Goodbye Summer--- Hello Fall!

I have been so in denial about summer’s ending that I have mostly refused to check my email this weekend—not wanting to acknowledge that classes, and the whole semester, begin this week! It seems that I have been more reluctant than ever to let summer end—it began so beautifully with an emergency management conference in Emmitsburg  (always lovely to see old colleagues and meet new ones),

Elizabeth’s visit, which included beach trips to Cape May,

Rehoboth
and running up to New York City to meet Sophia’s young man, Tait,

and an Amish buggy ride through Lancaster County.
Next came some shopping, and a few college tours for Elizabeth.
In July, Ed and Fawn and I enjoyed a day exploring Herring Point

and having lunch in Lewes. That’s also where I took some great shots with my new Sony camera.

Finally, August brought a trip to SanFrancisco ...

...to attend the ASA annual meeting, which included being picked up at the airport by my son, Michael, and meeting his lovely Annie.

This was the cherry on top of an already lovely summer! ASA also included a pre-conference tour of sustainable wine growing in Sonoma...

...which also included wine tastings... (yes, note the plural!)...

And I also took a combined day trip to Angel Island (exploring the history of Pacific immigration) and to

Alcatraz (to explore the history of this island as a notorious prison from which everyone wanted to escape but very few actually did!).

In between, I finished Chapter 4 of my dissertation and have been working on purging papers stored in the garage. This weekend I’ve purged and cleaned my office, rearranged the furniture and now I am soooo looking forward to writing there in the coming months!

Yes, summer is over… sigh…The Old Farmer’s Almanac  

forecasts a terrible winter much like the brutal one we had last year. I’ve decided to treat myself to some great new boots (already ordered) and a great cashmere sweater to make it all bearable. Haven’t found the sweater yet, but this will give me something to do and look forward to. I’m also mentally preparing for revising Chapter 4 and drafting Chapter 5. It will be great to be done! It’s been a long time coming.

In between I will also be developing several new programs at work, as well as Chairing the Curriculum Committee. It’s also time to put the plans together for a family beach vacation at a pet friendly place for next June. In my spare time (haha!) I will continue to purge—and that feels oh so good!

Hello Fall! I might as well get used to you being here J.

Labor Day Weekend- Musings

It's Labor Day weekend in the US-- it signals the social end of summer because school starts right after Labor Day. For many, school started last week if not the week before, but after Labor Day, the summer ends seriously! Stores that have been stocked with back-to-school supplies will have a clearance sale and all the Halloween merchandise will now be put out.

Mentally, I'm not ready.  I had hoped to get in another beach trip, but instead, I'm cleaning my home office (which really needs it!). Reluctanctly, I cleared the beach paraphernalia out of my car and am loading it up with stuff to donate, take to the used book store, or consign. Besides emptying out my clothes closet, I am also purging the office. Yes, cleaning out is fruitful and I love the process!

Today started off with an impromptu trip to meet my daughter at Janssens Market for coffee... we were waiting for Talbot's to open because she needed to get uniform apparel for her new teaching job. The plus to this morning's experience was running into an old friend and colleague!

Sigh... all these things were good, but now I have to mentally prepare for the coming winter, which, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, is supposed to be just as bad, if not worse, than last winter. So-- I will be shopping for some serious boots and a gorgeous cashmere sweater, and try to find a bargain southern getaway for Ed and I around the end of January. We deserve it- I just need to find someone to babysit the dog!

Checking Out

Ok- I knew this day would come-- has anybody else had this feeling? You know, that feeling of now you're floating around on your own with no place to call home? No anchor to help you feel secure?

It's that time between checking out of your hotel room and the hours and hours before your flight departs. What do you do in the meantime? Where do you hangout?

For me, I guess it means taking up residence in the hotel lobby....finding a seat to call my own and settling in with some reading. Hmmmm...there's a lot more to this concept called home... amazing how a few hours of displacement can be so unsettling for me!

Jawbone and My Walking Routine

One thing about cities is that you certainly do a LOT more walking! On Thursday by jawbone noted gat I'd walked over 4,000 steps, and yesterday I walked over 6,000 steps, and today I walked over 10,000 steps! Today those 10,000 steps equated to 4.8 miles and I burned over 1600 calories just by walking. Whew! It's the suburban lifestyle of always getting in the car that's do unhealthy. Looks like I need to move to the city!

Saturday Morning in San Francisco

My wonderful new Sony H400 camera battery died right at the end of the winery tours yesterday, and when I got back to the hotel I found out I didn't have the right charger to recharge the battery! Sigh... So it was up early this morning and headed for the City Target store who directed me to RadioShack who directed me to the Discount Camera store around the corner--

Success!!! Turns out that this camera's battery charges in the camera but I needed a cable to fit so it could be plugged into an ordinary wall plug. The bonus was a lovely and interesting conversation with the camera man- who explained why Sony cameras were such good cameras and how Sony came to build their camera business. Sony acquired Konica Minolta on the 1990s when electronics companies became so diversified that some of the, including Konica Minolta wanted out of the digital camera business. According to Allan, the salesman who helped me, Sony management visited all Konica Minolta factories, shut down several and reorganized the digital camera business-- all without laying off anyone!

Then I also found out that the camera that's a level above mine, although it has lesser zoom, does have a German Carl Zeiss lens!!! Sigh and doublesigh.... for now, I'll do with mine-- it's not shabby-- 63x zoom and 20+ megapixels-- makes for clear photos when your style of shooting is on the go!

After a few hours of charging during which I took a much-needed nap, I'm now back in business! Yay!