I Speak of Dreams

Happy 95th Birthday, Dad

Were he alive, today would be his 95th birthday.  Here he is in 1941. I think it is Sun Valley, but it might be Sugar Bowl.  Thanks for everything. 

 

Me, yesterday, about to attack one of his favorite runs.

Quick Note: Expanding A College Student's Horizons in Peru

My daughter, Jumper Girl (JG) is a student at The University of San Francisco. 

Last week, for spring break, she traveled to Peru to work with street children in Peru .  Her trip was part of USF's Arrupe Immersion Programs, lead by Luis Enrique “Kique” Bazan, who is also on the staff of the Not For Sale Campaign.

Not For Sale supports Lucy Borja, a modern day abolitionist who has fought for the rights of Peruvian street children throughout her life. Her organization, Generación provides social services and support to children.

The USF students volunteered with the Peruvian NGO Casa Generacion (http://www.casageneracion.org/).

The week started in San Batolo, where Casa Generacion has a house where former street children can live and go to school.  Later they were in Lima, where Generacion has a house (Veronica's House) and works to better the lives of children living on the street.

No photos to share yet, as she decided to let the other trip participants take photos while she concentrated on being present.

She came back revitalized towards her studies and with an action plan for her social service involvement.  Thanks Kique!

If you would like to support Casa Generacion, the best way for now is through the Not For Sale Campaign, earmarking your donation for their work in Peru.

 

 

Skip This Post If You Don't Want To Read A Mom Burbling On About Her Child

So Jumper Girl used to have long hair:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But she cut it short and made it darker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why? So she could do this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Result? (Well, and of training fairly hard all summer, too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also champion last weekend.

Father's Day: Thanks to my cousins

My cousins, my father's brother's children (can you tell I trained as an anthropologist?) organized an afternoon for us, my sisters and I and their extended family,  to eat together, to talk together, and to ... well, be together.

We are a fortunate family on a number of levels.  

Steve "Spike" Finch's Zen Tambour Drums (Tuned Steel Drums)

DrummerMan got one for his birthday last month.  According to his wife, he's obsessed with it:

There's an art company in Switzerland called PANart that produced a haunting musical instrument called a Hang.  The inventors insist it isn't a drum.

The Zen Tambour drums are individually hand made in California by artist Spike Finch, who was was inspired musical inventor Dennis Havlena I wonder if DrummerMan has gotten together with Dennis Havlena?

Just for Sillies: The Palin Name Generator

Just for sillies:

I put my name and my siblings' names through the Palin Family Name Generator.

We'd be:

Sport Grunt Ditz

Spoon Archer Ditz (that's me)

Tape Boise Ditz

Crust Scramble Ditz Tarr

XY Years Ago Today

The handsome fellow to the left:  XY years ago,  my sister Suz gave birth to my first nephew,  Jesse Robbins.  (photo source)

I am insanely proud of him.  He runs Open Aid.   He's a panelist at the National Emergency Management Association convention:

Workshop: Networked Homeland Security and the Emergence of Crisis Informatics.

This workshop will explore the current and near term technologies and the power of collaboration, networking, and information sharing. We'll review the current research on the impact of these technologies on human behavior.  Experts and practitioners will explore the implications of a networked world on the mission of responding to man-made and natural acts/events, and the ways in which homeland security and public safety professionals can exploit this technology.

View Jesse's  NEMA presentation slides here and here.

He's a good samaritan (and a great writer).  And he was a Velocity co-chair.

Happy Birthday, Jesse G.

Meet Mr & Mrs. Scholar Man

as always, click on the image to enlarge

Left to right, the mother of the groom, the bride, the groom, and the stepmother of the groom.  The ceremony was lovely and the reception a great success.

I'm so happy for them.

What My Youngest Sister Did for Thanksgiving

She and her husband took the kids to Six Flags for beaucoup roller coaster rides.  Then they deep-fried the turkey -- electric, not propane, far, far away from any danger points.

I do like deep fried turkey, despite the dangers.

Gothy McGoth

Jumper Girl is appearing in a play next weekend.  Her character is meant to be a sort of chavette or female ASBO

So we just dyed her hair black -- part of the look, innit?

Thing is, with her coloring, it failed to make her look menacing.