Hatch

This is my friend's project, and I'm pretty impressed by it. They've considered the Millennium Development Goals and are focused on sustainability. It would be great to see them raise the money to be able to get these into action!

bowl full of jelly

Adjusting to a warm/hot Christmas has been interesting. I still find that Christmas creeps up on me, because it will take a long time until summer break and being warm are cues for the holiday season. This year I've done rather well, and didn't have to do too much last-days-before-Christmas shopping. However, it dawned on me today that having swimsuit season coincide with Christmas is just unfortunate. I think most people join me in gaining a few kilos over the holidays, with so many yummy things to eat and drink, and plenty of time for get-togethers. Sometimes I just wish it were sweatshirt weather so my belly doesn't have to be on parade.

christmas cards

yes it has been a very long time since i last wrote a blog. things have been good but busy. we went on a month-long holiday to cali where we saw a heap of people we miss. i also got to spend three weeks on said trip wrangling sea lions and sticking them with many needles. needless to say i loved it. i've just finished my masters, so perhaps i will have more time? we'll see.

anyhow, all i really want to say is that i went to start working on christmas cards the other day and didn't get any further than to delete two people off the list. that sucked so much that i just quit after that. well, actually i deleted three, but that other person is just getting deleted because of a divorce. the other two are gone. forever. and that sucks a LOT. i had no choice but to delete them off the list, though, because there's no way around the fact that i can't send them christmas cards. argh.

brush brush brush

i sing this to myself just about every time i brush my teeth. thanks, yo gabba gabba...

of montreal and kangaroo alliance

my grandpa was awesome.

SZABAT JOHN FRANCIS
Age 83, of Mount Lebanon, on Monday, March 7, 2011. Husband of the late Hazel A. Szabat; devoted father of David J. (Alice) of Lincoln, NE, Ronald (Maryel) of Potomac, MD and K. Jeffery (Sandra) Szabat of Santa Fe, NM; brother of Helen Brink; loving grandfather of Gretchen, Mark, Amelia, Danny and Jessie; great-grandfather of Oliver; also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. John was a distinguished polyurethane research chemist, an author of numerous US and International Patents. He spent his entire forty-one year professional career with Bayer (Mobay). John was passionate about his family, traveling, golf, politics and an avid conversationalist.

...and he had the most distinctive accent and phrases. He's going to live on through the impressions that my family can do!

being a mum

i have two good friends traveling in new zealand right now. it's close to 24 hours since the christchurch earthquake and no one has heard from either of them. there are so many explanations for this, and their itinerary should have them on the north island by now...but worry continues. logically we know that it is unlikely that they are affected in any way, but the emotional part of me won't be ok until we hear from them. i felt like crying last night after talking to S's mum who rang here to see if i had any leads for her. looking back i realized that the people who were the most worried all day were mums. not necessarily mums of the girls, but mums in general. i'm pretty sure that i wouldn't be as worried if i wasn't a mother right now. it's like after having a baby your worry or empathy switch gets turned on and maybe set on overdrive. at least as a Christian i know i don't need to take on the burden of worrying! in a time like this i can't imagine not having God in my life.

led zep

i'm on a major led zeppelin kick at the moment. fortunately my son doesn't mind it; in fact he declared "d'yer mak'er" to be dancing music. so yes, i'm listening to houses of the holy and haven't gotten out any other albums yet. it's funny how certain music can cue memories. despite having listened to this album repeatedly in my life, every time i hear it i am transported back to being 19. the album is playing at an after-show party in lincoln, the host is making spaghetti for the band and trying to find spots for them all to sleep. i can't remember who they were but they were a punk band from north carolina. i'm sitting on the couch with one of the guys who lived in the house and we're talking about how completely awesome this album is. up until then i had only heard my parents play it. then my friend patrice walks in and says "hey gretchen, you have great legs". and i thought to myself that i really didn't want to have to go back to college in a couple days because this was just so much fun. it's funny that these are the only details that i can remember, and that patrice is going to go down in my history for that quote more than anything else she ever did. but i feel like i've forgotten so many details of my life, so i'm happy i can actually remember all this.