ipsographic

A post in which I show what a history geek I still am.  I am a bit behind on the news (being sick off and on for the last 3 weeks, dealing with a six-month-old, working, and going to grad school will do that, apparently), but what exciting news it is!

Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins

Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built.

The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring’s original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.

Via Cronaca, which is my perennial source for exciting news.

Peacay over at BibliOdyssey (one of my favorite blogs) has an excellent post about the history of lace making and needlework model books! Perfection!

Please excuse the typography, or lack thereof.  I’m working on it little by little.

OK, first some background for this post.  Bug is a big MU fan.  Andy’s been singing the Missouri fight song to her since before she was born.  She especially likes the “Hooray, Hurrah” part.  She also loves it when he wears his bright yellow Mizzou T-shirt (which is practically every Saturday), and she got him an MU polo shirt for his first Father’s Day present.  She even has an MU T-shirt of her own.  So we should have known, perhaps, that she would not take kindly to being carried deep into enemy territory this weekend.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been on the UT campus.  I took her with me to drop my summer class about a month ago, and she and Andy and I went up to the academic center last weekend to try to get my ID (only to find that it was closed).  And hey, she’d attended class at UT during her last two months in the womb.  So this weekend, when I had to buy textbooks for my classes this semester, we never thought she’d object to making it a family outing.

We drove up to UT and circled around for a long while with nowhere to park before finally settling on a spot about 3/4 of a mile from the University Co-Op.  It wasn’t terribly hot today, so Andy took her in the Baby Bjorn and she seemed to enjoy our hike through campus, even cooing and laughing at passing college students.  Once we got to the bookstore we went straight to the textbook section, and that’s where she really got excited — her eyes sparkled as she looked at all those books!  But unfortunately for her, I found what I needed quickly and easily, and we headed back up to the main level to pay.

And that’s when Bug’s Tiger resolve broke down.  We emerged from the textbook section into a commotion of burnt orange, both on the sale racks and on the customers.  Longhorns were stampeding everywhere in sight, and there was every kind of Texas merchandise you could think of, from car decals to kitchen towels.  As we made our way through the orange-clad crowd, Bug got more and more distressed.  We think it may have been the sight of a burnt orange umbrella stroller embroidered with white longhorn symbols that was the final straw.  Bug looked around, panicked, crinkled up her little face, and howled.  Andy hurriedly found the exit and went to stand outside with her in the shade.

When I finished paying for my textbooks and went outside to join them, Bug was happily looking at cars go by on Guadalupe; as soon as she escaped the burnt orange atmosphere of the Co-Op, she was fine.  We can only guess that despite being born in Texas, she really is a True Bug.

I don’t have time to develop a WordPress theme right now. And really, why should I reinvent the wheel when there are so many good ones already out there?  So I’ve chosen This Just In! for the time being, and I’m going to be tweaking the CSS here and there to make the typography and colors look the way I want.  Oh, and I need to upload some of Andy’s photography to replace the default header images too.  Someday…

It’s a beautiful cool, gray, rainy day, the type of summer day I always liked as a kid because it meant I could stay curled up in my room and read all day.  The type of day we don’t get in Austin very often — the type of day I’ve really missed.

And best of all, we’ve broken our streak of hot weather!  The air conditioner actually shut off for a while today.  It’s the first day since late May under 90 degrees, and we’re supposed to stay like that for most of the week.

The last two weeks have found the Hansen household in need of some time to regroup, as a series of stressful events seemed to blindside us one after another!  Specifically:

• The car died, and, after much gnashing of teeth, consulting of mechanics, and car shopping, was replaced.
• The computer broke down, and was subsequently rebuilt by Andy.
• The baby caught a bad cold and was taken to the doctor (and is still fighting it off, poor thing).
• I interviewed for and got a new job, turned in my notice at work, and am now racing the clock to complete some big projects before my last day.

My last day at my current job is the 22nd, and I start my new job AND fall semester classes on the 25th.  Whew!  I would have liked to have a little more breathing room in there, but it just didn’t work out that way.

On a happier note, we had some muched loved and eagerly awaited guests this week — Katie and Jonathan took a detour through Austin on their long trek from Utah to Memphis.  I wish they could have stayed longer!  It was so nice to spend the day with some of our favorite people, not to mention a much-needed respite from the daily grind.  Thanks, Katie and Jonathan!

It’s official (I’m a little late — it was actually official Tuesday): we’ve suffered through the hottest June on record. So far, there have been 44 straight days with temperatures above 90 degrees; 22 of those days have been 100 or above. On top of this, we’ve received next to no rain since May. Our yard looks like straw. The plants in the pots on our driveway are dying or dead, despite Andy’s diligent watering (whenever we’re allowed; water restrictions are in effect). Several pecan trees on my bus route are wilted, and the leaves are starting to shrivel. It’s got to be terribly hot and dry when even the trees are feeling it.

Needless to say, the Bug and I don’t leave the house much. On the days when I go to work, I pick her up from day care at about 2:00, and I try to be very careful to limit our exposure to the heat and sun at the bus stop and on the walk home. It can’t be comfortable for her to be in the Baby Bjorn in 90+ degree heat — I know it’s not comfortable for me! We’ve been lucky so far. The buses are air conditioned and are usually on time; the five-minute walk from the stop to our door has been mostly shady. But still, I have been dreaming of those idyllic Midwestern summers I used to take for granted: green grass, deep shade, and cool, linden-scented nights.

For those of you coming down from more hospitable climes in a few weeks for the Bug’s baptism, I do apologize.  Pack your summeriest clothes and plenty of sunscreen; we’ll make sure there’s lots of iced tea for you.

I was just looking at my Columbia, Missouri photoset on Flickr when it struck me that Austin, at least the area where I live, is comparatively poor in good graffiti. Columbia had great scribbles and scrawls, some of which showed insight or artistic talent; some not so much. I’m glad to see others appreciate it as well.

I used to like to walk around downtown and take note of the best of the graffiti, and right before I left town I took pictures of a few. The best of all I never did get to document: it was at 9th and Cherry, a huge scrawl across the wall of what was then Glenn’s Cafe: “PLASTIC, MUST YOU CONFORM?” Punctuated correctly and everything. The wall was painted over when Glenn’s went out and the building became a Nothing But Noodles franchise.

Sigh. I realize that a lack of graffiti likely means that my part of town is relatively free from organized criminal activity, and that most people don’t appreciate youths with spray paint cans. And I certainly would be angry if someone defaced my house, or my fence, or my bus stop. But yet… good graffiti can certainly contribute to an interesting cityscape, on mental and visual levels.

This is to test a new plugin…

ipsographic's books from LibraryThing

• The logogryph by Thomas Wharton
• The printed book in America by Joseph Blumenthal
• The art & history of books by Norma Levarie
• A new introduction to bibliography by Philip Gaskell
• A short history of the printed word by Warren Chappell
• Let's play baby senses by Miriam Stoppard
• Let's play baby talking by Miriam Stoppard
• Express lane meals : what to keep on hand, what to buy fresh for the easiest-ever 30-minute meals by Rachael Ray
• The Art of Medieval Hunting: The Hound and the Hawk by John Cummins
• The no-cry sleep solution : gentle ways to help your baby sleep through the night by Elizabeth Pantley

Feeds listed by aggr.