RL Update
Some of what’s going on in my life recently….
1. The dissertation: More progress today-I finally see how all the pieces of the literature review that I’ve already written will fit together in the final document. Even better, I can begin to see how a lot of the other stuff fits together. The whole thing was sounding like a kind of “what I did over my summer vacation,” which wouldn’t exactly fly as a dissertation, but with the addition of these scholarly bits it will be just fine!
2. Landscaping for a United Way agency here in town: I was on their Board for years, and last spring their Executive Director tapped me to help them with landscaping their newly rehabbed building. They’re right across the street from a major financial-services company (nothing like ritzy neighbors to make you feel self-conscious about your yard, eh?). The rehabbing ran over budget, as such things always do. Since I’m a botanist by training and a gardener by nature, she called me to see if I could do it for less than the $20,000 (!!) one landscaper had bid. Over Labor Day weekend Miss D and I ran our little rototiller and seeded the west side of the building, which has been a dirt patch since last October. We planted warm-season native grasses that won’t need mowing and watering much at all. We spent a good part of all three days there-whew! But it will be worth it in the end. Photos to follow.
3. Dance: Our English Country dance group has its regular dance tonight-yay! Next Tuesday is the last practice for Dance Discovery, the demonstration group, before the Big Events start happening. The first of those is in Washington, MO, part of a much larger Lewis and Clark celebration that you can read about
here.
This is all really exciting stuff (though probably only for me) and I thought I’d let you know.
1. The dissertation: More progress today-I finally see how all the pieces of the literature review that I’ve already written will fit together in the final document. Even better, I can begin to see how a lot of the other stuff fits together. The whole thing was sounding like a kind of “what I did over my summer vacation,” which wouldn’t exactly fly as a dissertation, but with the addition of these scholarly bits it will be just fine!
2. Landscaping for a United Way agency here in town: I was on their Board for years, and last spring their Executive Director tapped me to help them with landscaping their newly rehabbed building. They’re right across the street from a major financial-services company (nothing like ritzy neighbors to make you feel self-conscious about your yard, eh?). The rehabbing ran over budget, as such things always do. Since I’m a botanist by training and a gardener by nature, she called me to see if I could do it for less than the $20,000 (!!) one landscaper had bid. Over Labor Day weekend Miss D and I ran our little rototiller and seeded the west side of the building, which has been a dirt patch since last October. We planted warm-season native grasses that won’t need mowing and watering much at all. We spent a good part of all three days there-whew! But it will be worth it in the end. Photos to follow.
3. Dance: Our English Country dance group has its regular dance tonight-yay! Next Tuesday is the last practice for Dance Discovery, the demonstration group, before the Big Events start happening. The first of those is in Washington, MO, part of a much larger Lewis and Clark celebration that you can read about
here.
This is all really exciting stuff (though probably only for me) and I thought I’d let you know.