lollipop, lollipop, oh lolly lollipop - LOLLIPOP!

Seriously, folks. Doesn't this card front make you smile and think of that 1958 song?
The drawing has a definite similarity to my scribble flowers that I draw from time to time. No, you haven't seen one of those yet? I promise to remedy that in the near future.
Meanwhile, here's the latest to my youngest brother.

"Dear Tony,

What wonderful news about all the birthday wishes you received! Woohoo!!"
[Aside: I had created an "Event" on fb for his birthday and invited family and friends to send him birthday cards or Halloween cards. I also included a link for them to send him money.]

"I have some wonderful news, too! Michael and Melanie's two little girls were born last Wednesday! Yep, on October 29th, our family got its first set of twins ever. Mama and Frank would have loved that. Alyssa came first, at 5 lbs 11 ounces (pretty big for a twin!), and Leila arrived 3 minutes later, at 5:11 Am, weighing 5 lbs 1 ounce. Both babies and mom went home on Saturday. I'll try to get a photo for you in a few weeks, maybe around Thanksgiving. Right now, they're saying Leila looks more like Michael and Alyssa like Melanie, but... they just look like babies to me!
[Aside: Seriously. It's actually not that easy for babies to imprint on me. Of the two, I think Leila may be the one who does it. Even with her eyes closed, I was rocking her -in the crib, mind you! - at the hospital.]

I had meant to share that bit of news with you last week, while I was enjoying some of the Savannah Film Festival. However, somewhere along the way, the card I brought fell out of my bag. I had to keep pulling my sweater out and putting it back in - those theatres were so cold! But the films were all very good, at least the ones I was able to see."
[Aside: A little white lie there. The card did fall out at one point, but I was able to retrieve it. Then, I thought it might be interesting to pretend a kind-hearted stranger found the blank note in the addressed & stamped envelope, a stranger who decided to go ahead and mail it anyway, after writing a brief note in the card. I think Tony will get a kick out of it!]

"Tonight, I give my students their fourth test. Only one more and the final exam! But, as you know, it isn't lecture that bogs me down as much as Lab does. With lecture this term, I've not even been using notes to organize my thoughts - I've taught this for that long!"
[Aside: This term has marked my 20th year of teaching survey chemistry for the future nurses and radiology techs and nuclear medicine specialists of the world!]

"But grading all of those lab papers - ugh. Only two more labs, this week and next, and that will be over!
Well, until January. :-)

I'll catch you later!
with my love!"

gay marriage and debates with grandpa

This afternoon, the 17th Annual Savannah Film Festival screened "Limited Partnership"...and I found myself flashing back to me as a 17-year-old, debating gay rights with my grandfather.
I was in tears for most of the documentary.
I remembered reading about two men who had gotten married to each other, right here in the USA. The year was 1975. That summer, on one of our trips to Waycross to "vacation" with my mother's folks, Grandpa and I started having our debates.
On what topics?
The differences between religions.
Women's rights, in and out of the workplace.
Flat tax versus the pro rata type still in use.
Gay rights... and gay marriage.

I had not realized, until I was watching the film, that THESE men, the couple in THIS true story, were the ones which had instigated some of our debates.
Tony Sullivan and Richard Adams.
An Australian and a Filipino-American.
The two men were successful in obtaining a marriage certificate in Boulder, Colorado, on April 21, 1975. It wasn't because gay marriage was legal there...but it wasn't illegal, either.
Unfortunately, the federal government refused to recognize the marriage as bona fide. Tony was to be deported anyway. And so the story unfolded.
All I could think about was how much I missed Grandpa.
I remembered Mama and Grandma talking in the kitchen, aghast and amazed that he and I were having such discussions.
I was raised Southern, in the 1960's and 1970's, and James Robert Lee, my grandfather, was a former traveling Baptist minister.
Take a moment and try to consider that.
It truly was a momentous thing for a teen-aged girl to be holding such debates with her almost 60-year-old elder in a small town in Georgia.
And now I was in the presence of one of the men who had been the subject of some of our discussions.
Tony Sullivan was there for a post-screening Q & A session.
I think I cried through most of that, too. He was looking at me, as you can see in the photo above, no doubt curious about why his story had such an effect on me.
I have so many friends, through the decades, who have had to deal with this kind of strife.
How sad to think there is still so much bias in the world.
Yes, it's getting better... but so slowly.
It's been almost forty years since these two men wed. Richard died last year, leaving Tony alone to continue the fight for all people, everywhere, to marry the one they love, to make that commitment for life.
I hope that fight will soon be over.
Love is such a precious blessing. Two in love should be able to lawfully become one.

musical note for the ex

Good thing he doesn't have a job like this!
When I read this, I laughed!
To heck with the drug raid - get that grilling recipe!

Who would better appreciate this than my ex?
No one, that's Who!

who wrote the book of love?

Not me, I assure you.
This began as a "Thank-You" note to the bfe, then developed into this little book, full of thoughts of him gathered along the way.
Crazy, right?
Yeah, maybe.
Probably.
Here it is, so you figure it out and let me know, okay?

Oh, one more thing.
You're no doubt wondering why I didn't actually use one of the many actual "Thank-You" cards I have handy.
Good question!
I was going to use one the fancy blank cards I bought at MOAS some time ago. However, it turned out I had more envelopes than cards, so... I improvised.
I knew I had several clippings to enclose and didn't want the envelope to become too heavy.
The 'book' just followed from there.
Serendipity...

ain't she a peach?

Let me start off with this: Today has been an excellent day.

Sure, it began (for me) as 57 degrees Fahrenheit at 10 AM, which is definitely not a preferred temperature in my book.
Top that off with a nearly empty refrigerator, as I have yet to go to the grocery store. No milk, no English muffins or bread, no Sweet Thing.
So, I called up my middle brother.
'Want to go to breakfast at IHOP with me?'
He replies, "Sure, but give me fifteen minutes. I was just taking a beer over to my girlfriend. She's all down about having lost her job."
'Okay, that'll work for me.'
Then he says, "Well, if I do that, I won't have time to get any trim this morning."
'You know what? We don't have to do this today, Ronnie. We'll get together for brunch some other time.'
He gratefully agreed and was gone.

Brunch still sounded like a good idea to me.
I checked the Galley menu: Garlic Orange Chili Shrimp Stir Fry. omG! One of my favorites! And Sloppy Joes, too! Yum!
So, off I went to the southside to dine!
And it was soooo good!
I even ran into one of my favorite former students (Hi, Janet!) and a couple others that I like, too. (Shout out to Jonathan and Jasmine and Jacob!)
I even stopped by the Fine Arts building to obtain a ticket for the next Masquers' production, "The Pillowman". A scary tale for a Tuesday evening, but I think I'll be up for it. Plus, with my Faculty ID, it's free!

I paused for a moment to smell the warm roses in the sunlight.

Afterward, I decided to go give blood. It's been 56 days, plus a couple.
Amazingly, the donor center was busy! Very good!
That meant the whole process took a little longer than I had planned, but that's okay. As I told Natasha, after her third apology to me for the wait, 'Hey, I have no problem waiting a little while when y'all have so many willing donors here. That's a very good problem to have!'
After about 90 minutes total, I was completely done and out the door.
Good!
I'll be able to give again just before Christmas.

Next on my checklist: go early vote!
I was a little dismayed when I pulled into the parking lot and saw how many cars were there. Prepared for a wait, I proceeded ahead anyway... and was pleasantly surprised at how few people were actually in line!
Alrighty then!
I performed my civic duty, graciously received my "Georgia peach" sticker, and went off to accomplish the next item on my checklist.
Downtown I headed!
It's time for the 17th Savannah Film Festival! Time to purchase my Savannah Pass, for magical admittance to all of the daytime films, documentaries, and shorts. Oh, yeah!
True, they did raise the price 50% this year. FIFTY PERCENT.
Ouch.
But, I had been gifted the money, so I paid.
I've even already marked some collections to be sure to hit!
And I'll even have a little money to pay for parking on those weekdays downtown.
Good!

Then back to home! Throw the mail in the house! Turn on the porch light!
Zip back downtown to meet the bfe for dinner!
And I surprised him by being a little early - good!
We dined on ceviche (both) and steak tacos (him) and chorizo fajitas on rice - very good!
We ate at a leisurely pace, taking our time, chatting and laughing and soaking up each other's company for the next two hours - best of all!
Then, time came to jet over to the Muse Arts Warehouse for an offering from the Psychotronic Film Society. The Found Footage Festival was celebrating its tenth anniversary of dredging through VHS dreck for highlights and we were there to enjoy the frivolities!
After all, for Christmas of 2012, I had given the bfe two volumes of their work, after seeing the show in 2012. (I had also given two other works of theirs to my nephew, Michael.)
We bought tickets for the raffle and guess what? I won! It's a DVD of the stop-motion animation works of Bruce Bickford, a collaborator with Frank Zappa. I look forward to watching it with the bfe some future evening!

Nick and Joe were quite entertaining tonight as they presented their most recently garnered video clips in Volume 7. Some bad music from a preacher, some crazy facial exercises, Swedish sex instruction for the blind, "how to" do cybersex ... you get the picture? Pretty crazy stuff, captured by viewing hours and hours of bad video.
Then they bounced back to two guys from their first year of the Found Footage Festival. John and Johnny were two salesguys hawking everything from sunglasses and jewelry to ladies' clothing on cable television. Entertaining? You bet!
Then Nick and Joe decided it would be really cool to track these two guys down and reunite them for a trip back through time. Major coolness, right?
So, that's what they did. And John and Johnny, now middle-aged gents, agreed to reprise some of those old sales pitches they'd done for the shopping network. And to allow Nick and Joe to tape the scenes for this latest video. Cool! What good sports they were!
Then Joe told us how the evening progressed from there.
They all went out to hoist a few brews to celebrate the completion of the mission. Then the four guys had a few more beers, as the night wore on.
Then Johnny, being the most ribald of the group, grabbed the ketchup bottle and said, "Hey! Want to see me turn this into some fruit?" At which point he turns his back, then whips back around with the bottle at his crotch and says, "Ain't she a peach?"

I laughed!
I was the only one who did.
Joe said I was the only one who had ever laughed at that story.
Honestly?
I have a middle brother who does stuff like that all the time - and he has done so for almost twenty years.
I guess other folks must lead pretty sheltered lives.

The bfe didn't get up and move, so that's a good thing.
The librarian, sitting to the other side of me, stayed put, too.
Friends.
Today was definitely an excellent day.

sending seashells 2 sue

Dear Sue,

I tore these out of the paper some time ago, specifically for you, then buried them under the perpetual mess which is my dining room table.
No longer!
Now that they've been unearthed, they need to travel away from here before another stack of papers lands on top of them.
Seriously! :-)

During the school year, when lab papers are constantly raining down on me, the table becomes my workspace, with only a small area reserved for my morning coffee and meals.
That's okay.
Come mid-December, school will be over and the table top will be visible once more!
Well, at least until mid-January, right?

Enjoy these thoughts of you!

with much love always
to you and your family!

I so enjoy these word puzzles!

The caption reads "After his plastic surgery, Donald Duck had"
and the answer is
"BILL PAYMENTS"

Cute, right?

This one's 'aside' reads:
The last time Mary ever asked a patient to tell her something "in your own words".
Meanwhile, the patient is babbling gobbledy gook.

That's pretty funny, too!
I'll have to be sure to use that in the future.
(smile)

So, now you know a little about my little sister, such as one of her favorite things and what type of work she does.
Pretty cool, eh?
(smile)

i'm walkin', yes, indeed

Tonight marked the fourth time that I've participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's "Light The Night" walk.
As part of the support group from Armstrong State University, representing the College of Science and Technology, I was team captain of the "Cheering Scientists Toward a Cure" bunch.
I originated the team name, with some help from Cynthia Graves, in 2011, our first year of participation as a group.
Here's the team page and my page.
Even though the event is over in Savannah, donations are always welcomed for the cause!

Here I am with my dear friend, Marilyn O'Mallon. She and I have known each other a LONG time.
She was a student of mine, once upon a time, earning her Bachelor's degree in Nursing.
Now, she has a doctorate and is a faculty member in the College of Health Professions. Here's her team's page for the walk.

She had asked me to be a team captain last year and I had accepted.
After all, I had been part of the Chemistry & Physics Department for almost two decades.
Getting folks there to support the cause should be fairly easy, right?

Silly me!

At least
I had
the good sense
to create
my own
T-shirt
in honor of
the event!




By the week of the Walk this year, I knew I would not earn a lighted balloon to carry, the LLS' commemorative T-shirt to wear, or the title "Champion for Cure". All I needed for that title was a mere hundred dollars to be donated to my page.
I did try to earn the funds.
I sent emails to the professors in each department of my college, to alert them to the team and to request support, either by joining the team or providing funds. I challenged them to give up the cost of just one cup of coffee, one fast food meal, one 6" sub.
I graced bulletin boards in the Science Center with posters of the event. (Just like the one above!)
Two students from CST joined the team.
No one, except me, donated any money.
That's right.
No contributions from Engineering.
No contributions from Biology.
No contributions from Computer Science & Information Technology.
No contributions from Psychology.
No contributions from Mathematics.
No contributions (except mine) from Chemistry & Physics.

Yeah, that last one was disappointing, but hardly surprising.
Still, I had hoped for at least some token support.

I had even appealed to my family and friends, in person, via emails, and by use of facebook requests.
No takers.
Rather, no givers.
(smile)

That's okay.
There's always next year.