Went to Hokie "Bug Fest" at Virginia Tech

     There is something that happens every October at Virginia Tech. This university, with its emphasis on science, showcases all kinds of "bugs" --- bees, cockroaches, spiders, the making of honey, bugs that glow in the dark. At the most recent "bug fest" held at the conference center at Virginia Tech, Dr. Fell,
one of the bee experts, told me that by 11 a.m. (the event was  held 10-5 Oct. 11th) 1100 people had passed through this free event. Everyone should learn a bit more about bugs.
    See more info at www.facebook.com/hokiebugfest .

Crosby Stills and Nash still activists, great concert

                                                      Crosby Stills and Nash now


     I recently, for my wedding anniversary, arranged for the spouse and I to see Crosby, Stills and Nash in concert in Roanoke, Virginia. The Performing Arts Theater seemed to be packed -- packed with folks close to the age of the aging activist group, myself included. But just because you've got gray hair or are starting to creak in a few places it doesn't mean that you don't still have work to do. And I think David Crosby pointed this out, indirectly.
    "There's a rumor this is a political band," Crosby said. "It was just one song," he said, as someone in the audience yelled out "Ohio." Then he said," Oh, three songs. Oh, 18 songs and three protest songs." Then Graham Nash pointed out how a Vietnam a monk  poured gasoline over himself and burned to death to protest the Vietnam War, and now, in Tibet, monks there are doing the same to protest China's trying to destroy the state of Tibet. Then they all sang a song called "Burning the Buddha". 
    The group could still harmonize and played favorites like "Marrakesh Express,"  "For What It's Worth" (Hey, children, what's that sound) and "Teach Your Children". The latter the whole audience got up for and then sang with them on the words.
But there were a few times when their backup band drowned out their singing a bit. When they did solos with one instrument that was probably the best.
     Where are the activist bands now? Who is protesting the overuse of big money in elections? Who is saying we need a "conservation policy NOW"? Who wants us to have decent healthcare in America, land of the free and home of the brave? We need artists talking about these things and having young people working for change.
     They may be gray haired and "up there" in age, but they can still sing and get people thinking.
So we bought a tee shirt and expensive wine ($7 bucks a pop) and enjoyed reminiscing with the music. Too bad young people are not activists today. Perhaps the demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri feel they are protesting for justice....

Remembering some of my writers' conference in New York

      While I was at a writers' conference in  Hamilton, New York, in June, the husband sent me an email that he couldn't open his hotmail account. Now how was I supposed to help with that? It asked me a bunch of questions for secret passwords and special questions I didn't know about, or what was the subject of his recent emails--- how am I supposed to know that? Since we didn't have a phone to share, I sent him and his brothers and sister-in-law messages over Facebook. I think they eventually informed him I was trying to contact him, and through the Facebook account of his I "messaged" when to pick me up on that Thursday.
     On the third day at the writers' conference at Colgate U. I finally got to use the umbrella I had been carrying around. It was wet and the big white pine across from my window gently swayed in the wind.
     Greg Ames' reading about a older professor trying to challenge his students to many things (including arm wrestling) was hilarious. He also spoke at length about magic realism and fabulism, Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the latter of whom read Kafka and thought you "weren't allowed" to write like that. We also read Aimee Bender's "Rememberer", a fabulistic tale, where you change just one thing, her boyfriend devolving from a person into an amoeba she puts into the sea.
I don't know if I can write like that, but it seems I can have a flair for humor, probably more than for the serious, except in the case of nonfiction. I'd love to get a nonfiction book deal!

Sort of off the Right Track (Story of my life)

      One never knows about life's turns. We obviously took the "wrong" turn (a right to incorrect directions from this young guy at the tubing place on the river, who obviously has no idea where "Kentland Farms" and the river put-in is) and found ourselves taking all these turns away from the river. We were planning to meet up with fellow Master Naturalists and canoe the New, and then go to a picnic at the end of the route. But the spouse was tired and after driving around there and back (like 90 minutes of our time) he said he was tired and didn't want to just go to the picnic.
    It would have been a good diversion. I spoke on the phone the other day with my oldest sister -- what  happens in Vegas, will not "stay" in Vegas. My mother has 2 grown children hanging off of her and when she passes, a big chunk of change will be gone and they will expect us to fill it back in. Well, the husband is not about to agree to this. It is stressful thinking about the chaos that will ensue after she dies. I can't even have a decent conversation with the 2 siblings in Vegas, and my mother refuses to live closer to me here. What a mess.
    But I also gotten "off track" with regards to writing my novel. I need to do something as one day the leaches will be demanding more so I need to make some more. Hopefully my mother will be around long enough that I can make some money writing and be a little help later on.

Visiting Roanoke's Taubman and R. U.

                                                         Taubman Musem, Roanoake, VA

      So,  having visitors, especially one with an injury, can present challenges. My son's girlfriend Stephanie had injured herself slipping at the area's well known "Cascades Falls," causing her to break a foot. So trying to manuever around after that wasn't that easy. We went to a movie, she went to Urgent Care and presented her Obamacare card, then we wanted to do something more active, like visit R. U. campus and go around the Taubman Museum in Roanoke. Luckily, both places  had a wheelchair we could "borrow," which was very convenient. We left the crutches with them and returned the crutches for the wheelchair later.
     And the Taubman, which is hugely airy,  had an elevator that easily got us to the second floor. On display in two big rooms were the oils of Bill Rutherfoord. He painted a lot of interesting animals from stories, such as Brer rabbit, Brer fox and Brer bear, I guess to symbolize the old South. There were also very bright colors and other things that represented corporate America, such as a boat and pelican sinking symbolizing the Gulf Oil Spill. Son Zeb said you just throw in whatever you want and say what you want it to symbolize. I didn't get the painting the side sign said was his dad looking pained because his father was a minister and the Catholic Church was giving him a hard time. In the South? I don't believe that, or his assertion in a video embedded in the wall that said the South doesn't really exist anymore. A traditional South with servants and slaves may be gone, but I think some elements still remain.
     The Taubman also had jeweled bags and tiny statues on display behind glass, some Impressionists' works, and some very traditional oils and abstract work. A fairly good variety.
We didn't have time to go to the third floor and I think the post cards, at  $1.00, were a little expensive. But the wheelchair was very convenient and Zeb pushed his girlfriend through the whole exhibition and got a workout too.
       

Travel by train, travel to writers' conference at Colgate U.

    My experience coming here (on the train and on to the writers' conference at Colgate U.) a bit like the movie the Out of Towners. We get on the "Empire" train part of the Amtrak trip and  and discover it is a 'commuter' train, kind of like the one in that movie Unfaithful, with Richard Gere (here I am mentioning movies again-- am too media oriented, as opposed to literature oriented). Well, there is no snack "cafe" car and therefore, no drinks. And in frustration, what do I do-- chew on a salty pretzel. The spouse wanted me to hurry up, though we had like 45 minutes in Penn Station for our train to arrive to go north. So I bought a souvenir and a Daily News, with info on the  cover about crazy killings of soldiers in Iraq, and forgot my watered down soda in the store :( . 
     So I go to the bathroom and lo and behold, there is a faucet,  but an odd one. You push "up" on it. I did that to get some water to put in my water bottle for my poor famished mouth and it started getting warmer. And warmer. And then hot. It wouldn't freaking shut off. I guiltily put a little water in my small stainless steel bottle I got from Big Lots and then, well, I figured I should contact a conductor. I went up and down 2 cars in front and 2 cars in back of ours and told a lady about my predicament in one -- she said the conductor went 'that a way' and if he came back this a way she would tell him my sad story. 
     Now at the writers' conference, I find I have no phone, no computer glasses, no pool, no pets (to quote the song "King of the Road"). You lose things in travel, you know?

Will travel by train, will write

     Dear Blog,
    It's actually been a month since school (college) let out and am preparing now to to go to New York to a writers' conference/retreat at Colgate University, in Hamilton, south of Utica. Writing has been a challenge because I think I'm suffering from this "computer vision syndrome". Well, if you're  55+ and postmenopausal and have some dry eye issues to begin with, how can you  sit for hours and write (and for me) a book?
     But last night I tried some allergy medicine. I think it helped a little with pressure I am feeling above my eyes. I might have a combination sinus pressure and computer 'eye strain,' both of which are highly unhelpful. I am not a fast typist either, making typing, "creating" my book a slow, painful process. I wish I were a faster typist.
     The spouse wants to do something different. So we are traveling on Amtrak  (the train) from Lynchburg, Virginia to Albany, New York, on the way to my writers' conference. I will be at the conference while he visits his brothers and their wives. I wonder what attractions there are from Albany to Colgate U. that we can visit? I will have to find that out later. Need to get back to typing that book!

Teaching can be frustrating, weather foils campus walk

    We are in the home stretch of the college semester, when I am starting --- really, have already started in the last month --- adding up percentages and numbers. In my 202 classes, I have a "points" system where they need to add up everything, the quizzes, attendance points, major projects and extra credit. It's a lot of dang points and they don't seem to add up any, except that some of them are doing the extra credit projects (of course they are all shooting for an A and I am not making it that easy for them). My colleagues are much harsher when it comes to grading, but I, well I don't make it too easy to make an A. They all want to make an A.
   And I wanted to take a "break" and take them on a walk on campus, but tomorrow promises rain and the constant threat of thunderstorms, so I guess that is out. They are too attached to their gadgets like their cell phones, and need a break from them, I think. They are not too appreciative of nature, or the themes we have been exploring when it comes to food, although some of them seem somewhat engaged with this topic. No, it's the 201 class that is not engaged. They rarely speak and I've dropped (starting out) from 27 down to 19 in that class. It can be frustrating getting them to turn things in on time. And these are supposedly young adults! Well, the semester will be over soon and then I can do some other writing!

Big Snow, Need to Get out, Backyard Bird count coming

     Well, we have had a huge passel of snow, to the tune of 13 whole inches! We  haven't had this much in a long time. December 2009 I think we also got 12 inches (or was it just six) and they canceled my son's college graduation ceremony. Not that he minded, of course.
      It is a beautiful, sugary snow outside my window, but I have hesitated to go outside. I don't really  have waterproof boots, except these "fishing boots" of my husband's, which are too big and clumsy. My feet kind of flop around in these too big boots. But I should go out today in the sun (get some vitamin D for my health), now that it has stopped snowing and things are starting to melt. The snow is even too high to make a snowman!
     Today starts the "Great Backyard Bird Count". It is sponsored by Cornell U. and the Audubon people and anyone can get involved -- just Google it.

Winter Cold, New Year's exercise resolution, got Lisa Whelchel exercise tape

   It appears that we are again going to miss having any real snowfall. I have to admit that that is a disadvantage to living in a valley, but you also avoid driving in precarious weather conditions.
    This time of year I have to admit I don't like the severe cold and winter whipping winds. The other day was a bit windy but we were somewhat shielded as we took a short trek over a tiny part of the frisbee golf course in the woods, behind the "mid county park" in Christiansburg. It'd rained and gee, it was a bit slippery and there seemed to be dried out old grape vines everywhere, along with some downed trees. But we got a little exercise going up and down then up a different part of the frisbee course behind the picnic shelter and pool area for this park. (And they call the pool area the 'frog pond'. Well, they have a big plastic frog slide for little kids, and the pond is actually the pool itself.)
    Speaking of exercising-- I hope to lose some weight this spring. To help me, I have purchased online the "Lisa Whelchel" exercise DVD. She was on TV's "Facts of Life" and "Survivor". She lost a lot of weight on Survivor and I think maybe she came up with this tape/dvd to help keep her weight off. The exercises she showed on "The Talk" didn't look hard so I hope I can do these regularly. I know that there are other exercise DVDs, but I haven't used one on a regular basis since Richard Simmon's "Sweating to the Oldies" on VHS cassette. I need to exercise at home as well as go to Curves and I hope this will do the trick. So many of these dvds require super stomach strength (having kids shot my stomach muscles to hell) so I bet this will be a helpful tape. Are there any other tapes for those who aren't that strong in the middle?

Walks in Fall and Winter, Cutting Redwoods

  Well, walking in fall can be problematic. If you don't like cool winds blowing your hairdo around  and leaves are not your thing, then autumn is not your thing. Of course, it is "winter" now, but since we have had a real lack of snow in the southeast, then it seems we're back in the autumn mode, with bare trees and the landscape and the grass turning yellowish or brown.
   Radford University has a small, some might say "cozy" campus. It can be a good place to walk and commune with nature for a short while. But the college "plan" is to expand and tear down Lucas Hall, thereby eliminating several dawn/don redwoods and a pecan and bald cypress. Yes, and that is not right. The cutting of established and big trees is never a good thing. But they are doing it to then tear down Lucas Hall and put up a huge Dept. of Humanities building. I like the campus the size it is now, and losing green space is not a good thing, don't you think?