HBD Boo!

Today is a very special day. It marks the 12th anniversary of the arrival on this planet of a very special dude named Caleb. Life would sure be boring around here without him!

Distance Difficulty

We live in a world that is getting smaller all the time, but sometimes it's not small enough.

My sister is 3000 miles away, and I really want to be with her. She'll be having emergency surgery tomorrow and the next day and is pregnant, high risk pregnancy, has had 2 miscarriages . . .

Doctors had hoped to put off surgery until the second timester for the safety of the baby and had scheduled that surgery for the first week in April, but the situation is such that surgery needs to take place immediately and now will require two surgeries rather than one.

Everything in me wants to drop everything and fly out there, and I feel like a rotten sister for not being able to, and my heart is aching. Amy does have others who can come and who have come. Mom was there for a couple of weeks earlier this month, and Amy's mother-in-law is there now. Her best friend is flying out Tuesday, and her husband is going on leave and will be able to be there for her. So I know she is in good hands.

I'm her only sister, though, and I feel like I should be able to be there in person for her. It's where I want to be. My heart is there. I wish the rest of me could be also.

Sometimes the world just isn't small enough.

When Most Away

I'm happiest when most away
I can bear my soul from its home of clay
On a windy night when the moon is bright
And the eye can wander thru worlds of light

When I am not and none beside
Nor earth nor sea nor cloudless sky
But only spirit wandering wide
Thru infinite immensity.

Emily Bronte (1818-1848)

The Night Wind

In summer's mellow midnight,
A cloudless moon shone through
Our open parlour window,
And rose-trees wet with dew.

I sat in silent musing;
The soft wind waved my hair;
It told me heaven was glorious,
And sleeping earth was fair.

I needed not its breathing
To bring such thoughts to me;
But still it whispered lowly,
How dark the woods will be!

"The thick leaves in my murmur
Are rustling like a dream,
And all their myriad voices
Instinct with spirit seem."

I said, "Go, gentle singer,
Thy wooing voice is kind:
But do not think its music
Has power to reach my mind.

"Play with the scented flower,
The young tree's supple bough,
And leave my human feelings
In their own course to flow."

The wanderer would not heed me;
Its kiss grew warmer still.
"O come!" it sighed so sweetly;
"I'll win thee 'gainst thy will.

"Were we not friends from childhood?
Have I not loved thee long?
As long as thou, the solemn night,
Whose silence wakes my song.

"And when thy heart is resting
Beneath the church-aisle stone,
I shall have time for mourning,
And THOU for being alone."

Emily Jane Bronte (1818-1848)

Photo by Peter Barnes
blog: http://www.petebarnesphotography.co.uk/blog.html

Laugh or Cry

Happy Valentine's Day! - Want a Purse?

I just realized yesterday that this is the 25th Valentine's Day David and I are celebrating together (including dating) - quarter century - wow! I hope you are having a happy Valentine's Day! Oh, and if you've forgotten a gift, you may want to consider a designer purse for that special someone. I just got 32 messages that I had 32 new comments on my blog. I thought I had just hit it big time when I realized they were all spam for designer purses - so, unfortunately, I have to put word verfication on my comment section now. Thanks dude, whoever you are.

Speaking of Words

Rootless Words List

We speak of people as "ruthless," but we don't speak of them as "ruthful" or as having "ruth." (Well, no one I know does this other than my brother Tony!) We also call people "inept," but do we call anyone "ept?"

It seems root words like "ruth" and "ept" must have been around first and that then suffixes and prefixes were attached, and we've kept the lengthened words but not the original roots.

Maybe I'm wrong. Feel free to correct me if I am, but if you can't or until someone does, will you help us add to our of "rootless words" by leaving others you know of in the comments section. (David gets credit for this idea.)

1) RUTHless
2) inEPT

We would have included "unwieldy" but looked it up and "wieldy" is a word. I guess it's just not used as much as the other. Perhaps "wieldy" is on its way to being a lost root.

EXTRA CREDIT 2

For extra credit my students are considering million, billion and trillion.

This seems timely as our national debt is now over $9 trillion, and today congress is voting on a stimulus package in relationship to which I've heard the phrases "$83 billion" and "an additional $19 billion" on the news today.

We use these words somewhat interchangably:

million -- billion -- trillion

millionaire, billionaire, trillionaire (?)
WHATEVER!
-they've all got a lot more money than I do -

So what's the difference really?

Try this: Pretend you have ONE-MILLION DOLLARS and that you love your money so much that you have it all given to you in one-dollar bills so that you can count it one bill at a time. Let's say you count one bill per second and take no breaks - no eating, no sleeping, no potty breaks. HOW LONG will it take you to count your money? (And don't tell me it's a million seconds - duh - how long is a million seconds in terms we can wrap our mind around easily - hours? days? weeks? years?)

Now do this also for ONE-BILLION DOLLARS and for ONE-TRILLION DOLLARS. How close are your answers? How much difference is there really?

Come on - give it a try. You can use a calculator. :-)

Certain Slant of Light

"I Told You So"

Time will say nothing but I told you so . . .

(W. H. Auden 1907-1973)

IT DOES, AND IT DID!

In the midst of a crazy-busy time I got crazy and didn't back-up the work on my thesis - approximately 24 hours worth of writing from the weekend. On Monday my 15-month old computer (JUST past warranty) died. I wish I could travel back in time and back up, but since time travel is not yet possible, as far as I've been told (unless the government is holding out on me :-), all that is happening is that, as in Auden's poem, time is saying, "I told you so!"

In my forced "down-time" yesterday during which I could not work on my thesis (not knowing what could and could not be retrieved from my hard drive) I went to see the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If you like movies that cause you to reflect, I highly recommend it. If you haven't heard of it, it is about a baby born old who grows younger as years pass. There is a lot here to think about in terms of time and life and death and love and loss and acceptance (both of others and of our own lot) - and at a lighter level, it tickles my brain to think about what it would mean to start out old and grow younger - sounds good, right? Or . . . ???

We call Time a dimension, so why can't we move in more than one direction in it?

Do you have any favorite time travel stories? I'll start the list with some of mine. I'll add whatever comments I get.

FICTION:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Timeline by Michael Crichton

NON-FICTION:

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time by J. Richard Gott

MOVIES:

Back to the Future (Michael J. Fox)
Somewhere in Time (Jane Seymour, Christopher Reeve)

POEMS:

(I know of a limerick, but it's too raunchy to put here.)

Ground Hog Day Bonus

Well, today we find out if spring comes early. Forty years ago on this date something did come early - my brother Tim - 3 months early. Back in the late 1960's there wasn't much chance for a boy baby born that prematurely to make it - something like 5 to 10 percent - but Tim beat the odds. I can't imagine life without him.

You rock Tim! Enjoy your day!

For new DAVID post, click at right.

Conflux

I've been hard at work on my thesis, but Anthony and I took a break today to recharge our geek batteries :-) We'd been looking forward to this new set, Conflux, coming out and are enjoying the fact that the store in our area does pre-releases now. As you can see we were not the only ones looking forward to it - quite a crowd!Sorry (especially to Anthony!) for the poor quality pictures. I hope the fun we had comes through nonetheless. Oh, we both lost big time but had lots of fun! We're hoping to take in the release next Friday. Good times!!

The one picture I really wanted and didn't get was of the guy I played first who was wearing a fuzzy pink hat with brown antlers sticking out of it. What happened to the standard goth-like black trench-coat look? Ah well, I guess even geeks have to establish their own identity!

Kid Comments on Culture

Every so often I try to bring a little "culture" into my children's lives.


By their own choice they only listen to contemporary Christian music. Although I don't listen to much rock-and-roll myself these days, I know about music history, and I think it's a reasonably valuable thing to know. What was the music of the day and what meaning did it have for its time and how does music today follow in that tradition? What was going on in the 60's and how did the music speak to people dealing with issues such as the Vietnam War?

Also, I see it as a generational thing. I always thought it was cool to listen to 50's music when I was a kid because it gave me a feeling for what my parents' highschool years were probably like - made me feel like I knew more about them. I'm not sure I want my kids learning about me through Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, but hey . . .And . . . well . . . you know . . . if they ever want to be on Jeopardy! they just gotta have some of this "cultural" knowledge.

Sometimes they are receptive and interested, sometimes not so much, but there are almost always interesting comments from them. I came across some music from my early childhood on YouTube, was listening to it; they could hear it too: California Dreamin,' House of the Rising Sun, and Spirit in the Sky.

Caleb (11) said, "I'm glad I didn't live back when they had such scary music."

Anthony (16) was interested when Spirit in the Sky was playing because it mentioned Jesus, and he's into Christian music. When I told him - jokingly - that maybe I should have that played at my funeral since I am a child of the 60s and 70s he said:

"Aren't we all."

I have no idea what he meant!!

The following "scary" music is posted for your reference:

Useless

CLICK ON COMIC TO SEE FINAL FRAME AND PUNCHLINE.

25 Things

Earlier today I was "tagged" in facebook to create a list of 25 random things about myself. I love lists! So I'm putting it here too! I'd love to hear random things about you too, so feel free to write them in the comments section.

1. I am trying to make a full deck of "found" playing cards (have 21 so far).

2. I do not eat vegetables (I'm 43 and still alive, so let's stop lying to kids!)

3. I am the oldest grandchild on BOTH sides of my family.

4. I am a sucker for anything related to Princess Diana.

5. The one place in the world I would most like to visit (that I have not yet visited) is Angkor Wat.

6. It is a pet peeve of mine when people don't use turn signals. UGH!!

7. My two favorites among my many names are "Mom" and my husband's nickname for me which is very sweet and will remain private :-)

8. My favorite scent is wet cement after rain.

9. I dream of going back to England someday (my profile photo was taken in London).

10. The first record album I bought was John Denver's Greatest Hits.

11. When I was in high school my favorite singer was Pat Benatar (a long way from John Denver!).

12. I decided to read Wuthering Heights because of a Pat Benatar song (wouldn't allow myself to listen to side 2 of "Hit me with Your Best Shot" until I read it); the novel remains my favorite book even though I don't listen to Pat Benatar anymore.

13.Wilma Rudolph has always been my hero.

14.I have been a contestant on Jeopardy!

15. I DO regret having stopped taking piano lessons as a child - just like all the adults told me I would.

16. We have an antenna - no cable - no dish.

17. I love being a total geek - a woman mathematician who is also a gamer and can quote from Monty Python's "Quest for the Holy Grail."

18. I am a cat person not a dog person, but I don't own a cat.

19. I think math is poetry, and I love poetry!

20. I would love to have a finite Erdos number someday, but I don't think it's going to happen, so I'll just have to be happy with an infinite Erdos number.

21. I am raising my sons to be geeks.

22. I find it very calming to watch water flow down a river.

23. If there is a spider or insect in my house, I catch it and release it outside.

24. I make exceptions for mosquitos and black widow spiders; those I kill.

25. I wish I could write a list like this that would make people laugh as hard as others have made me laugh; I got one earlier today that used the phrases "butt puckering suspense" and "puntable," and I am STILL laughing!

Sunny Disposition

I noticed yesterday that my first calla lily of the year is blossoming. That always brings me joy! They are my favorite flower - the simple lines and purity - the classic spiral shape - just gorgeous! I feel very peaceful just looking at them.Given the cold and stormy weather conditions in much of the rest of the country I hadn't been posting pictures of our nice warm conditions - didn't want to pour salt in the wound, but when I said that to David last night, he said, "What do mean you're worried about making THEM feel bad?!" He's suffering from a bit of "snow envy" over here - well - more than a "bit," actually.Since my post yesterday was so serious and to some degree negative, I thought I'd put up a sunny, joyful post today (BUT will warn you there is more deep math-education discussion to come!! It IS serious and has to do with whether our future is going to be sunny and bright - metaphorically speaking.)I thought I should pull back for a shot of the palm tree behind the orange tree - this being California - albeit north-central California and not beach countryThe oranges are particularly tasty this year - good crop! Come visit and you can have one! :-)

The Truth in a Calm World

The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night
Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,
Wanted to lean, wanted much most to be
The scholar to whom the book is true, to whom
The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.
The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.
And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself
Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there.

-- Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

Image: Young Woman Reading by a Window - Delphin Enjolras

By Any Other Name

A new primary school (oops) has opened in Sheffield, England.

The reason I put "oops" in that sentence is that they are not going to use the term "school," because it is too negative. Parents, for instance, have negative associations with the word "school." Instead it will be called "a place of learning."

The Plain English Campaign has called this "ridiculous." THEY, at least, don't mince words.

Among other things the head teacher expressed, ""There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to de-institutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."

Well, I'm glad there are no locked doors, but the rest sounds frighteningly like some things that were tried in the US in the 1970's such as open classrooms where students got to choose whether to go to lecture or to a section of the course that was taking a test or to sit in on a different section of the class that was having a movie that day and so on. The goal, of course, should be to make people feel happy and empowered, right? After all, won't students be more motivated to learn if they have more choice and more control - makes sense, right?

Um . . . no . . . it was an unprecedented disaster.

(Side-note: A local high school recently seemed like the Winchester Mystery House when they discovered a classroom that no one knew about and that had no doors and windows. You see, this school had started as one of these open school with no walls between classrooms. Once it was realized the open plan was a fiasco, walls were put in, thus creating closed classrooms - one of which obviously became a little TOO closed - and a return to normal "school"ing. I'm guessing those who did the remodel were graduates of the open plan . . . but . . . I digress . . .)

It seems the paramount concern in society these days in so many areas of life is that we don't want anyone traumatized by "negative associations." I just hope our world survives these days of political correctness, warm-fuzzies, and false self-esteem (if my children come home with one more trophy, medal or certificate I'll scream!), and I hope that IF we do survive there will remain at least a modicum of intelligence and knowledge in the human race.

A school by any other name had better still be a school.

Find the Cube

Well, it's back to reality. While I'm reminiscing about my much-beloved and just-ended vacation, you can use this post as a challenge. In how many pictures can you spot a Rubik's cube?

GAMES - as always - were a big part of the holidays.
Ooh! NICE Rook hand Anthony!Catch Phrase!We had a chance to get in some Heroscape, which always makes Jacob happy!It's a pretty cool game!Here is our Christmas tree.We had a lovely lasagna dinner at Mom and Dad's (Grandma and Grandpa's).Caleb even brought our pet mice (as members of the family) and had gifts for them too!Notice the little pink treat to the right of Munin's face.The joy of giving (and getting! :-)!! We had our own little party at home too.I'll even put up a picture of myself.I got lots of cool geeky math and gaming stuff - YEA!!The mice got to be in the living room for this party too!The mice got worn out from all the partying and had to relax.This gift is SO Jacob!!And I'm happy to say the oranges on our tree are finally ripe. YUMMY!

So, that was it - lots of parties, gifts, sleeping in, movies, games, (also church services, of course - the reason for the season - but I don't have pictures of those!).

OK, how many times did you see the Rubik's Cube in the pictures??

Some Things Time Cannot

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back. There are some things that time can not mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.

-Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)

There is a new post on DAVID's site (click at right).
It shares some progress he's made recently!

Again, It Starts

Coming Behind, Gone Before

Today is a day of joy and of reflection for me - so many thoughts -

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. Psalm 16:6

Today was a day that brought back many memories and thoughts of ancestors and heritage and God's faithfulness. Today our oldest son, Anthony, made public profession of his Christian faith in front of our church congregation.As I sat there witnessing his profession it seemed to me like his baptism had been only weeks ago! It was a powerful thing to see the promise of baptism blossom.Then I thought back further than his baptism. I thought back to the generations that have gone before him on both sides of both sides of his family. It made me think of a cord that has been being woven together for centuries that is stitched through the fabric of our lives -- through the fabric of Anthony's life.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Psalm 90:1

On my side of the family he has Dutch Protestant and Portuguese Catholic heritage going back for a very long time.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home!

O God, die droeg onsvoorgeslacht
In nacht en storm gebruis,
Bewijs ook ons Uw trouw en macht,
Wees eeuwig ons tehuis!

On the Dutch side, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, living in Groningen in the Netherlands, braved financial hardship and political danger, risking his own life and that of his son, to follow his faith. He sent his son Wibbo Hommens (aka Homerus Wigboldus)to Heidelberg University in 1593 to learn the Calvinistic teaching and become a minister. This was at a time when the current Spanish governor was taking over cities in the area and persecuting protestants - a time in which several ministers, members of the nobility and others in positions of influence in Groningen were forced to flee and live for some time in another country. Below is the ministerial stamp of Homerus Wigboldus made in 1601 when he began his ministry in Midwolde, Netherlands.On the Portuguese side too stories of faith have been handed down. Anthony's great-great grandparents came from the Azore Islands to California. They immigrated before the Panama Canal was built (before 1914). As they came around Cape Horn there was a terrible storm, a storm so fierce that it broke the mast of the ship. There was great fear that the ship would sink. Anna and Manuel prayed and made a "promesa" to God that if He spared them and brought them to California that once they were established they would return to their village on the island of Terceira and feed all the people of the village. God did protect their lives and bring them safely to California, and they fulfilled their promesa, returning to their village in early 1930.


Their faith heritage has continued and is embraced in the current generation as well:On Anthony's dad's side of the family there is a reunion every three years for all the descendants of his great-great-great grandparents. The theme of the reunion is always "Find Us Faithful," a song which was sung during the service today in honor of that heritage.The theme comes from the song whose chorus is:

May the ones who come behind us find us faithful;
May the fire of our devotion light their way;
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey.
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

Here is a picture of our branch of the family from the reunion in 1998:

In 2007 the reunion took place on what would have been Anthony's great-great-great grandpa's 125th birthday, so we had a 125th birthday cake!

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us... Hebrews 12:1

At Anthony's profession today I could not help thinking of the great cloud of witnesses he is surrounded by who are cheering him on and who have laid a foundation for him that stretches back generations and centuries. It is like a thread spun together over those centuries that stitches our lives together today and ties us together with the past and the future - and most of all with our faithful God of all our generations.

O God, die droeg ons voorgeslacht
In tegen spoed en kruis,
Wees ons een gids in storm en nacht
Een eeuwig ons tehuis!

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
be thou our guard while troubles last,
and our eternal home!

Timeless(time)ness

"When time from time shall set me free."

- e.e. cummings

Charlie Brown and the Meaning of Christmas

Ahhhh...memories of childhood! :-)

Yet

Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.

Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last—far off—at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)