Olivia turns five!

And we had a birthday bash, with presents galore!

Merry Christmas to all!

I wanted it to be documented that we did finally decorate our tree, which was ornament-less until about 4:00 today--Christmas day. We had a busy day-before-Christmas and decided it was more important to put together a fabulous meal and then get to bed at a reasonable hour than it was to decorate the tree. We opened presents this morning with a bare tree, but here's proof that we finally got it done:

As part of our Christmas eve feast this year Lindy and I made an asparagus appetizer with mint dressing, wrapped with proscuito. It was okay, but I thought its beauty exceeded its deliciousness, hence the photo below:

Chris on the other hand made an incredible jalapeno pepper appetizer that was both gorgeous and delicious--jalapenos filled with cheese, bacon and chicken:

Lindy prepared a baked brie with the image of a cat (with whiskers!) on the top, but that photo didn't come out, dang it. All of this plus flying steak (as Dunc calls it) made for a fabulous meal...and having Lindy and Chris here to share it was the best thing of all. Nothing beats family, and family feasts are grand.

Duncan and Besty will be here tomorrow, and Christopher arrives tomorrow evening, and then Holly, Narith, Jordon and Olivia should be here this weekend. We miss you, Logan and Jody. Hooray for the holidays!

Grand Central Station

I graded papers pretty much all day today--a miserable task generally--but today's grading was a lot more fun than usual because we had fauna galore in our back yard. You may recall that we discovered birdseed/squirrel food/suet this summer. We have continued to put food out diligently every day, so apparently our reputation has spread such that we are now in charge of feeding all wildlife in the western U.S.

At one point I peered out my study window to see our adopted squirrel, a northern flicker, a blue jay (I thought they'd all left for South Carolina!) about 12 quail, and at least 35 miscellaneous grey birds crowding around the bird feeders. Starlings were dive-bombing the garden in front of my window, scooping up some type of slimy bug, and periodically the magpies swooped in to scare everyone else away. The photos aren't real crisp because I had to take them through the kitchen window (the birds all flew away the minute I stepped outside), but I'm sure you get the idea.

It was almost as much fun as going to the zoo....until alas, I had to return to grading. Luckily, grades are due on Monday, so the agony can't last much longer.

The heliotropic effect

On the last day of my "Managing People" class this semester we talked about the heliotropic effect--the inclination of all living things to be attracted to that which is light (optimistic, hopeful, uplifting) rather than dark (depressing, pessimistic, discouraging). I love this concept, and it got me thinking about how the people I enjoy spending time with the most are convinced that they can make things better--their classes, their relationships, their lives. My least favorite people are resigned or hopeless or discouraged.

I've been complaining about work way too much; poor Bob! I'd rather be in the "lightness" camp, and I need to try harder to stay there.