After 10 days in Peru, River was ready for a quick trip to RIT. He got home Friday evening, took a shower, then we headed to Rochester, arriving at 2am. After a quick sleep, we headed to RIT for their Accepted Students Day. We had a day of presentations, campus exploration, dining hall food, and a resource fair. There were lots of cheesy photo ops, but he wanted nothing to do with any of that. LOL. I took a few other random photos instead.
It was cold and rainy, but RIT did their best to make it a celebration.
This place was FULL by the time the welcome presentation started.
Because RIT has a large school for the deaf (2nd largest in the country, I think) everything was captioned and/or signed. It’s a neat environment to be in.
His incoming class is bigger than most of the colleges Eve is looking at, and RIT is almost 4x bigger than WPI. It almost feels like it’s own little city. Crazy, but definitely cool too. Now if we could just pick it up and move it a few hours closer… :)
Day three found us at SUNY New Paltz, “in the stunning Hudson River Valley.” (according to their website)
While Johnson & Wales* was very urban, and Purchase was very closed and artsy, New Paltz seemed a really nice in-between. The campus was large, but filled with tress, flowers, and lots of green space. The buildings were a mix of architecture and many were visually interesting. New Paltz has a fitness center and a pool, which Eve liked. We had a very nice tour guide and only one other family on the tour with us. The tour was pretty comprehensive, which was great. Eve likes the wide variety of academic options, perfect for her Liberal Arts heart. :) She thought the campus was too big, but was eager to do our own little walk after the tour for a King Gerald photoshoot. She found her way around campus with no trouble and seemed confident.
So far this is my favorite of the three we’ve seen so far. She is still very undecided, but feeling comfortable with the process so far. She’s eager to see the other two on deck. We’ll be vising University of Maine at Farmington on Wednesday and SUNY Plattsburg next week.
On our way home last night we stopped to visit Joyce at her new house. It’s a lovely little house, and will be even lovelier when the rain stops and (unrelated) when she’s fully unpacked and settled. We all went to the Olive Garden to celebrate the end of this trip. Then E and I drove home through awful rain, fog, and wind. We were both VERY ready to be out of the car by the time we got home at near midnight!
* Johnson & Wales University is abbreviated to JWU and pronounced “J-Woo.” Whenever E talked about J-Woo (and she says it smoothly, like it rolls right off her tongue), all I can think about is “woo girls” from How I Met Your Mother. Young, usually drunk, party girls who yell “woooo” about everything. Every time she said something about JWU, I had to stop myself from yelling “wooo!” 😂 I guess if she ends up going to JWU, that’s something I’ll have to work on! LOL.
Today we visited SUNY Purchase, a very artsy school in “Westchester County, one of the oldest and most well-established destinations in the scenic Hudson Valley.” (according to their website)
The area is beautiful and expensive, but the college is all Brutalist architecture and Eve didn’t love it. It is very much an art focused school and it seemed like you would need to declare a firm major (graphic design, sculpting, painting, etc) when you enroll. They say they have sciences as well, but it’s clearly an art school.
The library, from afar.
King Gerald came along for the ride.
Dorm room
E!
Design space
The graphic design area
Unrelated, but we got a sampler pack from Crumbl yesterday and have been working on it for days. 😂
It seemed like there was a lot to do on campus, but there was nothing within walking distance off campus. The tour guides said most people live on campus for all four years. They showed us all of the art studios and spaces, and a dorm room, but not the dining hall, underground tunnels (between dorms and the dining hall), or the library. We were struck by how few people were out on campus. It wasn’t as sunny and beautiful as the day before, but it was pretty nice for a spring day and we only saw dozen or so students out and about. I asked the tour guide about it and she said that people spend a lot of time in their studio spaces, working on their projects, especially now that it’s close to the end of the school year. She said they have regular events on campus and everyone comes out for those, but otherwise what we were seeing is pretty standard.
Eve loves art, as we know, but while we were discussing the visit over lunch (at a delicious pub!) she decided she didn’t want to be at an ALL art school. She wants some sciences and some variety. She also liked the area, but not the campus itself.
Big “small” school, right in the middle of the city. Cool dorms (pet friendly, AC, high ceilings), energetic tour guide, beautiful day (no thanks to JWU). We had a nice tour, but it’s definitely a city college. The green/quad is very small and surrounded by three buildings and a road. All of the other buildings are within a several block radius and many are old buildings with local “charm.” The building Eve’s classes would be in was the newest building, but it looked like a pretty small department. She liked the tour, but isn’t sold on the location. (I agree, but it’s not up to me. 😉)
Gerald came along for the ride. He’s not a very good driver.
The quad and our tour guide.
Some other buildings.
Gerald was very popular.
This looks like a very cool project to me. Each poster is about a different font.
After months of thinking about it and weeks of planning and days of worrying, the big day finally came! Eclipse 2024! The skies were clear, the weather was perfect, my chosen location was fantastic, and we had a great day!
The state has been putting out traffic warnings for weeks now, warning us of a massive influx of vehicles and people for this one day. They brought in tons of extra police and port-a-potties, they made arrangements with fuel companies and cell phone providers to make sure we had enough gas and cell coverage. All of that was probably for the best, but it also stressed me out. For awhile my plan was just to “drive North and figure it out,” but eventually that was adding to the stress, so I made a real plan. Yay! I found that the Shelburne Museum was opening for one day (they normally open mid-May) and for the price of admission you got a parking spot, dozens of acres of land to choose from, bathrooms, and a snack bar. I was sold! I bought tickets, invited a few friends, and made peace with my decisions.
As it turns out, my decisions were fantastic! We got up there with minimal traffic. We caravanned with a friend and her kids. We found a nice spot on the lawn with a southwest view. The museum did a wonderful job providing just enough amenities (bathrooms, food, small gift shop) and lots of family friendly activities like lawn games and live jazz music.
The real action started at 2:14 when the moon just peaked over the sun.
From there, we were hooked! We watched as the moon crept over the sun. The temperature slowly dropped. The light changed. The excitement grew.
For the final minutes we all had our glasses on, faces to the sun, watching in real-time as the moon completely covered. the sun. It was wild! The yellow/orange sun disappeared and I was expecting to see the corona, but all I saw was darkness. Rose said, “take your glasses off!” and I did and WOW!!! It was like glowing, sparkling, shining in the sky. So amazing that it’s bright, bright, bright, then OFF! Just gone in a second. Even the tiniest bit of sun showing is too bright to look at, but when the moon covers the sun completely, it’s like a flip is switched and you can stare right at it. I was wondering (and my friend Timothy was worrying) about how we’d know when to put the glasses back on. Turns out you don’t need to time it. As soon as even a smidgen of the sun reappears, BAM, it’s way to bright to look at!
Some quotes I’ve heard/read lately:
“A partial eclipse is like a cool sunset. A total eclipse is like someone broke the sky.” (Randal Monroe / xkcd alt text)
“100% is 1000 times better than 99%” (someone on Facebook)
“It’s like someone turned the sun off, then back on again.” (the ether)
I would love to be more articulate right now, but alas, I am not, so instead I’m going to share something a more literary friend wrote about viewing the eclipse. He wasn’t at the same place we were, but he was looking at the same sun and moon!
“Everything I anticipated became so thrillingly true it reclaimed its ability to surprise, on top of all the surprises. The alien light, the drastic cold, the immediate night, the ability to take off your glasses and stare straight at this object that seconds ago was burning your skin, the sharp clarity of the corona, the command of science to put us in the right spot, the awe of the heavens revealed, the stranger nearby who came alone and laughed in spontaneous delight, the inability to look when a mere pinpoint of the sun returned, and how much that pinpoint alone could light up the entire world.” — Bob Kalm, posted on Facebook
When the sun came back on again, we packed up and headed home, along with thousands of other people. We took back roads, changed the route a few times based on map routing data, and made it home in a speedy three hours! Only twice the time it takes in a normal day. However, my friend decided to stick around a little longer and wait out the traffic, which unfortunately turned out to be a big mistake! The traffic only increased as the evening went on! It took her four hours, but because she waited so long she ended up getting home really late!
I feel so fortunate that all of the decisions Rosy and I made around this event worked out so very well. Our location was fantastic. Traffic up and down was manageable. The weather was beautiful. I could not have asked for a more perfect eclipse viewing experience!
Scrolling through Facebook today it’s wild seeing the long lines of cars on the highways, huge crowds in cities and fields, and crazy lines at the Tesla chargers. It made me feel even better about how smoothly our day went!
If you’d like to see more pictures, here is our Google Album: Eclipse 2024
Baby Eve turned 17 today! Not such a baby anymore, but she’ll always be my baby.
I had lots of celebration ideas, but she vetoed them all this year, so instead we’ve had a really nice low-key day. We had presents and cake in the early afternoon, with Lex joining us via Discord. :)
The usual birthday table. The yellow thing at the bottom is actually a present, not the table. :)
Queen E
I’m curious to see the rest of this costume come together.
Anything that arrives in the mail around an birthday becomes a birthday present. :)
Afternoon cake
Blue Angel Food cake with Cool Whip and dino sprinkles.
Party table
Alan got her a Lego succulent set, so we had fun building that while chatting with Lex. Lex was moved to the phone after R took his computer away. LOL.
:)
E decided she wanted to spend some time in nature, so we took a walk along Mink Brook, a Connecticut River tributary. It was a beautiful day. We brought Huxley along for the outing and we all had a lovely time.
Huxley wants to catch up!
Smiles
Can’t forget the doggo.
Fun in the sun.
Zoom in to see the “Princess” sign on the bench. I decided it must be Eve’s bench.
Practicing for her senior pictures? LOL.
There’s the Connecticut!
There’s the Connecticut!
This spirally thing (bark, perhaps) was so cool. There were several others on the tree as well, but this was the biggest and best.
We had dinner at Molly’s and now we’re home, watching The Simpson’s, E’s favorite show to watch with her daddy. Overall it was a beautiful day for a beautiful girl.
Also, it’s Easter! I totally skipped it this year. We put up a few tiny decorations, bought some jelly beans last week, and that was it. No eggs or baskets or anything. Oh well. Happy Easter to those who celebrate it better than I do. Happy Birthday to those who celebrate today (both E and my bestie Lisa!). Happy Sunday to all. 🐰💖
We’ve got some big things coming up, so I thought I’d do a quick “little things” blog post first. Here are some of the things going on.
Dogs
Last weekend E agreed to dog-sit for a friend/ex-co-worker/teacher who was going out of town for the weekend. The original plan was that E was going to stop by their house a few times a day to walk the dog and feed her, but then we got a HUGE snowstorm prediction and all the weather warnings, so I asked if we could just have the dog at our house for the weekend. It went well, but I won’t be taking any more dogs from now on. Jasmine, already afraid of dogs, spent the weekend hiding, even though Bella was a complete angel to her. Eve tried to bring Jasmine to the laundry room a few times so she could eat and use her liter box, but she peed on Eve. Twice! Not sure if it was fear, age, or just a very full bladder. Either way, not fun. Bella was a nice, chill dog, but also guarded her food and Huxley’s water. She tore apart some his toys and sat on our laps while he stared us from afar. I think neither of the pets were happy, even though our visitor was a very nice doggo.
Snow
We got A LOT of snow last weekend. The reports said 24″ fell in about 12 hours. More snow than we’ve had all winter. It would have been amazing in December. Less amazing in March. I was supposed to work on Saturday, but the boss closed the library. Thankfully!! We all stayed home and watched the snow fall. It was lovely.
The snow was deeper than Huxley’s legs. He couldn’t walk through it. On this walk both dogs peed and pooped in the driveway and then went right back to the door to go in. Shortest successful walk ever!
On Saturday, as the snow came down, our plow truck got stuck on the side of the neighbor’s driveway! He had to have a buddy pull him out with a chain!
Sunday was BEAUTIFUL!
Somehow the driver got stuck again! On Sunday. In a different neighbor’s driveway. LOL. Again had to have his buddy pull him out.
The path to the library. See the benches on the left side of this picture?
Sunday was beautiful. Sunny and clear. My co-worker who was supposed to work on Sunday was 100% snowed in (he lives out in the boondocks!) so I agreed to work instead. It was actually a pretty nice day.
Blood
This is a silly thing to write about, but here we go. Last summer E had bloodwork done that showed she had low iron and B vitamins. The doctor recommended supplements. We bought a bottle of each, she took them for a few months and decided they didn’t work, and the bottles have been sitting there ever since. So a few weeks ago I decided to add them to my daily pills. I used to take B and D (?) vitamins daily, but stopped at some point. Anyway, I decided to sign up to donate blood again, curious if the iron supplements would help. The past two times I’ve tried to donate blood I was turned away because my iron levels were too low. This time… success!! Mostly. I signed up to do the “power red” because successfully did that a few times many (many!) years ago, but my iron was too low for it this time. Apparently you need more iron for that then you do to donate “whole blood.” My levels were good enough for “whole blood” but not “power red.” So I did that. The folks there told me I was a fast donor too. Apparently it only took 4m25s to fill the bag. They said that’s good. *shrug* The technician did an excellent job with the needle! Got the vein first time and didn’t even leave a bruise!
Life
My brain is juggling a thousand balls lately, trying to keep my April plans in order. I’m soooo grateful for the ease of my new job. I’ve started doing more, but not too much, and feeling very appreciated there. Plenty of flexibility to deal with life as well. I’ll post another time about the eclipse! It may be amazing, it may be gridlock for days, it may be a total dud. Time will tell.
I went to the high school talent show last night. It was fun. I sat with a few other mothers, and Eve. Tonight I went to the theater with some other friends. We saw a play called “The Play That Goes Wrong.” It was HYSTERICAL! If you ever have the chance to see it, I’d highly recommend it.
Sometimes Eve dresses up and cooks dinner. 🤷🏻♂️
I sent Lex an “Easter basket.”
He got an email when the package arrived. It made him laugh, so he sent me a screenshot. I consider my mission a success.
Jasmine got a little brave while Bella was here.
I feel like there was something else I wanted to write about, but it’s slipping my mind right now. Maybe I’ll remember another time. Or maybe it doesn’t really matter anyway.
I am now the proud founder of two successful book clubs! Both inspired and supported by cool people around me.
My personal book club met last night. I leave these “meetings” in such high spirits. So much laughter and fun. We now have seven members and I love all of them.
Tonight was the first night of my work-related sci-fi book club. I was worried no one would come and, simultaneously, worried too many people would come! I ended up with five people in the room and one on Zoom. (Many of our programs at the library are hybrid like that.) Everyone was excited and engaged. Everyone has great things to say about the book, and everyone took a book for next month’s meeting. Yay!
I’m feeling pretty good tonight, and wondering why it’s not Friday night. 😄
Local and primary elections were today and Lex coincidentally happened to be home between terms, so I took him to vote! Last night we reviewed the ballots, discussed the candidates, did some research on the additional budget questions, and made a plan to vote. He was pretty into it. Today after work (me) and DND (him), we went over to the high school. He was already registered, so it was quick and easy to get the ballots and fill them out. Weirdly, there was a huge line for the tabulator machines! We waited for a little over a half an hour, chatting about all sorts of things, then it was our turn. I asked the poll worker standing by the machine if I would be allowed to take a picture, she said sure, then congratulated Lex on his first time voting. 😄
I’m proud of this young man and I’m happy that I got to experience grownup milestone with him. 🇺🇲
