Best summer ever?
I know, it's been over a year since my last post. But I've been planning this post for awhile now. Labor Day weekend, I would post about all of the awesome things that have happened this summer. And I would talk about how it's been the best summer that I can remember in adulthood (it's hard to eclipse the endless summers of childhood). But then I received the terrible news that my dear friend Anne passed away yesterday. I talked to her husband Rick last weekend and she was supposed to start chemo on Monday (not even a week ago!) and the prognosis was good. And now she's gone. I'm so sad to think that I will never see her again, and my heart aches for Rick who is suffering so much. But I'm going to make this post anyway. It's hard to know where to start.
Work life: I finally got a proposal funded! My proposal to the "Energy for Sustainability" program at NSF was well-reviewed and my collaborators and I have been awarded support for 3 years. This will enable me to hire a new graduate student to start working on this project. The funding wasn't official until this week, but I received the first unofficial notice while visiting my two best friends from high school (more about that later). It was very nice to be able to celebrate with them. And my research group has published several papers this summer as well - including one in a very good journal that we have been endlessly revising since we first submitted it nearly a year ago. Now hopefully we can leverage that into funding for that project.
The house and yard: I've had a lot of fun fixing up the house this spring/summer, will post photos soon. My parents came out for a weekend and helped me put in an awesome flower garden. It's an endless delight. And I had a patio installed, it's a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the flowers and birds. My veggie garden has been plagued with bunnies - 4 nests, meaning about 30 baby bunnies. I complain a lot about these, but in reality the dear little things are delightfully cute. The real problem is that dog likes to catch them and eat them. Fun for dog, painful for me to watch and unimaginably awful for the bunnies. I've installed an owl house and hope to attract one of the local barred owls to move in. Then hopefully mama rabbit won't think my garden is a safe place for her broods.
Other stuff:
(1) Surprisingly, "Lord of the Rings" had one-day re-release in the theatre. My awesome friend DeDe and I caught each showing. Which reminds me of Anne - my then-husband and I met Anne and Rick at a Lord of the Rings fan event. Charlie and I were sitting by ourselves, didn't know anyone. Anne came up to us, introduced herself, and invited us to sit with her, Rick and their friend Becky. That's exactly how she was - always thinking of others and making them feel welcome.
(2) George RR Martin's "Game of Thrones" series finally had a new installment. I had been waiting for nearly 7 years for info on some of my favorite characters, so it's an understatement to say that I devoured that book. And I should add that Anne and Rick were the ones who introduced me to those books. I'm so sorry that I never got to discuss the newest book or the HBO series with her.
(3) *Awesome* Chicago get-together with my two best girls from high school. I finally got to meet Mary Kate's husband and kids, who were even more wonderful than I expected. The last time the three of us had been together was at my wedding nearly 11 years ago. And before *that* we were last together for a brief visit in 1996. That was one year after our high school graduation and to celebrate being back together again, we all got a small tattoo. So *this time* we got tattoos again. Shannon and Mary Kate went small again, but I decided to go all out and get the tattoo that I had really wanted the first time. I got this great red/black/yellow dragon across my upper back. I love it. I should post a photo, but am too lazy. And of course, it reminds me of the pirate ship that Anne and Rick built in their back yard, "The Red Dragon's Revenge" (http://www.reddragonsrevenge.com/).
(4) Family get-together in Gatlinburg. We finally made it back to the Chalet that we had all visited back in '94 and '98. We had a great time and missed those who couldn't be there. We should do it again soon!
Work life: I finally got a proposal funded! My proposal to the "Energy for Sustainability" program at NSF was well-reviewed and my collaborators and I have been awarded support for 3 years. This will enable me to hire a new graduate student to start working on this project. The funding wasn't official until this week, but I received the first unofficial notice while visiting my two best friends from high school (more about that later). It was very nice to be able to celebrate with them. And my research group has published several papers this summer as well - including one in a very good journal that we have been endlessly revising since we first submitted it nearly a year ago. Now hopefully we can leverage that into funding for that project.
The house and yard: I've had a lot of fun fixing up the house this spring/summer, will post photos soon. My parents came out for a weekend and helped me put in an awesome flower garden. It's an endless delight. And I had a patio installed, it's a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the flowers and birds. My veggie garden has been plagued with bunnies - 4 nests, meaning about 30 baby bunnies. I complain a lot about these, but in reality the dear little things are delightfully cute. The real problem is that dog likes to catch them and eat them. Fun for dog, painful for me to watch and unimaginably awful for the bunnies. I've installed an owl house and hope to attract one of the local barred owls to move in. Then hopefully mama rabbit won't think my garden is a safe place for her broods.
Other stuff:
(1) Surprisingly, "Lord of the Rings" had one-day re-release in the theatre. My awesome friend DeDe and I caught each showing. Which reminds me of Anne - my then-husband and I met Anne and Rick at a Lord of the Rings fan event. Charlie and I were sitting by ourselves, didn't know anyone. Anne came up to us, introduced herself, and invited us to sit with her, Rick and their friend Becky. That's exactly how she was - always thinking of others and making them feel welcome.
(2) George RR Martin's "Game of Thrones" series finally had a new installment. I had been waiting for nearly 7 years for info on some of my favorite characters, so it's an understatement to say that I devoured that book. And I should add that Anne and Rick were the ones who introduced me to those books. I'm so sorry that I never got to discuss the newest book or the HBO series with her.
(3) *Awesome* Chicago get-together with my two best girls from high school. I finally got to meet Mary Kate's husband and kids, who were even more wonderful than I expected. The last time the three of us had been together was at my wedding nearly 11 years ago. And before *that* we were last together for a brief visit in 1996. That was one year after our high school graduation and to celebrate being back together again, we all got a small tattoo. So *this time* we got tattoos again. Shannon and Mary Kate went small again, but I decided to go all out and get the tattoo that I had really wanted the first time. I got this great red/black/yellow dragon across my upper back. I love it. I should post a photo, but am too lazy. And of course, it reminds me of the pirate ship that Anne and Rick built in their back yard, "The Red Dragon's Revenge" (http://www.reddragonsrevenge.com/).
(4) Family get-together in Gatlinburg. We finally made it back to the Chalet that we had all visited back in '94 and '98. We had a great time and missed those who couldn't be there. We should do it again soon!
posted by Laura at 11:42 AM
1 Comments:
Laura, so sorry for the loss of your friend. Glad that you have great memories of her to cherish.
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