on my way to work today...

i saw this big bird (black vulture)... he was just hanging out and sunning himself on top top of the power poles...


he did look at me, but he was not concerned (he was too far away for me to be a threat)... but the power-company people were gearing up to go back to work on the lines in that area - glad he had a place to hang out and get warm


i am so happy that i had my camera with me!

peace

so...

i had another phone interview - sounds like a great place to be, minus the fact that it will be much colder in the winter than here - potential bonuses: a job that is close to what i have been envisioning as my "ideal" job; closer to columbus-family; chance of a basement; and lilacs : )

we shall see - i will post an update as i hear - they suggested that i would hear thumbs-up or thumbs down within the next week or so...

so, we had a power outage for about an hour this evening with threat of huge storms - we didn't get much here in leland, but the loss of power - after the rain and during the power out sera went out to investigate her favorite part of the back yard and i got the picture of her "brains" =


we also had some WAY-COOL clouds going on:




and then as the light left (still before the power came back on) some cool moon pics:



enjoy the pics and keep looking for updates re: jobs : )

peace

and the newest quilt (6 years in the process)

this is the quilt for donna - started while we still lived in ohio.



the fabric is more bright than it looks in this picture, but...this is the pattern "simply squares" that i got from quilt beginnings in ohio. and a mixture of fabric bought for the project and some fishy fabric.

i had to unquilt a bit - well, more than a bit - about half quilted but not well quilted by me. so i just unquilted the damn thing and then had to requilt it. i am still picking out some threads, but i decided to emphasize the squares and quilted it on the diagnal then went around the edge and then a few inches away from the edge. then used the backing fabric for the binding - matches - the fabric on the front. looks good, wonder if donna 1) still lives in ohio, 2) still wants the quilt 3) wants the $50 she gave us for the quilt 6 years ago...

i guess i need to contact her soon...will send a card and see what she has to say.

peace.

wating to hear...

so, during spring break this february, i traveled down the winter haven, florida. this was not for Spring Break! - this was for a job interview...i flew in on thursday night and left on friday evening, but it was a ton of fun and i think it went well - i had a chance to look around town a bit and it really seems like a neat little town


and a very nice college (2-year).


i think i would have a ton of fun working there and maybe even setting up some limnology stuff there - they have a degree offering for ecology (limnology) but no limnology class (how crazy is that?) i would love to develop a limnology class for them, but i would have to learn more about alligators, too - i was told that there is at least one alligator per water body (and some cool water-type birds)...


i remembered to send them a thank you card (thank you to fonda for actually sending it to me so that i could send it to them - i am a dork and forgot to get it while i was at home [eye roll to self]). and then last week-monday i called them to see what the progress was...now i am just feeling impatient...i want to know thumb-up/thumb-down so i can continue my life...it has been frustrating because all i have gotten to date (minus this one) has been "thank you, but, no thank you" kind of letters and i am ready for some good news regarding a full-time job.

i know i can work at brunswick in the fall, but i really don't want to.
yes, i have been having a great time working there.
yes, it has been a tremendous learning experience.
yes, i have enjoyed the people i have been working with in terms of my new cohort of teachers and the great support staff...but - i really would like to have benefits, better pay (adjunct teachers aren't paid worth shit), and fonda and all the kitties together in the same place. i really miss living with fonda. just the normal everyday stuff.

i wish there were no sounds of NASCAR going on in the next room (god, save me!).
i wish the washer didn't smell like someones idea of "mountain fresh" (yuck).
i wish there was no dishwasher and the dishes were all clean to MY specifications (ewww).
i wish for no alcohol in the house again, unless it is for beer-batterd food (yum).
i wish for a sober roommate (god, save me!).

i want go home.
i want a full-time teaching job so that fonda and i can afford to live together again.
i want to go to CA to visit with the family and see Tracey graduate
i want fonda to go with me to CA
i want to hear from florida so i can make plans...

i need to keep breathing and relax. peace for now.

the newest addition to the quilt family

the fish lasagna quilt: mixture of machine and hand-quilting - background is machine quilted - this quilt started as a fun quilt for lasagna and then i felt like it was just a good background...decided that because all of the fabrics were "asian" fabrics, that i needed a good "asian" theme - a koi and moon...



a bit closer to the head: you can see some of the hand-quilting



and the eye...i messed with the eye...using #8 Pearle cotton with some sparkly stuff with it woven (satin stitch) and then back-stitched to define the eye...if you know me, you might have expected to see two eyes on the same side of the head, but i just couldn't do it and make the fish still look more real...sigh.



around the bottom edge are hand-stitched symbols for "water" and "koi fish" and the elemental symbol for "water" (not pictured, but think of an upside-down triangle)





around the top edge are symbols for "air" and "wind" and then the elemental symbol for "air" (not pictured, but it is a triangle with a horizontal line through the top)


the following should be turned 90-degrees clockwise, but couldn't get it to happen at this point...oh, well, you get the idea


i am really happy with how this turned out and i am proud that this is my work.

peace.

link to simon's cat (C)

I love this guy and his cat "simon's cat" on youtube!



easy to get caught up in his stuff - my total fav is:



have fun being brainless.

peace

so, ok...

now i had "spring break" and that was busy, but different kind of busy.

i had a job interview in Winter Haven, FL - Polk State College. an up-and-coming community college that has had something close to 10% growth each year for the last few years and they are looking for (tenure track!) professors to start in August. i was excited by a phone interview...then they called about an in-person interview and i was over the moon...i was also lucky that it was spring break last week and i was able to fly down on thursday and then back on friday. they are reimbursing me for travel and so all is well. i am really excited, but i am trying not to obsess about it. there are a few other people who are also being interviewed for this position. i am hoping i made a good impression and indicated that i am really excited to jump in and get busy with the job. i am keeping some fingers crossed just in case.

i was also a dork because i forgot to send them a thank you card while i was home...fonda ended up sending me one and i just sent it out this morning. i, of course, didn't write it out before writing on the card and had to make a few changes to the card before it could go out...thank god i bought some cardstock. fonda made it and it is pretty and she did some edits to get it ready to go to them - like a "thanks so much" and a swirly to cover a blip...if she would have just waited until i got my hands on it, she wouldn't have been worried about a blip. : )

now i have to send out the receipts so that i can get some kind of reimbursement. i really do not know when they will make the decision, but i am going to remain on some kind of pin or needle until i hear thumb-up/thumb-down.

oh, i have made 2 quilts since i have been here - one for quilts for kids and one for my housemate's new grand-baby (to be born soon). they chose the fabric and i made it. want to make some kind of blankie for gma and ggma using the same fabric, but i haven't gotten to that point yet. also, i have my fish lasagna quilt-top done, sandwiched and envelope-stitched now it is pinned and i will be stitching the waves/wind soon...and i have donna's quilt picked and re-pinned to be sewen and sent to her...one of these days. i am happy about being able to quilt the darn things, mostly i have been doing straight-line quilting, but for the fish lasagna quilt it will be some free-form waves...maybe today...sigh...

i think i am ready for the next week's classes and lab so now it is all about getting things done so we stay ontime for the end of the class and not too rushed.

wanna quilt more than read for class, but i understand the process...also the stress about the job in FL. i have gotten so many rejections and then to have this interview and then that kind of stuff...anyways...all i really need to do at this point is keep breathing and there is nothing else i can do at this point, but keep wishing : )

peace and breathe...i will post pics of the baby quilt soon, forgot to take a photo of the quilt for kids quilt. and then the fish lasagna.