It’s time for Project 52, Week 52!

52 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 52 — June 14, 2016, to June 14, 2017.

So, yes, I am now 53 years old – and it’s time to finish up Project 52!

After all this time, the year I was 51 was the first year I couldn’t cover in a week, but on my birthday I did finish talking about my interview in Eugene, Oregon.

And my 52nd birthday was when I conceived of Project 52. When I hear the number 52, all my classes in Probability (taking them or teaching them) make me think of the number of cards in a deck, so I also played some games of Solitaire to celebrate!

But I also went for a hike at Great Falls, and I was happy that this time, Tim joined me.

I learned that herons flock to Great Falls on my birthday every year (Or at least both times I’ve gone to Great Falls on my birthday).

A heron’s behind me.

And this one highlights the new opal earrings my friend Lauri Ann gave me for my birthday:

We light our candles in binary.

It was nice to have Tim home to sing to me.

Interesting – today in 2017, I decided to skip this month’s Capitol Choices meeting, because I desperately needed to sleep late, since I’m in the middle of booktalking. What’s interesting is that I did the same thing for the June meeting in 2016. I love booktalking – going to the local elementary schools and talking about the Summer Reading Program and about books they’ll enjoy reading – but it’s exhausting. In 2016, Karen and I were the only children’s staff, since Mary had recently retired, and we hadn’t yet hired Amanda. So the two of us did all the booktalks that year.

Here are some pictures of my balcony flowers and my lake from that weekend. I was still loving my beautiful home.

And apparently I still hadn’t closed down my online dating profile. I was thinking I’d been off it longer – but on June 18, 2016, I tried my first Reverse Image Search – and learned that the attractive guy who sent me a rather incoherent message was definitely a scammer. His picture was taken from one of a male model. No wonder he looked good but didn’t sound good!

I was still torn, though, because the same day was a day I played games of Dominion at my friends Alexis and Chris’s house, with Laura and Charles and John – whom I’d met on OKCupid. That still seemed like a win for online dating – having gained such good friends.

But on June 22, I disabled my OKCupid profile “for awhile.” I don’t think I’ve enabled it since. I was getting tired of the scammers. And I decided it was time to take seriously what I thought God had answered me: to “wait on the Lord.”

Also on June 22, I had my last hour working on the Information desk with my good friend Paul – He’d gotten transferred to a different library branch, closer to his home. But at the same time, we’d gotten a wonderful new branch manager, Laura (See, I’m mentioning you, Laura! But you really are wonderful!), and I was hiring a new staff member, Amanda – who also turned out to be fantastic.

I caught my car’s odometer on a palindrome! I hope my car keeps running until I pay off my library school student loans!

I love the late June flowers by my lake!

On Independence Day that year, I made a cake for Tim, because I was going to be in California on his birthday, at my niece Megan’s wedding. We hadn’t gotten a flight for Tim, because we hadn’t known if he’d be in Oregon yet or not. He was talking about going to Oregon anyway – but I told him my heart would break if he left while I was in California. So he promised to wait until after I got back.

But we had a nice birthday celebration. We played a silly game of Dominion, using all Village and Pillage card sets.

That summer I’d signed our library up to do “Maker Camp” – expecting to get instructions. Well, we didn’t – so we had to make something up! And we managed it, using the system 3D printer for three of the six programs. But it was an added challenge that summer!

In July, alas! We learned that the Friday night gaming would be coming to an end. Mike, who hosted half the time, was moving to Washington state. Paul didn’t want to host every week – so the group petered out. So now not only did I not see Paul at work, I didn’t see him weekly at gaming. (We still email, though. He’s one of my most faithful friends about answering emails.) I see that my last night I won both games I played decisively – Dominion Adventures and Concordia. I get a little smile out of the fact I recorded that.

And on July 9, 2016, I bought Tim a ticket to Portland. Sigh. He’d decided it would be easier to find a job if he was out there, and I had to admit, he had a point. He’d found a housemate – a friend of my sister Melanie. So he wouldn’t be putting financial pressure on Jade and Peter by staying with them – they still were unemployed. But I did make sure the ticket was for after I got back from California to go to Megan’s wedding.

I had started Project 52, and it meant a lot that in July, my Dad posted several baby pictures of me so I could use them! Never mind that a few were of my sister Wendy, and he hadn’t realized it! In my big family, it felt super nice to get that much attention.

I was thinking a lot about my coming Truly Empty Nest – but church friends and a timely sermon helped remind me that I am Not Alone.

On July 11th, Amanda began working at City of Fairfax Regional Library. I’d forgotten that on her very first day, I had her help at my Colors and Codes program – teaching kids to make coded messages using prime factorization. I did lose some of the kids – it would be better with an older audience. But Amanda was a good sport about finding out her boss was a math nut right on the first day!

On the 17th, I caught pictures of a hummingbird enjoying my balcony flowers!

On July 22nd, I drove out to Maryland to hear my Dad give the keynote speech at the Chappell Natural Philosophy Society conference! (Basically, it’s a group of people who don’t agree with Einstein’s theories.) He received a Lifetime Achievement Award! I almost felt like I understood his talk! (And people there seemed to follow it much better than I did.)

I brought Dad home with me and took him to the airport the next morning. It was great to see him! And of course, I’m so proud of him! I hope some day his theory gets wider recognition. (And just today he gave me the latest version of a paper to proofread. My Mom used to do that – now it’s a privilege to me to get to.)

And on July 27, I flew to California! It was nice to have Tim there to drive me to the airport. My Dad picked me up and drove me to Rick and Pam’s house, just a mile from my parents’ house, which was full of young families.

The next day, I hung out at my parents’ house.

I was shocked that they’d cut back “my” jacaranda tree – the one whose blossoms I used to enjoy out my window. It used to be the biggest jacaranda tree I’d ever seen. They said it was rotten in its core. I hope it survives such a drastic cut back!

I spent some delightful time playing outside with my sister Abby and niece Arianna.

Arianna was playing with the seed pods of the eucalyptus tree, calling them “Pum-pums.” It was adorable.

And this was when I met baby Meredith! She was only 7 weeks old.

Laura and Meredith:

I enjoyed that my Dad had plaques from when he was on the cover of GPS World.

That afternoon, I went through my parents’ old photo albums and scanned lots of pictures for Project 52. It was actually a lot of fun – and I was doing it in my childhood home. People who later commented that I have a good memory – I also have a Mom who was very very good about dating her photographs. That told me a lot!

And that night, I finished sewing in the yarn ends for the Fibonacci blanket I’d knitted for Meredith!

And July 29th was the day of Megan’s wedding! We assembled at my parents’ house, and I ended up riding with Rick and Pam to the wedding. Ron joined us on the way back. Marcy had arrived, bringing only Zoe – so we were overflowing with adorable Babyness.

Seeing my Mom was hard for me. Since I hadn’t seen her in a year, it was really obvious to me how much worse she was – so much less talking. The only time I heard her talk was at the wedding when she was watching sweet, happy Zoe and Mom started saying, “Look at her! Look at her!”

Mom with Abby:

Rick and Pam:

Zoe was sitting in her car seat, playing with a water bottle and with her feet! And making happy noises. She was being utterly adorable. (This is why I had complete sympathy for my Mom telling us to look at Zoe.)

While we were waiting for the wedding to start, Arianna wanted a little attention.

Meredith was being calm and quiet.

And Zoe was entertaining herself, adorably happy, singing a baby song.

Arianna with her Daddy (Robert) and her Uncle Nathan looking on:

Zoe was getting happier and happier as the wedding was about to begin!

Here’s Kristen, watching for her sister Megan to come down the aisle.

And here comes Megan!

Dave got to have a part in the ceremony.

I’d learned when I was in Oregon in May that Zoe likes to hold onto her ears when she’s tired! So adorable!

Kristen was such a beautiful maid of honor!

Such a beautiful ceremony!

One baby slept through the wedding!

Time for pictures!

Here’s the couple with Dave’s side of the family:

And here are Becky and Dave with all their children – and the new son-in-law. First, a silly picture:

Now being nice:

Laura and Meredith:

Moms and Babies:

Dave’s parents joined the family picture:

(I was in some family pictures, but didn’t get any of those taken with my camera.)

Happy parents with the happy couple:

And then Meredith was sitting there being so cute, making the blanket I’d knitted look so beautiful:

She started smiling!

And making happy noises!

Here’s my nephew Jason and his girlfriend Laura:

Becky, the Mother of the Bride!

Arianna had a Bouncy Castle to play in!

Megan and Zak at the reception:

And back at the tables, little Zoe was playing with her feet again:

Laura and Meredith:

Jeff, Rick, and Pam:

My Dad was adorable, playing with Zoe!

And Meredith was still beautifully modeling the Fibonacci Blanket.

Robert’s family took to the dance floor a little early:

Arianna got several people to dance with her. First was Abby!

Arianna dancing with Grandpa was especially sweet!

Later she enjoyed Daddy’s shoulders:

Michael and Megan, Brother and Bride:

On Saturday, Ruth picked me up and took me to her house. We watched the movie “Miracles from Heaven” and went out to eat, then stayed up doing a puzzle of Jerusalem. We had a great time just talking with each other.

On Sunday, Ruth took me back to my parents’ house. Aunt Abby was the one playing with Arianna again:

Though I helped Arianna do a puzzle.

Then Becky and Dave drove me down to their home in Encinitas. We listened to the Hamilton cast album during the drive. (I had to buy it for myself later!)

I spent most of Monday in Encinitas. Becky and I played some Splendor, then went out to eat and to the Botanical Garden there in Encinitas.

That night, Becky drove me back to Wilmington and we listened to the rest of Hamilton. The next morning, Dad drove me to LAX, and I flew back home.

So that was my 2016 trip to California – short, but packed full of time with family.

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

52 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016.

Yes, you heard that right. Today is 52 weeks after my 52nd birthday – but I’m still writing about Week 51! All this time, I managed to cover a year in the space of a week – until now!

But to be fair, it was a busy year! So far I’ve covered my West Coast vacation, summer at home, my November trip to Oregon, my last times taking Tim to William & Mary, and 2016 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston and a historic blizzard. And I still have the biggest trip of the year to cover.

Last time, I finished talking about January 2016. In February, the first big event was that Tim got his diploma from William & Mary! The super cool thing about it? It was in Latin!

William & Mary included a translation. My favorite part was the bit about him being “upright and well-born.”

And the next day, February 4th, I finished a Normal Distribution Scarf for Jade! And I wrote up a blog post about the math behind it. I also made and posted a Normal Distribution Coloring Sheet on my Sonderknitting page.

Have I mentioned lately? I was still going to a Friday night gaming group that would happen at Paul’s house or Mike’s house. It was a group of 8 serious gamers (me, a married couple, and the rest guys), and was a whole lot of fun to play Euro games that really make you think. I always felt like I was back with my math brothers. Anyway, in February we started up again after some time off for holidays and blizzards. That first week in February, I played Valley of the Kings and Puerto Rico.

I still also had the Sunday afternoon gaming group who mostly play Dominion (my favorite) – and for awhile I had Tim back in my home, so I could play games at home again! (What luxury!)

Valentine’s Day was on Sunday that year, and Darlene gave me this beautiful bookmark! I wrote a blog post about Love.

And Valentine’s Day was the day before President’s Day – and it snowed! With ice on top of that – so I took unscheduled leave on Tuesday to avoid driving in ice – and got to take more pictures of lovely snow.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Also in February, something significant happened. In one of my library news emails (I’m on a lot of lists from going to ALA conferences), there was a list of some current open librarian jobs – and there was a Youth Services Manager opening at Eugene Public Library in Eugene, Oregon.

Now, I’d been thinking a long time, wondering if I should try to move to Oregon. Jade moved there in 2011, and my four youngest siblings were now living in the Portland area. And now Tim was planning to find a job and move there. On top of that, if all these siblings and kids had lived in Portland in 2006, when I was coming back to America from Germany, I would have moved there in a heartbeat. After all, I’d been wanting to move back to the Pacific Northwest since I was 5 years old!

Now, after my visit that summer and again after my visit in November, I had come to terms with giving my kids space. The fact was, my siblings who lived in Portland are much younger than me, and in a different stage of life. And my kids don’t necessarily need Mom in their faces.

But another factor was that I didn’t mind moving when my Best Friend moved with me – my husband. But moving alone to a place where I didn’t have a local friend my age? That’s a bit more challenging.

And on top of that, I’ve ended up very happy with the life I’ve built in Virginia. Though not getting the Selector job was a blow. But I love my church, and I’ve made good friends both via church and at work and even via OKCupid! (I’m still friends with the one guy I dated whom I met on OKCupid – and I’m friends with his friends.) Oh, and I own a beautiful home overlooking a lake.

Okay, so that’s the context of this advertisement for a Youth Services Manager position in Eugene, Oregon. I’d been thinking about moving to Oregon, and I love Oregon – and this was 100 miles away from Portland – which seems like the perfect distance to get to see my kids in Portland often – but not be in their faces, always there, always hanging around, being an annoying Mom when my kids are trying to be adults.

On top of that, I found out that my Mom’s aunt Sharon and Uncle Phil and cousin Sonja live in Eugene. And I didn’t even realize it, but Sonja is the exact same age as me! Okay, really she’s eight months younger – but she’s a whole lot closer to my age than my siblings in Portland. And like me, she’s single. So – a possible *friend* if I moved there. It was looking better and better.

I decided to do two things: Apply for the job and pray hard. I honestly didn’t know what would be best. I didn’t actually want to move – but it seemed like way too excellent an opportunity to just let it go. When it turned out that the low end of the pay scale was more than I was currently making, and I would supervise many more staff – showing a higher priority on youth services, and when I learned that the cost of living is lower in Eugene than in northern Virginia – Yes, it seemed like I should at least apply. So that was the first step in February – deciding to apply.

Also in February, I met with a group of retired teachers to talk about “What’s New in Children’s Books.” I focused on books that had won awards at the Youth Media Awards I’d attended in January. It was lovely to share my area of expertise with a super appreciative audience.

Here’s a nice note. Tim had a visit to Steve’s at the end of February, and I was feeling a little blue about that – and my ex-boyfriend John called and invited me to dinner with him and his daughter. It wasn’t romantic – just a nice friendly meal – and it really hit the spot. I still felt like a winner ending up with a friendship with him, even though I still didn’t think we made a good match as a couple.

On March 1st, I voted in the Virginia primary – for Bernie Sanders. I probably shouldn’t say any more about that election! Bernie got me excited about things that could happen. But there were some setbacks….

Oh, and on March 6th, my church had a groundbreaking ceremony for our new Community Resource Center building. We were really building!

Then on March 12, I submitted my application for the Youth Services Manager position at Eugene public library! They said they’d be interviewing in April, so now to try to forget about it for a month. In the meantime, I prayed about it – honestly ambivalent, honestly not knowing which outcome would be best – which made me feel free to ask God for direction.

And it was another Super Pi Day! Since the value of pi rounds to 3.1416 – we called it Super Pi Day (Rounded Version) – 03.14.16 ! The previous year’s Super Pi Day was the truncated version. Of course I made a Pi pie again. (Chocolate Angel Pie – my favorite pie to make.) Crazy 8s Math Club had started up for the Spring, too.

And Spring was beginning! Now instead of snow pictures, let’s post some blossoms! These are from March 17th, when I worked late and got to take a walk before work.

A week later, on the 25th, more picture-taking!

And more blossoms on March 30th.

Oh! I didn’t even mention it in my journal, but some time in March, I nominated myself to be put on the ballot for the 2019 Newbery committee.

And on April 2nd, I found out I got a phone interview for the Eugene job!

And I took some more beautiful pictures:

Interesting. Already by April 4th I said that I was freaking out about the idea of moving. Because I didn’t want to move – but it still seemed like a fantastic opportunity that might turn out to be something awesome God had for me.

I like this from my quiet time journal on April 7th. I’d been talking with my friend Kevin who gives good coaching advice about the job. Here’s what I wrote:

Lord, I want to do as Kevin suggested and feel in my bones that this opportunity in Eugene – whether I’m offered it or not and whether I accept it or not – reflects the depth and breadth of your love for me.

Spoiler alert: I did not end up getting the job. But looking back – Wow! That’s exactly how I feel about it! That opportunity feels like it was a beautiful expression of God’s love to me.

On April 8th, they sent me the questions they would ask in the phone interview. Wow! Since it would be a phone interview, that meant I could write out my answers and read them on the phone. I could do this! Though I’d have to do the work to write out the best possible answers.

April 8th was also the day of my annual Bluebell Walk at Bull Run Regional Park.

April 14 was a big day. I was in charge of throwing a retirement party for my staff member, Mary (I got other people to do the actual party planning, thank goodness!), and I had my phone interview with Eugene Public Library.

I thought the phone interview went well. I read my prepared answers, which I’d practiced many times. But it was still stressful! And I was still all torn up inside figuring out if I wanted to move or not. I really do love my home here in Virginia. But I didn’t want to stand in the way of the Lord blessing me – and my kids would both be in Oregon, once Tim found a job.

April 16th was a luxurious day off – and I saw both a great blue heron and a white egret at the lake at the same time.

On April 18, my 5-year-journal says:

Ack! Tonight I found out that I got the in-person interview!!! It will happen on May 16! This was just after I’d gotten to a peaceful, happy place! The thought of a big move is scary. . . but I am sure that God will go with me.

On April 22nd, Tim went with me to the tulip fields at Burnside Farms. Yes, I went nuts taking photos again.

We bought some tulips to take home, too.

I did lots of praying over the next couple of weeks. And lots of friends prayed for and with and over me, including my small group and the Prayer Team. I still was honestly ambivalent. I honestly didn’t know which would be best – staying in Virginia or moving to Eugene – so I honestly wanted God’s direction.

And on May 11, 2016, I flew to Portland! Yes, as long as I was going to Oregon, I was going to take vacation! (And it did turn out that Eugene Library didn’t reimburse me for the trip. I wasn’t surprised – they’re a library, after all.)

I spent the first few days at Marcy and John’s house. When I arrived, little Zoe STARED at me! But Alyssa warmed up quickly. I brought her a gift – the book Madame Martine. Listening to her “read” the book after we’d read it a couple of times was amazing! If I hadn’t known the story, I might have thought that was it. I liked the way the dog in her version was named “Washington.” (Their family had recently driven to Washington state.)

Alyssa has a calendar to help her deal with transitions. Alyssa made the whole trip worth it when she saw my name on it and said, “You’ll be with us three more days! And I’m SO GLAD!!!!”

Oh, Alyssa, I was so glad, too! My heart melted and was entirely hers at that point.

My second day, Zoe was getting more comfortable with me, too.

Zoe got to try a new food!

Arianna came over in the evening!

Zoe’s in the toe-eating stage!

And on May 13, I drove in to Portland and picked up my daughter Jade and my brother Peter and went hiking with them at Multnomah Falls. It was so good to be with Jade!

We had dinner at Multnomah Lodge.

On the way back, we stopped at a castle-like structure overlooking the Columbia River gorge.

And I was back at Marcy’s house with Alyssa and Zoe that night.

May 14 was Arianna’s 3rd birthday, so I went to her birthday party before I drove down to Eugene.

Zoe was modeling the prime factorization blanket I knitted for her.

Arianna’s cousin was the same age as Zoe.

One of the party guests was good at French braiding.

Arianna got a wagon for her birthday.

And of course the wagon needed to be tried out!

After the party, I had to say good-by to my little nieces and head to Eugene. I’d realized the night before that I had somehow left behind the purple sweater I’d planned to wear in the interview, so I stopped at Sears to find a jacket to replace it – and found a navy blazer that looked even more professional. Whew!

I stopped in Salem and had dinner with Aunt Susan. Then on to Eugene! I first visited Aunt Sharon and Uncle Phil, then spent the night with Sonja in her house. Her roommate – a librarian – was out of town.

I had the best time with Sonja! It was delightful getting to know her!

On Sunday the 15th, I went to church with Sonja – it was so close, we walked. Then Aunt Sharon took us to lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the Willamette River. Then they gave me a tour of Eugene. In the evening, I had an appointment at a coffee place to chat with the library director. Then that night, I talked and talked with Sharon and Sonja.

May 16th was my big day! The interview process was long, but I really got a good feel for the library. I was impressed! A whole floor for Children’s Services. A wing for staff. More than one break room! I saw lots of great ideas to steal! The process included a Library Tour, a written exercise (writing a grant proposal), the interview, and a role-playing exercise about dealing with a problem patron – and staff members who didn’t like the way each other dealt with it.

That night, I had dinner with Sharon and Sonja at Laughing Planet (yum!) and then dessert at Sweet Life (yum! yum!)

I enjoyed my time with them so much!

But then I drove back to Portland. I got to Kristin’s house fairly late, but she had dessert all ready for me!

In the morning, Kristin took me to breakfast at Sweedeedee (yummy!) and then we walked quickly around her neighborhood rose garden a few times. She took me to the airport to go back home.

It was a wonderful day for views of Mt. Hood and mountains in Washington!

I got home at midnight – and the next day, I drove with Tim to National Harbor, where we met my Dad for lunch. He was in town for his Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing National Advisory Board meeting.

I went back to work on May 19 and was shocked to learn that Liz Rhodes, the 42-year-old director of Technical Operations, had died. I was also sad that Kathy, our former branch manager was really gone from the library (She retired just before my trip.), and so was Mary, my former staff member. And I started feeling worse about my interview answers… so it was a rough day.

But I got back into the swing of things. The next day was already my day off. I did go to gaming in the evening, playing Evolution, Parade, Red Seven, and Ticchu.

Here’s a selfie I took around that time.

And more walks around my lake! Now the irises were blooming!

Tim even walked with me!

I have a note that Family Math Games went especially well that Saturday – Parents completely focused on playing with their kids and helping them learn. After work, the Dominion gaming group met (instead of Sunday, for a change), and John told me he hoped I stunk at the interview. As supportive as everyone had been, it was nice to have someone express that they hoped I stayed in Virginia!

On Sunday, my small group leader told me that I was being illogical to pray that God would open or shut the door and then assume that if the door closes that I was inadequate! He had a good point.

On May 26, I learned that I had not gotten the Eugene job. As I told people, my favorite local reaction was my friend Debbie Schmidt, who said, “Welcome home!”

And looking back from the vantage point of a year later, I do see that whole experience as an expression of God’s love to me.

I had a soul-feeding trip to Oregon. The time with people – my family, my little nieces, my daughter, my aunt, my cousin, and also my friend Kristin – was all rich and wonderful. I even really enjoyed seeing the beautiful Eugene Public Library.

But another wonderful thing about the job application – somehow, it put to rest the idea that I should think about moving to Oregon. God had a chance to move me. I felt it was an indication that here is where God has me for awhile. And I am very happy to embrace that.

And I still had my beautiful lake!

On June 1st and 2nd, I interviewed candidates for the open staff position – my first hire! (Though I’d sat on an interview panel before.) [And with a year’s perspective – I can’t imagine that turning out better than it did!]

I learned how to use html include files and started using them in my Sonderbooks web pages. Some day, when I have them in all the pages, they’re going to be much, much easier to update. The ones that are already using them are already much easier to update.

On June 5th, my new little niece Meredith was born to Laura, my brother Robert’s wife! (Arianna’s new sister.)

And on June 11th, Darlene took me to eat at Big Bowl in Reston. We’d been there before for Darlene’s birthday, so we had a little tradition going.

And on Sunday, Debbie brought me cake and flowers to small group.

My 52nd birthday itself I’ll talk about with the next post.

My plan was to finish Project 52 today, on my 53rd Birthday. As it is, I guess it’s okay that I didn’t get behind until the next-to-last week! So I’m happy enough to finish Week 51. (It was a big year, with three trips to Oregon!)

Maybe at least I can talk about Year 52 before this next week is done.

Until next time!

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

51 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016. I’m almost done!

This week, so far I covered my West Coast vacation, summer at home, my November trip to Oregon, and the end of 2015. Tim was done with college!

But the first big event of 2016 was ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston! It happened early that year. I flew up on August 8. I sat next to a nice cataloger from the Library of Congress on the plane and we went to our hotel together. I walked to the convention center, went to a Booklist Author Forum, and picked up 33 books at the exhibits opening! One was Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, which I read at the conference.

The second day was full of informative and inspiring sessions. And I got more books and met Laurie Halse Anderson!

The third day of ALA Midwinter Meeting was excellent. I began the day by meeting Mac Barnett. Later highlights included meeting Sarah Brannen and getting signed copies of Madame Martine to give to my nieces.

And I met Stephon Alexander, the author of The Jazz of Physics, and showed him my Prime Factorization Scarf. He liked it so much, he called up his girlfriend, an artist, to come to that part of the exhibit hall and see it! (And he wanted a picture with me!)

The highlight of Midwinter Meeting is always the Youth Media Awards! This year was no exception. One of our Cybils Picture Book finalists, The Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Pena, won the Newbery Medal.

I finished up my time in Boston at the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction and Morris Awards ceremony, and then did some exploring of the city before my flight left that night. Another excellent conference!

And as always, I shipped some great books home!

See how my lake is pretty in every season of the year? Here are some winter lake pictures taken out my window.

And January 22-23, 2016 was the time of the historic blizzard! And I got to be snowed in with Tim – for the first time in four years! The Blizzard was amazing! I got off work at noon on the 22nd and got home just as it was beginning. Then the whole weekend off, plus two more snow days.

We ended up getting 28 inches of snow! And it was wind driven – on our balcony, it was falling up! Amazing to watch!

Now, I live in a condo, so I didn’t actually have to shovel snow, though I did end up helping a few people with their cars. But mostly, I’d go out and walk in it! I’ve never walked in such deep snow! It was an adventure!

And yes, I took a million pictures. Here are some highlights:

First, we had a wonderful “red sky at morning,” which reflected on the frozen lake.

Tim went out in it to measure it!

When the blizzard finally finished, the next morning was glorious.

Here’s the road. No thank you, I won’t be driving on it!

I made a snow angel!

Each day, I walked a little farther, breaking trail through the deep, deep snow. It was exhausting, but exhilarating.

The wind had blown the snow into amazing shapes.

On the 26th, I made it all the way to the bench!

I made a snowman!

Back to work on the 27th! Traffic was terrible both ways. But I had two families ask for suggestions for voracious reader kids, so it was a good day at work. The 28th was Thursday, a late day, and I got in a walk in the morning. There was a thick ice crust on top of the snow now, so I was able to walk on top of the snow for much of it – and that was much easier, and quite fun, too!

Friday the 29th was my day off, so of course I took another snowy walk, this time coming back along the ridge.

Saturday was a work day, but the view out my window was splendid!

And the last day of January was a Sunday and church was able to meet. Most of my small group live further out and couldn’t make it, though, so I just had lunch with Debbie and Ray Schmidt. After that, there was still time for one more walk in the snow. It was now very melty, but still deep and beautiful.

I finished the month with a blog post about Contentment and Trust. It was a lovely month!

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

51 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016. I’m almost done!

This week, so far I covered my West Coast vacation, summer at home, and my November trip to Oregon. That got me to the middle of November.

It was good to pick up Tim for one last Thanksgiving Break from William and Mary. I say in my five-year journal that we talked all the way home. I think that was the trip when he explained a complicated theorem he had to try to prove in a computer science class – and we talked a long time about it – and I figured out the solution the next morning when I was taking a shower. Yes! I do still have a mathematical brain! (When Tim took it back to class, he did give me credit. I was proud.) I don’t remember the problem except that it was very cool and required a whole lot of thought. My solution did work!

On Thanksgiving Day, we had dinner at Darlene’s house. After eating, we taught Darlene and her kids Michelle and Ryan how to play P.I. (It’s like Clue, but better.)

During Thanksgiving break, the late fall lake was still beautiful.

At that time, I started planning a blanket for the next niece due to be born (though I didn’t know the gender yet). Inspired by my Fibonacci Clock, I thought I’d make a golden rectangle Fibonacci Blanket. I started with a Fibonacci Swatchy. (For a math explanation, follow the link!)

I was so happy to have Tim home!

I wrote in my quiet time journal that weekend:

I realized though? That nice feeling I had this weekend and I also had in Portland staying with Jade?

That’s the feeling of being in a home with someone you love with all your heart. Combined with delight at being reminded they’re just as wonderful as You remember them.

Yeah, okay, the Empty Nest was hard at times. But it was nice to have Tim home for almost a week. Then I took him back to William & Mary for his last few weeks of his last semester of college.

And I still had my great job! I was branching out with some TechShop programs.

On December 3rd, we did another Computer Deconstruction program, run by Tech Shop. This time I took pictures! And my friend Darlene’s son Ryan and my friend Alexis’s son Robert both attended.

Here’s a pretty December sunrise from out my bedroom window.

I was getting lots of picture books sent for Cybils judging. A fun thing was sending a big box of picture books to each of my nieces for Christmas – and also some to my Mom. Her Alzheimer’s continued to progress. At one point, she’d read her books over and over because she couldn’t remember she’d read them before. At this point, all she could handle was picture books.

And on December 16, 2015, Tim had finished college! I picked him up at William and Mary one last time. There was no traffic, and it was so warm, we actually ate outside! One last time with food from the Cheese Shop and a super spicy Blenheim Ginger Ale. We talked all the way home again. I was so happy to have him home.

Though – since Jade currently didn’t have a job, nor did anyone living in his house, I didn’t want Tim to pursue his original plan of moving to Portland and living in Jade’s house and looking for a job. I said that somebody needed to have a job first. Tim could look for a job from Virginia. And if Jade found a job, that would change things, too.

So – my nest didn’t actually empty out until the following August. That was long enough that both Tim and I were ready for him to move out! But even then, it was bittersweet. Because the truth is, it’s nice to have someone you love with all your heart living in your home.

On Christmas Eve, after the Christmas Eve service, we went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 3D.

Did you know that you can cut Fun Size Nestle Crunch bars so that they say INCH and measure one inch? I’m not sure where I learned about that, but we used stocking candy to do this on Christmas Day.

We also played a game of Castles of Burgundy. (I miss having Tim around to play games with! We played a lot of games together the next 8 months.)

On New Year’s Eve a pair of swans-a-swimmin’ visited my lake! They never came again, but they were beautiful to watch that day.

We finished up the calendar year with another New Year’s Eve party with games at the home of Trisha and Phil Sallee. I have a note that I played Splendor and Apples to Apples – and got beaten by Barsottis all three times! (That’s Kathe’s family – It was her husband and son Tim who beat me.) It was a lot of fun. And I even got to talk with Jade that night.

But now – I’m going to have to stop writing for the night. Can I finish Week 51 before the week is done? It’s looking doubtful… After all this time, will I fail to keep it within a week at the very end? Stay tuned….

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

51 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016. I’m almost done!

This week, so far I covered my West Coast vacation, and thoughts about my impending REALLY Empty Nest and my firstborn Josh transitioning to be known for who she is – my daughter Jade.

That got me part way through September. On September 13, I took a walk by my lake and got what is probably my very favorite image of the great blue heron – especially when I saw how it mirrored the dancing flamingo in Flora and the Flamingo..

And of course I took more pictures of my late-summer lake.

On September 27, my new little niece, Zoe, was born in Portland, Oregon, to my sister Marcy, her second little girl.

That night, we had a supermoon total lunar eclipse. And just like when I had an opportunity to see a total solar eclipse – clouds covered the moon a few seconds before it went total! We’ll see how I do this coming August….

Also that day, I made a Prime Factorization Hairnet! Here’s the deal: My church was drumming up publicity about a Stop Hunger Now event and was asking us to decorate hairnets and take selfies. I thought of putting color coded prime factorization: I just printed my chart and cut out the individual numbers and arranged it in a spiral.

That was when I was working on my “mathematical knitting gallery” on a new page of my website – Sonderknitting. I’m happy with how it has turned out!

And on October 1st, nominations opened for the Cybils Awards! This year I was a first round panelist again – in the Fiction Picture Books category. This was much, much easier, timewise, than the other panels, because it doesn’t take as long to read lots and lots of picture books (and I do that anyway). But it was lots of fun. One of the picture books we chose ended up winning the Newbery Medal, so that was exciting! (But we didn’t pick the Caldecott winner, which was a nonfiction picture book.)

On October 5th, I got my first purchase from Kickstarter – a Fibonacci Clock! With this color scheme, red represents the number the hour hand points to, green represents the number the minute hand points to, and blue is for both.

So in this picture, the hour hand is at 2, and the minute hand is at 1+3+5 = 9. So it’s 2:45.

In this picture, the hour hand is at 2+3+5 = 10, and the minute hand is at 1+1+3+5 = 10, so it’s 10:50. (They could have done all the colors in blue, but what would be the fun in that?)

In October, Fall Color was starting to show by my lake.

On October 9 and 10, I went to KidLitCon in Baltimore! It was a couple hours away, so I drove in both days. I told about the first day and the evening with the Cybils birthday dinner, and the second day of panels. Kidlit Bloggers are my peeps, and by this time, I have lots of friends among them. It was a great time, as always.

Picture book author Kevin O’Malley drew this picture for me!

That was Columbus Day weekend, so on Tuesday, I did more walking by my lake and took lots of pictures of the beautiful colors.

Of course, there were more walks and more heron stalking.

About that time, I closed my OKCupid profile. I’d done a lot of praying about it, and felt that God was telling me to wait, and that going online was doing all the work myself; God was going to take care of this one for me, but I’d have to do some trusting. I also wrote another post about dealing with loneliness, this time by remembering your own core value.

And this is the view I wake up to out my bedroom window in the Autumn:

More lovely walks:

Friday, October 23, was my day off. When I looked out my window and was stunned by the glowing ridge of trees, I realized that I was almost never home at sunset. During the week, after Daylight Savings Time had ended, I got home after dark. On Sundays, I went to gaming at my friends’ house and got home after dark. The previous Saturday off, I’d driven to my friend Rose’s house in Maryland (and had a great time). So that day when I saw the trees in a bright line lit up by the setting sun, I had to go out among them and take pictures. I remember that evening as my prettiest walk by the lake ever.

On October 31st, I had a late day at work, and on my walk in the morning encountered my friend the great blue heron.

In November 2015, the YALSA Symposium (Young Adult Library Services Association) was happening in Portland – so you can bet I planned to be there! I arrived a few days before and stayed until a few days after and had a wonderful vacation as well as a great conference.

I began at my sister Marcy’s house. I got to hold baby Zoe, and she smiled at me!

And I brought birthday presents for Alyssa! (Books, of course.)

I spent the next day at Marcy’s. Lots of fun was had!

Alyssa started cooking some Pa-sketti!

On Friday November 6th, I went to Jade’s house, and from there took the train to the YALSA Symposium. The first night’s keynote speaker was Aija Mayrock, and a reception afterward.

Some highlights the next day included eating lunch at the table with Jack Gantos, before he got up to speak.

I got some good ideas for teen programs. And I re-met Ann Jacobus, who had a new book out, set in Paris – she had been one of the organizers of the conference I went to in Paris in November 2005, exactly 10 years earlier.

The final day of the YALSA Symposium only took up the morning. In the afternoon, my sister Melanie drove me down to Salem, where we had dinner with our Aunt Donna and Aunt Susan. Lovely!

We came back to Marcy’s house afterward (where Melanie has a room as well). More fun with Alyssa!

On Monday the 9th, I visited Robert and Laura and Arianna. Marcy and Alyssa and Zoe came over for awhile, too.

Arianna really liked my umbrella!

Here are three prime factorization knitted objects together! The Cardigan I was wearing, Arianna’s prime factorization blanket, and the new prime factorization blanket I was madly knitting for Zoe.

Laura got Zoe to smile!

And the next day was a big one. In the morning, I went with Laura and Arianna to Open Play time in a local gymnastics center. Arianna loved it!

Then I headed to Jade’s house. Jade and her partner Sunny and Sunny’s dog, Pippi, and my brother Peter (who lives at the same house) all went with me to Hug Point on the Oregon Coast.

We had a lovely, glorious day, as the pictures show.

So – a lovely day!

I had one more full day in Oregon. I spent it hanging out at Jade’s house, sewing in ends on the Prime Factorization Blanket I’d finished knitting for Zoe. I finally completed it in the evening! Peter went with me to take it to Zoe.

The blanket with Zoe!

Peter looked so sweet holding Zoe!

Alyssa with her Papa, John:

And I wanted a picture with the blanket!

I helped Alyssa do a puzzle.

And finally, it was back to Jade’s house. I said Good-by and left in the morning to the airport.

So – that was my lovely Autumn trip to Oregon. It was good to be with Jade – calling her Jade, seeing her as Jade. Oh, the one big worry? She quit her job the day before I got there. Peter had quit in the summer, so now no one in the household was working full-time.

But – it was great to have the time with her. I was thinking about people’s reactions to Jade’s transition and about my own heart and wrote a post about Pharisaism and transgender issues.

And that’s all I can do tonight! To be continued…

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

51 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016. I’m almost done!

Last time, I covered my West Coast vacation, which happened soon after I turned 51. During that trip, my firstborn child Josh, at 27 years old, told me that she is actually my daughter Jade. That was a big surprise, but here’s what I told some friends later:

As for Jade — they’re an adult.  I’m going to do them the honor of trusting that they know what they’re doing.  And they’ve emailed me way more than ever before this past week, and they’re posting much happier things on Facebook than in the past — and I’m actually managing to feel happy for them, with hope that this might even be a good thing in their life.  (While still praying for truth and clarity and for their heart to open to God.)  And my feelings of loss have been calmed.

(Be sure to note that by this time, I thought the truth was probably that Jade is indeed female. Because I do trust that she knows the truth about herself better than anyone. But I’ve consistently been praying that she will know the truth about herself, and so far, she reports that this transition was completely on the side of Truth.)

That summer, I was also coming to grips with the impending REALLY Empty Nest. Tim had moved up his graduation date to December – and I wasn’t prepared for it to happen that much sooner. That summer, Tim was working an internship in Portland, working for the same company Jade was, and he’d decided to move to Portland after graduation.

Now, when I’d originally moved to Virginia, I was thinking it was just for a couple years, “to lick my wounds.” Then Tim got accepted to the best high school in the nation, so I figured I’d stay 4 more years. Then I bought a home and Tim got accepted to the College of William & Mary – a state school. So I figured I’d stay 4 more years. Meanwhile, my four youngest siblings and my oldest child moved to Portland. I’d been wanting to move back to the Pacific Northwest since my family moved away when I was 5 years old.

But – moving when you’re not married is a whole lot more daunting than when you’re bringing your best friend along with you. I was happier and happier with my life in Virginia. I love my job (though it had shaken me when I hadn’t gotten the Youth Materials Selector position – but the truth is that the job I have sure reaches more kids directly).

And then I took that West Coast trip. This is what I wrote to a few friends after the trip:

But in the big picture?  The big thing I got from the trip was deciding not to try to move to Portland any time soon. 

That’s actually a much bigger deal than it sounds.  We moved away from the Seattle area when I was almost six — and all my life, in the back of my mind, I planned to move back to that area when I got the chance.

So to decide, No, I’m happier right here right now is a big thing to realize.

I also did a lot of thinking about the phase of life I’m in.  I visited my siblings in the Portland area who have toddlers.  And I do remember that being part of a young family was a wonderful thing (especially those early years in Germany) — but that is not the phase of life I’m in right now.  My siblings are in a very different place than I am, and I think it will be easier for Jade to make their transition with me not right there.  If I moved to be near them all, I think I’d be out of step.  (Also, what do you know, 2015 Pacific Northwest is not as rural as 1970s Pacific Northwest.  My home right here in Virginia is as beautiful as anything I saw there.)

I did recall that when my kids were little — before we moved to Germany — the person I envied most was Darlene.  Darlene was single a lot longer than I was.  She was traveling around, free of responsibility, while I had these young kids.

Well, now Darlene has kids in middle school, and my kids are grown and setting off into adulthood.  I’m the one free of responsibility.

All that is to say that my reflections convinced me to embrace the life I have right now and not waste it wishing to set back the clock.  That life I had was very good.  But the life I have now is very good, too.  My younger self would have envied me!  So enjoy it!

(I also realized that the one thing I want to add into my life is regular writing again.  Have done 30 minutes of writing per day for a solid week now.)

Also at about that time, I asked Jade what she would say to a pastor who was thinking about transgender issues. And Jade answered with a letter that was powerful and amazing, and I was so proud to be her mother. It was hard to read about the pain she’d gone through, feeling alienated but not knowing why. But she helped me get an inkling of what it was like – and her voice was still the voice of my amazing and articulate and unconventional kid who I love so much.

Back home, I was happily walking around my beautiful lake again.

And out my window one day:

On Saturday, August 8, 2015, I went to the Smithsonian – the National Gallery of Art! Simply because I’m the kind of person who does cool things! Much of the motivation was from having read the picture book Madame Martine, where she lives near the Eiffel Tower but never visits it until her little dog runs up it. Here I am living near DC….

Afterward, Darlene had me over for dinner, and we talked and played games.

I was still getting the Empty Nest Blues. And thinking through feelings of loss. I wrote about it on Sonderjourneys. I also had lunch with my pastor and his wife. They reassured me that I had a lot of losses going on, and it was okay to get the blues now and then.

That August was our first Computer Deconstruction program at the library. This one was run by TechShop – later we decided we could run them ourselves. (This was after TechShop didn’t show up for one we had booked! And it turns out, according to my five-year journal, that happened exactly one year after the first one they did!) But it was so much fun to watch the kids’ faces as they got more and more engaged and empowered!

And friends and God’s Word did cheer me up – and picking up Tim after his internship! Though a few days later, I took him back to William & Mary, for his very last semester.

But I did get to have more wonderful walks by my lake.

In September, we began a collaboration with the City of Fairfax Parks, and began going across the street every Tuesday to do a storytime in Old Town Square, the new park they’d created out of an old parking lot. We continue this tradition in September, October, April and May, every year since, with Karen and me alternating doing the stories. (We did it together the first time.)

September 5th was the National Book Festival! They’d moved it to the Convention Center, though, which made it feel really claustrophobic for me. Worst of all, they didn’t let you choose a room and stay in it, as I’d learned was the best strategy when it was held on the National Mall.

But I heard Rachel Swaby, author of Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed the World

And Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead.

The day after the National Book Festival, I wrote a post about strategies for dealing with loneliness that I still find helpful today. It includes the idea that I got from a friend of making a visual mission statement. The mission statement I made is still the desktop background on my home computer.

A couple weeks later, I wrote a post, “Let Nostalgia Work for You,” also about dealing with loneliness.

The next week, I went with Kathe to Shenandoah National Park, and we went hiking at Lands Run Falls – and just had a lovely, lovely day together!

And I’m going to have to stop there for tonight.

It’s time for Project 52, Week 51!

51 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 51 — June 14, 2015, to June 14, 2016. I’m almost done!

Last week I covered the year I was 50, finishing up with plenty of springtime festivities. My 51st birthday was extra special, with church, small group, gaming group, and a Steven Curtis Chapman concert at the Kennedy Center.

The first big event of the year, as with so many other years, was a trip to ALA Annual Conference. But this time, ALA was in San Francisco. So as long as I was on the west coast, I planned trips to Portland and to Los Angeles after the conference.

But before I left, the library began the Summer Reading Program. I finished booktalking, and one of our first programs was a program with TechShop that I had set up. My cousin Mark was the CEO of TechShop. I’d worked out for them to come to the library. It went great!

Josh announced on Facebook that their correct name was now Jade. I asked in email what that meant, and Jade told me we’d talk about it when I was out there. Tim was also in Portland, doing a summer internship at the company Jade worked for.

ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco began on June 26. This year, my co-worker Karen Jakl came and roomed with me. It was nice to have a friend along!

The Printz Award reception had been moved to Friday night instead of Monday night. So that was my first event. After, of course, the mad dash for ARCs in the Exhibit Hall! I did post notes about all the events I went to. Saturday was Leadership and ALSC, since I was now Chair of the Grants Administration Committee for ALSC. Then came a powerful film called The Raising of America. Next came an interesting panel about the importance of libraries and books. The panelists were all authors of books about books – and we were given copies of the books. In the evening, Karen and I went to a party sponsored by Ingram, and ended up chatting with the Loudoun County and Prince William County Public Library directors. (These are neighboring counties to Fairfax County, where we work.)

On Sunday, I began the day with a “Literary Tastes” meeting and more free books. Of course, more Exhibit time!

Here I am with Nathan Hale of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales!

And Author Erin Bow:

I went to an interesting session called “All Hands on Tech” about modeling responsible technology usage with parents.

But the highlight, of course, was the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Awards Banquet!

They always have really wonderful programs.

I got to sit with my friend April.

Monday was the day to wrap-up. I still got to some interesting sessions. There was a YALSA “Shark Tank” session that had some good ideas for teen programs. And a really interesting one called “Reading the Art in Caldecott Books.” I also shipped my loot that morning, and went to the Odyssey Awards program (for distinguished audiobooks).

Now that the Printz program had been moved from Monday night, I had the evening free – and met up with my Uncle Allen and his wife Jeanne and his kids Andy and April. Andy’s wife Marcy and kids Molly and Trevor were there – I hadn’t seen them in years. And April had just gotten married on my birthday! She and her husband Jared were in the Bay Area for a reception. I had a really wonderful time getting to know these wonderful relatives better.

Tuesday, July 1st, it was off to Portland! My sister Marcy picked me up at the airport, and I got to play with Alyssa, who was shy for a little while, but not too long.

On Wednesday, I got to see my kids! Marcy and Alyssa and I drove Marcy’s husband John in to work – and we had lunch with Jade, Tim, Peter, and Melanie, who all worked at the same place. While we were in Portland, of course we stopped at Powell’s books. And more playing with Alyssa that afternoon.

Then I went to Robert and Laura’s house, to spend the next couple nights with them and my niece Arianna.

The next night, they took me to English Country Dancing. My sister Melanie was there, too.

The next day, Robert took me to Jade and Peter’s house, where Tim was also staying for the summer. My brother Ron was visiting at the same time, so he also came along and Robert, Ron, Peter, Jade, Tim, and I all played games. That night we went to see the movie Inside Out.

The next day was Independence Day, and I had the conversation with Jade. Yes, her name was now Jade. Yes, she now considers herself female. (She was using the pronoun “they” at the time, but I’m going to skip to “she” in writing about her, which is what she uses now.) She had started taking hormones and was very happy about the transition.

I was glad we had the conversation in person. Because then I could see for myself this was still my kid, whom I will always love with all my heart. I didn’t lose my child. She’s still the same person.

I’ll say here that I later had some conversations with relatives and friends who weren’t terribly understanding. No, I never had any clue – but the fact is, I believe that my child is the only one who knows what is going on inside her own body.

When I was going through my divorce, I was helped tremendously by Patricia Evans’ books on verbal abuse. She says that verbal abuse happens when someone defines you differently than you see yourself, when someone claims to know you better than you know yourself. Isn’t gender a fundamental definition of a person? Shouldn’t we allow people to define themselves?

No, I’ve never experienced gender dysphoria. That doesn’t mean no one else has! I believe that no one knows better than the person themselves what is true about themselves. And I am happy to report that two years later, Jade has no desire to go back.

I stayed at my kids’ place three nights. It was the holiday weekend, so they were off work. We played lots of games, and it was simply good to be with them!

On Sunday night, Melanie drove Ron and me down to Salem, where we had dinner with Aunt Susan and Aunt Donna, which was very nice!

On Monday the 6th, my writer friend Kristin (from our retreat in Paris!) picked me up. She now lived in Portland. Another writer friend from my writer’s group at Sembach, Laurie, now lived in Vancouver, Washington, and she met us for coffee. We went for a walk in the rose garden by Kristin’s house and had lunch.

Later, Kristin and I did some writing together, and I spent the night in her lovely home.

On July 7th, it was time for the next leg of my trip. Kristin took me to the airport in Portland, and my Dad picked me up in Long Beach. I had a quiet evening with Mom and Dad. I walked in the morning with Kristin – quickly, and in the evening with Mom and Dad – slowly.

My Dad is so sweet to my Mom!

On the 8th, I spent the day with Ruth! She took me to the Los Angeles Science Center and the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit.

We also saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor.

We finished up with some lovely wandering in the rose garden.

On the 9th, Becky picked me up at Mom and Dad’s – and we toured a Civil War Museum that’s a block from their house! It’s been there for ages – but we’d never been! It was a barracks during the Civil War, and they actually kept camels there! The tour was fascinating.

I love the jacaranda trees every time of year!

There is now a park across the street from the Drum Barracks (so a block from my parents’ house) with Camels!

Then Becky took me down to Encinitas, where they were now living again. Kristen was the only one of her kids who was home. That night, we watched an old movie, “How to Steal a Million.”

On July 10th, Becky and I had a lovely long hike in Torrey Pines State Reserve.

That night, we went out to California Pizza Kitchen with Kristen, and then we watched Beastly and another classic, How to Marry a Millionaire.

On my last day in Encinitas, we spent the day at the Encinitas Beach. On the way there, I checked out the lovely Encinitas Library.

At the beach, they were having a concert with the Christian group “Need to Breathe,” and a surf competition. We stood up on a place overlooking the beach where we could watch and hear them both.

I was fascinated by the drones that were filming the surfers.

That evening, Becky drove me to meet Abby for dinner in Laguna Beach.

Abby took me back to Mom and Dad’s. That night we still had time for some games of Red Seven and Linko with Abby and Rick and Jeff. And Dad took me to the airport the next day. Kathe welcomed me home!

Of course, it wasn’t long before my loot from ALA arrived!

And that’s all I have time for tonight! That covers the first of three trips to Oregon that year.

It’s time for Project 52, Week 50!

50 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 50 — June 14, 2014, to June 14, 2015.

This week, I’ve already covered the 75th Annual Bates Family Reunion, Fabulous Friends at Fifty, Herons and Egrets Around My Beautiful Lake, Christmas fun, and the Wonderful Winter. Now it’s time to talk about Spring!

I was still happy at work. Early in Spring, I started a new season of Crazy 8s Math Club, and I have a note that a little girl told me, “I had a fabulous time!” It melted my heart.

First, signs by my lake.

Oo! There’s an insightful statement in my journal from April. I realized that if somehow a miracle happened and Steve were to come back and we went back into the marriage we had – I’d have to squelch the person I’d become. I’d have to dampen my enthusiasms: for my career, for fellowship with God’s people, for enjoying and taking pictures of nature.

Looking back, that seems like a good criteria. If I’m with this man, do I have to squelch any part of myself?

Oh, but that was also when I got contacted by a scammer on OKCupid who claimed to be an American general but who was from Paris. He was widowed and had a grandson in Paris – even though if the times he told me at various times were correct, his own son had a child at 12 years old! And when he had time to walk around Paris holding hands with his wife while he was pursuing that military career in the U.S., I have no idea! Funny how he was too busy to actually meet up – he was in important meetings with the Joint Chiefs about a secret mission to Damascus. I’m embarrassed how long I corresponded with him, but eventually a google search on some of the phrases he’d told me about his life revealed which military bios he’d stolen the lines from. Oh well. That was when I started thinking I needed a break from looking online.

Okay, more enthusiastic pictures!

On April 18, I went to the National Math Festival in Washington, DC.

I brought my prime factorization cardigan and showed it off. First, to the curator of the math art exhibit.

Then at the Mathical Awards, I showed it to the author of Really Big Numbers, who also wrote You Can Count on Monsters about prime numbers, and was very appreciative. The funny thing, though. After I talked with him, it nagged at me that he seemed really familiar. I looked up his bio after I read Really Big Numbers, and then I emailed him and confirmed. He was my classmate at UCLA! We only had one class together, Number Theory seminar, when I was a graduate math student and he was a Senior undergrad. I remembered him as rather cocky – I was insecure because I didn’t know the other people in that class. (He said he didn’t feel cocky at that time.) It made it seem a very small world!

Then I went to hear a stand-up mathematician. When he showed off the mathematical scarf his mother knit for him, I knew I had to show him my prime factorization cardigan!

While I was in DC, I had to catch some of the beautiful flowers.

That week in Crazy 8s Math Club, we did Venn diagrams.

And on April 24th, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Bluebell Trail at Bull Run Regional Park – but first I went to Burnside Farms, where they grow tulips!

My journal says:

Wow! Today I went to Burnside Farms’ tulip fields for a couple hours, then the Bluebell Walk at Bull Run for a couple hours. Then I fell fast asleep! It was so beautiful. My cup overflows.

Yes, I went nuts taking pictures. What follows is a tiny percentage of those I took!

Then the Bluebell Trail!

I did bring home some of the tulips.

And bought some balcony flowers.

Ah! I remember why I was getting so frustrated thinking about dating. First, I figured out the Frenchman was a scammer. A few days later, I went to my ex-boyfriend’s PhD party and met his current girlfriend (who seemed a much better match with him than I was), then not long after I went to a Book Dating event at another library branch, and someone did express interest – but after exchanging a couple emails, just dropped me.

At least it drove me to prayer! (And going off online dating for awhile was a good choice.)

Oh, and the other thing – I was looking at old emails from that time. With the scammer, I talked about him (before realizing he was a scammer) with my friend Paul, my friend Kevin (who’d been in the military and recognized this guy’s story didn’t ring true), my pastor, and the men in my small group. Between the lot of them, they cautioned me, and I did some more digging and figured it out. I came away realizing that my friends have my back! I really felt like I have some extra brothers watching out for me. (As if 7 actual brothers weren’t enough!)

But my lake had new beauties in May.

Our small group met at Erik and Renee’s house and met their giant dog.

My balcony is extra cozy in the Springtime.

On May 13th, I got Tim from William & Mary. I happily report in my journal that he talked to me all the way home. We started reading The Jedi Doth Return aloud to each other that summer.

But I’m afraid I had another 3-week vestibular migraine in May. I finally went to the ER to get rid of it. Though I can happily report, knocking on wood as I do so, that that was the last time I went to the ER for a headache. A doctor told me that it often takes a year after menopause for headaches to settle down, and it seemed to do that for me.

I got some Golden Rectangle earrings!

And on May 19, I finished my second Pascal’s Triangle Shawl, this time done with shades of purple. I think it turned out even prettier than the first one, though it doesn’t go with as many different things. I blogged about the math.

And then I tried to get a Selfie wearing it.

I finally gave in and asked Tim to take some.

In late May, my lake was now blooming with irises.

And I watched a red-winged blackbird dive bomb the great blue heron!

More irises:

And on Memorial Day, Tim and I went to Shenandoah National Park and hiked the Traces Trail.

But a couple days later, I had to take Tim to the airport. He had gotten a summer internship in Portland, with the same company Jade (then called Josh) worked for, as did my brother Peter, my sister Melanie, and my brother-in-law John. So both of my kids would be in Portland for the summer!

However, the first time I took Tim to the airport, there was a storm, and the flight was delayed too much for Tim to get his connecting flight. So I picked him back up, and that night we played a game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig. The next day, though, he really did leave for the summer.

But I settled back into the swing of things, keeping busy. I was still gaming every Friday night and most Sunday afternoons. We started booktalking in the local elementary schools. My Dad had a trip to Annapolis, so I met him there for dinner. Church had a Family Challenge in June – silly games to play as families. I helped with one of the tables. I had dinner in Reston with Darlene the night before my birthday. I’d also started writing again, aiming for 30 minutes a day, working on a book about my prime factorization charts.

And I had a simply splendid 51st birthday. It was a Sunday, so it began with lots of birthday wishes at church. (Facebook is great for giving away things like that!) My Small Group met at my house as usual – but this time they brought lunch, and we had cake and strawberries and blueberries, and I got sung to. Then came the Dominion gaming group. I brought cupcakes, so they sang to me, too. And I finished the day off with a Steven Curtis Chapman concert at the Kennedy Center with Mabel, which was amazing. (When I heard he was playing at the Kennedy Center on my birthday, I immediately ordered tickets!)

So it was a year filled with many beautiful things.

It’s time for Project 52, Week 50!

50 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 50 — June 14, 2014, to June 14, 2015.

This week, I’ve already covered the 75th Annual Bates Family Reunion, Fabulous Friends at Fifty, Herons and Egrets Around My Beautiful Lake, and Christmas fun. I’m ready to start talking about 2015.

The year began, of course, with more walks by my lake.

And we got some snow!

I got some new earrings I really liked from my sister Wendy for Christmas. I was still super happy about getting to wear earrings, since I’d only had pierced ears for a year. So I got a little obsessed, trying to take selfies that show off the earrings.

And a walk by the lake when it was frozen:

I did have a lot on my mind that January. I was still gaming with my Friday night group at Paul’s house or Mike’s house and with the Sunday afternoon group at Alexis and Chris’s house. My small group from church was still meeting at my house after church on Sundays.

That January was when I began reading the book Deeper Dating, whose philosophy I really agree with. Basically, you work on being your authentic self and expressing that and hanging around people who inspire you. I was starting to think about ditching online dating. Not that I’ve found anyone with the Deeper Dating methods, but I do have a clear idea of what I’m looking for. And – I reread the book recently – it encourages me because I feel like I do know how to make friends, and I have made friends using these principles of being who you are. Some day, I’ll make a friend who’s a single man my age! But meanwhile, my life is all the richer for the friendships I do have.

But the biggest thing on my mind was cancer. I’d had a CT scan and MRI done in the fall – and my right vertebral artery was showing a little bit of improvement – but they found a “mass” in the left pyriform sinus in my throat.

Well, long story short, I had a biopsy done on January 28 – and they found that it was overgrown lymphatic tissue. It was perhaps extra large when the MRI was done because I had a bad cold at the time. The official diagnosis was “reactive lymphoid hyperplasia,” but the word I heard was BENIGN.

I took a day of sick leave after the procedure, and the next day went to ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago.

I didn’t take pictures on my own camera, but I did blog about the trip. On Friday, I went to a Graphic Novel Author Forum and a USBBY meeting. Saturday began with Abrams Book Buzz, then a Women in Geekdom panel, then a talk by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. That night I stayed in my room and posted pictures of my loot. On Sunday, I got to meet LeVar Burton! A historic blizzard was starting to hit Chicago, but I soldiered on to a Boyds Mills Press Luncheon, a talk on Young Children, New Media, and Libraries, and a program by Mick Ebeling on changing lives with technology. Monday morning, I got front row seats for the 2015 Youth Media Awards! And then later in the day was the presentation of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction and Morris Awards.

Here’s my summary of the great time I had at Midwinter, as well as some blizzard shots.

That was the first year I held a contest among my friends on Facebook as to who could guess how many books I’d bring home. The total ended up being 101 books, and the prize – a book! – went to my cousin’s wife, Marcy Bates.

Still most of my pictures are out my windows or by my lake. Here’s a sunrise I woke up to in February, from my bedroom window.

Here’s a “great day” from my Five-Year Journal on February 8:

A great day! A powerful sermon on Phil. 4:4-9, good talks with people, Home Fellowship at my house, digging deep, Dominion with the Longs & John, and then The Imitation Game with John. Finally, an 8th grade teacher told me about the prime factorization project his students made.

That prime factorization project took my post about my prime factorization sweater and had the kids figure out the pattern – and then create their own prime factorization chart. I was totally jazzed to learn about this!

And we got an extra long weekend with a Snow Day on the 17th, the day after President’s Day.

More snow the next weekend, so even church was snowed out.

I made a snow angel!

And don’t tell – but I walked out onto the frozen lake! (Only to where I’d seen the heron wade. I’m not stupid.)

Yet more snow! (In case you haven’t figured it out, I love snow!)

And I bought myself a new cozy red bathrobe!

On the last day of February, I held my first Family Math Games at the Library! I began the collection with board games and card games my own kids had outgrown, but purchased some more with money from the Friends of the Library. The idea is to have parents play with their kids – I firmly believe that’s the very best way to learn math skills. And it worked! Parents were happily playing with their kids! I’ve continued to run this program once a month since then – and it continues to be a huge success.

And March brought Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and our library’s first annual Seussathon – getting customers to volunteer to read Dr. Seuss books all day long in the children’s area. Schools were closed for snow, so we were extra crowded.

We got yet more snow days in early March.

We also got some robins, though!

Yes, it was a wonderful winter for snow!

I wrote a post about where I was in my spiritual journey. God was still working in my heart. And another post about not being alone. And another post about gratitude and contentment. And a Psalm-Lament about looking for love. And a Psalm of Thanksgiving.

And that year, instead of plain ordinary Pi Day, we had Super Pi Day! It was 03.14.15! Yay! So of course we did a library program. (And that year a friend emailed me at 9:26. Yes, that’s the spirit!)

I made a Pi Pie:

And wore all my mathematical regalia:

These were my favorite customers of the day, the whole family wearing Pi t-shirts:

And – It’s getting late! I’m going to have to do yet another part to cover Springtime.

It’s time for Project 52, Week 50!

50 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I’m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 50 — June 14, 2014, to June 14, 2015.

This week, I’ve already covered the 75th Annual Bates Family Reunion, Fabulous Friends at Fifty, and Herons and Egrets Around My Beautiful Lake, and I’ve only covered through the beginning of November.

At this time, I was enjoying my work at the library, but still hoping for the Youth Material Selector position. I found out on November 18 – more than six weeks after my second interview, and almost a year after the position had come open – that I had not gotten the job. Fortunately, I was enjoying my current job. It’s probably better for me in the long run – a whole lot more variety and more work directly with the public. But I can still follow the new children’s books. All the same, at the time this news was a blow.

Meanwhile, we did some marshmallow flinging (and measuring the distances they traveled) in Crazy 8s Math Club – just to remind me I do have an awesome job.

I got contacted by my first scammer via OKCupid. No, he never asked me for money. But we were emailing, and he didn’t want to meet, and I realized I didn’t want to exchange endearments with someone I didn’t even know. He didn’t speak good English, and said some amusing things like, “If you were here, I would kiss you in the head.” But when I wasn’t buying it, he stopped emailing. Annoying and discouraging. Months later, another scammer started emailing me. I’m embarrassed that it wasn’t until a friend expressed skepticism about the guy’s claimed military background that I thought to google his description of himself – and found the military bio that he’d copied from!

Google is your friend in finding scammers, by the way! You can also do a reverse image search with the picture. In this way, I discovered that the picture of that good-looking man was actually the picture of a male model whose name was not the same as the one on the profile.

Of course, if they fail at basic math in the tragic story of their wife’s death and the grandson in Paris who would have to have been born when the son they told you about was 12 years old – well, they shouldn’t be trying to scam a math major!

It was all very discouraging. Eventually, I decided that I lucked out with meeting my ex-boyfriend John and making four additional friends because of meeting him.

I’m a hard one to match by online dating. My Christian faith is very important to me – but I have some nontraditional views, that God will eventually save everyone. And I’m politically liberal, but I prefer evangelical worship services and believe that God will give you guidance about your everyday life – and want to find a man who’s seeking to please God in his everyday life. I have two Master’s degrees, which could be intimidating, and I have a weakness for men who can write an articulate sentence.

I think I did stay online for most of the rest of the year I was 50. But eventually, when the scammers started getting me angry (One said he loved my enthusiasm. Well, I am enthusiastic. How dare he pretend to genuinely appreciate me when he was only planning to use me?) – I decided to take a break. Now it doesn’t seem fair to start dating someone right before I start reading for the Newbery committee – so I will rethink things after that finishes. But for now, I still have prayer!

At the time, I was again reading for the Cybils Awards. It’s always fun to get boxes of books in the mail!

Our system hosted author Jennifer Holm at an event at the government center, and I got to usher.

And I simply didn’t get tired of my lake and all the life it sustained.

On December 4th, I went to another Christian concert with Mabel, featuring Casting Crowns, Mandisa, and Sidewalk Prophets. It was inspiring! I especially love Casting Crowns’ song “Thrive.” I was thriving!

Here are some fun pictures from our staff Christmas party. The game we played each year was that if you got someone to say the word “Yes,” you could take their beads. I was into it that year!

Here I am with my friends Paul, James, and Lynne. (Alas! None of them still work at Fairfax!)

And the whole group!

Then came our Small Group Christmas party:

George and Nancy:

Evie and Rob:

Debbie and Ray:

Renee and Erik:

On Christmas Day itself, I had a lovely cozy morning with Tim:

The sky was extra beautiful on Christmas Day that year.

We finished up Christmas Day with dinner at Darlene’s house and taught them how to play Splendor!

I enjoyed stalking the heron lots more that weekend!

By the end of the year, we’d made our Cybils short list. That year our Finalists were: Greenglass House, The Castle Behind Thorns, The Jupiter Pirates, The Boys of Blur, Nuts to You, The Swallow, and The Luck Uglies.

And we finished out the year with a party with church folks at the Sallees’

And that brings me to the end of 2014! I’m making slow progress with Year 50, but it was a big year!