Good news.

Just got off the phone with Jmaie...she called to let me know that Jess left Rochester an hour ago ( she is pulling their boat home..we store it in our pole shed) & that

Jessica did great at the interview at the Mayo. Jamie & Ryan helped her practice Thursday night... she had 5 questions & according to Jamie, did great. Jamie almost acted like she was THERE in the room... she must have drilled Jess for the details afterward.

Jess was told after the interview that she did very well. They were impressed with her & that she will not get a rejection letter. I asked Jamie what this means and she said, "well, I don't know for sure". I interpret it as meaning that she definitely did well enough to at least be put on an alternate list. Crap. I mean, good, but... CRAP.

Some pluses : Two men interviewed her. Jessica was hoping for guys & expressed to me earlier that she feels more comfortable talking to men; that many of her friends have been "guys" & she was hoping to be interviewed by males.

One of the "guys" ( a 2nd year PT student in the program) perked up when he heard that she played intramural hockey... they interacted / interjected with some small talk. Jamie said that this set her at ease for the rest.

The prof who did the interview was particularly intrigued with Jes' interest in gereatric PT. Apparently many of the apps. have their heart set on sprts med... Jess has accumulated hundreds of hours of volunteer experience & has expressed to me that she enjoys working with old people the most but that she had to remain open in her possibilities. Jamie said that during the interview she said that she was "open" but that the prof perked up and was very interested in her experience/interest in gereatrics PT. Coincidentally, she was just hired part time at St. Bens for a newly created position as a PT assistant & loves it. The prof. told her that most of the jops in PT are & will be in gereatrics so that is a plus for her in his eyes.

Where does it go from here? Well, first Jessica has to be safe driving that darn big boat home & then there is no next step.... just a waiting game . Jamie thought she should know by January. Jessica will have a more definite answer regarding that detail for me. I'm sure that she asked.

There was a pre interview lecture that included a general overview of the program. Jessica came out of that being impressed. From day 1( starting 2 years ago!) she has resisted the Mayo.... it may be the 'I can do this on my own" thing... who knows, but according to Jamie, she came out of the experience being impressed with what the program has to offer... especially the support the students get. Jamie said, "well that is just the Mayo". In other words, it is a teaching hospital & it takes care of its own..... which again goes back to the "courtesy" interview thing. Hopefully Jessica really did do an excellent job. I have no doubt that she did, but there is no escaping the facts: they receive over 400 applicants and interview over 100 people.... for 28 spots....

Jamie was pretty torqued ( talking to her when she is like that, especially on the phone, is a one - way conversation... she never hears me respond or ask a question... she just bores ahead:) ) but when I finally was able to interrupt her I said, "well I hope that she is ready to not get accepted" , Jamie paused and said, "I know. We talked about that. She realizes that is a possibility and is prepared for that". Whew. Don't set her up for a freakin' free fall, Jamie.

So it goes. All of the above information was gained in a 4- 5 minute "conversation" which included Grace demanding the phone to talk to Gma.. " Hi Grace. Are you having a good day ? "yes. blah blah blah blah blah." Jamie "Grace can mom talk to Grandma?" "No. blah blah" " Grandma loves you Grace" "Yes". Jamie, " GRACE! Give me GRANDMA!". ha ha ha.

Later. Buster will be glad to see Jessica. Buster will be glad to see Dan. Mary will be glad to see Dan. Mary will be glad to see Jessica. Mary needs to clean the kitchen & hide certain ... uh..... evidence.

Flash :) :) :)

I want to....

** make paper and send our Christmas card/ letter out on it some day.

** collect pussy willows, burdock & other dried wild vegetation ( bittersweet!!) & display it in my house some day.


** make home made jelly again... especially choke cherry or pin cherry jelly.

** can apple pie filling again.

** make pie crust from scratch again.

** volunteer and have fun making people happy & smile.

** foster dogs. Maybe cats. No rodents. Yuck. Dan is afraid of rodents anyway (ha ha ha ha TRUE!!!!)

** shovel my own sidewalk again.

** make a quincy hut in my yard & sleep in it overnight when it is just above freezing.

** hike part of the Superior Tail with just Jessica or just Danielle or just Jamie.

** snowshoe down trails on our property that I have helped cut..& do it during a moonlit night.

** feel free, carefree, experience no worries & do all of the above at the same time.


I am an idealist.... but I believe it will come to be.:)

Happy Friday!!!!!

11/15

days without Dan is about frickin' killing me. I'm actually eating pretty well. Last week was ok, even a nice reprieve, but God damn it. I miss him:(

This week just never ends.

Reminiscent of Pay it Forward & my “ keeper “ books..

I was just in Jessica’s room looking at my books from the past. Like most of you, I’m sure that you have books/ texts etc that you keep when otherwise weeding them out. The difference I suppose, will be the age of the books between my selected keepers and yours.

I’ve chosen two books to bring upstairs as examples. The first I grabbed because of the price...$2.25 and I pulled it out because of the title..”Wandering Through Winter”..I mean there is snow on the ground!

It is a 350 page paper back. The sub title is “ An adventurous 20,000 mile journey through the north american winter.” I don’t believe that I ever read it. As a matter of fact, for the vast majority of the books down there , with the exception of the Texts from college, I don’t believe that I ever read them.

Many were written in the 70s, during the “Back to the land” movement & most were given to me by adult family & friends of the family who knew my predisposition to country living , sustainability & an idealistic attitude of “Save the Earth”.


This particular book had two printings.. 1957 & 1965. The chapter titles are things like “Big Bend” “Our idle days in Patagonia” “Giant Beavers” “Eagles of the ice jam” “White squirrels” & “Strange birds calling”. I can see why I decided that this book was a keeper even though I never read it..... I plan to.

The other book I brought up from the basement this morning is Rough Weather Makes Good Timber.... I brought this one up because as I opened it there was some prose interspersed in it. I like poetry, have written off & on, & certainly like to read it especially when it appears periodically throughout a book.

I also picked this one up because on the binding it says “Chapel Hill” which indicates to me that my Dad gave this one to me. Dad taught at UNC- Chapel Hill & really fell in love with North Carolina. He & Cigdem had a lovely cabin that Danielle & I visited once ( she was 5 yrs. old) in the Blue Ridge mountains.I had a life revealing dream while there that time .... a topic for a different time.... but it had to do with my “inner child”... she visited me in my dreams during that visit.

Rough Weather Makes Good Timber has an interesting shape. I love books that are in the shape of a rectangle like this one. I remember that I had a long thin book as a child and it was my favorite, Jamie had one (I still have it and have read it to her kids) & it was HER favorite. I think we had one at South called Bring Warm Clothes. This one Rough Weather Makes Good Timber
‘s content is somewhat similar... except focusing on the olden days of North Carolina.

Some of the chapter titles from this book are “ Rabbit Gum” “Eastern Tobacco Barn” “ The knob, Pilot Mountain” and “ Moonshiner’s Still”. There are black & white sketches through out the book... another favorite book characteristic of mine. Sketches appeal to me, particularly hand drawn ones in black & white.


I can easily imagine myself finally reading these particular two books simultaneously. Pick one up, read a chapter.... go about my daily business ( which will NOT include the internet.... it will go the very day I am in retirement) and maybe in a day or two, pick up the other & read a chapter. I can almost feel already the satisfaction & joy I'll experience while finally having the time to pick up these books that have patiently been waiting while all of my three children have slumbered near by. Oh. If only books could talk!!!!! :

Flash

My girl Jessica is coming home tonight:)

We are eating Sam's Club lasagna for dinner. I believe she took a tour with the head of the PT school at the Mayo in the last few days... not positive.

She has an interview for the PT school soon. She is very private about this stuff.

Jamie told her months ago that she (Jamie) had spoken with someone in the PT department about Jessica & it wasn't long after that Jess got an e mail stating that she had an opportunity for an interview.

Soon after THAT the head of the department called Jessica PERSONALLY and stated that the fact that Jamie had spoken to her & the fact that Jessica got an interview was purely coincidental...

Does it really matter? No. Does the fact that she is coming home to eat dinner with me matter? Yes.

Oh. IF Jessica would happen to get in to the PT school at the Mayo, she will live with Jamie, Ryan, Connor & Grace. SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't count your chickens before they hatch , FlashG, but please God, let her in.

F

What I have eaten in the last 15 hours:

2 cans of Healthy Choice Soup... cold/ from the can.

A bowl of ice cream.

1 cup of oatmeal fixed like this, my thoughts are in quotes:

" I think I'll make some oatmeal for breakfast"

1/2 cup of oatmeal flakes " Shit. There is only 1/2 cup of oatmeal flakes. I'll add milk for better nutritional value"

3/4 cup of milk "Hope that is the right amount of milk"

put in microwave for 1 minute " A little runny. Let's see. I wonder if we have any nuts"

sprinkle some nuts on top " Shit. that was a bag of chocolate chips. yuck. "

Take a large spoon and take out as many chocolate chips as possible & discard in garbage can.

Stir vigorously. " I better toast half a bagel too"

Put half a bagel in the toaster 4 seconds later..." That's good enough"

Eat. Pray that your digestive system can survive the assault. Love your husband/cook when he returns in one week from hunting Up North.