Friday - 16 Dec 2011 - the last day of exams and classes at the U of Va, things are really winding down, getting quiet.
Nawang's off this morning to Darden for his second meeting with a committee arranging all the events for the Dalai Lama's visit next October (2012)
I'm trying to finalized the purchase of Maithili paintings through PinkMango for our Asian Studies Room. And next week we have the second meeting with a donor of Farsi books. Some of this librarian job is fun!
We've had an unusually warm Fall, with just the right amount of rain, but no snow or really freezing temperatures yet.
During the Fall, had a great trip to see Julie and family in October 2011 in Iowa before going to a nice South Asian conference in Madison, WI. The garden was not bad this year - the new shed with a community tiller was great. Deej pulled garlic and replanted some. Okra was okay. Had about 5 watermellons! Hot peppers were very slow to develop, but nicely productive during the end. Unfortunately missed picking a huge crop, just before they were hit and ruined by a hard frost.
Went to a wonderful Holiday concert by the Glee Club last Saturday evening (10th Dec 2011), this time at the Presbyterian Church near the downtown. Deej said she thought the acoustics were great. All that jumping up and down for the 12 days of Christmas was fun again. Betsy Rose Carr and her husband were there - and she introduced me to an interesting lady whose husband had been in the foreign service all over the world.
Our second music event of the week was Rachel's Orchestra concert, at Walker School packed auditorium, Tuesday night (13th Dec 2011). Wish they could get the strings better tuned up. Deej liked it, especially the little added play about the Grinch at the end.
That was the second event with Rachel in a week - we went over for a nice 12th birthday party to her house on Sunday afternooon (11 Dec 2011) - cakes, snacks, presents, cards, family. Patty was there with a new 5-year old obedient dog; Mark was there with a 'girl-friend' Kristina. But Brian (who works at Lord Hardwicke's) was not there - he's recovering also from a slipped disc. Rachel liked the card, with two of her photos and with a panda (her recent obcession) on the front, I made her.
I've been thinking about how we dislike and fight getting old. Different parts of the body are seen or viewed differently - worsening eye sight, loss of hearing, greying and baldness are not treated really badly and discussed opening, but not so with teeth. Hardly anyone is at ease talking about loosing teeth, getting dentures or implants - and those who still have their teeth and few dental problems seem to lord over the rest of us and give endless advice and comments on how we (bad ones) did things wrong and how we should have done what they did. Of course, failing dental condition is as much genetic as how we took care of our teeth. I suspect my dental problems are genetic (did my dad have bad teeth and early went to full dentures?) as well as my personal dental hygiene throughout my life, with some stuff about the India environment and the lack of ready access to good dentists as I grew up in India. That may have as much a toll as genetics - and affects my present teeth and mouth.
My periodontist surprised me at my last visit about a month ago as he said he saw that my main dentist, Horde, was recommending removal of all of my upper teeth and going for full upper dentures! a very depressing shock to me. I hate thinking about it. See, we have a hard time talking about these teeth things.
I've been working on a blog post about 2011 South Asia articles, books, etc at
http://gosher7.blogspot.com/2011/12/resources-of-2011-from-selected.html
Have a look.
Nawang's off this morning to Darden for his second meeting with a committee arranging all the events for the Dalai Lama's visit next October (2012)
I'm trying to finalized the purchase of Maithili paintings through PinkMango for our Asian Studies Room. And next week we have the second meeting with a donor of Farsi books. Some of this librarian job is fun!
We've had an unusually warm Fall, with just the right amount of rain, but no snow or really freezing temperatures yet.
During the Fall, had a great trip to see Julie and family in October 2011 in Iowa before going to a nice South Asian conference in Madison, WI. The garden was not bad this year - the new shed with a community tiller was great. Deej pulled garlic and replanted some. Okra was okay. Had about 5 watermellons! Hot peppers were very slow to develop, but nicely productive during the end. Unfortunately missed picking a huge crop, just before they were hit and ruined by a hard frost.
Went to a wonderful Holiday concert by the Glee Club last Saturday evening (10th Dec 2011), this time at the Presbyterian Church near the downtown. Deej said she thought the acoustics were great. All that jumping up and down for the 12 days of Christmas was fun again. Betsy Rose Carr and her husband were there - and she introduced me to an interesting lady whose husband had been in the foreign service all over the world.
Our second music event of the week was Rachel's Orchestra concert, at Walker School packed auditorium, Tuesday night (13th Dec 2011). Wish they could get the strings better tuned up. Deej liked it, especially the little added play about the Grinch at the end.
That was the second event with Rachel in a week - we went over for a nice 12th birthday party to her house on Sunday afternooon (11 Dec 2011) - cakes, snacks, presents, cards, family. Patty was there with a new 5-year old obedient dog; Mark was there with a 'girl-friend' Kristina. But Brian (who works at Lord Hardwicke's) was not there - he's recovering also from a slipped disc. Rachel liked the card, with two of her photos and with a panda (her recent obcession) on the front, I made her.
I've been thinking about how we dislike and fight getting old. Different parts of the body are seen or viewed differently - worsening eye sight, loss of hearing, greying and baldness are not treated really badly and discussed opening, but not so with teeth. Hardly anyone is at ease talking about loosing teeth, getting dentures or implants - and those who still have their teeth and few dental problems seem to lord over the rest of us and give endless advice and comments on how we (bad ones) did things wrong and how we should have done what they did. Of course, failing dental condition is as much genetic as how we took care of our teeth. I suspect my dental problems are genetic (did my dad have bad teeth and early went to full dentures?) as well as my personal dental hygiene throughout my life, with some stuff about the India environment and the lack of ready access to good dentists as I grew up in India. That may have as much a toll as genetics - and affects my present teeth and mouth.
My periodontist surprised me at my last visit about a month ago as he said he saw that my main dentist, Horde, was recommending removal of all of my upper teeth and going for full upper dentures! a very depressing shock to me. I hate thinking about it. See, we have a hard time talking about these teeth things.
I've been working on a blog post about 2011 South Asia articles, books, etc at
http://gosher7.blogspot.com/2011/12/resources-of-2011-from-selected.html
Have a look.
