Warm Sand, Cold Drinks and Latin Music

What a great way to escape the mundane tasks of everyday life! Mexico is an incredibly beautiful country, with the character of an indulgent parent. Our resort was a mini-paradise that offered a week of relaxation, sport, pleasure.

City of Lights juin 2009

A mother and daugher holiday in the City of Lights was just enough

to make us want to return another time for another season. The architecture was grand beyond any expectation. City parks are designed for people to use - lunches, rendez-vous, mothers strolling babies, business people on the bicyles as they commuted to work. Mastery of the metro was easy enough, even with suitcases in tow. Our little apartment was located close to Le Louvre and had a small balcony which allowed us to overlook Place Colette with its fountain and cobblestones. A trip to Versailles still makes us remember The Sun King with fondness, while motocycles and tour buses lined up outside.

I'm On A Boat

One sea cruise is not like the other. This Bahaman cruise consisted of 80 per cent undergrads drinking unlimited alcohol on their spring break. My cellulite never stood out so much in my freedom 55 life. Energy, good looks, and fun were all around us. What an experience! Throw in Nassau, Freeport, and the Space Shuttle and you have a recipe for success. Never mind the occassional sea sickness.

Support Breasts, um, I mean Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Awareness has never been so whimical. Great exhibit at the museum in Columbia. We toured the museum with friends, learning about the Civil War and Carolinian art.

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John Prine in Asheville, North Carolina

A fan for thirty years, it was a special concert for me to attend a concert by this amazing musical storyteller. Many of my favourites were performed, as a few newer selections. Amazing!

Linda Goes To Mars©John Prine

I just found out yesterday that Linda goes to Mars

Every time I sit and look at pictures of used cars.

She'll turn on her radio and sit down in her chair

And look at me across the room, as if I wasn't there

Chorus:

Oh My stars! My Linda's gone to Mars

Well I wish she wouldn't leave me here alone

Oh My stars! My Linda's gone to Mars

Well, I wonder if she'd bring me something home.
Something, somewhere, somehow took my Linda by the hand

And secretly decoded our sacred wedding band

For when the moon shines down up on our happy, humble home

Her inner space gets tortured by some outer space unknown.

Repeat Chorus:

Now I ain't seen no saucers 'cept the ones upon the shelf

And if I ever seen one I'd keep it to myself

For if there's life out there somewhere beyond this life on earth l

Then Linda must have gone out there and got her money's worth.

Repeat Chorus:

Yeah, I wonder if she'd bring me something home.

From the Oceans to Outer Space

The cruise on the Norwegian Majesty left Charleston for stops in the Bahamas and Florida. With a passenger manifest showing that 2/3 of the guests were under 21 years of age, it was quite a ride! Never take a holiday on the American spring break.

The ports of call gave us new sights to see. Freeport is smaller and not as developed as I expected. Celebrity homes worth millions dot the shoreline while many residents must get their water from a local communal tap, then carry water jugs to their homes. Naussau is defintiely larger. The port is a very busy place, indeed with many cranes and containers involved in the shipping industry. Like Freeport, there is the disconnect between wealth and poverty, with no social safety net available to citizens.

All dressed up and no where to go -except the m any bars and cafes available on board. Since I rarrely drink and Lorne only has a beer or two, we left the drinking up to the young passengers who bought beer by the bucket - to take to their rooms, the hot tubs, or the upper deck. The casino was also a busy place all day long. I'm too cheap to let one quarter out of my purse! But, it's fun to watch others, and many games are intriguing.

Feelings of clautrophobia overtook me at times, as there is no getting off the ship, unless you want to swim 100 km to shore. Even the cabins do not lend themselves to wide-open spaces.

Food was plentiful, and I enjoyed the asssortment of desserts. However, I did miss Chocolate Night, due to the lateness of the hour. I do regret that now. Food was a way to keep people occupied. One could be as busy as they wished. We read a lot on deck, catching some sun with the many other sun worshipers.

The Vanderbilts' Biltmore Estate

After a three hour drive from Columbia, SC to Asheville, NC, we arrived at the Biltmore Estate. The estate seems to fuel a tourist economy in Asheville, as there are many attractive eateries, antique shops, craft business, street vendors, and a rich theatre life. Asheville sits in a valley with mountians around. Large cottages and weekend homes hang precariously from the mountain sides, giving one pause to wonder how difficult it must have been to construct them. The landscape is decidedly different from South Carolina, and actually feels more like home.

Biltmore was the vacatiion retreat of the famous Vanderbilt family. Please see a wedding video provided through the following link, as it shows Biltmore in all its glory. Biltmore is open year round, with Christmas being a popular visiting time. Many people purchase year-round passes. http://www.biltmore.com/weddings/default.asp

The Halls of Higher Learning

The University of South Carolina (1801) is central to the city of Columbia, the state capital. It boasts an enrolment of 25,000 students in many faculties, with education being one of them. My PhD is in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy, where my classes are held in the Wardlaw Building.

EDLP 807 Leadership and the individual
EDRM 740 Qualitative Research Methods
EDHE 730 The History of Higher Education in America

In April I will write my Comprehensive Exam, which is 9 hours of writing and 2 hours oral. Yikes! My thesis committee will prepare this. After the classes I am taking now, I will nbe ready to start spending all my time on thesis writing. What is my thesis topic? School Board Governance and Democracy.

This semester I will be working as a graduate assistant to the EDLP professors. They have given me a desk with a computer, so I'll give them 20 hours of work a week. I am so appreciative of the faculty for this opportunity.

The residence in which we love (oops, a Freudian slip), I mean live, needs some updating, but the staff are very friendly. We've had heat problems, water problems, and vibration (we are directly over the mechanical room) problems. We are moving apartments next week when another one becomes available. Fortunately we don't have much to move.

With the weekend ahead, I must start my reading, reading...did I mention reading?