Picnic with Robert

 

Robert S came to visit, so fun, I was so glad he came.  We did plan a picnic at the beach.  With fish and chips from our local taco truck.  The bottom picture was with Danny, Jessica, Stephen, Naomi, Melina.  We had visited Pops earlier with Suzie and Megan. No Scoutie though. The top picture is later when we tarried awhile at the beach.  Another high school friend Vickie is taking the picture.

The weather was iffy but I stuck to my plan and it all worked out.

Great atmosphere!

Fiftieth Anniversary party next year, could be?

 It's our fiftieth anniversary next year and I think we are going to throw a party.  Probably at this fancy place.  Really well-known place, started in 1945 and turned into a full service restaurant in 1973.  The big funky sign made in 1952!  They have a small event venue connected to the main restaurant.  I went to a small wedding here around 10 years ago and it really impressed me.  Costs a fortune but I wanna do it.

Also fish and chips picnic at Edmonds beach in honor of a visiting guest.  Just letting you know.

Fuchsia

This is from a fuchsia basket that my son Danny gave to me last spring.  It bloomed and then died back.  My friend told me that usually you can't keep them over winter.  But it wasn't a cold winter and, in the spring, they looked like they wanted to grow.  And, check it out, those suckers are blooming!  Yeah!

Napping

Sometimes you just have to take a nap.

Bowen (d0g) is 3 and Frank is 4.

This was during their June visit.  Frank and his family were a little worried about the large dog Bowen.  How would everybody get along?  But Bowen loves kids and visitors.  He wants to be in the middle of it for sure.  He is also an expert on sleeping on the couch.

So, when the time came, they napped together.
 

racism racism racism racism

In the Seattle Times today, there was an article about how the Trump administration was attacking George Mason University

The Education Department said it is responding to a complaint from multiple professors at George Mason who accuse the university of favoring those from underrepresented groups.

and

Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said “it appears” that George Mason’s hiring and promotion policies “not only allow but champion illegal racial preferencing.”

This really made my head spin--

I'm assuming they are referring to people other than White Men

So say, a department with all tenured or tenure-track faculty are White Men and the hiring committee comes back with an intention to hire a Black Woman

They might accuse the hiring committee of "favoring those from underrepresented groups"

So does that mean the department can NEVER hire a black woman?  Because that ALWAYS means they are "favoring those from underrepresented groups?"

Or does it mean they can sometimes hire a Black Woman but only if she's got Exceptional Credentials and is as good as them.

So that Black Woman would have to constantly defend herself as a "DEI Hire" because she's a member of an underrepresented group.

To be fair, likely the White Men are complaining that a White Man candidate (more like them) was passed over by a 'less' undeserving candidate (according to them) from an underrepresented group.  Even though this candidate may bring a new voice to the department.  Or not.

Since when did efforts to “not only allow but champion illegal racial preferencing.” was NOT racist.  Of course it's racist.  Isn't that what's been happening all these decades and generations when, in most all cases, the only acceptable candidate WAS a White Man.  Underrepresented groups were never considered.

Picture came from Harvard Business Review - used without permission

Me as a tiny baby

 Picture of me as a newborn (or close) in my mother's arms in 1952 in southern California.  I don't think they had moved to Glendora yet so likely lived in Duarte.  My father worked in Azusa and I was born in Pasadena.

My mother is 27 and I am her first baby.  She looks at me with a loving gaze and I am safe in her arms.

Scoutie's party!

 The week after Naomi's wedding, Scout turned 3!  So they had a big party in their yard.  Lotsa people came along with lotsa kids.  It was a warm day and they had all of the water toys out.  They ordered a lot of Korean fried chicken but they had a lot left over.  Because the kids weren't interested in eating dinner, they just all wanted to play.

Also served pops, of course.

Scout not in picture, I think she was holing up inside.

Yippee, we did it!

 

Whoo!  After all that, we made it!  After all that fuss!  I think Naomi enjoyed all the parts, she was ready!!  Two weeks, a married couple!

Crafting

 

My daughter Naomi shares a love of crafting with her new mother in law.  We were over there for a lunch on July 4 and they were both prepared to CRAFT!  Naomi had pressed the flowers from her wedding bouquet and had some fabric from her dress.  She had also bought a nice frame from Goodwill.  So they got to work, arranging and re-arranging, making bows and making up some ideas.

Dennis is watching intently but did no participate.  I did a little.

Look how nice it came out!  The wedding was less than two weeks ago and she has a lovely keepsake.

Naomi has a strong girl-scouting background and those girl scouts LOVE to craft.