Thanksgiving Review
Nov. 30th, 2011 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceitfiannaMy kitchen is stocked, I've slept and feel like I'm regaining my normal schedule after a busy but good break. Since so much happened that I want to talk about it, this is going to be a long and rambling entry.
First off, a reminder, my holiday card post is here.
As there's so much that did happen, I'm going to try and go through chronologically in the hope I don't miss anything.
My travel began early as I went to visit my parents a new way by flying to Baltimore and then taking a train to Wilmington. It worked out well, I like Southwest's seating plan and met my parents at the Wilmington train station as they got off a train from Boston. We then headed down to Lewes and had a wonderful night reconnecting and all trying not to be sick. Both my parents were recovering from an awful cold/flu mix and I was fighting something off myself so it was a pretty quiet night. My parents lent me an interesting book about two women who traveled and discovered a palimpset in the early part of the century called The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels, which I recommend. There's romance, two women who learned the languages of every country they went to and academic backstabbing and a great read.
Tuesday was full of me doing lots of things that I had meant to do before I left but was too busy or tired to manage. I filed for forbearance and it came through later in the week, which makes me so happy. I also sent a job application to a library in my dad's hometown and they've been in touch with me saying they received my application. I'm trying to be optimistic because it would feel amazing to get an interview at this library. On Tuesday, we were also plotting cooking and my mom and I did a huge shopping trip for Thanksgiving stuff the next day. The day ended with me doing an online shift.
Wednesday was for cooking, all of the cooking. For the winter holidays, I have this dish that I always make which is an oyster casserole and I made two of them, one for us and then one to take up for the family dinner at my brother's place. I'm fairly sure other stuff happened but I can't remember. I think it was more things that I had to do and trying not to get sick. I also picked up a late birthday present for one of my nieces as her birthday slipped my mind but I found her a neat little solar robot kit that she liked. One of the strange things that happened was I had lunch with my dad at the weenie roast put on at the place where he has a workshop. This place is so down home and amazing, it's beside the canal and there are boat workshops, print shops, all sorts of things and the guy who runs it is so interesting. As it was the holiday week, it was pretty quiet with only about three other people there and I was the only woman. It was nice though hotdogs, one guy brought a cooler full of hot sauces and there was some adventure when a connector was off on the grill but it got fixed. My parents know a fascinating range of people.
Thursday, we headed up early to drive to New Jersey for Thanksgiving at my brother's place with lots of food, wine and stuff to stay overnight. My sister was there and my brother's in-laws as well. Most of the day was spent talking, eating things and heating stuff up. Sadly this day didn't go that hot because my brother's father-in-law decided to start talking about how awful the Occupy Movement is. I decided to confront him and remind him that they're doing a lot of good as we're talking about inequality and they're not all anarchists and violent. The thing that made me drink much more wine was when I asked him about his sources and he said mainstream media and didn't seem to hear me going, but not balanced. Later in the night I had a painful conversation with his wife about how kids being digital is bad with again not a lot of grey. Finally she heard me when I said look, just give us a chance, same as you were given. The dinner was delicious but I was feeling sick, so my body didn't enjoy it as much I wanted. Then I slept on a slightly uncomfortable sofa bed and enjoyed Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn, I need to find the next books in that series.
Friday, my brother made us pancakes and we drove into Philadelphia and walked along the Schuylkill River and looked at the old Fairmount Water Works. I took so many pictures that I'll post later. We then had a nice lunch at a funky restaurant in an old firehouse. Then my parents and I drove off to pick up a very old friend of my father's that we connect with every day after Thanksgiving. Once we got back, we were all very lazy as John talked about Ben Sollee, who's someone he knows. John mentors young people especially artists and helps makes sure they can support their dreams and Ben Sollee is one of them. If you haven't heard his music, I highly recommend it and am embedding a live performance in this entry from his newest album called Inclusions. After music talk, we ate the small turkey my mother made just in case we didn't have leftovers and had a great night. John is a sociologist so there were some great conversations and he's from Louisville and a highlight of his visit is always drinking good bourbon.
Saturday started with me going to a local cafe to talk to a friend of my parents who is on the local library board. It was a strange conversation as we tried to figure out what we needed from each other but in the end, it set up another great connection. Then my mother and I braved the outlets for some shopping which worked very well. The sad news is that the little bookstore on the highway is closing but I got some deals and ideas for presents. In the best news, I found a glorious pair of ankle boots that are elegant and have a sort of cowboy vibe. Clarks seems to have discontinued them as I can't find images of them anywhere. After shopping, my dad drove John off to his next visit and I enjoyed some time to not be social or working which I hadn't had many of so far. We had a relaxing night and ate leftovers and didn't do a lot.
Sunday was a weird day as I had thought I had another appointment but forgot to send a confirming email so that's happening next break. I ended up instead walking into Lewes and having lunch at my favorite cafe, having fun in the toy store and remembering how weird the stores in Lewes are. Thankfully there's a new bookstore which had so much stuff, so many awesome mugs and magnets, not a lot of my style of books but a great addition. Then my Mom drove me to Wilmington so I could catch a train to Philly and then New Jersey, because I was spending the night at my brother's before my meeting in the city the next morning. That was a nice night, I read to my nieces, talked with my brothers and did some RP while I worked.
Monday started out very early, but it was a nice early. I'd been getting up pretty promptly almost every day of this break as I had things to do but this was still early. Though I got to have breakfast and drop my nieces off at school before heading into Philly. I only got slightly turned around and the day was beautiful. I had enough time before my appointment to sit and drink some tea and get myself together. Then I went to meet one of my brother's friends who works at a Quaker private school. I talked to him before I started at Michigan and he's a great guy. We talked for about an hour and he gave me such great advice about job stuff and putting myself out there. Then I talked to the librarian of the school, the actual director of libraries which I hadn't even realized. This conversation was the one I wrote about before, we talked about the digital changes and research and it was clear she saw me as a colleague. Both of them also made it clear that they believed I could do a lot. After that began my long day of public transportation as it's really hard to get around Delaware by transport. So I took the train to Wilmington and then a bus to Dover, which took a while as there was a man causing trouble. My father met me in Dover and we bought soft shell crabs and smelts for dinner. We were all very worn out and had a wonderful night of enjoying each other and talking and eating.
One of the neatest parts of Monday night was my dad let me pick his brain about 1950s and 1960s psychiatry and psychology which I've been curious about for my Charles Xavier writing. My father trained in that era and he gave me so many ideas and things to chew on, it was wonderful.
Tuesday was my journey back to Michigan which took a long time as I was feeling sick and tired. The bad weather also seemed to get worse the farther west I got, it was foggy in Delaware, raining in Baltimore and just starting to snow when I landed in Detroit. I was greeted by an amazon box and a beautiful package of books from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silveraspen. It was wonderful to sleep in my own bed though it did take a while for my apartment to get truly warm.
I think that's everything, but I might be missing smaller things along the way. I decided that I'm going to drive down over the Christmas break because I finally have a flexible enough schedule that I can do it. That means I'll hopefully be in Delaware on December 20th. My parents are going to be off in NYC from the 21st to the 22nd, so I have some time then to connect with people. As I'll have my car and also the lovely house, there are options.
First off, a reminder, my holiday card post is here.
As there's so much that did happen, I'm going to try and go through chronologically in the hope I don't miss anything.
My travel began early as I went to visit my parents a new way by flying to Baltimore and then taking a train to Wilmington. It worked out well, I like Southwest's seating plan and met my parents at the Wilmington train station as they got off a train from Boston. We then headed down to Lewes and had a wonderful night reconnecting and all trying not to be sick. Both my parents were recovering from an awful cold/flu mix and I was fighting something off myself so it was a pretty quiet night. My parents lent me an interesting book about two women who traveled and discovered a palimpset in the early part of the century called The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels, which I recommend. There's romance, two women who learned the languages of every country they went to and academic backstabbing and a great read.
Tuesday was full of me doing lots of things that I had meant to do before I left but was too busy or tired to manage. I filed for forbearance and it came through later in the week, which makes me so happy. I also sent a job application to a library in my dad's hometown and they've been in touch with me saying they received my application. I'm trying to be optimistic because it would feel amazing to get an interview at this library. On Tuesday, we were also plotting cooking and my mom and I did a huge shopping trip for Thanksgiving stuff the next day. The day ended with me doing an online shift.
Wednesday was for cooking, all of the cooking. For the winter holidays, I have this dish that I always make which is an oyster casserole and I made two of them, one for us and then one to take up for the family dinner at my brother's place. I'm fairly sure other stuff happened but I can't remember. I think it was more things that I had to do and trying not to get sick. I also picked up a late birthday present for one of my nieces as her birthday slipped my mind but I found her a neat little solar robot kit that she liked. One of the strange things that happened was I had lunch with my dad at the weenie roast put on at the place where he has a workshop. This place is so down home and amazing, it's beside the canal and there are boat workshops, print shops, all sorts of things and the guy who runs it is so interesting. As it was the holiday week, it was pretty quiet with only about three other people there and I was the only woman. It was nice though hotdogs, one guy brought a cooler full of hot sauces and there was some adventure when a connector was off on the grill but it got fixed. My parents know a fascinating range of people.
Thursday, we headed up early to drive to New Jersey for Thanksgiving at my brother's place with lots of food, wine and stuff to stay overnight. My sister was there and my brother's in-laws as well. Most of the day was spent talking, eating things and heating stuff up. Sadly this day didn't go that hot because my brother's father-in-law decided to start talking about how awful the Occupy Movement is. I decided to confront him and remind him that they're doing a lot of good as we're talking about inequality and they're not all anarchists and violent. The thing that made me drink much more wine was when I asked him about his sources and he said mainstream media and didn't seem to hear me going, but not balanced. Later in the night I had a painful conversation with his wife about how kids being digital is bad with again not a lot of grey. Finally she heard me when I said look, just give us a chance, same as you were given. The dinner was delicious but I was feeling sick, so my body didn't enjoy it as much I wanted. Then I slept on a slightly uncomfortable sofa bed and enjoyed Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn, I need to find the next books in that series.
Friday, my brother made us pancakes and we drove into Philadelphia and walked along the Schuylkill River and looked at the old Fairmount Water Works. I took so many pictures that I'll post later. We then had a nice lunch at a funky restaurant in an old firehouse. Then my parents and I drove off to pick up a very old friend of my father's that we connect with every day after Thanksgiving. Once we got back, we were all very lazy as John talked about Ben Sollee, who's someone he knows. John mentors young people especially artists and helps makes sure they can support their dreams and Ben Sollee is one of them. If you haven't heard his music, I highly recommend it and am embedding a live performance in this entry from his newest album called Inclusions. After music talk, we ate the small turkey my mother made just in case we didn't have leftovers and had a great night. John is a sociologist so there were some great conversations and he's from Louisville and a highlight of his visit is always drinking good bourbon.
Saturday started with me going to a local cafe to talk to a friend of my parents who is on the local library board. It was a strange conversation as we tried to figure out what we needed from each other but in the end, it set up another great connection. Then my mother and I braved the outlets for some shopping which worked very well. The sad news is that the little bookstore on the highway is closing but I got some deals and ideas for presents. In the best news, I found a glorious pair of ankle boots that are elegant and have a sort of cowboy vibe. Clarks seems to have discontinued them as I can't find images of them anywhere. After shopping, my dad drove John off to his next visit and I enjoyed some time to not be social or working which I hadn't had many of so far. We had a relaxing night and ate leftovers and didn't do a lot.
Sunday was a weird day as I had thought I had another appointment but forgot to send a confirming email so that's happening next break. I ended up instead walking into Lewes and having lunch at my favorite cafe, having fun in the toy store and remembering how weird the stores in Lewes are. Thankfully there's a new bookstore which had so much stuff, so many awesome mugs and magnets, not a lot of my style of books but a great addition. Then my Mom drove me to Wilmington so I could catch a train to Philly and then New Jersey, because I was spending the night at my brother's before my meeting in the city the next morning. That was a nice night, I read to my nieces, talked with my brothers and did some RP while I worked.
Monday started out very early, but it was a nice early. I'd been getting up pretty promptly almost every day of this break as I had things to do but this was still early. Though I got to have breakfast and drop my nieces off at school before heading into Philly. I only got slightly turned around and the day was beautiful. I had enough time before my appointment to sit and drink some tea and get myself together. Then I went to meet one of my brother's friends who works at a Quaker private school. I talked to him before I started at Michigan and he's a great guy. We talked for about an hour and he gave me such great advice about job stuff and putting myself out there. Then I talked to the librarian of the school, the actual director of libraries which I hadn't even realized. This conversation was the one I wrote about before, we talked about the digital changes and research and it was clear she saw me as a colleague. Both of them also made it clear that they believed I could do a lot. After that began my long day of public transportation as it's really hard to get around Delaware by transport. So I took the train to Wilmington and then a bus to Dover, which took a while as there was a man causing trouble. My father met me in Dover and we bought soft shell crabs and smelts for dinner. We were all very worn out and had a wonderful night of enjoying each other and talking and eating.
One of the neatest parts of Monday night was my dad let me pick his brain about 1950s and 1960s psychiatry and psychology which I've been curious about for my Charles Xavier writing. My father trained in that era and he gave me so many ideas and things to chew on, it was wonderful.
Tuesday was my journey back to Michigan which took a long time as I was feeling sick and tired. The bad weather also seemed to get worse the farther west I got, it was foggy in Delaware, raining in Baltimore and just starting to snow when I landed in Detroit. I was greeted by an amazon box and a beautiful package of books from
silveraspen. It was wonderful to sleep in my own bed though it did take a while for my apartment to get truly warm.I think that's everything, but I might be missing smaller things along the way. I decided that I'm going to drive down over the Christmas break because I finally have a flexible enough schedule that I can do it. That means I'll hopefully be in Delaware on December 20th. My parents are going to be off in NYC from the 21st to the 22nd, so I have some time then to connect with people. As I'll have my car and also the lovely house, there are options.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 04:08 am (UTC)Also I'm sure you gave me your address another year so I have it somewhere.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 02:44 am (UTC)I'm going to call you tomorrow about this weekend.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 02:48 am (UTC)Yay! In terms of timing, I work online at 9 pm but otherwise have nothing planned for tomorrow so a talk should work.
Yes, John is wonderful and I love seeing him. I was so happy that my dad wanted to talk about it as I've been curious but it's also fanfic so weird. Soon I will post that dream fic story. It needs another look over by someone else's eyes and some polishing.