she can bank the money. She actually agrees (although my brother and I notice that she tends to say one thing to one of us and another to the other; nothing new there). But, she seems truly to be on board with this. I told her Spring Break would be the first opportunity to really get in there and go through stuff room by room. She wants to go and sit in the driveway while we do this. I had to give her some hope that this might happen and said we'd see after talking to her doctors, etc. She ended the conversation with "and now Santa Claus, can you buy me some more blouses and a skirt or new pants? I can't wear the same things down there [dining room] every week!" Some things never change. Looking forward to seeing MP2 in July/August!  MP1will be in Texas residence by August 1. Time flies.

on a happier note

Some good things also came out of our last trip to Texas. After we got my mom moved into her new assisted living place, we headed up to the greater Dallas area to visit with MP2, who needed a new flute (actually--he's never had one of his own, but had been playing his sister's from high school).  His girlfriend went with us (it is her primary instrument) to help him choose one.



didn't take the camera,
so these are all iPhone



After that, we went to nearby Richardson, where MP1 is moving in August. We drove by her new place of employment and the apartment complex that was recommended to her. And luckily, they had an apartment coming available the week before she starts work, so we were able to help reserve that. It is a very cool mixed use retail/residential development. I think she's going to love it. I know I would.

We then had equally good luck back in Denton, since MP2 and CG were able to find a new apartment in MP2's current complex that will become available in August. So that means everyone in the fam is moving this summer, but us. Fun, fun, fun. 

catching up with April (part 1)

The last few months have been beyond crazy and I have had little time for blogging. This is partly my own fault,  because I designed and taught a museum course that was about 3 courses-worth of work for me. I am still wrapping up that class, even though grades are in and the semester is long over (more on that in another post). Okay--back to April.

We spent April 22-25 in Texas, upon the occasion of the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival.  The  headliner was Chick Corea, who drew a huge crowd, including the little redhead (below) in the Paul Frank t-shirt. But we were really there to visit MP2, see his lab band play, and listen to the famous "One O'Clock."  We had lots of fun, despite (me) having a low-grade fever (the 4th floor of my building is such a petri dish),  insane winds and allergies, and hilarious fair "food."

Thanks to MP1 for the decent photos. I decided to leave my camera at home, which explains the blurry iPhone images I already posted here and here.  We flew home on the 25th. I think I was furloughed on that Monday, but I'm also sure I worked that day--because I had papers to grade and to write. Can I just say that we have now gone from World Cup (all day) to a sci-fi film called St*nehenge Apocalypse? At least it doesn't have that obnoxious buzzing in the background.

land of bluebonnets

We are visiting MP2, making the best of furloughs in the form of travel. Last night, we had dinner with him and his gf  (CG) at a fun restaurant to which TH and I had never been. MP1, who has only been here once before, then got to see all the various and sundry music buildings, then CG took us on a tour of the library (my favorite of all venues to hang out in and yet I'd never stepped foot inside this one these last few years).   She works in the music library, so we got to see it's vastness. It is really, and I mean *really,* impressive. The rare music book room was closed, not that we would have known what to ooooh and aaaaah over, but still--very cool that there is one.  I was also  floored by the number of music periodicals that are 1) apparently in publication and 2) subscribed to by the university. (And here, I just have to say how depressing it is going to be to go home to my institution, which has such a pathetic library when it comes to research. When I was hired, it was not spectacular by any means, but it was at least up to the par one expects at a teaching univerity. NOW, it is pretty sorry. I was in the stacks two days ago checking that the most recent issues of a journal were still on the shelves and not off at the bindery,  so that I coud send students over to work on a journal-related assignment , and I nearly fell over when I saw how many journals have been dropped). The most impressive and simultaneously depressing thing about this tour? This library was open and very much in use after 10 pm.  Good luck with that at my place.

This morning (after a night of little sleep), we dropped off MP1 to hang around with her sib and go to some music event, took care of some apartment issues for next year, walked around the downtown square (with a brief side trip into the antique mall to look for Americana Indian crap for MGC), and got ourselves some coffee. We are back at the hotel for a while, trying to cope with the effects of the time change. This is why I hate giving papers anywhere outside of my timezone--I'm just a zombie if I don't get at least 6 good hours of sleep. On the  paper-giving front, I got some work done in that direction on the plane. So I don't think I'll be in horrid shape next Friday, especially since I have to get home from here and that will be 3 more hours of being "unplugged" from distractions, plus another furlough day on Monday (oh,  yeah, on which I will NOT being doing any  'work.'   Can you tell that  I am pretty fed up with not being paid my full salary under the pretense that my workload can be reduced by magic and nothing in the scope of my job will suffer?!).

Here are a few random photos--iPhone and in the dark quality. Too lazy to bring along my good camera or my personal computer (which is loaded with software that might correct these somewhat).

November Peregrinations

As noted in the previous post, this has been a brutal and busy month. It started out on November 1 with a trip to Mar*us Fest (the annual party thrown by one of TH's colleagues and his German wife on the occasion of their son's birthday as a really good excuse to lure people up in the foothills to drink. So far, Mar*us seems to be okay with this.) It was fun a night, lots of good food and drink and company, including a very cool cat. Alas, the next morning brought news that my FIL had died entirely unexpectedly the previous night. This was an unbelievably bad smack in the gut for TH, who wrote his dad's obituary all day Sunday and for the next few days helped to coordinate arrangements or a Friday memorial service. We spent ridiculous amounts of energy making arrangements to leave town--organizing MP2's flight, our own flights (bereavement fares are a good deal, but the limited hours of flight aren't so good), hotels, etc. Then, we had to get our classes squared away--and for me, my absence from the first meeting of our associate dean search. My dean was really decent about that, and kept me on the committee and in the loop. It was a tough five or six days, with some bitter sweet moments of getting to visit (and engage in serious gossiping and catching up on my alma mater's academics) with my FIL's colleagues during the reception following the memorial service). We were also able to see my mom, which was really good for us and for her.

Back here in mid-November, the three search committees I am serving on this semester are on full speed ahead--hoping to bear fruit before the semester is out. We interviewed our long list at the AAAs and came away with several really good (but entirely different!) canidates for on-campus interviews. The meetings always fall on my birthday. I used this as an excuse to get TH to come in for the last two days--but the truth is that he is still in a funk and freaked out over his dad's death and I didn't want him to be home alone for 4 days. I did Chinatown with the gals on Thursday nite and with him (again) on Saturday (we had both lunch and dinner at Cafe de la Presse--YUM). Sunday we toured the Ferry Building and bought all kinds of good food and drink after checking out of the hotel. Having spent 5 or 6 days in a hotel earlier in the month, I was not all that happy to be in another one for the latter part of the month (although I had excellent roomates down the hall on both sides, who provided wine and roses and late night laughs and gossip:). Nonetheless, I have probably never been happier to get the hell out of a SF hotel, than I was this year. The weather was gorgeous and made for some great city walking. The last week has been filled with two of the searches (the one I'm chairing and another one for a t-t asst. prof in another program). This last one will conclude this week. But this means only a tiny bit of new down-time, since ours is ramping up for the short lister visits, and then during finals week, I'll be holed up in the associate dean interviews. I'm really curious and crossing my fingers over that outcome. (I was participating in the last meeting of this committee by conference call during the AAAs, and by some bizarre fluke of logic and numbers that is still not entirely clear to me--only three of my own--and at least 4 other peoples'--top four candidates made it onto the short-list of four). In truth, I feel like there are only two people who could really step right in with minimal pain/maximum gain for the college. We shall see.

At any rate, job searches have taken over the better part of my waking hours as we, in California so-called higher education, race against the legislature's lousy budgeting and the governator's "I am an entrepreneur, I can balance the budget" naivety and hatchet-lowering.

TH and I went walking along the river yesterday and 6 (six!!) deer crossed the trail a couple hundred feet away from us: a buck, doe, baby-buck and 3 baby-does). It was a beautiful site to behold in the city.

Sorry to say that our university restaurant actually had this "centerpiece" in a private dining room during a search committee luncheon. I had to photograph it with my phone just to prove how bad it is (but I was too embarassed to stand still so the photo wasn't equally bad!).

Late 19th/early 20th century Maori cloak KM and I dragged down from the loft.

Historic place-making on the Embarcadero--across from the restored Ferry Bldg.

No caption needed; welcome to San Francisco.

Pier 39

Father and daughter buying morning sweets in the Ferry Bldg.

A private school in Chinatown.

A cool building that a night-time iphone photo simply cannot do justice.

Our view from the restaurant where we had Sunday lunch. Yup, that's a rabbit in a dress.

The Bay Bridge and Treasure Island from the Pier near the Ferry Building.

Wine and roses on the occasion of the birthday.
Champagne the next night. Someone knows how travel.


(Above) Macy's window dresser trying to make Xmas happen.

Just liked the sign--that's all.

Ye olde campus quad.

Kiddies at my favorite shopping mall--we choose our hotel back home based on proximity to it.

TH indulges in dessert the day after the memorial service. He couldn't finish it. For once.

MP1 and MP2 do a sound check before the service.

FIL's on-campus home for nearly half a century.


On campus, before we left for home, Prop. 8 opponents and proponents squared off the day before the election. At least the presidential outcome was good.

Mar*us Fest (above and below)


No photos of Thanksgiving, but let it be said that there was lots of good food, toasting of a certain associate professor I know, and a miraculous win (by me!) of the card game. Now to the grading....

Ike

Still working on the exhibit 24/7, but wanted to post this link to a website with unbelievable photos of Ike's devastation (many thanks to LF for sending it, and also for checking in on and taking care packages to my mom!) After being without power for 12 days, she is finally sleeping in AC comfort.

Hurricane

The weather service is scaring the liver out of me re: this latest hurricane. In particular, they are predicting that Galveston's seawall is not going to be sufficient. Wow. That is shocking. Houston is supposed to get a 90 mile p/hour wind-lashing and massive flooding in low areas. My mom doesn't live in a particularly low-lying area, but there are bayous all over the city. This is flood plain territory. My father-in-law's neighborhood has flooded before--but he and his wife both drive and can get around. My mom is going to check into a high rise hotel near her house. I cannot imagine how that's going to feel safe in these high winds. And if she's TOO high up, and the power goes out, she'll be stuck trying to climb up and down at least a couple flights of stairs. In the dark. MP2, I guess you guys may get the tail-end of this. Stay safe! I sent snacks this week that are supposed to arrive today. Wish I could have seen your performances this week.