My garden in full bloom is a place of joy and beauty.
Trying to photograph glimpses of the Spring loveliness is
a pleasurable challenge.
red rose
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wet leaves
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nasturtiums with geraniums
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wild lily
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tiny succulent blooms
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succulent
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purple sage
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pink heuchra
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rosy rat tail cactus
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Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
Sun’s CEO
Jonathan Schwartz recently hosted an early morning Town Hall meeting with
Oracle executives about the proposed acquisition. The actual
meeting for Sun employees was held in a room which only seats
a few hundred, so about 10,000 of us listened remotely. General questions
were answered. The event was not recorded.
I listened to the broadcast with hundreds of others in the Menlo Park,
California, cafeteria. The kitchen staff were noisily getting ready for
lunch. Everyone else was very still and quiet, trying to hear the future.
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Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
My 16-year-old son Paul is researching learning games for me to pass on to Studio 17, the after-school program where I volunteer at Santa Maria Urban Ministry (inner San Jose, CA). These computer games are free and educational (more or less) but are also fun to play. I started publishing this list on April 23, 2009.
The two “Pandemic” games below require a very dark sense of humor since the player takes the part of an evolving deadly virus killing humanity in a world pandemic. However, the game does give the player an unnerving understanding of how diseases move and change.
16 February 2014 – links updated
Filed under Church, Home & Family
My daughter
Jessica is finishing her 2nd undergraduate year at
Carnegie Mellon University (in Pittsburgh, PA). She has a
grant to spend six weeks this summer working in Washington DC
but she will be home with us for a few weeks at the end of next
month (hooray!).
Jessica has been working hard on her photo-taking skills this year.
I was happy to read in
her blog that a photo she took of
General Colin Powell at a U.S. Presidential Inauguration event was
just published by the
Special Libraries Association as their cover image.
(General Powell was the keynote speaker at SLA’s 2009 annual
conference.)
Filed under News & Reviews
Welcome and Congratulations to the 46 New Mentoring Pairs of the
SEED
Established Staff (April – October 2009) World-wide All-Engineering
Mentoring Term: We are honored and delighted to include them!
This term had a 44 day mentor matching cycle (11 March – 24 April 2009).
77% of the pairs were matched in the first 3 weeks. Two of the
participants in this SEED term had also completed a PreSEED term. This
term was reduced by 3 mentees leaving Sun after they were matched.
Additional metrics:
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business
I have been concerned to watch the Studio 17 kids at Santa Maria Urban Ministry playing mindless smash-and-blood or doll-dress-up games during their after homework computer time. I have started a list of “Good Free Games” as alternative suggestions. Studio 17 will also be buying some games (like Zoo Tycoon and Crayon Physics) soon.
I asked my 16-year-old son Paul to research and recommend Good Free Games which were fun to play but also educational. Some of these require flash software (will not work on an iPad) and all have advertisements to wait through (that’s why they are free). I added to Paul’s list games recommended by other sources. This afternoon, Studio 17 tried out about half of the games listed here and had a very good time. Additional suggestions are welcome!
I am adding to this list as we find more games, see More Good Free Games – or do a web search for “Good Free Games”.
16 February 2014 – links updated
Filed under Church, Home & Family
Last winter, my kids saved a large number of
German Iris
rhizomes, plus three roses. The plants were in the garden of a
house which was being leveled. Jessica and Paul did not want the
flowers destroyed along with the house. Amid much mud, we dug up as
many as we could, brought them home, and planted them in our San
Jose back yard. The refugees not only survived their journey
but all are now in bloom. One rose had a tag (Sonia) and one
looks and smells just like a rose I already have (Chrysler Imperial)
but the smaller red rose is a mystery.
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White German Iris 
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Chrysler Imperial (probably) Hybrid Tea Rose 
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Sonia Hybrid Tea Rose 
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unknown name red rose 
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Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family
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