Processing, processing...

Still recovering from the conference. Deanne took this photo of Holly during the banquet. Today I'm well enough to do laundry and dishes, which is good! I'm glad I wasn't at all sick before or during the conference. I slept in a bed from which two other people had reportedly arisen sick. Ooooh... like a cursed bed. Because I was taking Joyce to the airport really early, I just stayed in the once-overflowing Sorooshian room with Joyce. I did bring a pillow from my own hotel room (which was full and overflowing with my kids and some extras) and I turned the sheet around so I would have germs on my feet (if there were germs) and not by my face. I slept wonderfully well. Woke up with a sore throat. CURSES!! But it was a simple thing to get up when I heard Joyce getting ready, drive to the airport, and then to my house. My van and I know the trail home. It was fun to hang out with so many of the people who help other people get unschooling. I love these people online, and I'm thrilled at the magic they do with writing, and it was great to be in person with them. The older generation, people who were around "in the AOL days" Deb/DACunefare (whose name we practiced saying behind her back, after she told us, COONifer) Pam Sorooshian Joyce Fetteroll Sue Patterson Unschooling.com additions to the evolving team: Mary Gold (Zenmomma) Kelly Lovejoy Kathryn Baptista The current batch of sparkly writers, who have MANY more tools to use than the older generation had Ren Allen Danielle Conger Rue Kream Kelli Traaseth Robyn Coburn Gail Higgins Diana Jenner (hahamommy) Barbara Chase Miranda Demarest. . . When the older voices wander off, it won't matter. There are many more! It was good for me to get to know some of them better, with voices and faces and sparkly eyes. I was happy and a little surprised, seeing them all in one place, to think of how many have been in my home, or my family in theirs. There are lists and message boards I'm not on, so some of you might be thinking there should've been other names on that list, so I hope you got to hang out with people whose words have been helpful to you too!

Aftermath of Conference...

Tired (everyone), sick (just me), telling stories LOTS...

The hotel emptied of Live and Learn Unschoolers this afternoon when Holly and I delivered the last remaining family to the airport. Many families aren't home yet, having taken scenic routes or gone to visit. Photos are finding their way to public places.

http://homepage.mac.com/geriwc/Albuquerque_06/PhotoAlbum41.html
Geri's photos. We have photos, but for the moment I want to show a couple that Geri Weis-Corbley took at the Live and Learn Unschooling Conference last week.



I'll bring some of Holly too, that I took, but for now... I'm too tired to think.


I'm collecting other photo links here: http://sandradodd.com/abq

Extraordinary Wetness

Where the yard is usually dust or hard ground, things grew this year.

Birdseed the birds knocked out of the feeder sprouted and is now producing flowers and grain without our ever having watered it once.

The fact that I'm remarking on this... well... I suppose people in most of the world would think "yeah, that's what seed does, if it falls," but honestly, that's not what seed usually does where *I* live!

out the window this morning

I love overcast days like this, partly because even when it's overcast we can still see a long, long way! You can see a bright blue spot up in the clouds on the left, so you can see it was quite after sunrise and the blue sky was back there!

People tell me "You would love Seattle," but I love New Mexico! I just love the dark wet days the best.

one week to the conference, and an unexpected day

I was going to write this morning when it WAS one week...

Monday was filled with an quickly planned trip to Española (Santa Cruz, actually; didn't go all the way into Española) for the funeral of Bertha Martinez, the mom of my friends Ymelda and Dodi. It was in a church in which I played and sang for guitar masses when I was in high school. (I was Baptist, but friends wanted me to help with the music.) It's a beautiful church.
Holly was with me. We went to the cemetery. I had brought the coordinates of the graves of my dad and of my friend Charles Montoya. I will add to those pages, as I come across things.

Then we went to the Upaya Zen Center to deliver a couple of boxes of books for use in their prison outreach program, and on to the reception, which was at The Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat, off the Old Santa Fe Trail near St. John's College.

It was a good day in northern New Mexico, and nice day with Holly. She helped me take notes on things I want to be sure and include in the talk called "Big Noisy Peace."

On the early edge of last weekend, Lillian Jones was here for a couple of days. That was fun!
On the latter edge of this weekend Diana Jenner and Kelli Traaseth and their families will be here a day and a half or so (two sleeping nights) before the conference. Busy week, but lots to look forward to.

Two Weeks, and other things

Same-same, but two weeks instead of three. I'm ready enough to do it now. I'll be more ready then.

Kirby bought a new computer. A Gateway with a spiffy new-style screen and a zippy video card. He's been rearranging the desk-end of his room. I hope he sleeps a little before morning because he was sick early in the week. He missed a day of work.

Holly's the sickest of the three of them, and Marty hurt his foot somehow, so came home from work early today. Rather he went in even though he was limping and in pain, because from 6:30 to 10:00 he's the only checker. At 10:00 he came home, let me put mineral ice on him, sat in a recliner with his foot up, and watched 16 Blocks with me. Ah... Bruce Willis and Mos Def. Nice combo.

Everyone was eating leftover chicken noodle soup I made last night. I wish I had eaten more of it. It was good, but I figured those individual-serving-sized sets of leftovers should be for sick kids. If I'd had a bigger pot, I might've made more.

Kirby seems all recovered after only three days, so that bodes well for the others.

I worked on Thinking Sticks today, and web pages. One is to sell and the other's out there free and open. I recently went through and touched up the typical days pages. Added borders to all and art to a few. Repaired old links and references. It was fun to read them again. Inspiring. Another, less important, is http://sandradodd.com/flowers.

Several other things happened, but all peaceful and fairly quiet and comforting and I'm tired now.

Three weeks until the conference

In three weeks there's a big unschooling conference in Albuquerque. It seems such a short time! But unlike with conferences in other states, there are some things I don't have to worry so much about. I don't have to decide which clothes to take; I can come home to my closet. Someone can come home and feed the cats and the dog. Keith and I will probably stay home most nights, and kids might be in and out because I don't know if the boys will take all those days off. There will be people staying with us on either end of the conference, I think, at least little visits.

I ordered more copies of Moving a Puddle, a couple of weeks ago. Rue Kream had two crates of Parenting a Free Child sent here from the publisher. Mine should arrive soon. I've been making sets of Thinking Sticks, which is a pretty involved process, with three inserts, two of which needed to be updated, then they're printed and intricately folded and blah blah blah... Holly and I have been collecting tie-dyed garments for resale as frolicking clothes and cheap souvenirs. Some of the things are clothes from when she was younger, but some we've found at thrift stores. We've had fun outings.

Every day or two I think of something good to add to the talks. One is called "Big Noisy Peace," and the other "Flow."

I've spoken at over two dozen conferences now, and usually do two to four presentations. It seems I'd be more used to it now, but the whole thing still looms large, and the days are starting to go by more and more quickly.

When I'm feeling stuck, I go and pull weeds or gather kindling or switch out the laundry. While I'm doing non-verbal things, verbal thoughts come to me. When I'm doing verbal things (reading e-mail or working on my website-without-end), the non-verbal things come.

Same as usual, only more urgently as the conference comes nearer.