My back up for this assignment

My originial plan was really cool, but I also knew that the weather might not hold out. And sure enough, it didn't! So here is a picture of car parts today. Steve came in the other morning frantically wanting my drawing skills (which by the way are non-existent!) I can draw trees and stick people, that's about it. But I summoned my superhero abilities and was able to draw this masterpiece for his classroom. Can you guess by the back end what kind of car this is supposed to be:)

Puffballs and dreams

Too many meetings to go to this week. Do I walk my 3 miles or take more time on pictures? Well, my pictures the last two days HAVE been wretched...I suppose I can skip walking for one night! Saw these puffballs on the lawn while looking for an enthralling picture. I remember Trish's lone dandalion from the other day and also Dewitt Jones's Extraordinary Visions DVD and his "next right answer". He waited too long to photograph a field of spring dandalions and returned to find only puffballs. But he was not deterred. He ended up lying on the ground and taking a picture of a puffball with the sunlight streaming through its delicate seeds. Here are my puffballs, no Dewitt Jones, but still beautiful to me. Little reminders that the days are passing into summer and my school frustrations are coming to a close.

My mortal enemies

Within these frosty little bottles are my mortal enemies. Little soldiers that singularly torment me. Bits and pieces of all of the many things I am allergic to. Cats, weeds of all sorts, at least three types of trees, several types of food, you name it. Every two weeks, I'm injected with these little vials of liquid so that I can become stronger. It has taken me three years to get up to maintenance level which means I am now injecting the strongest doses possible. What does that mean? It means I can be outside now without having an asthma attack. It means I can pet a cat without suffering mortal agony. It means life and freedom and above all, it means I can take a deep breath! How grateful I am for my mortal enemies!

2 Corinthians 12:10 (New International Version)
10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Moving stinks

'nough said.

Definitely a picture just to stay in the contest because who on earth documents boxes of books, drawers and exercise stuff? Ugh!

Mother's Day

The longer I live, the more I become like my mother. I can't help it! I just randomly do something to make myself look ridiculous:) But the more I see her gentle spirit, the more I see her selfless attitude, the more I see her do funny things to get a laugh, the more I realize...I do want to be her someday. I want to be the one who makes silly jokes and hums without realizing I am. I want to be the one who makes little kids giggle and adults roll their eyes with a smile. Mostly I want to be the one my daughter depends on, for strength, for faith, and for the example of how love should be given and received.


My grandmother, another pillar of strength in my life, chose the chinese buffet for dinner today (she is finally admitting that she likes chinese food) and we all met for some lunch and fun. I was trying to get Madilyn to laugh which is when I had the epiphany that I am becoming my mother. She then grabbed the camera and began her quest to digitally idolize my stupidity! This is called an animated gif, like Joel (thephotositake.blogspot.com) did a few weeks ago. Great idea for time lapse photography and weird series like this one:




Then I tried my own: Actually only one of these pictures was taken by me! Mom grabbed the camera and started shooting away, so Mom, here ya go! I love you!

Who said anything about New Jersey?!?

Must be losing my mind...when I agreed to chaperone a field trip with my RPI students, I guess I missed somewhere in there that we would be traveling to New Jersey! But we did, to the Buehler Challenger and Science Center in Paramus New Jersey. The center is dedicated to the Challenger astronauts and their mission and what a great experience it was! The kids spend some time learning to work as team, just like a real command crew would. Here's an example:

Crossing the room like that is no easy feat! There were other challenges and then we divded up into two teams, a mission control team and a space shuttle team. My team went into the shuttle simulator first.

Wow, that was cool. Each of us had a different job, from communications to robotics to probe building to navigation. Oops! Emergency! A water vapor leak endangers our communications systems.

After about 45 minutes, we switched and entered Mission Control. Here the kids and I get a lecture about what our job will be as we complete the mission of the lost Challenger crew.

One interesting thing that happened was we had an oxygen tank go out and had to fix it within 5 minutes. The crew in the shuttle and the kids in mission control did some math and figured it out...with just 5 seconds to spare! It was a great experience, the kids had fun, and it really was all about the team work. Though I'm tired and cranky now, I'm thankful for the chance to go and for the smiles, laughter, and learning we ALL had today:

Goodbye, blue sky