April 26, 2007: She's baaaack!

Look what's in the newspaper one more time:

Jenny the donkey's owner cleared in court

By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Thursday, April 26, 2007

PITTSFIELD -- The woman who owns Jenny the donkey has been cleared of any wrongdoing in connections with the animal's escapades earlier this year.

Mary Gaeta was in Somerset County District Court in Skowhegan on Wednesday to answer a summons charging her with animal trespassing.

Gaeta's donkey, Jenny, made headlines across the nation in February after escaping from Gaeta's farm, Mary's Garden, and spending more than a month avoiding numerous capture attempts.

Pittsfield police issued Gaeta the summons in response to neighbors' complaints on Feb. 20, just a day before Jenny was captured.

Gaeta said the case was dropped on Wednesday.

"They called my name and some man got up and said, 'This has been dismissed in the interest of justice,'" Gaeta said. "To me it was a waste of my time."

District attorney Evert Fowle said his department took Gaeta's age, 70, and her clean record into consideration in dropping the charge. Fowle also noted Jenny had not been free since she was captured in February.

"Our office thought that human wisdom dictated giving her a second chance in this regard," Fowle said. "Justice tempered with mercy sometimes is the way to go."

Jenny, who made headlines thanks to her ability to avoid human contact, now receives regular pats on the head from Gaeta and her partner, Joe Varricchio. Equine expert Karina Lewis, who was instrumental in coaxing the donkey into captivity, continues to work with Jenny.

"She's not as skittish as she was," Gaeta said. "I can pat her and I can brush her hair."

Craig Crosby -- 861-9253

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

retrieved April 30, 2007 from: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3846625.html

April 24, 2004 missing that springtime weather in Texas . . . NOT

This just came across email at UNT, issued by the National Weather Service at 2:00pm:

200 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 230 PM CDT
FOR DENTON COUNTY...

AT 200 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
DENTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
KRUGERVILLE AND AUBREY BY 205 PM CDT...
RAY ROBERTS PARK ISLE DU BOIS BY 210 PM CDT...

HEAVY RAINS MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS STREETS...DITCHES AND
UNDERPASSES. AVOID THESE AREAS AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS THEY
MAY BE WASHED OUT.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT TUESDAY EVENING
FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only to be followed by this one that was issued at 2:10pm:


BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
210 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHEASTERN DENTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...

* UNTIL 300 PM CDT

* AT 210 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR OAK POINT...OR ABOUT NEAR LAKE DALLAS...
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
KRUGERVILLE BY 215 PM CDT...
AUBREY BY 220 PM CDT...
PILOT POINT BY 235 PM CDT...

EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES FOR A STORM SHELTER OR PERMANENT BUILDING. IF
NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH AND COVER
YOUR HEAD.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

quarter-size hail, floods, tornadoes, . . . aaaah, springtime in Texas. It must be time for the Byron Nelson Golf Classic.

Spring Break

April 14-22 is Spring Break here at UMF. I went back to Dallas for the week and worked at UNT. It was very hectic but I did get to see a bunch of friends and have some fun besides. Then, all of a sudden, the time was up and I was back on a plane to Portland, Maine. Now I only have 18 days and it's back to Texas for graduation (Friday May 11) and a family reunion (May 10-12).

The Dean sent out the email below to everyone in the College of Education, Health, and Rehabilitation while we were on spring break:

------ Message ------
From: Katherine Yardley
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:40:10 -0400
Subject: Theresa Overall

Hi All,

Please join me in congratulating Theresa Overall who has accepted the Visiting Professor of Secondary/Middle Education position. She will be assuming Mike Muir’s position while he is on leave. Theresa will be offering the introductory course, in addition to courses in technology integration and classroom management that are part of the Secondary Block.

Please join me in wishing her well!

Kathy

Katherine W. Yardley, Dean
College of Education, Health and Rehabilitation
University of Maine at Farmington

------ End of Message ------

Looks like there might be 3 more years worth of Life with the Mainiacs and I can't wait!!

Snowshoeing

I actually did get to go snowshoeing. It was a while back and I was waiting to write about it when I got the pictures and video figured out. Then I forgot about it. I promise to write more later, but meanwhile, I did figure out how to upload the video of the momentous occasion. The video is actually pretty hysterical. If you click on this link below, you can read all about it before you view it. The link is going to take you to another website (podbean.com). After you laugh at the video, click your browser's back button to come back to this website.

http://texastheresa.podbean.com/2007/04/14/snowshoeing

Going to the movies

I think the last time I went to a movie in a movie theatre was before I started my master's degree in 1997. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I really think that's true. If I went to a movie with you, would you please email me and remind me. Even if I did go to the movies in the last 10 years, it has only been once or twice. It's very safe to say that I rarely go to the movies in the theatre.

But now that I've finished that dissertation . . . I've been 3 times in Farmington!! The theatre is close, there's rarely a line, the seats are comfy, and the price is incredibly reasonable. Best of all . . . I have time to do it! And can go guilt free. :-)

In February I saw Dream Girls**, in March we went to Bridge to Terabithia, and Thursday night, in the middle of all the Friday the 13th snow, we went to see Firehouse Dog. There were probably 10 people there and 1 employee. So Judy, the assistant manager would sell a few tickets, then go work the concession stand, then go start a movie, then come back. She was very nice and efficient. It was kind of fun. How small town can you get, eh? We were the only ones in our theatre. We talked during the movie and laughed out loud whenever we wanted to because we could.

BTW, I can highly recommend all three of those movies.

**see the Feb. 7 posting "cigar box under the counter" for details about the movie theatre and the movie Dream Girls

Friday the 13th Weather

It started snowing last night and snowed throughout the night. We awoke this morning to probably 6 inches or more of snow but it was 31 degrees most of the night so it's not too icy or anything. The streets are plowed. But it was a very wet snow and so we lost power in the night, probably due to fallen lines or trees falling on power lines due to the weight of the snow. We lost power at some point, but I slept through it. I had to reset the microwave clock before I could cook my oatmeal. Other than that, I wasn't affected too much. Walking to school was interesting, though, because there was falling snow everywhere. I walked home in a beautiful white snowstorm last night, but this falling snow was big blobs of snow falling off the trees that shade the sidewalk in summer but provide diving boards for snow clumps on days like this. It was like getting hit by lots of tiny snowballs being dropped instead of thrown. I should've used my Mr. Tumnus umbrella.

Most schools were let out early yesterday in anticipation of the storm and some had late arrival this morning. UMF canceled all classes after 5pm (I wonder if the classes that start at 4:30 but last until 6 were canceled or only met for 30 minutes or what they did). But we had no delay this morning. So I didn't have to try to pretend that Friday the 13th was a holiday to keep up with my "it always snows big on holidays" theory. There's a big storm in the west heading this way that is scheduled to hit here Monday with lots of snow. And Monday is Patriot's Day! It's a New England Holiday. So the storms hit Texas Independence Day and Patriot's Day. How appropriate is that??

But we're not the only ones with wacko weather. I just got this email on my UNT email:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu
Subject: Be aware of evacuation and shelter plans in the event of severe weather today
Date: April 13, 2007 10:25:47 AM EDT
To: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu

Weather forecast for today includes the possibility of significant severe weather -- including damaging winds (up to 60-80 MPH), hail, tornadoes and localized flooding -- all campus building representatives are asked to make sure the faculty, staff and students in their buildings are reminded of the building's shelter and evacuation plans.

Currently, the forecasts include projections for rain or possible thunderstorms from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, the greatest potential for severe weather is predicted from around 2 p.m. throughout the evening.

In the event a severe thunderstorm warning is issued for Denton, and damaging hail or high winds appear imminent and especially in the event of a tornado warning, people will need to take immediate shelter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Definitely Friday the 13th weather. And I'm glad I'm not leaving until Saturday morning for spring break in Texas. I can survive being in either kind of wacky weather but am not too excited about trying to fly through it.

March 25, 2007: But Wait! There's More

As if a 3 mile walk around the lake (with Benny and Cassie, the dogs, in tow) and all that traveling weren't enough, we went to a concert that night. It was actually MRM and I that attended and Creston joined us. It was really good. It was a concert by a French Canadian music group (which sounded an awful lot like Cajun music to me and they even played some Cajun music) with a local fiddling group as their warmup.

I saw Paul, who's on the Univ. Culture Comm. with me, at the concert. Turns out his daughter is one of the fiddlers. They're going to Ireland in a few weeks and this was a fund-raising event for them as well as a concert for us. The guy who plays fiddle in the quartet is a music teacher at the local school and the director of the Farmington Fiddlers.

The concert was in Nordica Auditorium at UMF, named for a famous opera singer from a long time ago. The acoustics in the room are fabulous and the woodwork throughout is gorgeous. I only wish the chairs were a little more comfortable. ;-)

I really enjoyed the music and even bought a CD!

March 25, 2007: A Walk Around Lake Minnehonk

At the second Sugar House, RBF ran into an old school chum, Christine. She and RBF literally went to a one-room school house . . . not that they're that old but that the rural area they come from is that small. We met Christine's husband, Wayne and before I knew it, we accepted their invitation to walk around the lake to the other side and see their home which is built inside a rescued old garage/gas station. It was a gorgeous walk through the woods, and the house was unique and wonderful.

Along the way, we saw the lines and buckets that their friends who own the Sugar House use to collect sap. It's not one bucket for every tree anymore. They run tubes from tree to tree to tree that then empty into a larger communal bucket.






This ATV came by twice. Look! It has a snow plow on the front (well, a front end loader maybe, but it was going to be used as a snow plow).


Check out the view of the lake from their deck:





They invited us back to do smelt fishing or kayaking or swimming. Wowser. I think I'll have to take them up on one of their offers. They were gracious hosts and a lot of fun. :-)

March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday Part 2

Then we went to Mount Vernon. We had lunch in the Olde Post Office Cafe. Creston lives nearby, so we gave him a call and he joined us. The Cafe had actually had so many customers that it was out of nearly everything, but we managed to find something to eat and had a good time. Then we ventured out to find another Sap House from the listing we had from the newspaper. We found one!

Sunday March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday

Maple Syrup folks all across the state celebrate Maine Maple Syrup Sunday by opening up their syrup houses and giving tours and free samples. MRM and RBF took me to two sap houses. The first one was just east of town and RBF actually knew the family.

This sap house was giving away maple syrup sundaes: vanilla ice cream with maple syrup on top. Yum!!




Above: MRM watches the process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out the gorgeous scenery around us:

March, 31, 2007: Melting Snow

You would think that spring would be on its way. Birds are coming and snow is melting. Little did we know . . .

Meanwhile, here's the majority of the yard around my house being uncovered by Mother Nature.

March 28, 2007: Faculty and Staff Appreciation Dinner

Dr. Grace invited me to this dinner a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure what it was, but I agreed to go. It sounded fun and it was a free dinner. It was a blast. Turns out a student organization puts on this dinner every year to appreciate faculty and staff. We all got a beautiful wooden frame that said UMF on it and had the date. I was taking pictures anyway, so I was going to have something fun to put in my frame.


One side of our table, L to R: Grace, Rhonda, Mary


The other side of our table, L to R: Kristin, Beth, Theresa

Little did we know that it was going to be the award-winning table! Our department really hauled in the awards!

L to R, Dept. Chair Rod, Beth, Grace, Kristin, Mary


The Blues Sisters L to R: Mary, Grace, Rhonda (who's actually holding someone else's award)


Kathy (early childhood) received two awards and Ralph (technology integration for elementary education and department chair) won one, too.

April 4, 2007: The Home Stretch

I have another 8am breakfast at The Homestead. This time, Maggy, who's on the committee and in the Department, said she would pick me up and take me to breakfast. That was very nice. And breakfast was nice, too. This time it was Ralph Granger who is the technology integration person for elementary ed (and also Department Chair for elementary ed), Dan who is the instructor for content literacy who let me teach his class the day before, and Maggy and her husband.

Though I had worked on this third presentation the night before (and for several days before that, too), it wasn't finished. So when we got back to the building, I had to scurry. I got everything up and running and was adding slides to the Keynote presentation as people were entering! Talk about cutting it close!! I started on time, but everyone had seen those last slides being created. :-)

Fortunately for me, it was an audience of people who aren't researchers, so I didn't have to get too specific about the statistics and the pure quantitative research but instead could focus on what did the research really say and what are all the fun stories that go with it. Shwew! I had fun for the third time!

I met with someone from the library who gave me the official tour of the Curriculum Center. I'd been there before, but was still oodles to learn. Then off to lunch at The Granary for one last celebratory meal. Sheena, who is on the University Culture Committee with me was having lunch at the same place so she came over and wished me luck. I think the committee was impressed that I knew someone outside of the department. :-)

Then I had to hurry back and sneak back into my own life and hurry up to teach my own classes! And suddenly, it was all over. The 48 hours flew by. I had a blast.

April 3, 2007: A Full Day of Interviewing

8am I was supposed to have breakfast with the Dean. It was snowing, so MRM drove me to the restaurant. I was ready to leave in time to walk on my own and was actually looking forward to walking in the snow. But when she offered, I jumped at it. I decided it really would be better to not have to walk if I didn't have to. Then it turned out the paper didn't come and she wanted to go to Mickie's Hallmark and get a paper. So we went to Mickie's (they open at 6am just for their newspaper-buying customers) and walked around until it was time for my breakfast.

Breakfast with the Dean was really nice. Breakfast was yummy, too. She dropped me off at the Education Center and then drove away to find a parking place. Oooh, getting door-to-door service is very nice!

I got ready for my presentation to the class. This presentation is actually a teaching opportunity and the 2 student members of the search committee are students in the class. It turns out I could've taught anything I wanted related to technology integration, but since I knew the class was content literacy, I tried to find out what that was and then talk about integrating technology into content literacy. I had borrowed a classroom set of Palms from UNT and brought them with me after the February break and will take them back when I return in April. How handy that I have them! Guess what technology the content literacy class is going to learn about. ;-) The beauty of that presentation is, the Palms are so captivating, it will make me look good. AND, they really are a viable and powerful tool for use in content literacy. I had a blast! I used the document camera to show what was happening. I have taught using Palms a million times with only talking people through it, but if you can add a visual component, both auditory and visual learners will have better success. I knew we had a document camera, so I tried it out earlier in the week so I'd be familiar with it and then actually taught the class how to use it and made them brainstorm ways they could integrate it into their content area teaching.

After that, the 2 student members of the committee took me to lunch in the dining hall and then gave me a campus tour. They knew I'd been here for 3 months so they asked me what I wanted to see. I had a list: dorms, the fitness center, Preble Hall, and Roberts. They were all places I hadn't seen. It turns out the 2 students are both Resident Assistants (RAs) so they gave me a GREAT tour of dorms. We hit the other spots on my list and even went to the Media Center in the basement of Roberts. Neither of them had been to that place and were just as fascinated as I was.

I had a little break and then met with the Department Chair, the Director of the Teaching and Learning Cooperative, the Director of Field Services for the College of Education, the Provost, and the professor who teaches special education for Secondary/Middle Education Department. Shwew! Then I met with the Practicum team before going to dinner with the Department Chair and his wife, and 2 other members of the department (both of whom are on the committee).

Day 2 over and successful!

April 2, 2007: Monday night

Walking home tonight, I felt like Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Ahead of me was a lamppost with snow slowly falling in the lamplight. The snow was wet and heavy so it made nice big flakes but it also got me wet, so I was holding my umbrella, just like Mr. Tumnus when Lucy found him at the entrance to Narnia.

I got home around 10, after my "Make Your Vita Come Alive" presentation and dinner at The Granary with three members of the committee. MRM had already gone to bed, but when I came in the door I heard her yell, "Is that my roomie?" And next thing I knew, she was coming down the stairs asking how it went. What a great roommate! It was great to tell her all about the presentation (and since she had seen the rehearsal she knew what I was talking about). And since she's a librarian, she actually understood my Mr. Tumnus analogy, too.

April 2, 2007: Canadian Geese on their Way to Canada

I saw a Robin on Sunday but on Monday morning on the way to work . . . Canadian Geese! You always hear about their flying south for the winter, but guess what. They fly north for the summer! On Tuesday, MRM took Cassie and Bennie walking down by the river and she said there was a huge flock of them there. Later, she even heard them talking about it on the radio. Apparently, it was an exceptionally large flock (or several flocks). I only saw one, but that's all I needed.

April 2-4, 2007: On-Campus Interview

I wrote this when I couldn't get to the Internet and then forgot about it. Ooops. That's why this is out of order. But it's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm waaaaay behind in posting. So much has been happening. :-) So just believe the dates you see in the Title or in the posting and not what the date is that I wrote it. And there's no guarantee that everything will be in chronological order. Sorry!

April 2, 3, and 4 was the beginning of the 48-hour marathon on-campus interview. I've been teaching the classes this semester for Mike Muir who is on sabbatical. He has also been approved for a 3 year leave of absence (well, technically a 2 year leave of absence with a 1 year extension) starting in fall 2007. They announced the 3 year position and I applied for it. (They did a national search.) I made it to the first round and had a phone interview. Now I made it to the next round. I'm one of two candidates who were invited to campus for further interviewing. I'm very impressed with how hard they work to make sure that an internal candidate has no advantage over an external candidate. Our schedules were exactly the same including a campus tour (I actually wanted to have that since I've never had an official one) and an orientation visit with the committee chair when you first arrive on campus. I had to give 3 presentations, eat 6 meals with search committee members and others, and have 6 half-hour interviews with various folks. It was exhilarating and exhausting simultaneously.

Sunday night, MRM, RBF, and Creston came to the Education Center and let me practice my first presentation on them. My schedule said, "Make Your Vita Come Alive." Eeek! On Monday night I was to meet with the search committee and present my vita. (If a resume is the highlights of your education and work experience, a vita is the opposite. It's the comprehensive list of everything you've ever done.)

Having been on several these search committees, I know how brilliant this plan is. Typically, some committee members read vitas thoroughly and some don't, and different people read different sections they like best, and on top of that, by the time you're down to campus visits, all the vitas you've looked at start to blend together. So by having each candidate present their vita, everyone's on the same page. It's a great idea . . . for the committee. But for the candidate . . . it's daunting.

I was making a Keynote presentation (Keynote is a presentation software like PowerPoint only better), and found myself continually going back to my theresaoverall.org website to find out dates and URL's and other info. So I finally thought, "Why don't I just present from my own website?" So that's what I did. And what was fun about that was that the time invested in the presentation was actually also an investment in something that I wanted to do anyway! I could've ended up with a presentation that I would only use once in my life. Instead, I got to play with my website. :-)

Anyway, MRM, RBF, and Creston brought a pizza and I had a chance to make sure I could get the presentation technology to work and to see if it was possible to talk about myself without sounding conceited. I gave the three of them a copy of the ad that appeared on higheredjobs.com and said, "Let me know when I'm done if I addressed all the qualifications they're looking for." On top of that, I was so glad to have someone time it 'cuz I really didn't know how long it was going to take. I encouraged them to ask questions along the way and they did. It was actually very fun!

And when it was time to do it for real on Monday night, it was a breeze. And it was also fun all over again. :-)

April 8, 2007: Whoopie Pie

What's a Whoopie Pie? Well, according to whatscookingamerica.net, "Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. They're one of Maine's best known and most loved comfort foods. Mainers will even claim that they were weaned on whoopie pies. In Maine, these treats are more like a cake than a pie or a cookie, as they are very generously sized (about hamburger size). they're so hug that you'll want to share one with a friend. A big glass of milk is almost mandatory when eating a whoopie pie.

"A whoopie pie is like a sandwich, but made with two soft cookies with a fluffy white filling. Traditional whoopies pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter. The original and most commonly made whoopie pie is chocolate. These cake-like whoopie pies were considered a special treat because they were originally made from leftover batter. According to Amish legend, when children would find these treats in their lunch bags, they would shout 'Whoopie!'"

Though they're not much alike in flavor or texture, I think one could say that Whoopie Pies are the Moon Pie of the north.

Whatever you call it, I ate one. And I ate the whole thing! It was good. ;-)

April 8, 2007: Happy Easter

Grace and I went to St. Maxmillian Kolbe parish for Easter mass this morning. They had ~40 voices in the choir but they all wore robes and the pianist/organist was also the director and also sang one of the cantor parts.

After mass we were starting our tour of the Eastern shore when Grace noticed that Nestled Ducks, a local tourtist/souvenier shop was open. Fortunately, she didn't mind pulling over. I had a field day. No, I can't write about what I found 'cuz maybe it's for you. ;-)

Then we drove everywhere and took a bazillion photos. We got into Old Orchard Beach (the honkey tonk part of town) and the "Pier French Fries" stand was open. Oh my. Yum city!! I put vinegar on mine. Who ever heard of that?! Fortunately, Grace let me try hers first to see if I liked it before I put it on mine. Oh, I liked it very much and immediately put vinegar on mine.

We drove to (not in a logical or sequential order . . . sorry) Kennebunc and Kennebuncport, Hill Beach, Fortune's Rocks, Biddeford, Saco, Camp Ellis, Cape Porpoise, and many others I've already forgotten but enjoyed immensely. Yes, I saw Dad Bush's "compound".

We then made it to Grace's brother's house for Easter dinner with her mom and dad. Her brother, Mike, and his wife, Helen, cooked a delicious meal: leg of lamb, squash, mashed potatoes, peas, asparagus, gravy, and delicious Swedish lingonberry jelly. It's better than mint jelly with your lamb. Dessert was Greek pastry made by a friend of Grace's mother, a vanilla cake with vanilla pudding in the middle, and apple pie. Oh, and a bowl of chocolate Easter eggs and other chocolates.

After dinner, we helped Mike and Helen download pictures from their digital cameras (some from last December) and make a CD backup of the files. And we watched the final round of the Master's Golf Tournament. I was sad Tiger's winning streak ended, but I was excited for the kid who beat him.

Then we came back to the house and worked on our proposal EVEN MORE! Neither of us were hungry for dinner but around 7, I ate my Whoopie Pie. More details on that in the next blog entry.

April 7, 2007: Lobster Dinner

YUMMM!!! My first lobster since August 2004! Grace (my colleague with whom I team teach) and I had a big proposal to write so I came with her for Easter weekend to Old Orchard Beach. We worked from 8am to 4pm on Saturday then went to Bayley's Lobster House to pick up fresh lobster for dinner. She called in our order and when we arrived, our steamed lobsters were waiting for us. We also picked out haddock chowder, potato salad, cole slaw, Maine shrimp (a darker pink than Texas Gulf shrimp), lemons, and tamale (NO relationship to Mexican food tamales that are meat placed inside a layer of cornmeal dough (masa), that is then wrapped in corn husks and either baked or steamed). What a feast!

We took it all back to the condo and spent the next hour enjoying our leisurely and delicious meal. It really hasn't been lobster season until now, so even though I've been in Maine for 3 months, this was really my first chance to have lobster due to availability. But we are at the source here in Old Orchard.

After dinner we took a walk on the beach. But it was so cold we were both in long winter coats with hoods pulled tightly around our faces, gloves on, and wishes for even warmer clothes. I was going to take lots of pictures of snow on the beach but when we got downstairs and walked around the building, I turned on my camera and the battery was completely dead. For once, I only brought the camera and not the case which meant that my backup battery was not available. No pictures tonight!

Manila, Madrid, and Sichuan?

Check out my latest 20 cities:
1) April 6, 2007 8:15 pm: Dallas, Texas
2) April 5, 2007 7:13 am: Quezon City, Manila
3) April 5, 2007 7:06 am: Madison, Maine
4) April 4, 2007 8:23 pm: Boca Raton, Florida
5) April 4, 2007 5:20 pm: Albuquerque, New Mexico
6) April 4, 2007 5:18 pm: Portland, Maine
7) April 4, 2007 9:32 am: Brooklyn, New York
8) April 3, 2007 7:46 pm: Dallas, Texas
9) April 3, 2007 5:40 pm: Orono, Maine
10) April 3, 2007 10:22 am: Saco, Maine
11) April 3, 2007 8:01 am: Orono, Maine
12) April 3, 2007 7:25 am: Orono, Maine
13) April 2, 2007 3:47 pm: Orono, Maine
14) April 2, 2007 2:12 pm: New York, New York
15) April 2, 2007 11:33 am: Orono, Maine
16) April 2, 2007 10:12 am: Sichuan, Sichuan
17) April 1, 2007 4:22 pm: Dallas, Texas
18) April 1, 2007 2:58 pm: Denton, Texas
19) April 1, 2007 11:44 am: Madrid, Madrid
20) March 31, 2007 10:13 pm: Houston, Texas

Who are these people?? How fun is it to know they're reading my blog!

It's cape.

Here's another expression I've heard. The first two times I heard it, I had no idea what anyone was talking about. By the third time, I just asked. Each time someone said, "It's cape," we were talking about houses. One time someone was talking about different houses that were for sale and they described one as cape. Another time, someone was telling where an acquaintance lived and the directions were, "You go down the hill, past the red house that's cape, and it's at the top of the next hill."

Give up?

Cape Cod. They take the perfectly good descriptor, "It's a Cape Cod style house" and shorten it to "It's cape." I guess it should be with a capital "C" ?

April 6, 2007: Is it tar?

I'm spending Easter weekend at Old Orchard Beach with my team teaching colleague. We're putting together a proposal and decided that it was better to just give up one whole day than to try and pound it out one hour a week every week for many weeks. Last weekend was gorgeous spring weather here at Old Orchard Beach but this weekend, there's snow on the beach and we're wearing long coats. But it's still fun and since we're spending most of the time working inside on computers with the wireless internet access, it really doesn't matter.

So Friday night we're driving the 2 hour trip from Farmington to Old Orchard Beach (which is south of Portland) and my colleague is telling me about the choices she's making and why on our route. Outside of Jay, she says, "If possible, we're going to take Crash Road. If it's tar, we'll take it."

If it's tar? Is that like steak tar tar? No, that means if you can see the tar (i.e., the asphalt), then the coast is clear to take it because it's been plowed. Apparently Crash Road is actually the name of the road but it's also what everyone calls that road.

BTW, the road was tar and we did take it and arrived safely in Old Orchard Beach before sunset.

April 5, 2007: Holy Thursday, Batman!

Well, that title sounds a little sacreligious, but I couldn't resist because when I got up this morning there was at least 16" of snow on the ground. And, in keeping with my "all the big snowstorms are on holidays" theme, today's snow is on Holy Thursday, a holy-day which is the root of holiday, and so I'm counting it as the next big storm in my Holiday Snowstorms of 2007.

The University isn't closed but they've delayed opening until noon. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for me because I don't have classes or office hours on Thursday, but today I made 2 appointments with students since I didn't have office hours on Tuesday. I will really be testing the Town of Farmington . . . can they get the sidewalks plowed enough for me to get to the University before 1:00?

Here's the latest weather advisory:
NORTHERN FRANKLIN-CENTRAL SOMERSET-SOUTHERN FRANKLIN-SOUTHERN SOMERSET-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...AVON...CARRABASSETT VALLEY...COBURN GORE ...DALLAS...DAVIS...EUSTIS...KINGFIELD...BINGHAM... FARMINGTON...WILTON...SKOWHEGAN...PITTSFIELD...MADISON...FAIRFIELD
554 AM EDT THU APR 5 2007
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON ...A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL CONTINUE WITH VARYING INTENSITY THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS... BEFORE TAPERING TO SNOW SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 12 AND 18 INCHES...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF FRANKLIN COUNTY. THE HEAVY WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE TREES TO LEAN OVER...AND DOWNED TREE LIMBS. THIS COULD RESULT IN ISOLATED POWER OUTAGES. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL THIS MORNING...BE PREPARED FOR WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS AND BE SURE TO LEAVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION SAFELY. PLEASE REPORT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE ...1-877-633-6772 ...WHEN YOU CAN DO SO SAFELY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...YOUR LOCAL MEDIA... OR GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GRAY FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS WEATHER SITUATION.

March 31, 2007: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for new Education Center

Saturday afternoon UMF had a ribbon cutting for its new Education Center. We've been in the building all semester, but the ceremony needs to be in warmer weather so everyone can travel and you need to be "settled" in the building so it looks lived in. The ceremony was great.

The president spoke and so did three elected officials. They all were interesting and fairly short. My favorite was Janet Mills who grew up in a house that was one of three they removed to build the building. Her only notes were some scribbles on a yellow note card ("a" as in only one) and she never looked at it. She told about growing up here and who else lived in the other two houses and all the "education" that went on in the area. She knew names and dates but focused on the people and their desire to serve others and their passion for education. It was really great.

Here's the president, Theodora Kalikow:


Here's US Senator, Susan Collins who was also honorary chair of the campaign:


Here's US Congressman, Mike Michaud:


Ms. Collins is a Republican and Mr. Michaud is a Democrat and there were a few "bipartisan cooperation" jokes back and forth.

Here's State Representative Janet Mills:


Then they all got together along with Kathy Yardley, Dean of the College of Education along with 2 other folks (I forgot if they were the architect, the builder, or another campaign chairperson) and "cut the ribbon". They each had a pair of scissors and on the count of three they all cut.


This building is "green" as far as being economically, ergonomically, and ecologically sound in its design and implementation. The list of "green" features is phenomenal. The architect and the contractor were in attendance and even had slideshows of the building's progress throughout construction and all of its features. It was fascinating and informative.

And as any reception worth its salt, it had food. But they had really yummy food that was very attractively displayed. (As Chuck always says, "Presentation is everything.")



and just because I could get a closeup photo of it, here's the seal of the University:


I sat in my office with the door open doing some work both before and after the event. Lots of people were giving self-guided tours of the building, so I was glad they could see one of the offices. I had many lovely chats with alums and former professors. UMF was originally a Normal School and for many years that's all it did was train teachers. A home economics curriculum was added and then an Arts and Sciences program. So most of the people who were associated with the University from "way back" had to be in education. I loved hearing their stories and seeing their passion for and love of UMF.

April 2, 2007: Belated April Fool's from Mother Nature

I woke up this morning and there was a snow dusting! Ha! Just when I was writing yesterday about spring. MRM says it was really sleet and freezing rain but it was white on the lawn when I looked out the window . . . in Texas, that's snow. It was drizzly and wet when I went outside, but I figured that was just melting snow. That was all before 9am.

Now it's 11:00am and it really is snowing outside! Big white puffy flakes are coming down. It's great! It's not sticking, but who cares. It's snowing in April and I'm here to see it.

I remember one Palm Sunday in Texas when it snowed during mass. We were in the Fellowship Hall where one whole wall is windows. We looked out and there it was in all its glory. It was our own little Palm Sunday miracle. But in living in Texas for 35 years, that's the only Palm Sunday snow that I remember. Here in Maine, yesterday was Palm Sunday and today is Palm Monday snow. :-)

Here's the picture of the crocus in the snow this morning:

March 31, 2007: Spring is coming!

Look what's budding at our house! These crocuses (croci?) are on the south side of the house.



Of course, winter is trying its hardest to hang on . . .

. . . that's the snow still piled on the north side of the neighbor's house, and there are still big patches of it in our yard, even on the south side. But it's definitely starting to melt.

Today, when I was walking to school, a big red-breasted robin flew in front of me and I could hear lots of birds singing. They say it can still snow in April, and I'm still wearing my long coat on days when that March wind (now April wind) is a blowin'. It was 24 degrees this morning when I got up. In Texas that would NOT be spring.

April 1, 2007: visitors

Just for fun, here's a listing of some of the recent visitors to this blog from the gvisit.com folks (it's a little different info than what the site meter folks show). I'm pretty sure I don't know some of these people personally . . . at least not yet.
1) March 31, 2007 10:13 pm: Houston, Texas
2) March 30, 2007 6:15 pm: Dallas, Texas
3) March 30, 2007 12:29 pm: Oregon, Ohio
4) March 27, 2007 9:44 pm: Cincinnati, Ohio
5) March 27, 2007 9:17 pm: Houston, Texas
6) March 27, 2007 8:07 pm: Jamestown, New York
7) March 27, 2007 9:52 am: Boston, Massachusetts
8) March 27, 2007 9:42 am: Link�ping, Ostergotland
9) March 27, 2007 9:40 am: Winnipeg, Manitoba
10) March 26, 2007 6:49 pm: Toronto, Ontario
11) March 26, 2007 2:42 pm: Brooklyn, New York
12) March 26, 2007 2:22 pm: Albuquerque, New Mexico
13) March 26, 2007 1:50 pm: Providence, Rhode Island
14) March 26, 2007 11:31 am: Bangor, Maine
15) March 26, 2007 11:24 am: North Kingstown, Rhode Island
16) March 26, 2007 11:10 am: Saco, Maine
17) March 26, 2007 10:28 am: Orono, Maine

Happy April Fool's Day!

This is my 90th posting in my blog! I can't believe I've made that many entries. I can't believe I've been in Farmington for almost 3 full months! The time has really flown by.

MRM sent the blog URL out to a bunch of her friends since she's talked about so much in here, it saves her having to write them all the tales of her new roommate. ;-) I knew she was going to do that, so I quickly added a "counter" and a map that keep track of visitors to this site. I'm being read in many different states between her friends, my friends, my family, Maggy's friends and family, and who knows who else is passing along this simple URL. I knew from my own experience that unless you've read a blog before, it's not intuitive how it works. Whenever I sent the URL to friends, I always included a little explanation of how to start in January, where the archives were, starting at the bottom of a page to go in chronological order, etc. But now that others were reading it that I wasn't telling, I decided to rearrange the page a little by changing the archives to weekly instead of monthly and adding an explanation of how to read the blog.

In several phone calls and emails from friends there are references to things that I know they would only know if they read the blog or talked to someone who did. How flattering! And of course, I've written in here about students that are reading the blog. In Classroom Management we talk about "being human" to your students (admit mistakes, apologize when you make one, share your passions, etc.) and establishing a professional yet friendly teacher-student relationship. I guess it's a good thing I never do anything I wouldn't want my students to know about 'cuz then there's nothing to worry about when I write. ;-)

This all started as an exercise to a) learn more about blogging so I could use it in my class, and b) save time by not having to write a bazillion emails to keep everyone posted, I could just refer them to the blog to find out what's going on. It has turned into an enjoyable journey into the blogosphere that I hope to continue.

And speaking of April Fool's Day . . . when you are going to pull an April Fool's Day joke on someone (of course in my case and Dr. Mari's that doesn't have to only be on April first . . . you should be doing those kinds of fun practical jokes all day, every day), you best not write about it in your blog or the recipient may read it and either find out about it in advance or figure out who pulled off that anonymous fun. So those who know me, know that there are many things I am not writing about because I can't in addition to all the things I'm not writing about because there isn't enough time.

So have some fun and think of me . . . I'd be having fun with you in person if you were here with me and the Mainiacs. ;-)