Tuba Christmas

I checked with my old journals. December 21, 1975 was out first Tuba Christmas in Rockefeller Center, only I called it a Tuba Concert. Didn't really get the significance!

A family fun-filled Thanksgiving with a Blue Ridge, Georgia, Tuba Christmas


was followed by a quieter weekend with Phil and I going to the Christmas Stroll Parade and Tuba Christmas in Georgetown.

Barb in Washington State

Barb flew out Sunday morning, aided by the time change, to Seattle in preparation for a NCWIT meeting. There were a great views of Mt. Rainier and of Seattle from the plane.


She spent Sunday night with the Tripps. Here is Ruth with Ella in front of Becca's house.
Later Becca brought the children over to Ruth's for dinner. Ruth and Owen played sticker book and trains.

Halloween

Phil had to substitute at ACC. We had few trick or treaters. The first visitor we knew!



















However, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this young girl who made a beehive in her hair by inserting a bottle!

Slowed a bit

A stress fracture is slowing me down a bit. A "boot" makes the pain almost non-existent but I've just finished my first three weeks and have been sentenced to at least two more.

Prior to the discovery of the fracture, I had been going to physical therapy and almost had a disastrous break because of it.

We finally got our canoe out on Lake Georgetown. It looked like a gorgeous day, but the wind was awful and we weren't sure how long the battery would last. But we made it and I only got the foot wet that didn't have the boot!

Anniversary and Birthday

To celebrate our 39th and Phil's 70th we got a new canoe -- with a motor! This is our maiden voyage on Lake Blue Ridge, GA.

Chloe's 5!

I never bake cakes and I am usually awful, but both granddaughters helped me bake this cake. I found the recipe in a magazine while having my tire changed after a blowout in Georgia and showed it to both Camille and Chloe. Chloe found the Little Mermaid candle in the grocery. I couldn't quite master the palm tree leaves, but the fruit by the foot worked, sort of! It was a perfect family project. Even her other grandmother worked on it!

Two features of her birthday included the worst rendition ever of Happy Birthday:



and a Zydeco version of Happy Birthday at a concert at the beach house at Pine Lake, the village where Gwyneth and Rob now live.

Phil's Flood Pics

Flood on June 27, 2007 behind our house. Phil
was home, Barb was in Scotland and missed it!













Bike Trail on San Gabriel









Gazebo at San Gabriel Park



Low Water Crossing at the Park

Scotland June 27, 2007 Dundee

If you want to see ALL my pictures, look at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50455451@N00/sets/72157600625940612

Vicki Hanson of IBM was the keynote speaker. I attended a session on accessibility afterwards that was not good. Anne and I presented our poster – I had wrinkled it badly, so I was a bit embarrassed. We did have a few interested visitors. I chaired a terrific session on gender issues – examples of all good paper types. Mary Anne Egan taught a course on women and computing that was exciting; Catherine Land from Australia did a large scale analysis of factors leading to success; and Susan Haller and Tim Fossom summer camp for kids was thoroughly analyzed by an education researcher.

After the wrap up I was in the group that went to the botanical garden, a short walk from the conference. However, it was a long way through the garden to the greenhouse where the food and wine were served. I was the official at the reception but there were no speeches so I didn’t have to do anything!

We walked from there back. Then the conference committee and board members went to a Bangladeshi restaurant for dinner and lots of pinot grigio. It was very late when I got back to pack.

Scotland June 26, 2007 Dundee – Glamis Castle – Dundee

After breakfast I interviewed Beth Simon in the lounge of my dorm floor. Joyce Currie Little observed. Then I interviewed Gordon Davies again to replace the one Alison had done last summer.

We got box lunches and headed out to Glamis Castle, the former home of the Dowager Countess Lady Mary Strathmore. She greeted us at the door and gave a wonderful welcome in the formal dining room. In the library there was a trophy turkey that had been shot in South Texas in 1991! Sue F. and Kate Deibel and I walked the beautiful grounds and ended up seeing the Highland Cattle.

The bus driver allowed us to go back to our rooms and then took us to the reception at the University. There was an excellent interactive performance on accessibility issues in web design. I found two people willing to go geocaching with me to the top of Dundee Law. It was a stiff hike up mostly on pedestrian staircases. The view from the top was awesome, as it was just sunset. We got back just as it got dark – 10:30 pm. I sat with Eric and Lauren while she translated French poetry with our help and that of Babelfish! I introduced Eric to IrnBru.

Scotland June 25, 2007 -- to Edinburgh and then Guthrie Castle Reception

Since the web showed that my suitcase was ready for delivery and I had heard nothing and could get no one to answer a phone at British Airways, I decided to take a cab, to the train to Edinburgh where I could see the city a little and then go to the airport.

When I got to Edinburgh I went up from the station to the "Royal Mile" and say lots of signs for the Military Tattoo. I couldn't figure out why tattoos were so cool in Scotland but soon learned that it was a big show soldiers who marched in costume in the summer in front of the castle. I went into the Tattoo shop where there were tons of crafts for sale and several looms actually in operation making tartans.

I was lucky at the airport. Although the airlines thought my suitcase was still at Gatwick, the guy at the desk decided to ask the delivery people who checked. It was in the warehouse because it was not labeled right and I never would have received it!

So I did the bus-train-cab thing and got back to Dundee in time to go to a great banquet at Guthrie Castle, but missed the entire day of sessions. I sat next to John Hamer and thoroughly enjoyed all our connections – from Gwyneth’s colleague Kathleen to engineering physics data structures at Polacksbacken. A bagpiper greeted us as we got off the bus.

I spent a lot of time in the beautiful gardens so missed seeing the inside. The banquet included a very elaborate poem and ceremony saluting the haggis. I got a great shot of Eric Roberts applauding the haggis -- quite a surprise for a confirmed vegetarian! I even dragged Henry out on the dance floor to do a Scottish dance. We were both awful!

Our bus broke down on the way back and we had to wait for a replacement. It was after midnight when we got back.

Scotland June 24, 2007 Rain, St. Andrews and Reception

Bruce and I walked to the Hilton to meet up with Harriet. She had a great view of the Tay River. We walked around in the pouring rain trying to get a rental car, with no luck. We ended up at the bus station and were going to take a bus to Abroath that was supposed to be a nice village, but then the bus to St. Andrews came and we decided to get on it. At least we would be warm!

I had borrowed a jacket from Ramanee, the conference chair, since I had no luggage. We passed a Marks and Spencer's so I took a photo to show Phil.

We asked the bus driver where to eat when we got to St. Andrews and he said the Victoria Cafe. It had stopped raining and the restaurant was pub-like and had good food. I shared a Greek salad, wine and neeps (turnips but orange, not strong) and taties and haggis with Bruce. We then saw a butcher shop with the haggis -- I still actually like it!

We went in a small museum that was on the special garden tour and then walked through the ruins of the old cathedral and along the coast, shopping a bit and looking at St. Andrews College, the oldest college in Scotland.


We had to hurry back to the conference opening reception at the Discovery Point (ship that went to the Antarctic) Museum . Lady Strathmore welcomed us -- she is the dowager countess of the castle where the queen mother grew up. Andrew McGettrick welcomed us on behalf of the sponsor, the BCS which is having its 50th anniversary.

Atlanta -Scotland June 22-23, 2007

Camille had helped me pick out buttons to put on the sweater I decided to take. Chloe spilled the whole button jar in the dining room.

Gwyneth took me to the airport and I got there quite early, so I got an earlier flight to Dallas. Then I flew standby from Dalls and ended up in a middle seat between two AA maintenance crew managers from England. The plane was quite delayed, first due to rain and a leaky jet bridge, then lightning and finally due to the fact that some guy didn't make it to the plane but his luggage did. They had to go through all the luggage in the cargo to find and take it off. At least they didn't charge for the wine as a consolation.

I had to exit security and check my carry on roller board bag since they only allow one carry one in the UK. When I got to Edinburgh, my roller board didn't. Henry was there waiting for the conference bus and thus all the people had to wait for me to fill out forms, etc. The ride to Dundee was spectacular. We crossed the Firth of Forth had a great view of the railroad bridge which was built in the 1800's. The countryside between the Edinburgh airport and Dundee was lovely.

The hotel was a college conference center. My room was not spectacular, but had a nice view of the cemetery next door and had everything I needed except internet access. I met Henry for dinner -- we tried to catch up with Harriet at the Hilton but were unsuccessful--and a young man from Ghana named Eric who is studying to retrain from math to CS in England joined us for supper at an Italian restaurant that had Mexican food, and haggis stuffed chicken that I ordered. We even had ice cream sundaes for dessert. Harriet actually was there, too, and we talked to her at the end of the meal. We took a cab back to West Park.

Gwyneth's New House

I stayed with Gwyneth, Rob and the girls before leaving -- I took pics of their new house.



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