Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

If I have done my math right, we celebrated the 168th anniversary of the Mormon Pioneers' initial arrival into the Salt Lake Valley on Friday. On Saturday, the members of the LDS church in Topeka, Lawrence, and the surrounding communities had breakfast and activities at Clinton Lake State Park. I woke Hannah up early and she and I went. She warmed up to the situation by going down the slide and playing in the sand. Then she had a pancake. After breakfast, she was ready to go play games and do crafts while I ushered her around. She didn't understand what we were celebrating, but she did like doing the stuff. Lots of people were there.  Playing in the sand.  At the doll making station. Riding around in a handcart. The handcart was her favorite. She actually took several rides and was a bit fussy when I told her it was time to go.  It has been really hot around here. Temperatures over 100 degrees and heat indexes at almost 120. We left the part...

I am a member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA). This is a group interested in labor issues and instructional practices regarding the teaching of writing at the university. This year their annual meeting was in Boise, Idaho. I booked my ticket about two months ago and I realized that it was the first time I had bought a plane ticket to Boise since 2001. I lived in the area for the first 19 years of my life. I think I was due in for a visit. In order to save money, I went by myself. I actually had a really good time at the conference. There is a huge focus on networking and so they feed us all of our meals at the conference at tables where people can sit down and talk. They also do what they can to pick venues where all the sessions can be in the same building and that the hotel is the conference site or isn't too far away. In Boise, that meant that the Grove Hotel and the Boise Center were the sites. The other thing they do is give us "recess...

It was a really rainy spring and there are still storms every week. Here's the storm coming in about 4 p.m. today at the edge of Lawrence.  About 20 minutes later, here is the view looking straight up from my house. Soon after this, it started raining. When I went back inside the tornado warnings were on the television. The picture below is from last week when a twister touched down in a Kansas City outskirt called Lee' Summit. Apparently a tornado did touch down about five miles from us. It headed east. When I looked on the Internet to find a picture, there was this one below. I don't know if it is one from our area today for sure. If I find something better I will take it down and repost something.  This does look like the right highway though. Independence Day was spent reading, working on the dissertation, and making a little shopping trip. Brian made some hamburgers on the grill and we had blueberry, whipped cream, and raspberry layer parfaits ...