Category: Uncategorized

In clearing out old bins and boxes, I came upon the tangible remains of my education. Here’s my high school diploma, in a fancy faux-leather folder designed to last for generations. Here’s my UF Bachelor of Arts certificate, my Senior Thesis (yellow cover, UF undergrad) and one from grad school (red cover, Univ of Wisconsin), plus 3 undergraduate papers. Thank goodness I was smart enough not to request a certificate for the Master’s Degree.

I’m rereading the papers, trying to find out what I knew, back in the day. It’s amazing. Also pretty irrelevant. Instead of pursuing a more scholarly life, where I might have actually had an office where my certificates could be displayed, I’m glad I chose to work in local middle- and high-school classrooms, getting to work with younger kids. Maybe I even made a difference.

What is one to do with such things? My kids aren’t going to want to store them. Perhaps a ceremonial fire with appropriately dignified comments would provide a proper disposal……..

Don’t buy from HIKE Footwear! I ordered 3 pairs of shoes, and I DID get 3 shoes, but they were the right size for a 10-year-old. I’ve been trying to exchange them. After 4 emails, I did get one saying they’d get back to me, but they haven’t.

I found an online Chat Now box on their website, and it was obvious that it was a chatbot, but after I gave details of the order, it said to fill out a form that would be given to a technician so they could have the details for helping me. It said there would be a $1.00 charge, immediately refunded

That form turned out to be from Just Answer, and If you filled it in and confirmed info, it enrolled you into a monthly membership costing $55.00. I managed to negate that. The site had no information about HIKE Footwear, which ships from an address in Hiahleah, Florida. I’m inclined to believe it’s nothing but a shipping address.

I should have checked them out: their rating is F with the BBB.

When I published American Governess, the Count received his copy before I received mine! The Countess took his picture holding my book, in front of the castle on the cover. He’s the son of one of the children I cared for, and my husband and I had visited him and his family before the book was published. #americangoverness. #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch

Tigger didn’t see fit to tell us which piece of art he liked best, or what it meant…

My husband made this plague mask, with plenty of space in the beak for sweet-smelling herbs, which they used to think cured most illnesses, since it was thought that ‘bad air’ (mal aria) caused diseases. So if you couldn’t smell them, then you’d be fine. Here I’m modeling it, in case I ever get called out to attend a plague victim.
#americangoverness. #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch

the bathtub gets a little crowded! But it’s so much fun! You never know what you might find going on at my house.

This was one of my favorite scarves, from a photo I took when the water lilies were blooming in the nearby lake. It was so much fun to play with Photoshop, stretching the image to fit the scarf, trying different color combinations. I never knew before what was possible. I only made one scarf like this. #americangoverness #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch

This scarf was done from a photo of lily pads and reeds in the lake I can see from my computer as I type this. I think I like these colors better than the natural ones. Several of the lily pads had quicksilver puddles of water on their centers. I guess the alligator who lives near there was busy elsewhere; otherwise he would have lent some texture to the composition. #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch #americangoverness

I made these scarves, and sold them at art shows. I took photos of natural subjects, manipulated their colors and shapes in PhotoShop, and then had them printed on 100% silk scarves, 18″x36″. Then we retired when art shows closed for a while during COVID. I still have some in stock, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with them. Every one is different, so they’re a bit difficult to sew into a garment. I might make them into nighties for my granddaughters, though. Here’s one:

#americangoverness #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch

A long time ago, in 1991, I spent three weeks in Ukraine, on a trip with other Baha’is to visit the members of our Faith there. During that time, we went to a collective farm near a town called Veprik, and the Chairman of the Collective, a jolly, friendly man named Vasily, took us to his farm to begin the tour. I drew this sketch of his cozy home while we were waiting for the bus afterwards. The main door is studded with large, decorative nails. Living quarters are on the first floor, and hay storage was on the second, accessible by a ladder. the shapes on the fence are glass jars; after she washes them, his wife puts them upside-down on the fence staves to dry. Vasily made the bench from a couple of sections of a stump, with a board on top. He was very proud of the TV aerial. They were wonderful people, and I think of them often, and pray that they are all right.