An Afternoon in the Library

Hello to all my devoted readers--all two or three of you.  Today finds me done with my hours at the McClung Museum and tucked into a cubbie for an afternoon of study at the library.  Of course, I have brought sustenance--Bumble Bee Chicken Salad and Crackers and a Diet Coke.  And I've secured myself a pretty decent view out the window.  Now it's just this blog then some Jessie work.

I've managed to stay pretty busy since I returned to my beloved Knoxville from a few weeks in California.  It goes without saying that I miss my family every day, especially my beautiful babies.  Before leaving Sacramento, I managed to sneak away for two days at the cabin with all four of my "kids" as well as my darling dingo, Penny.  Hanging out at the cabin, going for walks, hiking to the waterfalls, and eating fantastic cooking by Heidi and Danny made for a terrific visit, even though it was a short one.  I always think of what Nana would say about this next generation enjoying the cabin that she and Grandpa bought for the family.  I think she'd be pleased to know that Kevin and Jennifer make good use of it and that I get there whenever I can.  But I'm sure she'd be even more tickled about the great-grandchildren, my girls and their friends and Kevin's boys and their friends.  In my head I can hear her say "oh, you kids" the way she did when she was pleased at something her grandchildren had done. 

Another exciting component of my California trip was the addition of a new tattoo on my back.  Having already gotten a Cross of Lorraine on my right shoulder, I got a Heidi-designed tattoo of the cabin on my left.  Heidi had actually designed it for herself and had it placed on her upper leg.  I made a few minor adjustments for mine.  Danny's friend was our artist, and he did, in my opinion, a fantastic job.  Heidi's cabin is pictured at night, with warm yellow light from the windows and a yellow crescent moon.  My cabin is pictured in the late afternoon, with the sun going down behind the summit and a blue jay flying above to represent my Nana.  Of course, there's a bear in each tattoo.  Heidi and I will be busy working on Maddie to get a tattoo and complete our mother-daughters bond.


Upon returning to Knoxville, I went back to my four-hour-a-day job at McClung.  Life was only spiced up by the arrival of two different house guests that came to town to spend time with me.  Annie came first, and we had a wonderful--and healthy--visit.  Annie loves to cook, and I love to eat.  We're a match made in heaven.  But, in order to eat the delicious offerings from the kitchen, I had to put extra steps on my FitBit.  Annie is the BEST at that component of friendship.  That gal willingly walked me all around the Greenway, around McKay's, and along the River Forks trail at Ijams IN THE RAIN!  Despite the age difference, Annie and I have a great connection, and we never stop talking.  I can't wait for another visit!

The House Guests

My second house guest was my East Coast BFF, Chantalle.  As usual, we shopped and ate and laughed like lunatics at the terrible 1986 television mini-series Dream West, staring Richard Chamberlain as John C. Fremont and some unknown actress as Jessie.  It was the most historically inaccurate thing either of us had seen--and that includes the 1940 Warner Brothers classic Santa Fe Trail, which has J.E.B. Stuart and George Custer as friends who together bring down John Brown.  In Dream West, everything was off.  It's 1840 and Jessie flounces around in a hoop skirt like she just stepped off Tara.  She also ages from fourteen to sixteen years over the course of what the director would have us believe was just four months.  And those are just two examples.  But, boy, did Chantalle and I enjoy spotting the inaccuracies.  As ever, my door is always open to this woman whenever she wants to visit.

As always when Chantalle is in town, we went to trivia at the Crown and Goose.  For the first time in the history of our little group...wait for it...WE WON!  Thank goodness the last question, which is like Final Jeopardy, was on the subject of U.S. Presidents.  We bet it all--because three out of the five of us are historians, after all.  We tied with another team, and won the tie breaker.  The tie breaker asked a representative of each team to come up with the year Ronald Reagan was born.  While I was off by a year, the other team was off by over ten years.  Thus, we took the crown--and the $50 gift certificate which we shall use the next time Chantalle blows into town.

In between visitors, I've kept busy both at work and at home.  My new boss, Katy, joined the McClung staff on July 1, and she's kept me busy with some little projects.  At home, I made a photo album of my recent trip to Boston.  It's half a photo album and half a small scrapbook--in either case, it was a lot of fun and brought back all the fond memories I have of the trip.

Crafting wasn't all I did to keep busy.  With the recent change in the federal policy concerning asylum seekers coming to our southern border, I have been appalled at the separation of families going on.  Seeing as how I have become quite the protester here (after all, I did protest the Nazis coming to UT and I did attend the Women's March), I gathered together with Robert, Katie, Dr. Sacco, and a few hundred other Knoxvillians to speak out against the inhumane and heartless way immigrants seeking asylum are treated by my government.

So, that's a rundown of all that's been going on here.  I will leave my readers with one final photograph.  If you think it's easy to research a dissertation while also being owned by a cat, well, you're so wrong.

Bye-bye for now....