My daughter Jessica spent much of this week cleaning and
sorting and packing to get ready for college. We shipped her 3 boxes
to Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh, PA this morning. I am sure we guessed right on
some stuff and wrong on others about what she should pack. She has
been having long visits with High School friends, kids she babysits,
her music teacher, and the students and fellow karate blackbelts at
her dojo to say goodbye. It is sad and exciting to watch my oldest
child take this big step away from home.
Category Archives: Home & Family
Almost Ready for College
Filed under Home & Family
Earning a Shito Ryu Karate Black Belt
Almost a year ago, on
19 August 2006, my daughter Jessica tested for and was awarded her provisional
Black Belt (Shodan-Ho) rank in Shito Ryu Karate. She has been studying with Shihan
Roberto Alvelais at Pacific Martial Arts
for twelve years, since she was six. On 4 August 2007, after a year of teaching, acting as
a Black Belt and leader in the dojo, and technique improvement, Jessica tested again and
earned her full Black Belt (Shodan) rank in the JKO (Japan
Karate-Do Organization). She tested with two Brown Belts seeking their Shodan-Ho
and another Black Belt also seeking her Shodan rank. The test consists of demonstrating
increasingly complex knowledge of forms, one-on-one fighting, and answering questions
about the meaning and history of karate. Below are some photos of Jessica’s big day.
When she moves to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in ten days to attend
Carnegie Mellon University, Jessica plans to look
for a new karate dojo to join.
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Images by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson (Copyright 2007)
Filed under Home & Family
Valentino Alone
Our 12-year-old cat Garbo died from cancer last week. I wrote about her in my 18 July 2007 blog entry. We buried her in the backyard and held a small family ceremony. Jessica sang the prayer of St. Francis using the tune by Sarah McLachlan
- Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
- where there is hatred, let me sow love;
- where there is injury, pardon;
- where there is doubt, faith;
- where there is despair, hope;
- where there is darkness, light;
- and where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love;
- for it is in giving that we receive,
- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
- Amen.
Garbo’s litter mate Valentino and our whole family miss her. Tino knows there is something wrong, someone missing, and he keeps hunting around and crying. We are spending a great deal of time comforting Tino.
Images Copyright 2006-2007 by John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family
Garbo Dying
When my mother was a young married woman (before she had kids), she worked in a bank in Hollywood. She tells us that she looked forward to seeing one of her bank’s shyest customers, the lovely silent film star Greta Garbo.
Twelve years ago, my family adopted two striped gray kittens with huge green eyes and black eyelids. Their eyes reminded me of the movie makeup of the silent film stars. So, we named the kitties Greta Garbo and Rudolf Valentino, or Garbo and Tino for short. Here are photos from last year:
Garbo: |
Garbo and Tino: |
In 1995, we rescued these two as kittens abandoned at Donner Pass (elevation 7,085 feet). We were driving home from a week of camping and had stopped for coffee. While we waited, we saw a tiny gray kitten playing among the barstools. The bartender said that the kitten and her brother had been left by the highway the week before. They were sleeping in the woodpile, hiding out from the racoons. This was in early September and snow was due within two weeks. We took the kittens home, cut the pine tar out of their fur, and added them to our family.
When we came home from vacation last month, Garbo was clearly very ill. We have been taking her to the vet for weeks but yesterday she was diagnosed with incurable, inoperable cancer. We are trying one last medicine but even if that works, it will at best give us a few months before Garbo dies. We may have to ask the vet to put her to sleep this week if the medicine does not help.
Garbo and Tino are enjoying canned tuna (their special treat) and lots of combing and loving in the time we have left. Even though she feels bad and has much of her fur shaved off for the medical tests, Garbo is a sweet and lovely cat. This is my small tribute to our loving pet. We will miss Garbo.
Images Copyright 2006 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family
Getting Ready to Empty the Nest
My daughter Jessica leaves home to become a Freshman at Carnegie Mellon
University (CMU) in about a
month. We are working through all that needs to be done before she goes.
Jessica already passed her weaving loom along to an 8th grader from Peninsula
School and in the space where the loom was are now three big boxes for her to fill.
She wants to fly to Pittsburgh, PA to go to college by herself with just two
suitcases. We will ship the boxes a week in advance so they
will be there soon after she arrives.
Our friend Laura sent her son Timothy off to New York University last year.
She said he came home at Christmas and left about half of the clothes he had
taken to school in September. Dorm rooms are very small and Jessica
will have two roommates. We are trying to think through her needs and
plan carefully. Jessica has a full time summer job as a software developer
for Stanford University so all of our preparations need to happen at night
and on weekends.
CMU and other vendors have sent us three or four mailings offering sheet,
towel, and toiletry sets for new Freshmen. We already bought extra long
sheets when Jessica was at U.C. Santa Cruz for 8 weeks last summer taking Spanish.
I don’t think we need to buy new bedding for CMU. However, the refrigerator
and microwave units CMU rents look like a very good idea. Also, Jessica needs to talk
with her two new roomies and see if anyone plans to bring a printer.
We have been shuffling money from college savings funds into ready
access accounts to be prepared to pay tuition. The first semester invoice for
$24,569.50 arrived – payment is due 17 August 2007. 18 years of planning and saving
for college and here we are getting ready to spend the money. Exciting!
Filed under Home & Family
San Jose Fireworks
John and I just got home from watching the American Independence holiday fireworks at our local train station. I can still hear our neighbors setting off their own 4th of July firecrackers and small rockets. The elevated Caltrain station is just a few blocks from our home. Sitting on the platform, we can see three big fireworks shows and many small ones in the San Jose area. Many of our neighbors also bring their kids, grandparents, dogs, lawn chairs, and blankets to the platform see the free shows. 4th of July is John’s and my
wedding anniversary; every year, we get to celebrate with our whole neighborhood.
Fireworks start at full dark, about 9:30 p.m.. The show lasts for about 20 minutes. Every year there are new shapes and colors. This year, it was square boxes of light, plus red hearts inside of expanding blue balls. The yellow smiley faces and the saturn shapes were back from prior years as well.
I worry about the dogs in the audience since animals often find fireworks terrifying. Our veterinarian gives our two dogs sedatives for this difficult week. Juliet in particular gets hysterical and cries pitiably when she hears fireworks. Romeo, who normally howls whenever he hears a firetruck siren, is much calmer about fireworks.
In addition to the sounds of local fireworks outside, I can now hear two or three fire engines going by. Our neighbors across the tracks must have set their grass field on fire again. I am glad our dogs are asleep.
Filed under Home & Family
Loon Collection
My husband’s family has a 75-year-old cottage on Loon Lake in Wisconsin. I wrote
about our recent visit on
June 27, 2007. Part of the charm of the
cottage is its collection of loon
stuff of all sizes and materials purchased or made by the family
over the years. Here is a selection:
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Loon Sign on tree outside Cottage: 
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Loon Sign on Garage: 
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Loon Sign on Cottage: 
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Big Loon Sign on Cottage: 
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Cottage with Big Loon Sign: 
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Micah’s Drawing of Loon Lake Cottage: 
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Paul’s Loon Drawing: 
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Painting of Loon Lake Cottage: 
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Metal Loon Sign in Cottage: 
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Wood Loon Sign inside Cottage: 
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Little Loon Heart: 
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Ceramic Loon: 
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Bathroom Loons: 
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Framed Loon tea towel: 
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Loon pillow: 
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Another loon pillow: 
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Loon rug: 
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Saw blade with loon head: 
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3 loon dish towels: 
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Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
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