Pictures - Fall Fun!

Here are some pics from last week, when we went to Bauman Farms in Gervais, for some fall fun!

Eddie on some of the attractions for kids:

This is a slide - he had to climb up the other side on ropes or something - in the obstacle course.

Eddie's foot and leg are there at the top of the tires.

Eddie going through a tire obstacle.

In the "Sock Hop" - a series of inflatable obstacle courses.

Lunch break.  Eddie found this very long curly fry.

The bottom of the Giant Slide.  I think it's at least 18 feet tall.

Eddie shooting out the bottom of the Giant Slide.

Eddie jumping on the Giant Jumping Pillow.  He loves it!

Resting while the kids go through the Dark Maze - Rena is playing "props" with one of the interesting shaped gourds.  One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy.

Mom called her "Gonzo" after the Muppet Show!  

We had a beautiful day playing at Bauman Farms.  I got tired, but luckily dad drove up and back.  Thanks, dad!

Fun Times on Camano - UW Visit - Exhausting Drive Home

Eddie and I left for Camano Island after his swimming lesson on Tuesday.  We ran into some traffic in Seattle and a little through Everett, but other than smelling something around my right front tire, it was uneventful.  I'd been smelling the smell for a few days and would try to get other people to smell it, but they couldn't.  So, I figure it was my imagination.  But I smelled it again when we stopped to grab lunch in Portland, so I worried and fretted about it before deciding to stop at a Subaru Dealership in Longview.  Diagnosis?  A torn CV boot on the interior side of the tire.  The guys at the dealership said that the tear was throwing grease onto my catalytic converter, which then caused the smell.  They said that it would cost $350.  But they said it would probably be okay to drive it on to Camano Island, but that I should probably get it fixed while I was up there.

Great.  So we found the nearest dealership and luckily I could bring the car in on Thursday, when I had my appointment at UW.  Extra expenses with the car and my teeth.  It would sure be nice to spend money on something else for a change!

At any rate, we made it to Camano around 5pm and had a wonderful spaghetti rustica made by my high school friend, C., who owns her own Italian restaurant in Tehachipi.  We sat on her mom's and stepdad's deck.  It was gorgeous.  We faced east, across Puget Sound, to Mt. Baker.  Sunny and blue skies.  A glass of red wine.  Visiting and talking.  Eddie played the wii - they had Wii Fit Plus with an obstacle course that he liked to play. We played Mario Kart with C. and B.  Eddie and I slept in a tent in the back yard - it was a little chilly outside, but okay in the sleeping bags.  I got up at 4:30am to use the restroom - and saw a rim of pink lining the tops of the Cascade Mountains.  I was a little bit wired from the drive (and some caffeine about 3pm) so I didn't get to sleep until 1am. Eddie woke up at 7am and I kept him in the tent until 8am when people started stirring in the house.

Wednesday, after a lazy morning, we went out on C.'s boat. We left from Camano Island State Park and intended to eat a Langley on Whidbey Island, but there really wasn't a free place to moor the boat, so we boated all the way to Everett and had lunch at Anthony's.  Then, it was a choppy ride home.  Eddie loved it as we bumped across the water.  He would just sit with this sly grin on his face.  It was a beautiful sunny day again.  Another night in the tent.  But I slept longer - from 10:30pm to 7am. 

The next day, C. and I drove to Seattle - after dropping my car at the Subaru dealership in Marysville.  The good news is that they said the repair bill for the new CV boot should only be $200 plus tax.  Whew!  Then, off to UW.

I had a CT scan, then met with Dr. S.  She had a couple of girls who were college juniors (from underrepresented groups) tagging along with her who observed the exam.  C. sat with me and we visited about old times in high school.  I received another vaccination. Dr. S. said that they are changing their study protocol to give the CT scan at a later visit because they are starting to see that the t-cell infusions do not have an immediate response against the cancer - that it usually takes months.  She wasn't surprised that my lymph nodes were still swollen and inflamed (although I think the inflammation was back to where it was before the t-cell infusions).  She also felt the little nodules were little micrometastases.  They are inflamed now because of the t-cell infusions. 

So, I wait.  Give it another couple of months to see if the lymph nodes clear up.  I'll call on Monday for the CT scan results.

I was pretty tired Thursday night and ended up with a slight fever.  C. and I ate dinner in Seattle since we didn't finish with my appointment until about 4pm.  I was tired because they drew a lot of blood and because of the vaccination.  I hung out on the couch and C. waited on me hand and foot.  Don't I have great friends?  They also took care of Eddie.  L. and B. (C.'s mom and step dad) babysat Eddie all day.  They said he was really easy to take care of.  They took him raspberry picking (and we brought the berries home with us) and ran a couple of errands.  He played the wii and played on the computer.  L. (C.'s mom) later told me that we are raising a great kid - he was nice and polite and not high energy.  That's my boy!  Thank you, C., L., and B.!! 

On Friday, after another lazy morning, we went to garage sales, then had lunch at a local cafe, and more garage sales before a lazy evening and dinner on the deck.  Friday was a little chillier - the clouds didn't lift until afternoon.  I found a silk screen print on rice paper by C.B. Greul, a kind of fish (definitely not a salmon or trout - it's fatter) for $5.  There was a little bit of damage - like it had been rolled up in a closet and then a little bit of water damage kinda soaked up the paper since there is a faint tan ragged line along the bottom of the print.  I googled C.B. Greul and found that some of his prints are going at auction for $150-400.  Not too shabby!  I am trying to decide what to do - it's a nice print and I may keep it.  Or, I may try to get it restored and then try to sell it.  What do you think?

On Saturday, Eddie and I left our hosts about 9:45am, with the intention of meeting some friends in Portland.  I found out, however, that they were going to a mall, not the Hawthorne District, and i felt like I didn't really want to do that.  It depended on whether or not I got to Portland when they were still there.  But we hit traffic at Federal Way (just south of Seattle) and it took us well over an hour to get to Fort Lewis (just north of Tacoma) - a trip that should only take 30 min.  Gak! 

Then it was slow again from Olympia to Grand Mound because of road construction.

By the time we got to Portland, my friends were on their way home.  So, Eddie and I stopped at the Family Fun Center in Wilsonville for about an hour.  We got home about 7pm.  I was tired tired tired!

The other good news is that I found out that I don't owe my department as much money for the course buy outs from last year.  In fact, it will be a lot less.  So, when I finish my chapter for the Alaska Statehood project tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll have enough extra salary to pay down debt, put money into savings for property taxes and emergencies, and get a house at the coast next month.  That's a big relief.  Whew.  Now I just need to get to work! 

Okay, I have a Herceptin treatment tomorrow.  I leave on July 27th for an 11-day trip to Alaska.  Eddie's Wipeout Kids' Edition Birthday Party is on July 24th.  My birthday is July 21st.  So, a busy week ahead of me before taking off to Alaska! 

I am so thankful for friends.

Spring has Sprung - Z-feet are back!

I posted this picture of my feet on facebook - and it elicited more comments than usual!  So, I thought I'd share it with you.  So, without further ado, my "Z-feet":

My friend, Heather, said that it reminds her of fun times:  summer, softball, friends, and walking around.

I have to agree!

Christmas Preparations Completed!

I feel fortunate. I had a fairly relaxing day. Eddie and I had a lazy morning, then we watched Alvin & the Chipmunks the Squeaquel. It was a cute movie - and I thought the music choices were fun!

Afterwards, we went to the grocery store - holy cow! We circled the whole parking lot - all the spaces down one side of the store, across the front, to the other side of the store before we finally found one. It was crazy when we tried to leave - it seemed like there were a lot more cars and it took us about five minutes to even back out of our spot and get out of the parking lot. Of course, one person was rude about letting someone back out of their spot. It was the only instance of poor holiday behavior, even when I went shopping on Black Friday.

Then, Eddie had an appointment at the dentist's. He passed with flying colors - meaning, no cavities and only a little instruction about brushing.

I'm really going to miss him when he's in Virginia. He'll be gone eight days.

My evening was spent wrapping one last present, then creating rhymes for a treasure hunt - three for each child (Eddie, niece, nephew). They were small gifts. I was getting tired of finding rhymes!

Probably because this morning, for about five minutes, any time Eddie said anything, I would reply in a rhyme. That was fun! We were both being "weirdos"! Eddie likes to use that term for having fun - for being weird and silly and goofy.

Well, time for bed. I hope you all have a great Christmas Eve tomorrow. I just have a bit of cleaning to do tomorrow, then everyone is coming over to my place for the gift exchange. Eddie will stay the night with me - Santa will visit us tomorrow night.

Merry Christmas!

Home in Oregon!

I arrived home yesterday. I was pretty tired as I didn't sleep much on the plane and didn't sleep much at my hotel at Heathrow. I think I figured out that I probably hadn't slept more than about 60 min. at a time over a 38 hour stretch. Not a good thing when you have cancer, when your need for restorative sleep is greatest.

I landed about noon at PDX, then we picked up Eddie at 2pm and was at my house by 3:45pm, after grabbing a bite to eat. I unpacked quickly, took a shower and brushed my teeth, and went immediately into my pj's. I laid around for a couple of hours, dozing off, and then fell asleep about 6:30pm. I woke up about 8:45pm and was awake about an hour, resting, and went back to sleep. Through the night, I woke up perhaps three times (from 10pm to 7am), but I feel mostly rested and normal.

My impressions of Oxford? Well, I certainly like it better than London, where there are way too many people rushing around. I'll go on the record as officially strongly disliking big cities. Oxford seems more manageable especially when you get away from central Oxford and there aren't as many people. My colleague, Tom, and his family live a little bit north of the central part of the city. I think it took about 20 min or so to walk to his house. Coincidentally, his family just moved to Kingston Road, a fact his 6-year-old son found interesting. We also discovered that Tom and I share the same birthday - he's exactly one year older than me. But I digress.

Central Oxford is very busy - with buses going by all the time (buses take off from Oxford to Heathrow every 30 min) and people walking all over the place on the sidewalks. Sidewalks are relatively small, with barely enough room for two people. I think that, over time, I would start to feel claustrophobic. I do, however, like the walk-ability of the place.

Oxford's colleges are scattered around the town - that system is quite interesting, but I am still not entirely clear on it. It was cool to see the old stone buildings and there's an old castle there as well. You can see the gardens of various colleges - and I glimpsed the botanical garden that Cat, Eddie, and I toured around four years ago.

Something that really struck me when I lived in London four years ago and I was reminded of this trip was just how commercial England is. The stereotype of America is how materialistic and capitalistic we are; however, I find England to be much more capitalistic than we are. There are ads absolutely everywhere - it's a very commercial place. And, the differences between the haves and have-nots seem pronounced as well. I think what America is guilty of is the fact that what we have is BIG - bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger stores. But the selling and marketing of things is so much more over there. I also find it to be dirty over there.

I do like the pubs, though, and hanging out in these old buildings and talking with colleagues. In moderation, though, of course! Pub food is pretty greasy and there isn't a lot of flavor. I found a cafe that had healthy salads and sandwiches that were quite nice.

Anyway, it's time for me to start my day. I'll write a post later and share some of my pics!

Safely in Nome

Yay! We finally made it to Nome. We left Eugene at 6:40am (after leaving my house about 4:30am) and got into Nome about 8pm (9pm Oregon time). So, yes, 13 1/2 hours later . . . I'm back! I haven't been to Nome for 2 1/2 years. I've really missed it.

The good news is that not a lot has changed. My cousin Toni's house is relatively the same. The people I know here have not changed their phone numbers so it was easy to get into the groove to let people know that I'm here.

Everyone seems happy to hear from us. I'm happy to talk to them all again.

We had a good visit with Becky today and a really brief one with her daughter, Barbie, and kids.

We're relaxing at Toni's tonight - she and her family went to camp so we have her house to ourselves.

Tomorrow, we will go to camp in the afternoon - it'll take about an hour and a half to get there (with an arrival around 3pm), but since it doesn't get really get dark at night - it might be dusk-like from about 2am to 5am - we won't feel like we have to get home before dark! In fact, it's 10:30pm right now and it's as light out as if it were about 6 or 7pm at home.

One change was that Toni and her husband put blinds up in the room that we use when we're here. Last time, there were no currents, so even in the middle of the night, the light was getting in.

It's feeling a bit like it was in 2005 and 2006 when everyone gathered together for the King Island placenames project. That project was one of the best things I've ever done - it was surely one of the hardest, but in the end, it will be worth it. That same feeling of excitement is there now - maybe not to the same extent, but just getting to see people is fun.

Well, I really need to get to bed. I'm bushed! Have a great week-end everyone!

I'm back home!

Hey everyone,
I'm back home! I had a great meeting in DC - will post about that soon. I had a good night's sleep last night, then relaxed this morning at home, then went to a birthday party of a young boy who turned one today (his mom just graduated from OSU), then did some weeding, then went to a wedding reception for MisAnthropology. Scott joined me. We had fun and enjoyed some good conversation and good wine!

Tomorrow? We head to a barbecue in the afternoon, so that our team can get the other softball team drunk before we play them later.

I have something that I'll post about my meeting in DC - but that will take some time, so I may not get a chance to post it until later. It was interesting, though!

Oh, yeah, I noticed when I was in DC that any slight wheezing/coughing that I experienced was not mostly nonexistent. I figure I must be experiencing allergies here.

Later!

Mostly Cloudy and a High of 37 . . .

with light winds. That's the forecast for Anchorage today. Needless to say, we arrived safe and sound in Anchorage on Saturday afternoon. After getting our car and grabbing lunch, we headed to Aunt Becky's house, where she proceeded to feed us for about 5 hours. First, it was tea with this cranberry pumpkin bread she made - OMG, it was moist and delicious. I was still full after lunch, so I just ate a small bit and then kept grabbing more because it was so good! Then, after a bit, I took Eddie and Danielle to check in at our hotel. Danielle is my new grad student. Then, we returned to Becky's house an hour later and she served pot roast, complete with potatoes and carrots, and smoked salmon that they made themselves. Followed by grapes and mini candy bars, more tea, and more of everything else. We left about 7pm and then went to Freddies, got groceries (we have a kitchenette in our room), then got to the hotel and settled in.

Yesterday, we had a slow morning - we were all tired - then we went to the new Dena'ina Convention Center (where AFN will be held) because they held an open house. We looked around. On the top floor, there was a ballroom, and among other things was this "Dancing Heads" display - they were demonstrating how it worked. You sit in front of a green screen with a green cape on and then they play some stock music video. Eddie really wanted to do it, so we grabbed mom and the three of us danced our heads to Super Freak. It was really fun and quite funny, too. Then they give you a DVD to take home. It was free. Eddie watched it later at Teddy's and he laughed and laughed and laughed and we had the whole room laughing, too.

Then, at Teddy's, we started visiting, but it was clear that Teddy wanted to work. I'd wanted to interview him for the Alaska Native corporations project, but he wanted to work on placenames. So, we went back over my list - we spent three hours working on it, had dinner, and then spent another 2 to 2 1/2hours on it. WHEW! But we got through the whole list and I found out which ones were true duplicates and which ones are names that name two distinct places. We had the big map on the table, we heard stories, we decided on spellings and translations. Sylvester showed up right before dinner and he helped out, too. It was hard work - especially for the two men as I was tired and sometimes didn't quite understand their explanations.

They fixed a "white man's" dinner and then niqipiaq (Eskimo food). The white man's dinner was roast beef and mashed potatoes, the niqipiaq consisted of moose meat, half-dried seal meat, aliuGaq (sour dock), tugayuq (another type of greens), alluk (Eskimo ice cream - berries mixed with fat and sugar), seal oil, and the roasted veggies that were with the moose meat. They'd also made Eskimo fry bread - I think they used a doughnut recipe. Gosh that was good! Then, it was followed by tea and pie.

Of course, there was lots of visiting, too. Fun stuff!

On the schedule for today - head over to the Elder's and Youth Conference - hopefully run into people we know - and then maybe meet people I've heard of because I want to try to get interviews with them related to Alaska Native corps and the Inupiat view of Alaska Statehood. This afternoon? Who knows? If I don't have any interviews scheduled at that time, then Danielle and I might head to an archives to see what archival documents we can find related to ANCSA.

Good thing I brought the jeans that are too big around my waist . . . I think we're all going to roll onto the plane to go home on Saturday! : ) Yummers!

Weekends - The Cure for Work

On Friday, I mentioned I was already way too busy at work. It's been an interesting process going back to teaching again after 15 months off for my sabbatical. I forgot that not only is there teaching, but meetings (at least two next week), weekly lectures in my department which I organize (meaning, getting folks on the schedule, getting their titles and descriptions, etc.), weekly meetings with my research assistant, plus I have another grad student working on the King Island gallery and map, and I may soon start collaborating with another grad student on my boob jokes article. Then, there's two grant proposals due here in the next month and I've had to make revisions to a draft of a preproposal and I also had a teleconference related to a project we proposed last year but didn't get funded - we want to try again based on reviewer comments. And, I need to write an academic article to submit to a journal by November 1st.

Yeah right. Uh huh.

I leave in a week to go to Anchorage for a week to work on THREE different research projects: one interviewing leaders in my Alaska native corporation and doing some initial interviews regarding case studies related to Alaska native corporations, another project interviewing Inupiaq elders and leaders that relates to their view of Alaska's statehood - was statehood a good thing for Alaska Natives, and other meetings to continue trying to tie up the King Island placenames map. For the last one, we want to show King Islanders the interactive map that my friend and web designer (Greg Hyatt) has created, get their feedback on the design and ask for input on what to upload into that map. I will also work with our elder, Teddy Mayac, and hopefully others, on the pronunciation and spelling of placenames - last year, we got about 130 of the 165 completed. I've been wanting to finish those spellings and pronunciations for a year - that's when breast cancer came knocking on my door again.

Regarding the boob jokes article, I decided to ask Courtney to coauthor that article because of the work she just completed on her master's thesis, which was on young breast cancer patients and whether or not their docs talked to them about their reproductive options. What she found was that the docs often don't inform them of all of their options because they either don't know or don't have experience working with young (pre-40s) premenopausal women. Something she said in her thesis defense gave me an idea of how to frame my article on boob jokes. At this point, I just have a glimmering of an idea and the two of us need to sit down and chat some before moving forward . . .

Do you see why my mind was spinning? Trying to stay on top of all these projects and students is challenging. I'm out of practice, having just returned from sabbatical. But I'm remembering that LISTS are my friends.

My mind is clear this morning, though. I haven't really thought about work much since Friday evening - so 36 or more hours of not thinking about work really helps to stop it spinning. I needed the break from thinking about it. Scott and I went out for a few hours on Friday, then yesterday, we had coffee and did a bit of shopping, then I drove back towards home and picked Eddie up at Bauman Farms, which is a great place to celebrate the harvest season (lots of activities for kids - hay mazes and corn mazes, big slides and swings in barns, zip lines, apple cannons and slingshots, peddle cars, pumpkins, plus great fall plants and foods for sale in their store). He'd gone there with his dad and it was on my way home so I picked Eddie up there. I think this is the 4th year in a row that one of us has brought Eddie to that place - it's become a tradition, now. It was made even greater by the beautiful, sunny, fall weather. A high of about 60. The lighting, with the low sun, was definitely a fall light - beautiful.

Then, yesterday evening was card night at Rick and Tammy's house. Josh and Amy brought their three-month old son, Steven. What a cutie! He had dark hair and blue eyes. A few rounds of cards, lots of bad (but good) snacks to eat. Let's see, there were fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, animal cracker cookies, jelly bellies jelly beans, red licorice, popcorn, chips, crackers and cheese, beer or other mixed drinks, jokes galore, and a household of people. That 1500-square foot house hosted 24 people (including 9 kids), two dogs, and one cat. It's chaotic and crowded, but no one seems to mind. We played hand-n-foot in one room and another group played Texas Hold'em poker. The kids played on the Wii in the laundry room/pantry.

It was fun. Just what I needed. Week-ends - The Cure For Work!