The View From Kalamazoo

International Congress on Medieval Studies organizer materials are due tomorrow, guys and dolls, to-mor-row. Our fax machine is currently sounding a bit distressed at the sheer number of incoming pages. “She can’na take anymore, Cap’tn!”

Otherwise, nothing of interest here.

No significant changes with The Situation. Cork’s about to pop, however, this is just killing me. Bugger this, I say, bugger this. I’ve come to terms with the reality that this is a lose-lose issue, an everyone-will-be-unhappy-with-my-decision-no-matter-what issue, the big ol’ bird from the powers that be to moi.

Very Pregnant Sister made the trek north with truck for a brief visit. Hadn’t seen in months, so the kids enjoyed the visit (particularly with their ohmygodactive lab/aussie mix) complete with requisite Grandparent Spoiling. A good portion of the interior of my house is now in TN – which is a lovely thing. Changing table, play pen, swing, high chair, etc. (and etc., and etc.) are no longer cluttering my living space, and grateful for that am I. I’m through sorting, and have transferred, all male baby clothing through size 3-6m…next round is 6-9m. Have misplaced location of baby jumping contraption, so that will have to travel via box with some clothing shipment. Am busily going through outgrown things of both genders for charity and have already filled three file boxes. Will diligently clean out my ‘outgrown’ (outlost? outshrunk?) stuff, too, as my closet overfloweth with crap I can’t wear. Must get butt in gear to Ebay some of the Divine Miss Em’s stuff and some of my rather nicer items – cash in is never a bad thing at my house…and will support the fantastic growth habits of Young Master Colin (as keeping the kid in shoes is a full-time job – the nice thing about Em is that she was small, and grew not so much at a time. The bad thing about it is that I’m unprepared for Mr. Average Height and Weight’s normal growth spurts).

Oh, this is of interest: decision to repeat 1st grade a dramatic success – Em is getting 10/10 on spelling tests and reading nearly-grade-appropriate material. OMFG. I wasn’t sure I’d see it, after the struggle of last year, wasn’t sure at all… Med switch at the end of the summer most helpful, it’s like night and day. My nightmares about ‘Would you like fries with that?” can be replaced by sugarplums…*whew*

Jerusalem priests brawl over opening of Holy Sepulcher door

[from Mirabilis.ca]:Beer found to be as healthy as wine, and
A coffee a day as health elixir?

These recent developments, and my joy that Dark chocolate is healthy chocolate, leave me more excited about ‘health food’ than ever.

The New York Times today reported the passing of Professor Norman Cantor: Norman F. Cantor, 74, a Noted Medievalist, Is Dead

And in the Kalamazoo Gazette today…regarding the passing of a wonderful scholar, wonderful person…an individual to whom the field is in great, great debt: Otto Grundler. I can’t possibly express my sadness…we’ve been in a flurry for days, now, which has been somewhat distracting. My sadness will only increase.

Addendum: More, much nicer, here. And more to come, a fuller piece, in the Gazette I understand.

Back to the gym today after two weeks of sick kid and early-morning meetings – even how non-attentive to my diet I’ve been, I’m down another 1.5 lbs. *boogies*

Ceramics class last night was relaxing and enjoyable – it’s nice to work with my hands, again. My hand-strength is not what it once was, when I was working with clay and sculpting wax regularly, but my attention to forearms at the gym is beneficial. I have 5 sitting in the kiln room ready to go…we’ll do Raku (Japanese ceramic firing process – each piece is fired in a ceramic kiln until it reaches 1800F degrees. Then the piece is removed with long tongs and placed in a metal can with combustables. The heat from the piece ignites the paper [or wood chips or whatever] causing a reaction with the components (ex: copper) of the glaze. The metal can is lidded and the piece allowed to cool in the reduction atmosphere) for this first project so there will be results pretty quickly (comparatively speaking – ceramics is not an immediate-gratification type of exercise).

Announcements of interest:

Considering submitting a general session abstract for the Congress? Get a move on, as they are due today.

NEH Scholarly Editions Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities announces the November 1, 2004 receipt deadline for applications for Scholarly Editions Grants. NEH Scholarly Editions Grants provide opportunities for the preparation of print and digitized editions of texts and documents that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions, by a team of at least two editors and staff. NEH also invites proposals to digitize and publish in electronic form existing completed print or microfilm editions, or completed series within larger projects. Projects involving significant literary, philosophical, and historical materials are typical in this grant program, but other types of work, such as musical notation, are also eligible. The tenure period is from one year to three years, the earliest beginning date is July 2005, and awards normally range from $25,000 to $100,000 per year. For application materials and information, please go to

http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/editions.html

If you have any further questions, please e-mail the program at <[email protected]>, or call 202-606-8200.

The British Library has just made public a research tool for Shakespeare scholars. They have put online images of all their early Shakespeare quartos (93 copies of 21 plays).

New British Library Integrated Catalogue now live on the web – The British Library Integrated Catalogue has now replaced the the old British Library Public Catalogue on the web.

Animated gif of a lunar cycle. I thought it was pretty darn cool.

h, how I love the long, holiday weekends….the opportunity for end-of-summer projects (read: moving furniture and sending my allergies and asthma into high gear cleaning the hoard of dust bunnies I discovered behind and under) and quality time with the kids (*shriek* “MooOOOOoooom! Colin’s botherin’ me again!”)

Last night, as an apparent extension of the weekend, my darling girl somehow got ahold of a baggie of curry powder (read: Penzeys, damnit) and so there was curry up the stairs…in her bed…on her rug…everywhere. So my house smells good…well, it just smells. Strong curry scent in every room is decidedly unpleasant. Cumin may have been worse, but it’s hard to imagine.

I have a staph staff meeting Friday. Does anyone else hate these things? The good news: yesterday (ADHD Awareness Day, I remind you) I read Shelley the Hyperactive Turtle to Emma’s class. The interesting thing about 1st graders is the totally different tangents a bunch of kids all hearing the same book can mentally wander onto – in addition to hearing about pet turtles (understandable) and a turtle found in the middle of the road and saved by the kid’s parent (relocated out of harm’s way!)(also understandable)… I was also treated to long, drawn-out (and strangely non-linear) tales of pet hermit crabs, big kids who sit at the back of the bus who cuss and throw spicy cheetos at little kids, and something about some kid’s toy telephone being battered by some older kids with a hammer. Heh.

I managed to secure a partial scholarship to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (I had to bring in work to be judged for quality and everything, but still so very unlike the stress of grad school applications!) so I’m taking a class, darnit. Ceramics – haven’t touched clay in probably 15-16 years…but it’ll be a Good Thing for me, I think. I was insanely tempted by the sculpture class – but it was only held during the day (not a weekend), so that was out. This will be good, though, as my last 3D work involved working in steel and bronze (the human figure, specifically) so the change will be interesting…although I haven’t much touched a wheel in gaining on 20 years, so we’ll see if that skill is anything like riding a bicycle.

I git to git diiirty – clay under the fingernails and evr’thang. Woooo Hoooo!

Catching up:

Irreplaceable books lost to fire at library

“WEIMAR, Germany — A fire that ripped through one of Germany’s most precious historical libraries destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of irreplaceable books, although 6,000 works, including a 1543 Martin Luther Bible, were spirited to safety by a chain of people, officials said Friday.

About 25,000 books were destroyed and 40,000 others were damaged by water and smoke from the fire Thursday night in Weimar’s Duchess Anna Amalia Library, housed in a 16th century rococo-style palace, said Ulrike Bestgen, an expert with the Weimar Classics Foundation. …”

Medieval castle for sale in Slovakia for less than a euro

Men From Early Middle Ages Were Nearly As Tall As Modern People (“Height is an indicator of overall health and economic well-being, and learning that people were so well-off 1,000 to 1,200 years ago was surprising” – does mean that people in the Middle Ages were better off than we thought, or that we’re worse off than we think?)

Make your children earn their keep!

Newest addition to my wish list: Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. “This book is one part nightmare, one part medievalist’s fantasy, which makes its villain all the more fitting.” A medievalist as villain. *aaahahahahaha*

Recently bought The ADD/ADHD Checklist by Sandra Rief, which has a nice section with tips for teachers. Also bought Shelley, the Hyperactive Turtle to read in Emma’s class on Tuesday (ADHD Awaewness Day!). It’s cute, aimed at ages 4-8, and recommended by ADDitude Magazine. Am still on the lookout for good book choices for my February medieval gig in her classroom – I have a few books on my wishlist I’ll have to check out at some point, plus I bought Forri the Baker a few months ago, and that is a very fun book. We’ll see.

Show off your geekery with pride: Google in Latin
Refreshing your Latin on your own? Looking for practice? Wheelock online!

Clean up continues at the Museum of Witchcraft after flash flooding last month.

The Little Prince is sick. It’s the first day of school for both KPS and the university – what lovely timing. Actually, it’s been One Of Those Weeks and (at the mid-point) I can only more pain and suffering before me.