Today 2009 and April 20, 1999

Today the 2009 Pulitzer PrizeWinners were announced. It is also the 10th Anniversary of Columbine. Columbine is a one word title for an event that happened in the US on this date in 1999. It is also Hitler's Birthday. I remember being totally totally consumed with any information on Columbine. At the time I lived on Oregon Street. I read and listened to anything about this topic. Enough to voice my opinion to my elected representatives and Trent Lott. I wrote to them about my opinion on our country's gun control laws. Although I was remember being impressed they responded (and I kept their letters) they in no way changed my view. I still have the same opinion ... and happily they no longer are employed federal employees. But seriously, I think it is important to change with the times and not be a one issue person. I also appreciate that we live in a country where you are allowed to say what you think and I think it makes our government better. Well, today on NPR Talk of the Nation I heard an interesting segment where Neal Conan interviewed Dave Cullen, a Columbine news reporter who just wrote a book on the lessons of Columbine. Cullen was critical of himself and the press in general . Particularly on the reporting the story too quickly. Lots of mistakes were made with Columbine and more interestingly important lessons learned were explained. Ok so the Pulizter Prizes awarded this morning were: JOURNALISM 1. Public Service Las Vegas Sun (Alexandra Berzon) 2. Breaking New Reporting *Staff of the New York Times ( they were great in 2008!) 3. Investigative Reporting *David Blarstow of NYT 4. Explanatory Reporting Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart @ LA Times 5. Local Reporting Detroit Free Press Staff notably Jim Schaefer & M.L. Elrick East Vally Tribune Ryan Gabrielson & Paul Giblin 6. National Reporting St. Petersburg Times 7. International Reporting * Staff of the NYT 8. Feature Writing Lane DeGregory of SPT 9. Commentary *** Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post (love him!) 10. Criticism Holland Cotter of the NYT 11. Editorial Writing Steve Breen of the San Diego Union - Tribune 12. Breaking News Photography Patrick Farrell of the Miami Herald 13. Feature Photography Damon Winter of the NYT LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC 14. Fiction Olive Kitterage by Elizabeth Stout 15. Drama Ruined by Lynn Nottage 16. History *The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed 17. Biography (or auto) * American Lion: Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham Diane Rehm had 2 shows on the above 2 books that were excellent. 18. Poetry The Shadow of Sirius by W. S. Merwin 19. Music Double Sextet by Stve Reich A recap of today in history and memory.

Natchez

Saturday April 7th, 2009 George, Lorene, spouse and I took a day trip through the Natchez Trace and to see a southern plantation home. It was very sweet of them because this involves 2 things spouse and I really enjoy.

So a little history about the Natchez Trace... from their national park services website:

The Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connects Natchez with Nashville. This prehistoric trail probably evolved by repeated meanderings starting with the prehistory American Indians.

Once we got to Natchez we asked at the Visitor's Center which home to see if we only have time for one tour. We were told to go to Longwood.

Above is a picture of the front of this mansion and a close up of it's front balconies. This 30,000 square foot 6 story home capped with a byzantine onion shaped dome was framed up in 1861. The workers (from Pennsylvania) left their tools here to return home to fight in the Civil War. The believed the war wouldn't last long. The first 4 floors were to be the main living area, with a 5th story solarium and 6th story observatory. Of the 32 planned rooms only the 9 in the basement were ever completed. Longwood is the largest octagonal home in the US. It is listed on the National Registry as a historic antebellum (Latin for "before" (ante) and "war" (bellum). It's style was unusual for the era. Greek Revival was the more common style of this period. Longwood (according to the tourist book I bought) is "a superb example of the mid-nineteenth century "villa in the oriental style".

The architect was Samuel Sloan from Philadephia. Dr. Haller Nutt and his wife Julia hired Sloan in the late 1850's and work started in the spring of 1860. The house was framed by 1861 when the Pennsylvania workers left. Slaves finished the 9 rooms in the basement so the Nutts could move into their "temporary home" in 1862.

Dr. Haller Nutt died in 1864 officially of pneumonia (he also had gout.) His "gout inspired" chair still is still in the basement on this home tour. Anyhow, his wife Julia Nutt said he died of a broken heart. Julia lived in the basement with her many children until her death many years later. The pictures below are of the 1st floor level main entrance, very open rooms. The preservationists of this home believe the alcoves were going to have some kind of sculpture representing the 4 seasons.

Longwood was referred to as "Nutt's Folly". Dr. Nutt was a fierce unionist . He chose not to delay construction because he never thought there would be a war.

One of their 11 children (not all survived until adulthood) was also named Julia. This is the crate that delivered her piano. The family used the upstairs as storage. The home stayed in the family until the 1970's and today is owned and maintained by the Pilgrimage Garden Club as a house museum.

Longwood represents that last burst of southern extravagance before the cotton baron dominance went bust. This is at least part of the reason it was never finished.

Last day in New Orleans

Friday March 6th spouse and I woke up in this room at Hotel Provincial in New Orleans. We had 1/2 a day to spend together in New Orleans before we left for Brandon, Mississippi to stay with spouse's Aunt L and Uncle G. That afternoon we headed back to the airport to get a rental car and drive about 3 1/2 hours to George and Lorene's home. So that morning we took the cable car from the French Quarter to the Garden District. The weather was nice. We didn't have plans however we were very lucky that just as we were coming out of a random coffee shop in the garden district we basically stumbled on to what turned out to be a great 1 1/2 hour neighborhood walking tour. Here is some of what we saw on the walking tour.

This is where it started.

Our tour guide had lived her whole life in this neighborhood. She was so knowledgeable and just really a great guide.

According to the cemetery preservationists this next picture is where they believe the most bodies are buried. Several movies have been filmed in this cemetary. At least one based on an Anne Rice's book. Anne Rice used to live in the neighborhood.

This home was used in the movie Benjamin Button which was just filmed last year. Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett were in this movie with a reverse aging theme. Our tour guide said she and her neighbors thought the cast and crew for this movie were very nice.

Some amazing architecture and history about these homes as well.

The last picture is of the Manning's home, where Peyton and Eli grew up. Archie Manning and his wife still live there. Our tour guide had the nicest things to say about this family.

Below is a description of Antoine's (from their website) where we went for lunch. This was spouse's idea. He had been there with his co-workers and thought I would love it. And it was fun. Also afterwards the restaurant staff told us we could wander around (see below description from http://www.antoines.com/). We ran into our morning tour guide with a tour group while we were wandering around.

Last picture is the wine cellar. Although Antoine's did not suffer a lot of Katrina damage b/c of lost power the restaurant lost $1M in wine.

Since 1840, world-renowned Antoine's Restaurant has set the standard that made New Orleans one of the greatest dining centers of the world. For over 160 years, Antoine's Restaurant's excellent French-Creole cuisine, service, and atmosphere have combined to create an unmatched dining experience for both locals and visitors to New Orleans. Antoine's has a selection of 15 dining rooms, each with their own unique history and charm, for private parties and events for up to 700+ guests. Memorabilia from its many notable guests line the walls....and include General Patton, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, President Roosevelt, Judy Garland, Carrol Burnett and Pope John Paul the II...to name just a few.... We invite you to experience the culinary delights which have made Antoine's Restaurant a living history!

So after lunch we walked back to Hotel Provincial to get our luggae and a cab to the airport.

We got to George and Lorene's in time for dinner and to go to bed early. The next day the four of us went to see the plantation homes in Natchez

So Pilgrim Chapel

This morning's sermon @ Pilgrim was about ego and basically the benefits of letting go of it. Our designated minster is out of town so today's minister was Chad Quick. He lives in Kentucky and his main job is Hospice work.

So after Chad finished the service the adults (approx 20, age 30 - 85) came down to the basement via the scary (esp if your are old or tall) steps to the basement.

Shad was just great entertainment at this coffee hour. And egoless is not the word anyone would choose to describe it. So it probably was not 5 minutes before Lee pointed out the newspaper picture above the food table. It was of Shad (in a leisure suit) shaking hands with some old guy. Also on the food table was one of those Arcadia book, this ones title: The Cincinnati Sound. So when Mindy (designated minister's DIL) and I were looking through the book we found another picture of Shad that we both thought "whoa" and "hollywood" .... in a dreamy way. When I showed it to Shad he was like "Oh yeah I was really handsome."

And then he said "there should be more pictures of me in there too." He is an incredible person and amazing story teller.

Here is a link to his website:

http://www.shadoshea.com/about/index.php3

I knew he was famous before I read this today but I did not know how famous. Wow!

The pictures at the top of this entry are ones I copied from his website. I'm going to see if I download a picture of the bookcover.

So the reason for the title of this blog is not because many people are that famous or colorful. But this group is unique.

UPDATE : JUNE 6,2009 email from Bob Croskery.

A little after midnight, Howard Lovdal, whose public name was Shad O'Shea died at the VA Hospital.Shad had been a loyal "Pilgrim" for seven years. He had been one of my very dearest friends for more than 30 years.There is now a huge hole in the hearts of all of us who knew him and loved him.If you are among them, I do hope you will make a special effort to be at Pilgrim Chapel in the morning.If anywone were ever "truly alive," that person was Shad. Tomorrow, we celebrate LIFE!Bof

When I read this email today I gasped in shock. John can not believe this either. We both assumed Shad was traveling and that is why we had not seen him in the last couple weeks. What a fantastic guy. This afternoon on my way to the grocery store I saw a guy driving a white cadillac with a dog in the passenger seat (head in the wind) it gave me a lump in my throat. We were so lucky to know Shad even just a little bit.

Deadlines and our last 1-171H update

Our I-171H expires on April 9, 2009. The official name of this US Citizenship and Immigration Service document issued by the US Department of Homeland Security is Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application For Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. If this document were to expire we would lose our grandgathered status and have to do more extensive background checks. Specifically, we would have to get checks for every address we have lived since the age of 18 for more than 6 months. This process is further complicated by the fact you (adoptive parent) are advised to not renew too early as you risk an additional expiration date. So in February when I asked our international agency if I should start requesting renewal documents I thought I was being proactive. Turns out I was not as our paperwork was just turned in last Friday. Today, Tuesday April 7,2009, we received a receipt from the US Dept of Justice for the $830.00 fee required to process renewal paperwork. So we got our paperwork in 2 days before it expired. YIKES.

Part of our renewal paperwork required an in-home interview with our social worker which we scheduled for Wednesday, March 25,2009. Cherie, our social worker, probably was here 45 minutes total. Anyhow she was impressed with the changes in the garden since her initial homestudy interviews in 2006.

This first picture was taken in Spring 2006 right before the backyard clearing began. This was also about the time of our 1st homestudy interview. Cherie also taught the first adoption classes we took in September 2005. She is the person we have worked with the longest through our adoption and unfortunately her agency is closing and she has no employment plans as of now. Our new HS agency is Adoption Connection.

Update: Starting in August 2009 Cherie will be employed at Adoption Connection and once again assigned to our adoption case!

The next couple of pictures show mid progress replacing the fence and tiering the garden. I love this picture of John and Lucy!

The next picture shows what our garden looks like now.

During our 2nd homestudy interview we also took Cherie throught the first floor apartment, something she had not seen on the initial homestudy. She likes old homes so I think it was kinda entertaining.

The room with the fireplace will eventually be our library when we "take over the whole house". Right now we don't need the space and the extra income is nice. This apartment's kitchen (room with 3 glass doors and red floor) will be eventually become a 3rd bedroom. This is another picture from the 1st floor kitchen. The tenants who lived here when this picture was taken were an interesting couple. She worked for Warner Brothers (music promotion manager) and he played bass and was from Sweden. The ballroom dancing photos are of his father who was still competitively dancing while they we our tenants. They only stayed a year but I thought they were fascinating. This room is now the 1st floor apartment bedroom but someday will become an office. We are thinking we will buy a big partner desk and put it in the middle of this room.

The last picture is of Lucy in the garden with William. William had allergies when he was born and is the reason at age 10 Lucy moved in with us.

Pet Nanny Report Mar 2009

Spouse and I have been home now for 48 hours after traveling for the past 2.5 weeks. Kitty has been purring a remarkable amount since we have been home.

The scan on this entry is unreadable but basically recaps what was happening at home while spouse and I were in New Orleans, Natchez and Branson Mississippi and lastly Florida. The scan is PN's "Daily Dairy".

Basically each day PN:

1. refreshed food (and LN ate a lot) & water

2. scooped litter boxes and swept

3. gave TLC

4. brought in the mail.

And some of her comments:

"Lucy has a lot to say today.""Put her in my lap and gave her lots of TLC""Could not find brush to brush her"."Was in your area so I stoped by to check on Lucy.""Combed her a little." "Treats" "UPS box put on counter."" Good time on the deck.""A little play with feather.""She has a lot to say today.""Combed Lucy on patio."

The first night we were home spouse woke up to see her laying on our bed, 4 paws in the air and purring. By the 2nd night she was back to sleeping on "her" fake fur blanket in the river room.

This month's Rumor from the Queen ....Feb 24,2009

I made this chain on Jan 28,2009 and put it on our kitchen mantle. The links represent the number of LID referral days before our LID group(May 18, 2006) get our referrals. A referral is when we will receive a picture and info about our baby. About 6-8 weeks after that we will travel. So the green links represent March, purple is April and pink is May 1-17th, 2006. The CCAA has matched through February 28,2006. The next picture is of spouse pointing to where we will cut links off after Rumor Queen gives the referral rumors an R4 rating. Below is from RQ 2/24/09 titled Rumor roundup

A few more agencies are now verifying that the CCAA is matching. One agency thinks they will get beyond March 3rd, but won’t go so far as to say how far that might be. And I can’t tell if this is them just guessing, or if they have been given some reason to believe this. And that is it. it’s like a ghost town. Instead of rumors there is just tumbleweed rolling and bouncing along. Posted in Rumors - Next Referrals 27 Comments »

AND here is RQ's most recent post which broadly explains her rating system. This entry is titled R3 for March 6th

February 27th, 2009 We have three agencies confirming the cut off is March 6th. We have another agency telling their 3/7 people that they are not in this batch. There are also some conflicting rumors, so at this point it’s an R3. I hope to be able to take it to an R4 later today. (The conflicting rumors aren’t very cohesive, everything from a cut off of the 3rd to the 8th, but they don’t come from multiple sources like the 6th rumor does.) I agree with everyone yesterday who said that a backlog of only 12,000 doesn’t sound right. I’ll do the math on it later.

This update is required coincidentally just as both spouse and I have more work projects than usual, our primary care physician has surgery scheduled in March and we need a physical for the I171H, our homestudy agency is going out of business (the economy) and we need a update homestudy interview and we are traveling half of March. Additionally as of March 1 we still have not organized and thus mailed our tax paperwork to our accountant. But the good news is the pet nanny and house sitter are all lined up for while we are traveling to New Orleans and Florida.

Anyhow the I171H is the US governments document of pre-approval for the adoption of a foreign born baby. This document will also give her American citizenship the day she arrives in the US. Oh, and another thing we have to do is get re-fingerprinted as our last set expired 12-13-08. There are no penalties for letting your fingerprints expire. Since biometrics fingerprints cost $80 each you don't want to do them too early and thus risk expiration.

All this paper chasing was made more fun by getting conflicting direction from our 2 agencies (homestudy & international). Two Friday's ago I caused us (but mostly me) to "chase our tails" for half a day. I was told we needed to get all our addresses from where we have lived since the age of 18 for child abuse background checks requests. This was easy for me as I lived with my parents and at the Alpha Chi house which has a really easy to remember address ... 1000 N. Jordan in Indiana and relatively few addresses in Ohio. Completely different scenario for spouse who has moved a lot. About once a year for a decade. So it took a little more digging, specifically a half a day. I was surprised that I was able to get all this info online. Turns out this little exercise was unnecessary.

Because of all this I needed to take some adoption related paperwork to work last week. The picture below is my desk @ conservatory and my very cute file folder with adoption paperwork. This file tote was a Valentine's gift from spouse

last year.