Two down, ten or so to go

Classes, that is. Hurray! I’ve got one semester of grad school under my belt! It feels good to have made it safely to the other side. Of course, I won’t know my grades for a few days, so I’m trying to take an “it’s out of my control so don’t angst over it” (or as Jim would say, “it is what it is”) approach. And since I have two weeks of “free” time, I’m going to distract myself by catching up on the gardening I’ve been missing out on and maybe getting some inside projects completed if the weather is bad. At least that’s the plan. On the other hand, I may just sit around and read the mystery novels piling up on the coffee table or catch up on HGTV shows I’ve missed.

But soon enough, it’ll be time to start over again . . .

Fleeting attraction

As I was heating my lunch in the lower level break room, I checked out the vending machines, just out of curiosity. And that’s where I saw them – at the bottom of the snack machine, directly beneath the peanut M&Ms – a package of Twinkies! I don’t know why I was surprised to see them in a vending machine, after all, they have a shelf life of practically forever. But I was; and there they were, those spongy little yellow cakes puffed up with gooey cream filling, just waiting for me to insert my dollar bill and swoop them up. Because I haven’t had a Twinkie in years. But alas, I didn’t bring any money down with me and by the time I got back upstairs the spell was broken and the desire gone.

Digging in the dirt

I was able to leave work a little early today, and was rewarded with a chance to spend a couple of hours moving plants and weeding. It felt good to be outside doing something that didn't require memorizing formulas and checking assumptions and conditions! We are continuing to fill in the new planting bed in front with stuff we're thinning out in the back. I'm beginning to refer to this as "frugal gardening." So far, all we've spent any money on has been the sweet peet, and we've managed to fill in the new planting area and some empty corners with what we have.

My nail tech was telling me how she and her fiancee helped his grandmother mulch her flower beds with 6 yards of mulch and how much she hated doing outside stuff. And I heard myself saying, "Oh, that's not so bad. And mulch is pretty light."

So now I'm wondering: when did I become this person who would rather muck about outside in the yard? Or was she always there and I just didn't know it?

May 4, 1970

Federal troops, sons of WWII veterans, fired on unarmed college students, also children of WWII veterans, who were exercising their constitutional right to free speech. Forty years later, four families still grieve. And both sides are still sniping at each other.

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
(lyrics by Neil Young)

Food for thought

Remember that post I wrote about having too many reusable grocery bags? Well, I may have been a bit hasty. Jimmy has started cooking for us. The good news is that we're eating really well. The bad news? Well, look at the results of this week's grocery shopping (I think I counted 8 bags). It's been ages since I bought this much food! Now I'm wondering how I managed when the kids were growing up!

Where in the blog-world is Pat?

Hiding in my office, actually.

It’s been over 6 weeks since my last post. Unlike the other, more prolific blogger in the household, I often seem to lack interesting subjects and/or the creative energy to formulate a post. But I want to keep this blog current, so I have promised myself that I will make an effort to be more productive and post on a regular basis. So here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to lately.

In the past month and a half I have

• Read 6 chapters of Statistics
• Completed 6 chapters of Statistics homework
• Taken (and completely bombed) 2 tests
• Read 8 chapters for Fundraising Class
• Wrote 3 papers for Fundraising Class
• Composed, produced and mailed 2 SWL newsletters
• Read Eudora Welty short stories for book club
• Hosted said book club meeting
• Spent a weekend in DG helping Sarah move

All this while still holding down my day job, trying to keep the house from getting buried in dog hair, and putting in some time in the garden.

But wait, there’s more! Coming attractions include prepping for the Statistics final and completing a 10 page paper and a class presentation summarizing the paper. Then I have a week's respite during which I can start working on the new vegetable garden. Oh, and sometime in there my mom is coming to visit.

Hopefully by then I'll figure out a routine.

The first day of spring

It's a gorgeous day, temps in the 50s and very sunshiney -- fitting for the first day of spring. It's one of those days that demands that you work (or play) outside, because you know that spring weather is fickle and can turn ugly at a moment's notice. So here I am, sitting in my office, staring at my statistics book, while Jim (and the dogs) are outside, digging in the dirt.

--sigh

Giveaways

Over the years, I’ve attended lots of trade shows and bar association meetings. You find all kinds of interesting vendor giveaways in the exhibition sections. They range from the useful, like canvas tote bags/briefcases (a staple at the ABA annual meetings), pads of sticky notes, and pens, all the way to the “what the heck is this?” variety of trinket. And people get in line to snap up the stuff.

Every once in a while one item takes the lead in most-used (or over-used) giveaway. In fact, right after 3M™ came out with their Post-It® notes, sticky-note pads became the giveaway of choice. Then someone invented those squishy “anti-stress” thingies and soon every law firm in the country stamped their name on some variation and handed them out. This year’s winner: reusable grocery bags.

It’s a great idea; having shopped at Aldi for a long time, I heartily embrace the concept. Before we moved to Ohio we picked up two bags from Trader Joe’s. And I bought a couple from my local grocery chain over a year ago when they first offered them. This year, the trade show people seem to have bought into the idea big time. At the last two garden shows we attended, the major sponsors provided a bag to each attendee as they presented their ticket. It’s a good fit – gardening and ecological responsibility – and we eagerly snapped up our bags. But when I got home, one question surfaced: just how many does one household need? I figure I have at least a dozen now, and that doesn’t count the last couple of plastic Aldi bags that haven’t worn out yet. We simply don’t buy enough groceries to fill all those bags! So this begs the question:

Can they be recycled?

Garden Show Finds

You can tell that spring is just around the corner when the garden shows start popping up. This year, we were lucky enough to get to four. In February, we hit two in Cleveland and one in Akron, and this past Saturday we took a trip down to Columbus for the Central Ohio Home and Garden Show. We made a day of it, starting off at the North Market, which is an emporium of eateries, food purveyors, and a few clothing and household goods vendors. I spotted some Fiestaware, but at the prices they were asking, we decided a trip to the outlet store in Newell W.V. would actually be more economical. But we found a great place to eat breakfast, and Jim took lots of pictures, as usual. Check out his blog in the next couple of days for several in-depth posts about the market, the garden show and the cute restaurant we ate lunch at.

The show was held at the state fairgrounds, in two buildings connected by a tented walkway. The garden “part” was in one and the home-related in the other. We almost missed the “home” section, until someone we were chatting with told us about it. The garden part of the show was different than what we had seen before. The show had an overall theme, art in the garden or something like that, which the display gardens reflected. That made it a little more interesting as we walked through the displays. There weren't as many garden vendors as at other shows we've been to, but I still managed to find a couple of cute items. Oh, and Jim made a new friend.

This will look cute in the sunroom.

More yard art.

Jim and friend.

Well, I've survived three weeks of graduate school. So far, so good.Even the Statistics class is pretty interesting. However, I AM glad I let my graduate advisor talk me out of taking a third class. So much work, so little time. Some observations, in no particular order:

• Mandatory preparations for the first day of class include locating the nearest coffee vendor. This is especially important when your classes are held from 6 - 10 pm.
• I can still do the cross-campus dash in under 5 minutes. Thank you Leslie Sansone!
• The downtown walk/don't walk signs make no sense to me, so I've reverted to the Chicago school of crossing: wait til there's a break in traffic and make a run for it. I haven't lost my touch.
• It seems that the Transit Police can drive on the sidewalk. What's that all about?
• Some things haven't changed: academic types still prefer turtlenecks and blazers.
• Interesting, even after just three weeks, my brain feels like it's running on all its cylinders again, after just chugging along for so many years.

Coincidence?

We went to dim sum Saturday after the Garden Show. This was my fortune:

An optimistic attitude is half of success.

Believe these things or not, but the timing was interesting . . . .

Making lemonade

It’s time for a change. Actually, it’s been time for a change for several years. For a long time I’ve been restless, thinking that there must be something interesting out there that doesn’t involve actually practicing law, but a nice salary, 5 weeks vacation and a job without much heavy lifting kept me nice and comfortable.

Sometimes life has to give you a little push. This one came in the form of an announcement that my office is closing at the end of this year. I had two options: move to Rochester NY or move on. I chose to move on. So I’m embarking on a new adventure.

I’m now a graduate student at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Studies at Cleveland State University, working toward my Masters degree in Nonprofit Administration and Leadership (it’s kind of like an MBA only for nonprofit entities). Classes started this week. All I can say is . . . this is going to be fun!

When life hands you lemons . . .

The great cranberry sauce escapade

Christmas Day started out pretty low-key. We just hung out, trying to stay out of the way while dinner preparations were begun. It was the first time in years that I wasn’t doing Christmas dinner, so it almost didn’t feel like Christmas. So when Katie asked us to run out for some cranberry sauce, we just jumped into the car and headed for the grocery store. Which was closed, of course. Down the road was an open store, which turned out to be an Asian market. It was a neat place, but not only did they not have cranberry sauce, I’m not sure they knew what we were asking for. We then came across a Walgreens. They have a small food section, so we tried our luck there. They had one can of the jellied version left, which we bought. We regarded this as only a partial victory, since we weren’t sure (a) one would be enough and (b) whether we were supposed to get this kind or the whole berry kind. So on we went. We found a Subway restaurant where two police cars were parked, so Jim did his “I’m from Cleveland, my daughter sent me out for some cranberry sauce, do you know where there’s an open grocery store?” routine. They sent us to an Albertson’s, which was closed. In the meantime, we found a Mexican grocery store which only had the jellied sauce in stock, so we bought one can, just in case the can we bought at Walgreen's wasn't enough. But we were still in search of the whole berry sauce. A few consultations with the rental car company map, and we wound our way to a retail district that I recognized, having already been there with Katie, where there was another grocery store. Not only was it open, but it had lots of both kinds of sauce. We grabbed two cans of the whole berry stuff and headed to the checkout. Then it got kind of weird. The clerk asked us if we had a preferred card. We said no, we’re from out-of-town. Do we have a Safeway Card (it was owned by Safeway)? No, we said, but we have an old Dominick’s card from when we lived in Chicago. She practically squealed when she told us that’ll work! So using our old phone number we got the sale price on our two cans of sauce. Off we went, feeling we had saved Christmas and relishing (ooh – sorry!) our little Christmas adventure.

The fruits of our labor! (pun definitely intended!).

Weather shock

In a few short hours, we went from this . . .

To this. Welcome back to NE Ohio!

It is a very GRAND canyon

This was taken as we flew over the Grand Canyon. It was a little hazy that day, but still, it's very impressive from 30,000 feet. One of these days we'll see it from the ground.

Cooking with Jim

Yes, Jim CAN cook! Those of you who have known us for a long time know that for years he professed a lack of a cooking gene. But all those years of boy scout camp outs finally laid that image to rest, especially when we started camping as a family! And now I reap the benefit from all cooking experience, especially at breakfast. Most Saturday (and Sunday) mornings we sleep in, then Jim fires up the cast iron skillet. The actual result varies, but generally involves eggs, bacon or some other meat, onion, bell pepper and sometimes potatoes. Oh, and always cheese! Whatever form it takes, be it scrambled eggs, an omelet or fritata, it's always tasty. Lucky me!

Why poinsettias?

Whose idea was it to pick the poinsettia as the official (or maybe semi-official) flower of the Christmas season? It's actually native to much warmer climates than most of the country has. It doesn't do well in the dry, furnace-heated environment of your typical house. And while it can be drop-dead gorgeous when you first bring one home, it drops its leaves if you just look at it funny. So after a week or two, you end up with a plant that looks like a cross between a flower and a lollipop. But still, every year I succumb and get at least one, just because they do look so good.

Christmas lights in our fair city

Tonight we drove around town, checking out how other people decorated their houses and maybe getting some inspiration for next year. I love doing this. It reminds me of when I was growing up, and we would drive around this neighborhood in Chicago called "Candy Cane Lane," where every house had a huge (probably 6' or taller) lit-up candy cane set up in the front yard, and the houses were completely covered (or so it seemed at the time) with lights.

The Santa in the chair looks eerily real.

There's a cul-de-sac in a nearby development where all the houses on the block get together and decorate the whole block -- I think it's part of their Homeowners Association rules. The sidewalk is covered with lit up archways, and every one (except one notably dark house) is decorated to some degree -- some took it to the max. During the season, traffic is backed up for a couple of blocks and there are crowds on foot. One house even managed to get Santa to take a break from his busy schedule to talk to kids today and tomorrow!

Every year Strongsville sets up a Christmas display in the public square in the center of town. Donations from local businesses, organizations and citizens help fund this annual extravaganza of lights. Depending on the day and weather, it can be quite crowded. Tonight, we had the place to ourselves.

Where Katie and Sean's wedding pictures were taken

Other highlights of our tour:

Our next door neighbors' house:

You knew it would turn out this way . . . part 2

You knew it would turn out this way . . .

This year was supposed to be low-key, Christmas-decor-wise. Since we’re going be celebrating Christmas in warmer climes (it will be warmer, right, Katie?) Jim had me convinced that we didn’t need to put up any Christmas decorations this year: no tree; no angel, snowman, Santa and Christmas tree collections, no village, no outdoor lights. Almost. Then my women’s group needed a place to hold their annual holiday party. I hosted it last year when I chaired the event. Based on that, I knew that all I had to do was clean the house – and decorate! Up went the tree, out came all those holiday collections! Christmas was back in the Groble house! Now if I can just convince him to put up a couple of our spiral trees out front . . .

Christmas trees.

Santas

Snowmen

My angel collection.


The tree