England Trip

I went to England so I could do some research with one of my undergraduate students at the British Library and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.

 

Jesse and I at the British Library

I love libraries and archives, so just that would have been plenty of fun on its own. But when Mom heard I was going to England she decided she would come too. I didn't see much of her because she was off visiting her friends all over the country on her BritRail pass. But we had some fun on the first and last day of our trip in London and over the weekend in Chester.

 

Staying awake and riding the tourist bus on our first day.

Hi Mom!

Tower Bridge

Old and new architecture.

I always knew Mom was a Hufflepuff.

Off to Hogwarts!

We decided to meet up and go to Chester for the weekend. My Fisher ancestors are from there, so it was really fun to see the town. I loved the cathedral, and the shopping streets, and the Roman ruins, and the city wall. 

Baptismal font in Chester Cathedral.
Thomas Fredrick Fisher was christened here.

Cathedral nave

Stone devil high up in the clerestory.

Phoning home from the high street.

Walls went around the whole city.

Most gorgeous stone bridge ever.

We had Sunday brunch with the West family.

On the last day of our trip, I cut out of the library early so Mom and I could go to the British Museum. Last time I worked in the British Library it was actually part of the museum, so I could head down on my lunch break to see the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone. So it did seem appropriate to pair the library with the museum.

 

Greek Hall selfie.

Lewis Chessmen

 

Now that Mom realizes how easy it is to get around England on her own, she probably won't need me around on her next trip. But it was fun to share part of this adventure with her.

Horses!

The horses have arrived for summer! This year we have a mother, Babi, and her two daughters, 4-year-old Layla and 3-month-old Gemmy. All three are Arabian racehorses. Babi and Layla are lovely animals, very nicely behaved, and Gemmy is absolutely adorable, in an awkward baby moose kind of way. She's getting plenty of love, attention, and socialization with us.

 

Gavin

Gavin has had lots going on as well. A few highlights:

 

Cub Scout Advancement

 

Gavin got his Bear award and advanced to the Webelos level. He got his rank advancement at a fun pack meeting where the boys made cardboard cars then ran a "Cub-anapolis 500". Gavin's double-knotted sneakers slowed him down when they came in for one of their pit stops and we couldn't switch his shoes fast enough!

 

 

Piano Recital

 

Gavin played a duet with his friend Owen and a piece called "Highland Jig" for his recital. There is a great group of kids his age that all take piano lessons, it's so fun to see them all perform together.

 

Brother's Day

 

We honored the best brother in our family with some presents and an angel food cake with strawberries and tons of whipped cream.

 

BookKids at the Museum

 

Gavin chose the BookKids book for June: a graphic novel about the Civil War. So we took the group to the Sullivan Museum at Norwich to see the Civil War exhibit. The museum staff were wonderful, they brought out lots of objects for the kids to see and touch. They even let them try on Civil War uniforms and heft the huge cannon. The kids were great, I was amazed at their attention span, they were so excited about everything.

Lucy

Lucy has had a busy spring, and I've been too busy to put it on the blog. So here's a summary of Lucy's activities of the past several weeks.

 

Book Club Anniversary

 

It's been five years since we started the book club! That's 60 books read and 60 fun book discussions. We celebrated with an ice cream cake.

 

 

Track Team

 

Lucy ran track again this spring. She likes the longer distance events best, but participated in the 800m, 1500m, 4x100 relay, and long jump. Pretty much everything except hurdles and throwing stuff. The girls celebrated the end of their season with a tent sleepover at our house. All of them crammed in one tent, on a freezing cold night, but they had a great time. Love these girls.

 

Sister's Day

 

We celebrated Lucy's great sister-hood with an ice cream cake (notice a theme here?) and some presents, including a "gift card" from Gavin for a tub of macaroni and cheese from KFC and some fresh chocolate chip cookies.

 

Driving?

 

I walked outside the other day and saw . . . what? Austin has taught Lucy to drive the tractor! She's mostly just carting the water reservoir around these days but it wouldn't surprise me if her dad got her mowing the lawn sometime soon.

Good news!

I'm starting to think I should play the lottery. The past two weeks I've had one piece of good news after another, and I'm starting to feel like the luckiest person alive. Since this can't possibly last, I feel like I should document how it feels right now to have an amazing job where I am supported and appreciated and encouraged to do interesting things.

1. Homer L. Dodge Award!

Norwich gives one big teaching award every other year, the only recognition for teaching that is offered on our teaching-centered campus. I have fantastic colleagues who chose to come to Norwich specifically because they love teaching. So it's absolutely awesome to get nominated for this award and even better to actually WIN! Especially since winning comes along with a packet of support letters written by colleagues and students and a nice, fat check. I'm enjoying the brief break from the under-appreciated feeling shared by all teachers everywhere.

I'll wear this getup to give a speech at Convocation in the fall.

2. Dana Summer Research Grant!

I put in for a competitive summer research grant to finish up a couple of articles and get some progress going on my book, and I got it! It means I'll have lots of writing to do this summer, but the funds will help send the kids to summer camp (if I can get them to go -- otherwise, I may have to bribe them to create their own summer camp schedule. All I know is, I'm writing.)

3. Maymester Proposal Approved!

My proposal was chosen for the inaugural Maymester program -- I get to take a dozen students to Germany next May! And, darn it, I'll have to make a reconnaissance trip before that to check out some accommodations and make sure you really can still get to all those fun, historic places from Augsburg on a train. Austin and the kids have generously offered to come with me to help. So nice of them.

Maybe Christmas would be a good time for a visit!

4. Free trip to England!

One of my students got funded to do summer undergraduate research on Catholic minorities in England, and he wants to work in a regional archive. So I just go approved to go with him! I'm going to help set him up and try to build some connections with the archive, so I can get original materials to use for in-class research and, I hope, send more students to work in England in the future. Mom has been wanting to go to England so she's going to come too, visiting family and doing some exploring while I am at work. I'm so excited!

A week in Stratford-upon-Avon? Yes, please.

5. New Computer!

I have had my computer for barely a year and a half, but it was giving me some trouble because it was running so slow. When I took it to IT, I was informed that I was on the list for a replacement. I kept insisting that it hadn't been three years so I wasn't actually eligible for a replacement, and they kept insisting that I was on their list and they had a new computer for me. I finally decided to stop arguing with their list. Now I have a lighter computer that's nice and fast to use for all my work this summer!

6. Library Classroom!

The library is being renovated, and they are putting in two fancy new classrooms. I put in an application to hold my fall Historical Methods class in one, arguing that the library is a lab for history students.  It got accepted! So I'll be holding one of my fall classes in a great new "pod" instruction space with all the latest technology and options for flexible arrangements. 

7. Wolf Hall!

I loved the Hilary Mantel novel about Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII, and I've been surprised and thrilled with how great the BBC adaptation is. New episodes have come out weekly over the past three weeks, but the DVD is now released so I can watch the rest whenever I get in the mood. Such a great series. I can't wait to use this in my fall Reformation class. 

8. Spring is here!

It's been a tough winter, but it appears that summer will actually make an appearance this year. The big pile of snow on the north side of the barn is almost gone. I decided I wanted raised beds for gardening this year, and within a week our handyman had made and installed them and the local greenhouse guy had delivered a load of dirt for them. All ready for planting!

9. Book Club!

Lucy and I are hosting the mother-daughter book club this week on the 5th anniversary of its founding. We're planning a party to celebrate 60 book club meetings that started when she was in second grade. Now she's going into eighth grade. I love these girls and moms and I love this tradition. 

All these 4th graders are now in middle school, and still love books.

Not everything is completely perfect. The dog has a double ear infection, my windshield has a big crack across it (thanks, mud season), and the big barn is falling down. I have stacks of papers to grade. My fence is in dire need of paint and the chicken coop has got to be dealt with. Life goes on. But wow, it does feel nice to bask in good things for a while!

The Noble Gnarble

The elementary school spring play this year was "The Journey of the Noble Gnarble," a sweet little story of a bottom-feeder fish who decides to swim to the top of the ocean. Gavin was a one of the Subbalubbles, singing jazzy song about trying to eat the poor Gnarble as she swam by. The costumes were wonderful -- I wish I'd managed to get a good photo of their fishy tails!

The fangs were the perfect touch.

 

The Subbalubbles

Subbalubble psych-up before the performance.

Big song and dance.

The Gnarble gets caught at the surface!
(Don't worry, she escapes!)

Proud of our performer!

Easter Weekend

We started out our family Easter weekend by attending the community Passover Seder at Norwich. It's funny how this tradition is often the most spiritual and contemplative of the events of my Easter week. It's not because it's relaxing -- this year, as usual, I helped a crew of volunteer students organize and host a Seder for 50 people. Maybe it's because of the rich symbolism of the Passover foods, and the fact that we actually sit and talk about what they mean?

 

3-D Seder Plate

 

These students were great to work with.

Post-Passover frivolity. Gavin's sharp eyes found the afikomen again!

On Saturday, we blew out some eggs, then colored them, then decorated them with feathers, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners. These kids get more creative every year. And Austin came up with an awesome bright red crab with pipe-cleaner legs. Next year, I think we should do our egg tree in advance, like the Christmas tree, so we can enjoy the decorations for the weeks leading up to the holiday.

 

Indy didn't seem much bothered by the bunny ears Lucy insisted she wear. She's becoming a pretty mellow dog. We let her take them off to snuggle on the couch with us while we ate Pillsbury bunny cookies and watched The Hunt for Red October. That's another family tradition, a bit hard to explain, mostly having to do with singing "bunny cookie" along with the heavy Russian background music. I think this is the first time the kids really understood the movie, so they were a bit worked up and it took a reading of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes to settle them down to go to sleep.

 

Easter morning dawned to a few inches of fresh new snow, with more snowflakes drifting down. The kids were up at the crack of dawn to see what presents they got, and I got up with them to put the cinnamon monkey rolls in the oven. It felt like Christmas.

 

The bunny got creative this year, bringing baskets made of everyone's favorite candy boxes. The kids got some books and little Lego sets, so we spent some time building Legos this morning and watching the snow come down. I felt like I needed to keep checking the calendar to make sure it really wasn't late December.

 

Austin found the perfect gift in his Hot Tamale, SweetTart, and Sour Patch Easter basket. Yep, that's John Stockton and Karl Malone on the coolest pair of socks ever.

 

This Easter happens to be one of those years when General Conference falls on the same weekend as Easter, so we hosted the missionaries, some of the college students, and some local ward friends for brunch and then watched Conference. So Austin got to wear his new socks all day today. And we got to sit around in a sugar coma listening to wise words of church leaders. All around, a pretty great day.