Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
Minor in Environmental Studies
Magna Cum Laude
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| Me and Hubby Dec. 19, 2010 |
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| Me and proud mama. Dec. 19, 2010 |
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Graduation
Well, I finally completed a big milestone in my life and I've worked a long time toward it. I have graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree! Graduation was a week ago today. I didn't know how I'd feel but on this day, but when they stated playing "Pomp and Circumstance" and all the graduates started filing out into the auditorium at the Convention Center there were friends and family lined up taking photos as the graduates processed in. It felt a little like paparazzi! I was smiling so brightly and I felt like I had earned that moment. When it was finally time for me to walk across the stage and shake hands I gave an excited wave toward my husband and my mom who were in the audience and accepted my degree with a vigorous handshake and an unending smile. As a non-traditional student who has worked full time and gone to school part time, this accomplishment feels well earned. All I can say is if I can do it, anyone can. But I never could have done it without my wonderful supportive husband who sacrificed a lot for me to go to classes. My parents and my sister and brother who have also encouraged me and aided me however they can. I am so lucky. My one hope is that I have the chance to use my degree in a career that will keep me learning and engaged in life and its adventures. Whatever may come of my degree in this uncertain world I will continue to experience the adventures of life no matter where it leads me. My academic adventure may be complete (at least for now) but more excitement lies ahead in the coming year!
Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
Minor in Environmental Studies
Magna Cum Laude
Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
Minor in Environmental Studies
Magna Cum Laude
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Mr. Egypt
This was an interesting week. I got to see a lecture given by a famous archaeologist. A Facebook friend, who was previously more of an acquaintance, won tickets to see a well known Egyptian Archaeologist. I don't know if I should mention names but lets just say if you ever watched any Discovery Channel, History Channel show on Egypt, he's most likely been on it, so I'll just refer to him as Mr. Egypt. Well, this friend invited me to the lecture because he knew of my study in archaeology that, and he didn't find anyone else who knew who Mr. Egypt was. The tickets that he won were actually VIP tickets and all the VIP's got a free book to have signed by Mr. Egypt himself. So we arrived at the venue and were directed to the signing line. As we were standing there, books in hand a staff member came up to us and asked if we would like our name included when the book was signed. I thought, sure, why not? So she asked our names and wrote them on a sticky to be placed in the book. As we neared the front of the line we noticed some people were taking pictures with Mr. Egypt as they got their book signed. Well I hadn't brought a camera but my friend had so the girl at the front informed us she would take the picture if we would just circle around the table to stand next to Mr. Egypt. So as my turn came up, I followed her instructions. Let me preface this by saying, I don't know what it's like to be a celebrity but it's got to be pretty annoying at times. That being said, if you're going to agree to a book signing, you might want to show a little personality, a little appreciation to the people who have come to see you! Mr. Egypt had no personality just like a signing robot he took the book and started signing it. I circled around the table thinking maybe he'd say hello or thanks for coming when I was beside him but he didn't even stand so I scrunched down so the picture wouldn't be entirely awkward.
After the signing we settled into our seats in the auditorium for the lecture to begin. The director of the lecture appeared to introduce Mr. Egypt and with his introduction complete, the lights dimmed and a film introduction was played showing everyone how famous Mr. Egypt is. Ok, I guess it wasn't entirely about that but it did include clips of Omar Sharif saying how he used to be the most famous Egyptian until Mr. Egypt came along. As the film ended the lights came up and Mr. Egypt strolled to the podium to a round of applause and some people being elevated from their seats to applaud.
From the beginning, his lecture was all business. No "thanks for coming" or "glad to see such a great turn out". He just went straight into his lecture. At the beginning there was a brief moment of technical difficulty where his slide clicker would not progress the slides. He became obviously irritated as he barked at the director that "this should have been checked". After the problem was fixed he went through his lecture of the work that is being done in Egypt. A lot of interesting work to be sure. Looking for the tomb of Rameses VIII, narrowing on the tombs of Cleopatra and Marc Antony in Alexandria, and the building of a new museum that will be the largest museum in the world. There was a overall theme of his slide show that I noticed, pictures of him on every discovery, pictures of him with the media and pictures of him with famous people. If I had to give it a percentage of how many slides in his slide show that did not include him I would say it was about 25% (if that).
Anyway, it's not like the evening wasn't interesting but I was very aware of the celebrity that surrounds Mr. Egypt. He does bring a lot of recognition and interest to the field of archaeology which is good for both education and the importance of conservation. I might suggest a little more personable persona if he's going to agree to such presentations that involve contact with fans. However, he may not require such seeing as how 99% of the people in attendance were quite enamored with his persona. If one day I should ever become a famous archaeologist, I hope that I can look back on this post and remember the importance of personality.
After the signing we settled into our seats in the auditorium for the lecture to begin. The director of the lecture appeared to introduce Mr. Egypt and with his introduction complete, the lights dimmed and a film introduction was played showing everyone how famous Mr. Egypt is. Ok, I guess it wasn't entirely about that but it did include clips of Omar Sharif saying how he used to be the most famous Egyptian until Mr. Egypt came along. As the film ended the lights came up and Mr. Egypt strolled to the podium to a round of applause and some people being elevated from their seats to applaud.
From the beginning, his lecture was all business. No "thanks for coming" or "glad to see such a great turn out". He just went straight into his lecture. At the beginning there was a brief moment of technical difficulty where his slide clicker would not progress the slides. He became obviously irritated as he barked at the director that "this should have been checked". After the problem was fixed he went through his lecture of the work that is being done in Egypt. A lot of interesting work to be sure. Looking for the tomb of Rameses VIII, narrowing on the tombs of Cleopatra and Marc Antony in Alexandria, and the building of a new museum that will be the largest museum in the world. There was a overall theme of his slide show that I noticed, pictures of him on every discovery, pictures of him with the media and pictures of him with famous people. If I had to give it a percentage of how many slides in his slide show that did not include him I would say it was about 25% (if that).
Anyway, it's not like the evening wasn't interesting but I was very aware of the celebrity that surrounds Mr. Egypt. He does bring a lot of recognition and interest to the field of archaeology which is good for both education and the importance of conservation. I might suggest a little more personable persona if he's going to agree to such presentations that involve contact with fans. However, he may not require such seeing as how 99% of the people in attendance were quite enamored with his persona. If one day I should ever become a famous archaeologist, I hope that I can look back on this post and remember the importance of personality.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Too much stuff!
I have come to the conclusion that I have too much stuff! Yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning/reorganizing our bedroom. Now, we have a small house as it is and it would appear to the general observer that our bedroom is full of piles of all sizes on some days, however, having dealt with the piles yesterday and trying to find places for everything quite unsuccessfully, I finally got to the point where I just said "screw it, this stuff is going to Goodwill!" This was mainly just clothes, mind you, and only mine, not Marc's! He has an overabundance of t-shirts that can probably suffocate myself or the dog should we fall beneath it's mountainous avalanche one day. So I did get rid of a fair amount of clothes, but as I told mom, I didn't want to get rid of everything lest I be left with my birthday suit for work. I don't think that would be very professional.
And the closet... that's a story in itself. For those of you who don't know about my house, we seem to have ugly spiders in the lower level. I mean UGLY! I looked up the ugliest of the breeds we have found and discovered it was called a sun spider (for the curious soul, follow this link and it is the last picture on the page... ugly right?!!). Well, as environmentally unfriendly as it is, I usually spray in our closet at least once a year to kill the suckers and then I find their disgusting remains all curled up in the corners. There were about 10 of them yesterday... yuck! Poised in a position similar to Aragog in the Chamber of Secrets movie. Luckily they didn't move or have thousands of others come attack me. So, up in the vacuum they went!
So, one whole day for one room! And I still have the office upstairs that is currently in disaster mode so I know that will be another day in itself. So yes, I think we have way too much stuff, or we have a lack of organizational skills. Either way you look at it, it is probably more efficient to organize when you have less stuff!
And the closet... that's a story in itself. For those of you who don't know about my house, we seem to have ugly spiders in the lower level. I mean UGLY! I looked up the ugliest of the breeds we have found and discovered it was called a sun spider (for the curious soul, follow this link and it is the last picture on the page... ugly right?!!). Well, as environmentally unfriendly as it is, I usually spray in our closet at least once a year to kill the suckers and then I find their disgusting remains all curled up in the corners. There were about 10 of them yesterday... yuck! Poised in a position similar to Aragog in the Chamber of Secrets movie. Luckily they didn't move or have thousands of others come attack me. So, up in the vacuum they went!
So, one whole day for one room! And I still have the office upstairs that is currently in disaster mode so I know that will be another day in itself. So yes, I think we have way too much stuff, or we have a lack of organizational skills. Either way you look at it, it is probably more efficient to organize when you have less stuff!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Once again I have taken leave of my blogging duties. My last semester of school got a bit hectic there for about a month but last weekend I finished the last of the major projects for this semester and it felt like such a relief! Graduation is only a month away! I've worked a long time for this and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter! I feel like I have put a lot of things off in pursuit of my degree and I can't wait to take the next steps in my life after school! Everyone always comments when I tell them that my degree is in Anthropology, "what are you gonna do with that!" Well, whatever I want to. Whether or not I get a job in the anthropological realm, this is something that I have accomplished for myself! That being said, of course I want a job doing something that I'll enjoy. Will it be archaeological in nature? We'll have to see. I think my main goal has always been to work in a museum. The atmosphere, like being on a college campus is thick with knowledge and it permeates with the past, the whole spectrum of humanity and before. That's where I want to be! Enough about me....
Recently, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has been on a dig in Snowmass Colorado uncovering ice age mammoths! But I must clarify, this is the realm of the Paleontologist not the Archaeologist. As an archaeologist we often get the question "so you like digging up dinosaurs?" That's not what we do! We dig to discover the human past. From the Pharaohs of old, to the everyday residents of frontier Colorado. My interest in the Snowmass dig is because I had volunteered in DMNS's Prehistoric Journey in the early part of my education at Metro and had learned about Mammoths, and Three Towed Sloths so it was something I was familiar with. If you're interested in seeing the work in Snowmass here's the daily field reports link on the DMNS website. Enjoy!
Recently, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has been on a dig in Snowmass Colorado uncovering ice age mammoths! But I must clarify, this is the realm of the Paleontologist not the Archaeologist. As an archaeologist we often get the question "so you like digging up dinosaurs?" That's not what we do! We dig to discover the human past. From the Pharaohs of old, to the everyday residents of frontier Colorado. My interest in the Snowmass dig is because I had volunteered in DMNS's Prehistoric Journey in the early part of my education at Metro and had learned about Mammoths, and Three Towed Sloths so it was something I was familiar with. If you're interested in seeing the work in Snowmass here's the daily field reports link on the DMNS website. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Obstacles
Today's thought of the day is brought to us by that innovator who gave us the Model T. I chose today's TOTD because it struck a chord with me. We have goals but sometimes these obstacles seem to appear out of nowhere! To me, an obstacle is a distraction that, at least in my own life, I create. Why would I create a distraction for myself? Believe me, its not intentional! Sometimes I focus too much on the end game and don't give enough thought to the journey that gets me there. So it stands to reason that distractions are sometimes there for a purpose, a way for us to refocus on what's really important and to give the journey that much more meaning and understanding. But we must beware that other times we have to make ourselves aware that we may be creating these distractions in response to a fear. Fear of the end result. Either way, we must take the chance to discover what our distraction is and why it has presented itself. If we ignore it, it might cause us to take an unwanted detour. I guess what I'm saying is, keep your eyes on the prize but always take the time to enjoy the ride :) |
Friday, September 24, 2010
Ouch!
Today's adventure...Ouch!
Yesterday I had decided to commit my evening to my studies as I had been procrastinating much of the week (as I am continuing to do presently). I drove straight home, greeted my husband and dog and confined myself to the dining room table where my laptop sits. Marc, being proactive this week has been organizing the garage. The dog was happily chewing on something in the backyard. Not 20 minutes after having sat down the dog comes busting through the doggy door with dad in tow. Apparently, Marc had taken a brief respite from organizing to play with the pooch. Well, as boys do they got into trouble and the dog took the brunt of it. Marc was playing fetch with a tennis ball and Drake, focused only on his mission of retrieving the ball ran sideways into a tree tee post causing an ear laceration and a cut to his side. The night ended with a drive to the vets office, however, with no vet in the office the techs bandaged him up and sent him home in the "cone of shame" (hereinafter COS) to return today for sutures. Well, after some struggles with the COS last night Drake gave in and fell asleep, most likely tired from fighting with the technicians at the vets office.
Today Drake received sutures and we were instructed by the vet that he would need to keep the COS on for 2-3 weeks!! Anyone who's ever met my dog knows that he can't sit still. The only time he is still is when he's sleeping. Even then he still kicks the S#!t out of you in his sleep! I was not enthusiastic about this prospect, especially because the COS is hard plastic and Drake tries to go through our legs with it on, causing pain to us... So I googled soft dog cones and came up with the Comfy Cone which was promptly acquired but has yet to be tested!! We'll see how that works out.
Nearly $300 dollars later this was the most expensive tennis ball toss on record! For now, Drake is quietly sleeping off the drugs from his sedation. Tomorrow I'm sure he'll be back to the little hyper-active labrador retriever of days past. Lord help his ear heal fast!!
On another note, anyone looking for a new song recommendation, check out Magic in Me by B.O.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo. It's fun! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQ_QeKFT3w
Yesterday I had decided to commit my evening to my studies as I had been procrastinating much of the week (as I am continuing to do presently). I drove straight home, greeted my husband and dog and confined myself to the dining room table where my laptop sits. Marc, being proactive this week has been organizing the garage. The dog was happily chewing on something in the backyard. Not 20 minutes after having sat down the dog comes busting through the doggy door with dad in tow. Apparently, Marc had taken a brief respite from organizing to play with the pooch. Well, as boys do they got into trouble and the dog took the brunt of it. Marc was playing fetch with a tennis ball and Drake, focused only on his mission of retrieving the ball ran sideways into a tree tee post causing an ear laceration and a cut to his side. The night ended with a drive to the vets office, however, with no vet in the office the techs bandaged him up and sent him home in the "cone of shame" (hereinafter COS) to return today for sutures. Well, after some struggles with the COS last night Drake gave in and fell asleep, most likely tired from fighting with the technicians at the vets office.
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| Bandaged Drake and the Cone of Shame |
Today Drake received sutures and we were instructed by the vet that he would need to keep the COS on for 2-3 weeks!! Anyone who's ever met my dog knows that he can't sit still. The only time he is still is when he's sleeping. Even then he still kicks the S#!t out of you in his sleep! I was not enthusiastic about this prospect, especially because the COS is hard plastic and Drake tries to go through our legs with it on, causing pain to us... So I googled soft dog cones and came up with the Comfy Cone which was promptly acquired but has yet to be tested!! We'll see how that works out.
Nearly $300 dollars later this was the most expensive tennis ball toss on record! For now, Drake is quietly sleeping off the drugs from his sedation. Tomorrow I'm sure he'll be back to the little hyper-active labrador retriever of days past. Lord help his ear heal fast!!
On another note, anyone looking for a new song recommendation, check out Magic in Me by B.O.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo. It's fun! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQ_QeKFT3w
Monday, September 13, 2010
Hello fellow adventurers!
I have returned! The break can be explained with the start of the school semester and me attempting (however feebly) to get back into study mode. Presently I am actually taking a break from studying for my first test. A test that I am none too thrilled about. This is for my Environmental Law class. If that doesn't get you yawning I'll continue. This is a class that is necessary for my Environmental Studies minor. I have learned so much about society and the world in my environmental classes and I figured it would be a good idea to have an overview background of the laws in the good ol' U.S.A. that have brought us to our current position. There is a lot of potential in this class for me to learn a lot, but there is SO much to learn! Take for example this first test. It covers Chapters 1-3 of our text and he will base the test off of his power point slides. He said we should be safe IF we know everything on the slide presentations. "Easy enough" you might think, except that each presentation is no less than 50 slides! 150 slides to know! In the words of Homer Simpson I say "DOH!". Or maybe I'll leave that eloquent statement for tomorrow. I'm trying to think positive and give my brain credit that it may have absorbed some of the studying that I've been doing all weekend but every time I look at my cue cards the only thing that runs through my mind is.... "we're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected...." I have the Worst case of "short timers" since this is my last semester. At least I'm not alone as my BAFF (Best Anthropology Friend Forever) shares my sentiment.
Well, all I can do my best! I aim to do that. Luckily, if my best on this first test isn't great, I'll have to quadruple my efforts on the other two tests because we can drop our lowest grade of the three... aw, the generosity of some professors.
My adventures sometimes seem so boring to me but I have to keep reminding myself that everyday can be a new adventure, I just have to have the right attitude about it.
Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life: facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and, in the process, discovering our own unique potential. - John Amatt
I have returned! The break can be explained with the start of the school semester and me attempting (however feebly) to get back into study mode. Presently I am actually taking a break from studying for my first test. A test that I am none too thrilled about. This is for my Environmental Law class. If that doesn't get you yawning I'll continue. This is a class that is necessary for my Environmental Studies minor. I have learned so much about society and the world in my environmental classes and I figured it would be a good idea to have an overview background of the laws in the good ol' U.S.A. that have brought us to our current position. There is a lot of potential in this class for me to learn a lot, but there is SO much to learn! Take for example this first test. It covers Chapters 1-3 of our text and he will base the test off of his power point slides. He said we should be safe IF we know everything on the slide presentations. "Easy enough" you might think, except that each presentation is no less than 50 slides! 150 slides to know! In the words of Homer Simpson I say "DOH!". Or maybe I'll leave that eloquent statement for tomorrow. I'm trying to think positive and give my brain credit that it may have absorbed some of the studying that I've been doing all weekend but every time I look at my cue cards the only thing that runs through my mind is.... "we're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected...." I have the Worst case of "short timers" since this is my last semester. At least I'm not alone as my BAFF (Best Anthropology Friend Forever) shares my sentiment.
Well, all I can do my best! I aim to do that. Luckily, if my best on this first test isn't great, I'll have to quadruple my efforts on the other two tests because we can drop our lowest grade of the three... aw, the generosity of some professors.
My adventures sometimes seem so boring to me but I have to keep reminding myself that everyday can be a new adventure, I just have to have the right attitude about it.
Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life: facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and, in the process, discovering our own unique potential. - John Amatt
Monday, August 23, 2010
Vacation
Hello All!
Sorry for the missed week of blog but I was in Maui! It was a beautiful trip, a little tiring but a lot of fun. I didn't get to snuba like we did when we were there last time, or to zipline as recommended by mom and dad from their trip, but we did get to see the Arizona Memorial and a lot of the island of Oahu. Beautiful!
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| USS Arizona Memorial, Oahu, HI |
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| USS Bowfin, Oahu, HI |
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| Beautiful Oahu Scenery |
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| View of Oahu |
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| Road to Hana Waterfall |
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| Road to Hana at the Grave Site of Charles Lindberg |
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Road to Hana Ocean ViewMarc also took part in a deep sea fishing expedition where he caught the biggest Mahi Mahi of the day at about 25 lbs.   And we went Surfing and Parasailing. All in all, it was a wonderful time.  Now back to reality! Back to work :P I'm so tired of being there. But as my wonderful mom reminded me, in the words of Dori... Just Keep Swimming! And... school started today. I have two classes this semester that I have to survive and pass with my sanity and I will be able to graduate in December!! I'm not sure what my path holds after I receive my Bachelor's degree but I can't wait to move on to the next step in my life. Like my brother! His first child was born last Monday, August 16, 2010! Elias Cruz Salazar weighed 6 lbs, 9 ounces and 18 3/4 inches. I finally got to hold him today and he's a squirmy little worm! I can't wait to take part in that little guy's life and be there for my brother how ever I can.  Life keeps moving so you have to move with it! But you're never alone because you've always got a friend in me! |
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Today's TOTD: "I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum." Frances Willard
Last night, I became one of "them". Who, you ask? An iPhone owner. Yes, I gave in, much to the dismay of some family members who shall remain nameless, believing it to be a folly to give in to the hype. Technically, I wasn't giving in to the hype. I seriously needed a new phone as my beloved blackberry has been freezing mid activity or dying half way through the day after a whole night on the charger. True, I didn't "need" to get an iPhone to replace my ailing phone and I was seriously on the fence about it too, I mean... $200 for a phone? Marc wanted me to trade him and he would get the new iPhone and I would get his 3GS. (Yes, now he totally has phone envy). Then oddly "fate" intervened. Having gone grudgingly up to Blackhawk with my mother-in-law (I say grudgingly because I think gambling is pointless and boring... at least for a non-risk taking gambler like me) we actually won $200. Who am I to ignore fate? Yes I jest because certainly that money could have been used on far better things... stuff for my nephew coming next week, groceries, gas, etc. But I gave in. Now I have this phone, for better or worse!
Subsequently, I thought that there must be an "app" for Blogger so that I can automatically update my blog from my phone should I find myself without a computer (tragic... I know). However, there is not a Blogger app! I was somewhat irritated at this revelation. There are other blog apps and a couple that allow you to manage several blogs that include Blogger but not an app specifically for Blogger! Ah well, guess you can't do everything with an iPhone. :)
So we'll see how I fare with this technological "wonder" over the length of my ownership. I shall keep you posted! :)
Last night, I became one of "them". Who, you ask? An iPhone owner. Yes, I gave in, much to the dismay of some family members who shall remain nameless, believing it to be a folly to give in to the hype. Technically, I wasn't giving in to the hype. I seriously needed a new phone as my beloved blackberry has been freezing mid activity or dying half way through the day after a whole night on the charger. True, I didn't "need" to get an iPhone to replace my ailing phone and I was seriously on the fence about it too, I mean... $200 for a phone? Marc wanted me to trade him and he would get the new iPhone and I would get his 3GS. (Yes, now he totally has phone envy). Then oddly "fate" intervened. Having gone grudgingly up to Blackhawk with my mother-in-law (I say grudgingly because I think gambling is pointless and boring... at least for a non-risk taking gambler like me) we actually won $200. Who am I to ignore fate? Yes I jest because certainly that money could have been used on far better things... stuff for my nephew coming next week, groceries, gas, etc. But I gave in. Now I have this phone, for better or worse!
Subsequently, I thought that there must be an "app" for Blogger so that I can automatically update my blog from my phone should I find myself without a computer (tragic... I know). However, there is not a Blogger app! I was somewhat irritated at this revelation. There are other blog apps and a couple that allow you to manage several blogs that include Blogger but not an app specifically for Blogger! Ah well, guess you can't do everything with an iPhone. :)
So we'll see how I fare with this technological "wonder" over the length of my ownership. I shall keep you posted! :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Thought of the Day
Each morning when I get to work I go on the web and search several "quote" or "thought of the day" websites in search of an inspiring thought of the day (TOTD for short) to send to my family. It is usually relevant to my feelings of the day and usually reflects my need for inspiration or a different attitude toward the coming day.
Today's TOTD comes from the Greek playwright Euripides.
"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man"
To me, there is a lot to gain from these words. The most obvious is to take it in its literal sense. There are powers all around us that affect the outcomes of our lies but there are also powers within us that are meant to counter those that surround us. Our inner power has the ability to affect the world just as much as the world can affect us. If we realize that we are as powerful as the outward forces, we can live more effectively than if we feel that we are merely pawns in the game of life.
Fate is real but it is not a static entity that leads opportunities to us. I have another quote to explain this, it is from one of my favorite movies "Ever After". The character of Leonardo da Vinci tells Prince Henry "you can't leave everything to fate boy! She's got a lot to do!"
Today's thought of the day I picked as a reminder to myself. I have just as much power over my life as the events surrounding me. I just have to learn to use that power to best affect my world and my life.
What do you get from it?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Today's blog doesn't have any thought provoking analysis of life. As this is part journal for me, it's just what events occured this week, and in fact, it's been quite eventful! :)
We had a success with the baby shower for Ayrin! It was quite a mad rush to get stuff done. I was glad to be able to help mom with painting and cleaning and decorating. I know it was a stressful ordeal for mom but she did such a great job getting everything done and putting care into every detail. The morning started with Sara and I decorating and mom cleaning. Our decorations came out great! Except the baloons that only wanted to pop and scare the be-jesus out of anyone around. So it was a jungle theme and for those who couldn't make it it turned out so cute! Little stuffed animals with some cute plants on the tables. Palm trees with baloon "pineapples". (Those were the only ones that didn't pop!). The games went great and everyone said they had a great time! Not as many people came as were expected so we had quite a few favor bags remaining. That was okay though because the animal magnets were so cute we each got a couple and there were some to give to Elijah and Ayrin. After the last of the party-goers left, and we cleaned up, I headed home to put together Elijah's baby present from us all, a stroller with car seat. It wasn't that hard and it turned out to be really cute! An ABC pattern.
So Sunday mom and I went to Elijah's place to drop off his gifts and put together his crib. That was a chore! The crib mom had gotten off of craigslist and so some of the hardware had already been installed so it made the already crappy directions seem like mumbo-jumbo!
Monday was Diana's birthday so Marc and I took her out to PF Changs China Bistro in Belmar. It was yummy and oh so very filling.
Tuesday I went to my first FOTR! That's Film on the Rocks for other un-initiated. :) I was meeting some friends at the Morrison and had some dinner before we headed to Red Rocks to see Clueless. A classic for many of us who were in high school (or nearly) when this first came out. The band that played was a local funk band called Bop Skizzum. They were really good! I got their EP because I liked them so much. The night was beautiful with nice cloud cover from the hot day. The comedienne was awful! Her jokes were too crude for the family friendly crowd and really not funny. Finally, when the movie did start we began to feel sprinkling and sure enough, it rained on and off throughout the movie. We were all hudled under our blankets laughing and saying lines and some "wooing" at Paul Rudd in his "break-out" role. All in all it was good, although wet, fun! :) I can't wait to do it again. But as with most things, next week is the last one of the summer and they're playing Lost Boys. An okay movie but not sure if I'll go. But next summer I'd love to go to more than one! We'll have to make a night of it!
We had a success with the baby shower for Ayrin! It was quite a mad rush to get stuff done. I was glad to be able to help mom with painting and cleaning and decorating. I know it was a stressful ordeal for mom but she did such a great job getting everything done and putting care into every detail. The morning started with Sara and I decorating and mom cleaning. Our decorations came out great! Except the baloons that only wanted to pop and scare the be-jesus out of anyone around. So it was a jungle theme and for those who couldn't make it it turned out so cute! Little stuffed animals with some cute plants on the tables. Palm trees with baloon "pineapples". (Those were the only ones that didn't pop!). The games went great and everyone said they had a great time! Not as many people came as were expected so we had quite a few favor bags remaining. That was okay though because the animal magnets were so cute we each got a couple and there were some to give to Elijah and Ayrin. After the last of the party-goers left, and we cleaned up, I headed home to put together Elijah's baby present from us all, a stroller with car seat. It wasn't that hard and it turned out to be really cute! An ABC pattern.
So Sunday mom and I went to Elijah's place to drop off his gifts and put together his crib. That was a chore! The crib mom had gotten off of craigslist and so some of the hardware had already been installed so it made the already crappy directions seem like mumbo-jumbo!
Monday was Diana's birthday so Marc and I took her out to PF Changs China Bistro in Belmar. It was yummy and oh so very filling.
Tuesday I went to my first FOTR! That's Film on the Rocks for other un-initiated. :) I was meeting some friends at the Morrison and had some dinner before we headed to Red Rocks to see Clueless. A classic for many of us who were in high school (or nearly) when this first came out. The band that played was a local funk band called Bop Skizzum. They were really good! I got their EP because I liked them so much. The night was beautiful with nice cloud cover from the hot day. The comedienne was awful! Her jokes were too crude for the family friendly crowd and really not funny. Finally, when the movie did start we began to feel sprinkling and sure enough, it rained on and off throughout the movie. We were all hudled under our blankets laughing and saying lines and some "wooing" at Paul Rudd in his "break-out" role. All in all it was good, although wet, fun! :) I can't wait to do it again. But as with most things, next week is the last one of the summer and they're playing Lost Boys. An okay movie but not sure if I'll go. But next summer I'd love to go to more than one! We'll have to make a night of it!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Adventures in Fiction
I am a day overdue for my blog! The rest of last week was fairly uneventful. The weekend came and I helped mom accomplish a big goal of re-painting the living room, dinning room and kitchen at the house in preparation for Ayrin's baby shower this weekend. It came out beautiful and we did it one day! :) Way to go mom!!! :) Marc was involved in the Tail Feathers Golf and Skeet shoot on Saturday and because he is so sweet, the mosquitoes decided to have a picnic on his legs. He came back with about 30 mosquito bites total!!!
Yesterday I was trying to think of what to write about. I don't want to bore my readers as most of them I talk to on a daily basis anyway. That's my trouble... what to write! Then I thought about my readers and what I've been reading and... Viola! I had a topic!
Today's Adventure: Books!
Does anyone else feel the excitement I feel when I get a new book? Or enjoy spending hours lost in the stacks of a bookstore or library? I love that feeling of looking at shelf upon shelf of literature and knowing that each one holds many wonders to be told! Whether it is non-fiction or fiction, the written word holds the promise of knowledge, imagination, thought and adventure! I used to read a lot more than I have in recent years and this is the first time in a long time that I've gotten to read more than one book over a few months. Recently I've had the chance to read some fiction, which is a luxury I don't get during the school semester. So far I have read 3 books. I know, this is a mere pittance to most serious readers but like I said, it's the most I've had the chance to read in quite a while and I am thoroughly enjoying it! It makes me dream about new adventures to far off and not so far off places! Currently I am reading "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown the author of The Da Vinci Code. I have enjoyed his books as they take the reader on a whirlwind thrill ride of mystery AND history. Two things I love! They involve conspiracies within secret orders that have survived centuries! The cool thing about his stories is that he makes the cities that the stories take place become so alive in my imagination by referencing real locations and histories about them and he includes the well known places like national monuments and also other places you might not think of as a point of interest. I have never really had a great interest in visiting our nations capital, except to see places like the Smithsonian and the usual national monuments, but after reading "The Lost Symbol" I really want to go to Washington D.C.! To visit the Capitol Rotunda and see Apotheosis of Washington, or to see the Almas Shrine Temple on Franklin Square. All things which are undoubtedly in the tourist books but have come alive in my mind from Brown's exciting story! The same is true in "Angels and Demons" where he describes the works of art like Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa and the Castel Sant'Angelo that would be amazing to see in person. I have always wanted to go to Rome because it holds so much history and it represents some of the most dramatic changes in the history of the world!
This is the power of reading! It inspires, it creates, it enhances the mind! I love that I have had the chance to rekindle my love of the literature because having to read strictly for the purpose of classes had become tedious to me and although I was learning I was not comprehending some of the most intriguing parts about the "story" of what I was reading.
In my coming semester this fall, I will attempt to read my texts with the same pleasure I have gotten from the fictional novels I have allowed to distract my mind on these hot summer days and in doing so I hope my semester will be less of a chore than it has been these past few semesters!
Happy Reading!
Yesterday I was trying to think of what to write about. I don't want to bore my readers as most of them I talk to on a daily basis anyway. That's my trouble... what to write! Then I thought about my readers and what I've been reading and... Viola! I had a topic!
Today's Adventure: Books!
Does anyone else feel the excitement I feel when I get a new book? Or enjoy spending hours lost in the stacks of a bookstore or library? I love that feeling of looking at shelf upon shelf of literature and knowing that each one holds many wonders to be told! Whether it is non-fiction or fiction, the written word holds the promise of knowledge, imagination, thought and adventure! I used to read a lot more than I have in recent years and this is the first time in a long time that I've gotten to read more than one book over a few months. Recently I've had the chance to read some fiction, which is a luxury I don't get during the school semester. So far I have read 3 books. I know, this is a mere pittance to most serious readers but like I said, it's the most I've had the chance to read in quite a while and I am thoroughly enjoying it! It makes me dream about new adventures to far off and not so far off places! Currently I am reading "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown the author of The Da Vinci Code. I have enjoyed his books as they take the reader on a whirlwind thrill ride of mystery AND history. Two things I love! They involve conspiracies within secret orders that have survived centuries! The cool thing about his stories is that he makes the cities that the stories take place become so alive in my imagination by referencing real locations and histories about them and he includes the well known places like national monuments and also other places you might not think of as a point of interest. I have never really had a great interest in visiting our nations capital, except to see places like the Smithsonian and the usual national monuments, but after reading "The Lost Symbol" I really want to go to Washington D.C.! To visit the Capitol Rotunda and see Apotheosis of Washington, or to see the Almas Shrine Temple on Franklin Square. All things which are undoubtedly in the tourist books but have come alive in my mind from Brown's exciting story! The same is true in "Angels and Demons" where he describes the works of art like Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa and the Castel Sant'Angelo that would be amazing to see in person. I have always wanted to go to Rome because it holds so much history and it represents some of the most dramatic changes in the history of the world!
This is the power of reading! It inspires, it creates, it enhances the mind! I love that I have had the chance to rekindle my love of the literature because having to read strictly for the purpose of classes had become tedious to me and although I was learning I was not comprehending some of the most intriguing parts about the "story" of what I was reading.
In my coming semester this fall, I will attempt to read my texts with the same pleasure I have gotten from the fictional novels I have allowed to distract my mind on these hot summer days and in doing so I hope my semester will be less of a chore than it has been these past few semesters!
Happy Reading!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Blog and Me
I started this blog as a way to diary my adventure in Ireland, and an adventure it was! But since I've returned I have neglected by blog only posting two meager posts. It was Sara that asked me if I was still blogging and I told her I want to, but what do I have to blog about? I have thought to myself "I don't have anything interesting to write about, my life is so boring". Then I looked at the name of my blog "Life is an Adventure" and it dawned on me that, although my adventures may not be as interesting at times as my trip to Ireland, it is in the eye of the beholder and... of course, the blogger! So I have decided to endeavour to find the adventure in my everyday life. I may not post daily as I had done in Ireland but I aim to post frequently, about the daily adventures I take note of. Feel free to comment and let me know about your adventures as well! I think it will be a good way to diary life because I'll never remember the little things or sometimes the details of the big events of life. So I also encourage my readership (small and family oriented though it may be) to comment or even start a blog and I will be sure to become your follower as well! I would also like to note that I will be adding pictures from Ireland to my previous posts so that everyone can enjoy in the beauty I saw on the Emerald Isle. That being said...
Today's Adventure: To Do List!
Okay, I know this doesn't usually thrill anyone... having a list of things to do may seem daunting, especially when you keep thinking of things to add to it, but it can be helpful also. Some people may be more adept at envisioning their grand (and not so grand) schemes without a list and I highly commend them but that is definitely not me! Ask Marc, he says I have lists on post-it notes everywhere. This is the rest of us... without listing out what needs to be done, we have all of these ideas jumbling around in our brain until they are so mixed about that hardly anything acutally gets done and it leaves us feeling disappointed. So I am a furvent supporter of lists. To that end, I must say that I love Apple's apps. I have an ipod Touch and with it I have downloaded free apps for making lists. One of the Apps is for grocery shopping and you can arrange the "aisles" for each item, in the order that the aisles are at the store you generally shop at. I've heard that it is the most efficient way to do your shopping so that you are not going from front of the store to back of the store and back to the front because you forgot something listed on the bottom of your list that's kept in the front of the store! My mom taught me that. (Thanks mom!) Okay, no, you don't need an iPhone or iPod Touch to make your lists, you can make them on paper, like my previous sticky habit, but this actually helps me more because I don't have random sticky notes falling from random places where I thought I would remember them! :)
So... In the spirit of list making, I have decided to make a list on my blog of things I would like to accomplish before the end of this year. Then I'll post a new list for the new year and update what I did or did not accomplish!
Well, here goes!
The top 5 things I want to accomplish:
1. Graduate from Metro with my Bachelor's degree!
(yep, this is number one on my list because it's been a long time coming. I just have to survive my final semester... hopefully with A's and in good spirits. The second half of this is to get a new job but seeing as that will have to wait until I graduate this will be part of my new year list.)
2. Finish our kitchen and start another home project
(Marc did such a great job refinishing the cabinets while I was in Ireland, now I have to choose a paint color and get to work, then add some finishing touches like new electrical covers, new blind on window and above cabinet deco then get on with the next house project... the bathroom!)
3. Start saving money!
(I've been saying I'm going to do this for a long time but it never gets accomplished, maybe putting it a list that will be reviewed for accomplishments will make it a reality)
4. Get into a work out routine
(I work out but just not on a regular regimented basis... I would probably be more energetic if I remidied that!)
5. Get a hobby
(It occurs to me that I don't have a hobby that I enjoy doing to get away from other things. I would like to find out what my hobby might be to fill that void. In Ireland Elle was knitting a beanie that came out so cute! I would like to do that. I would also like to learn to play my guitar efficiently but during the semester this is hard as I have enough studying to do, if only it came easy to me.)
Well, that is my list. I plan on focusing to accomplish as much of it as I can and thus be more successful in my adventure of life. That's it for today! We'll see what I run into the rest of the week!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Independence Day
On this day 234 years ago 13 colonies declared their independence from Britain. Who was to know that this would be such a momentous event? The document that led to the creation of our country, the Declaration of Independence was considered high treason at the outset but it was believed necessary by our founders. Have you read the Declaration of Independence lately? It is an amazing document. It's words so eloquent and its meaning so clear...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
It's funny what you notice about people on days like today. Just walking around you can almost sense the feelings that allude to pride and in some people... gratefulness. Although, I don't sense the latter as much as the former. Yes, we have accomplished so much yet there is more to be done. We should be grateful that we are afforded these unalienable Rights and be mindful of what it has taken and what we have lost to gain them. We must also remember that although we take these rights for granted as "human rights" they are not provided equally across humanity. Yes, we should take pride and give thanks for the history and events that created our great nation, yet we must also take stock of how we intend to continue. It is a smaller world than it was those 234 years ago and our fates seem even more intertwined. We are not so different as we sometimes think we all are. We would do well to remember that.
To those who committed high treason against Britain and its King all that time ago, Cheers!
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Happy Birthday America!
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
It's funny what you notice about people on days like today. Just walking around you can almost sense the feelings that allude to pride and in some people... gratefulness. Although, I don't sense the latter as much as the former. Yes, we have accomplished so much yet there is more to be done. We should be grateful that we are afforded these unalienable Rights and be mindful of what it has taken and what we have lost to gain them. We must also remember that although we take these rights for granted as "human rights" they are not provided equally across humanity. Yes, we should take pride and give thanks for the history and events that created our great nation, yet we must also take stock of how we intend to continue. It is a smaller world than it was those 234 years ago and our fates seem even more intertwined. We are not so different as we sometimes think we all are. We would do well to remember that.
To those who committed high treason against Britain and its King all that time ago, Cheers!
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Happy Birthday America!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Back in Colorado
Well, I'm back in sunny Colorado! The flights on Saturday went ok. No glitches really but almost had to switch planes after we boarded in Newark! Luckily we were just delayed about an hour. When I got into Denver I was pleasantly surprised by my husband waiting for me at baggage claim! :) I was so excited to see him that I gave him a long loving kiss without realizing that I was stepping on his toes and he had sandals on! :) Well, we got home and the dog came running out and stopped and barked at me for a second! He had to remember that he knew me! Then he gave me big kisses and wanted me to scratch his butt :)
Yesterday we had a nice lunch with mom and dad. The dogs played (and tired themselves out) and I got to see Sara and Elijah too. Irish souvenirs were distributed and we enjoyed pork chops, salad and potatoes! After lunch, Marc and I went to see The A-Team. I heard it got bad reviews but I just wanted to watch something silly. And it was! It may have been one of those over the top action flicks but the actors in the main character roles were hilarious! :) I truly enjoyed it and recommend it if you like those kinds of movies.
Well, today I'm off of work going to get some grocery shopping done and also clean up my laundry before it's back to the ol' grind tomorrow. But being in Ireland helped me to realize that there can be an adventure in everything. Some people tell you to follow your passion... this is true, but you must also realize that your passion is portable and you can bring your passion with you into everything you do. Your life is what you make it, so make it interesting in every way you can. I will continue to write my blog, although probably not daily, but I'm going to be looking for my next adventures in my daily life!
love to all!
peace!
Yesterday we had a nice lunch with mom and dad. The dogs played (and tired themselves out) and I got to see Sara and Elijah too. Irish souvenirs were distributed and we enjoyed pork chops, salad and potatoes! After lunch, Marc and I went to see The A-Team. I heard it got bad reviews but I just wanted to watch something silly. And it was! It may have been one of those over the top action flicks but the actors in the main character roles were hilarious! :) I truly enjoyed it and recommend it if you like those kinds of movies.
Well, today I'm off of work going to get some grocery shopping done and also clean up my laundry before it's back to the ol' grind tomorrow. But being in Ireland helped me to realize that there can be an adventure in everything. Some people tell you to follow your passion... this is true, but you must also realize that your passion is portable and you can bring your passion with you into everything you do. Your life is what you make it, so make it interesting in every way you can. I will continue to write my blog, although probably not daily, but I'm going to be looking for my next adventures in my daily life!
love to all!
peace!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Last Day
Today was the last day of Field School in Ireland. All in all it was a quiet day. We continued to excavate in our cutting and we are trying to get below the level of the mortar and rubble fall. It appears on one side of one of our features that the wall kicks out at an angle which may indicate it was the start of a curve in the wall where there may have been a staircase or something similar. Our main feature may indeed be the inner portion of a staircase. I'll have to post the pictures when I get home and you may be able to see it for yourself. I bought a flag that is for County Meath and I had everyone on site sign it. I'm going to frame it as a memorial to my trip.
Tonight the other girls (and the two guys) are coming over so that we can make scones (I think the guys are just coming to eat the scones)! It will be a good last night.
Well, I'm already packed up and ready for my long day of flying tomorrow. Can't wait to see everyone!
Love you lots!
Tonight the other girls (and the two guys) are coming over so that we can make scones (I think the guys are just coming to eat the scones)! It will be a good last night.
Well, I'm already packed up and ready for my long day of flying tomorrow. Can't wait to see everyone!
Love you lots!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Neolithic to Medieval
Today was another busy field trip day! We visited 5 sites and I’m happy to say I think I’ve gotten to visit most of the big ones on my list! Still no good shopping for the family (sorry guys, most of the places have the usual tourist stuff and nothing that catches my eye as special for you!). We started the day off at Newgrange. This is I believe, one of the oldest passage tombs at just over 5,000 years old! That’s older than the pyramids! This passage tomb was excavated in the 1960s and 1970s under Professor M.J. O’Kelly. The tomb was reconstructed controversially to M.J. O’Kelly’s interpretation of what the original tomb looked like. Today, the white quartz wall that surrounds the tomb is a stark contrast to the green that surrounds the vistas. This could have been what the ancients were looking for, but could also be totally wrong! J Either way, it makes for a unique passage tomb. This tomb we are allowed to go into and they have a representation of what happens on the winter solstice when the sun comes in through the roof box perfectly aligned toward the east and level with the tomb. My favorite part is the roof of the tomb that is made up of several large stones that make up a corbelled vault. It just amazes me the feats that the ancients were able to accomplish with such limited technology and to have them endure for five millennia!
After Newgrange, it was off to another passage tomb at Knowth. Knowth has several satellite passage tombs that directly surround it (it kinda reminds me of the smurf village but in large size J). The main passage tomb at Knowth actually has two passages, one facing east and one facing west. They are the longest passage tombs known. You can go inside the mound where there is a lighted poster of the passages but you cannot go down these passages. This site is really interesting (also 5,000 years old) there were several times this site was occupied. After the mound fell into disrepair, other peoples came and lived on top of the mound as it was a great vantage point. They also built sutterain’s (subterranean) tunnels to escape attacks from the Vikings when they inhabited Ireland around the 9th century. This site also has the most geomorphic designs on the kerb stones surrounding the mound.
Having completed our Neolithic tours for the day it was time to move on to the medieval period. For lunch we headed to the ruins of Slane Abbey. These are the remains of a Franciscan Abbey built in the early 16th century and college. Got some beautiful pictures!
On we went to the remains of another abbey Monasterboice Abbey founded around the 6th century. The remains of the buildings probably date to the 14th century. But the coolest thing at this site are the remains of two Irish High Crosses that date to the 11th century (so they’re 1,000 years old!). These are believed to have been used to tell the stories of the bible as the panels show scenes from Bible stories.
Our last stop for the day was to Mellifont Abbey ruins, a Cistercian Abbey that was founded in 1142. All that remains of this enormous abbey are the lower parts of the walls and the floor grave markers where Bishops and such were buried within the grounds. One building still stands as it was continually used in later centuries and even has some original floor tiles.
All of the sites were so beautiful and tell the story of a long and varied history on this Island. The Boyne Valley is so rich in it’s history with Trim Castle, Newgrange, the many Abbey’s and our site of the Black Friary. It will be exciting when I can bring you all here to see all of these magnificent sites! Well, I have one last day in the field and I am looking forward to it and then I will be on a plane home early Saturday!
I hope everyone has a great Friday! Love you all!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Pub
Well, I had to post about the Pub! We went to the Pub this evening and it was lovely! The traditional Irish music was played in a little nook of the Pub called "The Snug". The gentleman playing were of the older generation but were such nice fellows and the music was just so beautiful. It made me misty eyed listening to the music and realizing that I only have 2 days remaining here in this lovely place. It also made me realize how much I want to come back to Ireland with my family and share the beauty of this wonderful Isle. It was a night I'll forever remember. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so the memories shall live on in my head and in my heart.
G'nite ye lads and lasses.
G'nite ye lads and lasses.
Plan... Plan... and Plan some more!
Today wasn't as warm as the last few days have been. It started off cool with a cloud cover and continued all day cloudy but with a warm feel to it. Well, I thought I got out of it but I guess I was wrong. Today, our group continued with the planning for our unit. That is the 2 dimensional representation of what is now on the surface. Fin asked that we plan at least 3-4 1 meter x 1 meter areas in our cutting with one of us using the planning grid (a board that has strings making up a grid with each square 20 cm x 20 cm) and the other training our eye to determine sizes of stones and placement within the 1m sq area. So I tried one with the planning grid and one without. I found that without the planning grid I work better. I can see how the planning grid will work when the surface you are mapping might have more artifacts and less stone, but when they are stones, and just mish mashed fallen stones as ours are, it's okay to do it by eye. When we had this completed we were to take levels. Now, from my other field school, this is usually taking elevations and we usually use the line level, a string and a tape measure but over here, we get to use the dumpy (the survey machine). This made elevations/levels so much quicker! The rest of the afternoon was pretty much filled with working on a 1 meter section of the cutting on the south side trying to remove the mortar layer or Feature 4 as it has been designated. Friday, Jean Marco says we will actually be able to move a lot quicker as it appears the stones below are not in situ but are fallen debris.
I am happy to say I think my archaeological skills are progressing well. I feel more confident in some of the tasks that I had previously done and have also gained new skills. My sketching skills still leave a lot to be desired as I learned when I attempted to sketch the concave surface in the wall. I think I'll need to take some sketching classes :). I am sad that Friday will be my last day on the Black Friary site for a while but I intend to come back and be a part of this dig as I feel a connection having been part of the first group to reveal stones that have been covered for decades and possibly centuries. But tomorrow we are off to Newgrange and I am very excited for that! It doesn't sound like a whole day kinda thing so hopefully I might get to do some souvenir shopping as I haven't gotten a chance to do that. Tonight we are going to the pub in Trim for live Traditional Irish music. This does not start until 10 p.m.! So I might be tired tomorrow but I figure I better go as I'm only here two more days.
Miss you all! xoxo
I am happy to say I think my archaeological skills are progressing well. I feel more confident in some of the tasks that I had previously done and have also gained new skills. My sketching skills still leave a lot to be desired as I learned when I attempted to sketch the concave surface in the wall. I think I'll need to take some sketching classes :). I am sad that Friday will be my last day on the Black Friary site for a while but I intend to come back and be a part of this dig as I feel a connection having been part of the first group to reveal stones that have been covered for decades and possibly centuries. But tomorrow we are off to Newgrange and I am very excited for that! It doesn't sound like a whole day kinda thing so hopefully I might get to do some souvenir shopping as I haven't gotten a chance to do that. Tonight we are going to the pub in Trim for live Traditional Irish music. This does not start until 10 p.m.! So I might be tired tomorrow but I figure I better go as I'm only here two more days.
Miss you all! xoxo
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
In the Lab
Hey all!
Today was great! I was really tired yesterday after working with the geophys meter in the hot sun so I wasn’t really looking forward to doing anything that might require a lot of labor, Megan felt the same way. Luckily… the gods smiled on us and when Fin asked who wanted to work on cleaning up pottery sherds found on Watergate Street Megan, Kirsten and I were picked! Happy day for us! So off we went to the site house just around the block. Fin soon joined us and showed us two bags of pottery sherds. The sherds had been excavated from a small excavation in town that was taking place for city purposes near a bridge. These sherds were found as a result and removed for analysis. The sherds were clumped with the clay soil they were recovered with so our job was to gently wash and remove all the clay, lay them out to dry and then try to piece as many together as we could. So, we happily set about our task. It took us most of the morning to get the muck off of the pieces and we set them out to dry. Fin came in to check on us and also showed us some of the posters they had made with pictures from a previous site CRDS had worked on. At this site wood tools had been recovered in a peat bog. This site seemed very interesting to have worked on and I wish I could have been there! She asked if we had time to go ahead and hang them up in the site house. Laura and Emma were to come relieve us after lunch and none of us wanted to leave! Fin said some of us would be able to get a tour of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and I was thrilled as I hadn’t yet gotten the chance.
Mark, another CRDS employee gave us the official tour. It was myself, Pearl, Elle and Kieran, an older gentleman from Trim who is also volunteering on site this week. Mark is actually doing his thesis on the Cathedral and it’s importance in Trim’s history as most of the focus is usually on Trim Castle. Saint Loman was left off on the Boyne by Saint Patrick where he converted the locals to Catholicism and founded the church. Mark was of course really knowledgeable as he is doing his thesis but he has also done many excavations in the area including on the road that passes in front of the church where burials were carbon dated to around the 5th century AD which would put them right at the time of St. Patrick! The tower at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the oldest remaining part standing, I believe dates to before Trim Castle (12th century) but I don’t remember if he said it was the 5th Century or not. It has a spiral staircase that goes up above the bells where we got a beautiful view of Trim. We were able to see the Castle of course, the Yellow Steeple, St. Mary’s Church, The Duke of Wellington pillar and even our site as it is not very far from the site. So I took a picture of our little worker bees on site. It was a great tour and I’d love to read Mark’s thesis after he has completed it so I’m going to try to get his contact info.
After the tour I returned to the house where Kirsten and Megan were still working on the sherds. They had made some great progress. We still didn’t want to leave so we decided to put up the posters up as Fin had requested. Just after we completed that task, Fin returned and rushed us off to the field. Luckily, as we arrived, Jean Marco wanted us all to get an introduction to the survey equipment that Nile, our Survey technician had been using. Nile is taking points to make a 3-D topographic representation of the site in order to better distinguish where walls and other features may be. So, we all got a brief overview of how his survey equipment works and we even got a chance to use it and take a couple of points down.
By the time we had finished it was time to begin cleaning up for the day. It had been a great day as I had gotten to do some lab work and also get a great tour! Tomorrow it looks like we’ll have more planning to do but also hopefully we’ll get a chance to dig more. However, Jean Marco says there is now rain in the forecast, so I’m not sure what they will have us do if it rains. It looks like Thursday our field trip will be to Newgrange and I’m so excited! Everyone says as an archaeologist you must visit that site when you are in Ireland so I hope that goes to plan.
Anyway, miss you all and will talk to you soon! xoxo
Monday, June 21, 2010
Geophysical Survey
Today it was back to work! We had four new people today. I met Ryan on Saturday, Jessica and Sam yesterday (Jessica is such a sweetheart! She always asks how everyone is doing and has such an upbeat attitude toward everything! I wonder if all Montreal-eans are like that) and Margaret, or Meg as she likes to be called, was dropped off to stay at Mary's this morning. Meg is from Boston but has lived in Ireland for 3 years as she attends University in Galway. She just graduated with her degree and will be going for her masters. I'm so glad Mary put her in Megan's room so I can continue to enjoy a room alone. Is this relevant to the story you ask.... probably not. Anyway... But this did make our little group 9 instead of 7 so it made me wonder how we were going to arrange the ride as the CRDS bus only fits 7 plus the driver. Well, we found out when Fin got there that she was going to come back and pick two of us up and that ended up being me and Meg. :P That's going to be a little annoying for the whole week. We also have to return in shifts.
So today we were all supposed to be making a plan of our lovely stone pile. Jessica, Ryan and Sam went to help Emma and Laura in Cutting 1. We got Meg, but we were also joined by two girls from Ireland Carolyn and Pearl. (They're great). I started out doing the drawing but it seemed like all my stones were coming out shaped like triangles! So I gave up on the drawing. During this time, Meg wanted to be ahead of the curve and decided she could start mapping Feature 3 (another pile of stones in our cutting). So, once she finally got everything together I was commandeered to help her and Pearl. So I told her I wasn't drawing as my last attempt was bad. So Pearl and I happily took points and gave them to her while she attempted to plot them. Luckily, this didn't last too long as Ian volunteered us to join him for geophysical survey work. Last week Ian did magnetometery where the instrument uses magnetic signals to detect features below the surface and he will use those readings to pick possible locations of interest. This week we are working on earth resistivity. There is a mobile unit with two mobile probes that go into the ground and detect an electrical current from two stationary probes off site in order to detect the resistance of the soil to the electrical current. This can also detect features but we were told by Ian, this warm weather is not the best time to do this as it is better during the fall or spring when there has been more wet activity and the moist soil shows up better and can better detect features. So there are small ropes on the ground that are 20 meters long and they are spaced 1 meter apart to create a 20 x 20 meter grid. There are red lines on the ropes at 50 cm intervals so we place the probes in the ground at each red tape. Well, this may sound easy and it's not that the machine is heavy but doing this in the heat at a rapid pace was so tiring! This was how I spent the rest of the day. Just taking turns with Pearl and Meg. I was the fastest of the three of us and nearly finished a whole grid by myself as Meg and Pearl had to go listen to the Health and Safety shpeel that we listened to last week. I did get to chat a good bit with Pearl and she's actually older than the other girls at 23. She'll be finished with her degree this coming year. She has four brothers, one a social worker in Dublin, one who's still in college one who's a contractor and one who's working in Australia. She's getting her degree in Community Work or something along those lines.
Well, after a hot day in the sun everyone else had cleaned up and were heading off site and they told me to meet at the house to get picked up as there were some going in the second pick up because they needed to get some groceries. So we helped Ian pick up his equipment and I said goodbye to Carolyn and Pearl as Meg had already ditched out and I headed to the site house. On my way I ran into Elle who was running to the shop to get ice cream for others. She said the site house door wouldn't open so she couldn't get in and they handed her money through the window. We went and got ice cream, I got one too and fed them back through the window. I learned the first group hadn't left yet and that's when Jean Marco pulled up with the van. Elle and I realized he'd have to come back anyway for the other 7 so off we went. Ha ha suckers!! Just kidding. I was just hot and was ready to take a shower to get all the sweat off of me! Anyway, that was my day, busy and hot but still worth it because, after all, I'm in Ireland.
Love you all and gnite!
So today we were all supposed to be making a plan of our lovely stone pile. Jessica, Ryan and Sam went to help Emma and Laura in Cutting 1. We got Meg, but we were also joined by two girls from Ireland Carolyn and Pearl. (They're great). I started out doing the drawing but it seemed like all my stones were coming out shaped like triangles! So I gave up on the drawing. During this time, Meg wanted to be ahead of the curve and decided she could start mapping Feature 3 (another pile of stones in our cutting). So, once she finally got everything together I was commandeered to help her and Pearl. So I told her I wasn't drawing as my last attempt was bad. So Pearl and I happily took points and gave them to her while she attempted to plot them. Luckily, this didn't last too long as Ian volunteered us to join him for geophysical survey work. Last week Ian did magnetometery where the instrument uses magnetic signals to detect features below the surface and he will use those readings to pick possible locations of interest. This week we are working on earth resistivity. There is a mobile unit with two mobile probes that go into the ground and detect an electrical current from two stationary probes off site in order to detect the resistance of the soil to the electrical current. This can also detect features but we were told by Ian, this warm weather is not the best time to do this as it is better during the fall or spring when there has been more wet activity and the moist soil shows up better and can better detect features. So there are small ropes on the ground that are 20 meters long and they are spaced 1 meter apart to create a 20 x 20 meter grid. There are red lines on the ropes at 50 cm intervals so we place the probes in the ground at each red tape. Well, this may sound easy and it's not that the machine is heavy but doing this in the heat at a rapid pace was so tiring! This was how I spent the rest of the day. Just taking turns with Pearl and Meg. I was the fastest of the three of us and nearly finished a whole grid by myself as Meg and Pearl had to go listen to the Health and Safety shpeel that we listened to last week. I did get to chat a good bit with Pearl and she's actually older than the other girls at 23. She'll be finished with her degree this coming year. She has four brothers, one a social worker in Dublin, one who's still in college one who's a contractor and one who's working in Australia. She's getting her degree in Community Work or something along those lines.
Well, after a hot day in the sun everyone else had cleaned up and were heading off site and they told me to meet at the house to get picked up as there were some going in the second pick up because they needed to get some groceries. So we helped Ian pick up his equipment and I said goodbye to Carolyn and Pearl as Meg had already ditched out and I headed to the site house. On my way I ran into Elle who was running to the shop to get ice cream for others. She said the site house door wouldn't open so she couldn't get in and they handed her money through the window. We went and got ice cream, I got one too and fed them back through the window. I learned the first group hadn't left yet and that's when Jean Marco pulled up with the van. Elle and I realized he'd have to come back anyway for the other 7 so off we went. Ha ha suckers!! Just kidding. I was just hot and was ready to take a shower to get all the sweat off of me! Anyway, that was my day, busy and hot but still worth it because, after all, I'm in Ireland.
Love you all and gnite!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Haymaking Festival
Well, today was the much awaited haymaking festival in Trim. I actually got to sleep in a little bit (until 9) but then I had to get up. I just hung around in my room for a while after I got ready which was a nice change, then I went downstairs and had breakfast. Mary and Mihal were gone to church and Megan soon joined me for breakfast and we sat there chatting for quite a while. We didn't know what time the festivities were to start but when returned to my room it appeared Elle texted me and said they were going to take the bus into town and to call when we arrived and we would meet up. So Megan and I decided that we would walk into Trim, it's only about a 1/2 hour walk, so off we went getting into town at about 1:00 p.m.
Upon arriving we met up with Elle, Kirsten, Emma and the two girls who just arrived today, Jessica from Montreal, and Sam from Seattle. There wasn't much to the festival, the usual booths and such but many of them seemed more like second hand merchandise and there weren't really any traditional crafts for sale like I thought there might be. So we walked around for a bit, they didn't have any of the music going in the morning/early afternoon. There were farm animals and contests for the farmers (kinda like the stock show) but not much else going on. To be honest, we were slightly disappointed. Around 3 o'clock we were all a little hungry so we decided to get some lunch. Megan's sister had told her that she definitely needed to try some Indian food while she was in Ireland, I don't know why... but there was an Indian Food restaurant near our site office. So, while I'm in Ireland I thought "why not!" So we had Indian Food for lunch and it was really quite good.
When we returned to the festival the band we saw last night was finally playing on stage. We listened to them for a while but most of us decided we wanted to head back, especially Jessica and Sam as they just wanted to rest a bit. They had all bought the return pass for the bus but I didn't want to pay for the bus so I decided to walk back the way I'd come. Megan and Emma decided to stay. It was a hot day's walk back but the Boyne River Walk is really lovely because it passes through ruins of a cathedral and a cemetery. I stopped at the "petrol" station and purchased an soft serve ice cream for the last leg of my 30 minute walk and arrived to a quiet house. It was a good thing I remembered to bring my key today as Mary and Mihal are probably in town enjoying the festivities.
Well, it wasn't as exciting as yesterday and my legs are tired from all the walking. Gotta get ready for another day of field work tomorrow, but most of it will be drawing our lovely stones, painstakingly slow!
xoxo
Upon arriving we met up with Elle, Kirsten, Emma and the two girls who just arrived today, Jessica from Montreal, and Sam from Seattle. There wasn't much to the festival, the usual booths and such but many of them seemed more like second hand merchandise and there weren't really any traditional crafts for sale like I thought there might be. So we walked around for a bit, they didn't have any of the music going in the morning/early afternoon. There were farm animals and contests for the farmers (kinda like the stock show) but not much else going on. To be honest, we were slightly disappointed. Around 3 o'clock we were all a little hungry so we decided to get some lunch. Megan's sister had told her that she definitely needed to try some Indian food while she was in Ireland, I don't know why... but there was an Indian Food restaurant near our site office. So, while I'm in Ireland I thought "why not!" So we had Indian Food for lunch and it was really quite good.
When we returned to the festival the band we saw last night was finally playing on stage. We listened to them for a while but most of us decided we wanted to head back, especially Jessica and Sam as they just wanted to rest a bit. They had all bought the return pass for the bus but I didn't want to pay for the bus so I decided to walk back the way I'd come. Megan and Emma decided to stay. It was a hot day's walk back but the Boyne River Walk is really lovely because it passes through ruins of a cathedral and a cemetery. I stopped at the "petrol" station and purchased an soft serve ice cream for the last leg of my 30 minute walk and arrived to a quiet house. It was a good thing I remembered to bring my key today as Mary and Mihal are probably in town enjoying the festivities.
Well, it wasn't as exciting as yesterday and my legs are tired from all the walking. Gotta get ready for another day of field work tomorrow, but most of it will be drawing our lovely stones, painstakingly slow!
xoxo
The Hill of Tara
Well I had one big goal when I came to Ireland and that was to visit the Hill of Tara. Yesterday I got to do that! Well, it took a little bit of prodding to get the other girls moving so first I got to spend some time on Mihal and Mary's farm as I hadn't yet gotten to. They have horses, sheep, goats, cows, donkey's, ducks and chickens. Mihal showed me how to milk a goat! :) (yes, I have pictures). I told him how when I was young my Great Grandpa showed me how to milk a goat and squirted goat milk in my eye. Mihal laughed but he said he would do that to his granddaughter too. After milking the mama goat I got to bottle feed the baby goats! They were adorable. Two a bit older and one a bit younger. The younger one wanted to suck on my finger because he was still hungry... so cute! :) So after hanging out on the farm a bit, the girls were ready to go to the Hill of Tara so Mary arranged a taxi for us.
It was a beautiful day for visiting the hill. The sky was blue, there was a bit of a wind and standing on top of the hill I could see for miles around. There is a small church that serves as the visitors center and we stopped to buy tickets (only 1 Euro) to the quick 20 minute video that they show about the hill but we had 20 minutes to walk around before we had to be back. We walked through the cemetery, past the wall that now lies between the park and the hill. We first came upon the Mound of the Hostages which is the passage tomb that was excavated previously. I got some good pictures of the stone that has spirals and symbols on it on the inside. It's just amazing to see this beautiful landscape and know that it was laid out so many thousands of years ago and it was sacred to the people. We wandered around over the hills and mounds until it was time to watch the video. Then after the video we wandered around even more! After we had traversed every dip and mound we all just sat or laid in the grass. I just listened to the grass blowing in the wind and felt the sun on my face. One could almost expect to hear a singing on the wind from a ceremony long ago. It was a wonderful experience.
After returning from the Hill of Tara, we were picked up by Mary and we decided we wanted to go into Trim to get a tour of Trim Castle as most of us hadn't done that yet. We also had a new arrival, our first Male, Ryan from New Hampshire. Ryan stands about my height... if that... he was wearing green cargo shorts, a salmonish color long sleeve button up shirt, a brown fedora and argil socks scrunched down. He seems very nice but also kinda goofy :)
So we walked to Trim and they stayed sunny so by the time we got there we needed something to cool us off. So we stopped into the tourist shop across the street and got an ice cream. Boy did that hit the spot! We caught the last tour of the castle at 5 p.m. It is an amazing structure. I especially liked it because it hasn't been modified/modernized like a lot of the castle's. The floors are how they would be during medieval times and the only thing they added is a covering so the inside is no longer exposed to the weather. It's funny how we romanticize life in a castle when we don't realize that these people hardly bathed, wore heavy clothes that they hung in their "garderrobe" essentially the latrine so that the ammonia from the urine would delouse their clothes. One thing that I didn't know was that often castles were lime washed on the outside to make them appear bright and white but the latrines on the inside basically seeped down the side of the wall making not so lovely outer tapestries... :P
After our tour of the castle, Mary told us to stay in Trim as there would be live music and possibly dancing to start the festival that's happening tomorrow. She said it would be on High street and start around 7. Well, in Irish time that was really 8:30! So we wandered around and got some food, had more time and saw people start setting up around 7 :) and stopped at Brogan's Bar and Lounge where I tried my first Irish Cider. It's made from apples and fermented. It was actually good! Didn't have a bad after taste like beer does. So around 8:30, the music started I was so excited because we hadn't yet heard the traditional Irish music! We stayed for about an hour because we were all tired from a day of walking. After a Taxi ride home it was off to bed.
Today is the haymaking festival that we all plan to attend (after I get me some antihistamine that is!) We also might get to go to Loughcrew, another passage tomb for the summer solstice, which would be an amazing experience but I'm not sure if that would be really early in the morning tomorrow. We'll see! Fin's supposed to let us know. Well, until later!
Miss you!
It was a beautiful day for visiting the hill. The sky was blue, there was a bit of a wind and standing on top of the hill I could see for miles around. There is a small church that serves as the visitors center and we stopped to buy tickets (only 1 Euro) to the quick 20 minute video that they show about the hill but we had 20 minutes to walk around before we had to be back. We walked through the cemetery, past the wall that now lies between the park and the hill. We first came upon the Mound of the Hostages which is the passage tomb that was excavated previously. I got some good pictures of the stone that has spirals and symbols on it on the inside. It's just amazing to see this beautiful landscape and know that it was laid out so many thousands of years ago and it was sacred to the people. We wandered around over the hills and mounds until it was time to watch the video. Then after the video we wandered around even more! After we had traversed every dip and mound we all just sat or laid in the grass. I just listened to the grass blowing in the wind and felt the sun on my face. One could almost expect to hear a singing on the wind from a ceremony long ago. It was a wonderful experience.
After returning from the Hill of Tara, we were picked up by Mary and we decided we wanted to go into Trim to get a tour of Trim Castle as most of us hadn't done that yet. We also had a new arrival, our first Male, Ryan from New Hampshire. Ryan stands about my height... if that... he was wearing green cargo shorts, a salmonish color long sleeve button up shirt, a brown fedora and argil socks scrunched down. He seems very nice but also kinda goofy :)
So we walked to Trim and they stayed sunny so by the time we got there we needed something to cool us off. So we stopped into the tourist shop across the street and got an ice cream. Boy did that hit the spot! We caught the last tour of the castle at 5 p.m. It is an amazing structure. I especially liked it because it hasn't been modified/modernized like a lot of the castle's. The floors are how they would be during medieval times and the only thing they added is a covering so the inside is no longer exposed to the weather. It's funny how we romanticize life in a castle when we don't realize that these people hardly bathed, wore heavy clothes that they hung in their "garderrobe" essentially the latrine so that the ammonia from the urine would delouse their clothes. One thing that I didn't know was that often castles were lime washed on the outside to make them appear bright and white but the latrines on the inside basically seeped down the side of the wall making not so lovely outer tapestries... :P
After our tour of the castle, Mary told us to stay in Trim as there would be live music and possibly dancing to start the festival that's happening tomorrow. She said it would be on High street and start around 7. Well, in Irish time that was really 8:30! So we wandered around and got some food, had more time and saw people start setting up around 7 :) and stopped at Brogan's Bar and Lounge where I tried my first Irish Cider. It's made from apples and fermented. It was actually good! Didn't have a bad after taste like beer does. So around 8:30, the music started I was so excited because we hadn't yet heard the traditional Irish music! We stayed for about an hour because we were all tired from a day of walking. After a Taxi ride home it was off to bed.
Today is the haymaking festival that we all plan to attend (after I get me some antihistamine that is!) We also might get to go to Loughcrew, another passage tomb for the summer solstice, which would be an amazing experience but I'm not sure if that would be really early in the morning tomorrow. We'll see! Fin's supposed to let us know. Well, until later!
Miss you!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Mapping
Well today on the site wasn't all too eventful. It was of course a beautiful day for the Irish it was cloudy but warm. The sun didn't really come out, but as I type this at 8:11 p.m. it's blue skies and sun shine :). At the site we did a bit of tidy-ing up of our "cuts" (they're not called units like I call them) before we were able to take our pictures and.... start mapping! :P Ugh... mapping Yuck! At least the way I'm used to is so tedious! But apparently, there is a better way! Unfortunately, that won't show up at the site for a couple of weeks! So back to the old method which is apparently the one I know. Everyone else in my group was thinking it awful when I was explaining it to them! Well, that's what consumed our afternoon and then we went to our little site house that is just down the road and Fin showed us some of the "skele's" as she calls them or skeleton's that were recovered at the only other excavation that took place at the site. It was neat to see the real bones of people who lived in medieval Ireland!
So, tonight was the night that we were supposed to learn the card game "25". Apparently and Irish staple. Well, it is one of the most confusing games I've ever played. We were at it for about 2 hours and I think I barely started to get it, but not close to being able to play proficiently or even explain it to someone else! But I wasn't the only one because Mihal's son Michael's Irish friend didn't even understand it! At first that is, then he got the hang of it by the en. Mihal is so good natured that he just laughed at us. He wants me to try again next friday. We'll see.
So my roomy Melissa and our other house mate Gwen are leaving tomorrow. Melissa will be out really early as her flight is at 9:30 and she has to be there at 6 a.m. So I will be all alone, although Megan might be moving in with me and there is supposed to be another Australian who they think is in Full Cater so he might be in the house too.
Tomorrow is the only weekend I'll have to shop and see Ireland. So some of us want to go to The Hill of Tara which I want to more than anything!! So we have to figure out how to get there because I'm not sure if there is a bus over there but it's only 15 minutes away according to the Trim guide. Also, there is the haymaking festival in Trim on Sunday so that should be fun! I might want to take a Benadryl or the Irish equivalent before that one though! :)
Love you all and miss you!
So, tonight was the night that we were supposed to learn the card game "25". Apparently and Irish staple. Well, it is one of the most confusing games I've ever played. We were at it for about 2 hours and I think I barely started to get it, but not close to being able to play proficiently or even explain it to someone else! But I wasn't the only one because Mihal's son Michael's Irish friend didn't even understand it! At first that is, then he got the hang of it by the en. Mihal is so good natured that he just laughed at us. He wants me to try again next friday. We'll see.
So my roomy Melissa and our other house mate Gwen are leaving tomorrow. Melissa will be out really early as her flight is at 9:30 and she has to be there at 6 a.m. So I will be all alone, although Megan might be moving in with me and there is supposed to be another Australian who they think is in Full Cater so he might be in the house too.
Tomorrow is the only weekend I'll have to shop and see Ireland. So some of us want to go to The Hill of Tara which I want to more than anything!! So we have to figure out how to get there because I'm not sure if there is a bus over there but it's only 15 minutes away according to the Trim guide. Also, there is the haymaking festival in Trim on Sunday so that should be fun! I might want to take a Benadryl or the Irish equivalent before that one though! :)
Love you all and miss you!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day in Dublin and Dalkey
Well, I was very excited for Dublin and it turned out to be a lovely day! After standing outside our lodging to and waiving down the bus for Dublin (and one of them laughing at us because he was apparently closed) we were off to Dublin!
Today was such a whirlwind! When we arrived in Dublin, we met Steve and Ashton who was to give us the architectural tour. We started our tour in Trinity College. Such a beautiful campus! I wouldn't mind picking up a book and sitting outside on that campus. Although it is probably raining a lot for them so they don't get to enjoy it. We passed by the place where the Book of Kells is kept but didn't get to go in. Hopefully if I make it to Dublin this weekend I definitely have to see it! After Trinity we walked around the city, basically in a big inner and outer square. We learned about the Georgian Style window's and about the parliament building and even about how the postal bins have the symbol of King Edward VII when the British were in charge but were painted green when Ireland gained it's independence. (Yes... I took a picture of a postal bin). The cool thing I found within Dublin is we walked into two separate large parks that are in the middle of the city but you don't even feel like they're in the city because the trees surrounding them are tall and the landscaping is so enveloping and beautiful! They are little sanctuary's within the city. When we finished our walking tour we finally got to go to the National Museum of Ireland! Unfortunately, we only had one hour and a 1/2 to go around the museum and it just wasn't enough! I did get to see one of the bog bodies that I've read about! It was pretty fascinating!
After the museum, Steve, wanted to take us to this small harbor town called Dalkey. It was an important site in Medieval times because Dublin harbor was too shallow to allow some of the larger ships in so the cargo would be brought to Dalkey and travel by land to Dublin. Here we visited Dalkey Castle & Heritage Center. It's the remnants of a "castle" but really it's more like a fortified house. It was interesting, they had little re-enactors and we all had a good laugh and I took some beautiful pictures. We also picked up Steve's little 8 year old son Alex. He is a riot! Smart as can be and not afraid to say anything!
From Dalkey Castle we took a hike up Killiney Hill with some of the most scenic views of the east coast of Ireland! I got some beautiful pictures! The hike was long and for a Coloradan, not tough at all, but some of the other girls were a bit tired after wards! We walked down the hill ending ant Killiney Beach and climbing over some HUGE rocks on the beach before making it to the train to take us back to Dublin. Needless to say, for being tired from the hard day of fieldwork yesterday, we were all tired again from walking and hiking, but the view was totally worth it! Can't wait to show you all pictures! I better turn in for the night, one more day of field work this week before I can "take a break". Although, there is a haymaking festival in Trim on Sunday and I have to buy keepsakes sometime in between!
Love to all!!
Today was such a whirlwind! When we arrived in Dublin, we met Steve and Ashton who was to give us the architectural tour. We started our tour in Trinity College. Such a beautiful campus! I wouldn't mind picking up a book and sitting outside on that campus. Although it is probably raining a lot for them so they don't get to enjoy it. We passed by the place where the Book of Kells is kept but didn't get to go in. Hopefully if I make it to Dublin this weekend I definitely have to see it! After Trinity we walked around the city, basically in a big inner and outer square. We learned about the Georgian Style window's and about the parliament building and even about how the postal bins have the symbol of King Edward VII when the British were in charge but were painted green when Ireland gained it's independence. (Yes... I took a picture of a postal bin). The cool thing I found within Dublin is we walked into two separate large parks that are in the middle of the city but you don't even feel like they're in the city because the trees surrounding them are tall and the landscaping is so enveloping and beautiful! They are little sanctuary's within the city. When we finished our walking tour we finally got to go to the National Museum of Ireland! Unfortunately, we only had one hour and a 1/2 to go around the museum and it just wasn't enough! I did get to see one of the bog bodies that I've read about! It was pretty fascinating!
After the museum, Steve, wanted to take us to this small harbor town called Dalkey. It was an important site in Medieval times because Dublin harbor was too shallow to allow some of the larger ships in so the cargo would be brought to Dalkey and travel by land to Dublin. Here we visited Dalkey Castle & Heritage Center. It's the remnants of a "castle" but really it's more like a fortified house. It was interesting, they had little re-enactors and we all had a good laugh and I took some beautiful pictures. We also picked up Steve's little 8 year old son Alex. He is a riot! Smart as can be and not afraid to say anything!
From Dalkey Castle we took a hike up Killiney Hill with some of the most scenic views of the east coast of Ireland! I got some beautiful pictures! The hike was long and for a Coloradan, not tough at all, but some of the other girls were a bit tired after wards! We walked down the hill ending ant Killiney Beach and climbing over some HUGE rocks on the beach before making it to the train to take us back to Dublin. Needless to say, for being tired from the hard day of fieldwork yesterday, we were all tired again from walking and hiking, but the view was totally worth it! Can't wait to show you all pictures! I better turn in for the night, one more day of field work this week before I can "take a break". Although, there is a haymaking festival in Trim on Sunday and I have to buy keepsakes sometime in between!
Love to all!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
More Rocks!
Well all, today was quite busy and productive at the site. Yesterday was all about the weeds, today was all about the rocks... that is after we finished getting through the roots of the weeds. I don't know if anyone has used a mattock ( I really don't know if that's how it's spelled either) but it's like a pick ax with a flat edge on one side. Or, as I've come to think of it... a pain in the back, arms, abs, basically all of the above muscle groups. Anyway, we used it a bit yesterday and a lot today. But our stoney outcrop is beginning to look a lot more like an archaeological investigation! :) (I apologize, my blog would be a lot more interesting with pictures but for some reason, blogger doesn't want to upload them). The stones were skillfully cleared by one of our resident Australians (Kirsten) and also by Megan. After disturbing several red aunt colonies that is. The day was hot again! Especially for Ireland but it reminded me of our hot day's on the dig at the Bradford-Perley House in Ken Caryl Valley. Another element that brought me back to that was the large amounts of stones! These, however, are not sandstone!
Finn instructed us to go down 20 centimeters and that will be our real starting level, clearing away debris first. A lot of the debris surrounding our wall stones is glass!! It appears that when this field wasn't as covered in grass, or the stones, that people used this for glass breaking target practice because it was almost like a glass pit! Our team worked really well together. Jean Marco had designated a spot far from our units (or cuttings as they call them here) to dump our wheelbarrows and trying to push a wheelbarrow full of dirt over these darn grass hillocks is nearly impossible. Needless to say, as the day went on, what Jean Marco thought was a good distance away from our units, is slowly beginning to close in distance :).
As I said, our pile of stones is looking more like an archaeological site than... well... I a pile of stones. On one side it appears to be a definite fallen wall but some of the stones stayed in a concave pattern horizontally, but on the other side (where I was working) there appears to be a line of stones with the stones in line vertically (I swear I wish I could post my pictures so you could see) so we aren't sure how this stone wall fell. Some of us think that it may have been an archway that collapsed. This is a good hypothesis I think because this corner area may have been an entrance to the cloister where the brothers gathered to contemplate. I'm not sure how accurate I am though knowing nothing about Irish architecture. So, at the end of the day, we were all mainly moving very slowly having mattox'ed and shoveled and troweled our little arms off. :) Tomorrow is my first field trip with IAFS and we get to spend the day in Dublin! I'm very excited as we'll get to do an architectural tour of an area of the city, then tour the museum and finally to a harbor town that I don't remember the name of (I'll have to clear that mystery up tomorrow.)
Well, it's a short post tonight, but it was a tiring day. I should have an interesting report from Dublin tomorrow!!
Love to all and miss you!!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Getting dirty
Welcome back!
Today we were all very excited as we had laid out our transects yesterday and today we were going to get to dig! I'm thinking I brought the Colorado weather with me because today was beautiful, warm (about 70 degrees F I'd guess at least) and hardly any clouds crossed the sky! For the Irish this is an atypical summer day.... for the Australians this is a cool day "perfect for a picnic" Elle said... for the Americans it's somewhere in between a normal summer day. Lots of sunscreen was essential today and I feel like I'm still coated in it after my shower!
Anyway... our day started with Finn picking us up and per Mary's instructions, we brought her some of our brown bread and scones that we had made. We told her they were an offering but to beware of the scones because they turned out a little more like stones! (Really... it wasn't our fault!) Well, at least they tasted good last night :) I think that's the real reason Mary wanted us to take them, so that they wouldn't be in the house. :) Finn informed us that today we would be taking instruction from Jean Marco I don't know if that's how he spells his name but he's Italian.
Upon arrival to the site, Finn instructed us to start girding out our units. So the two teams split with each gaining a member or two from the family group. Susan went with the other group and Alex and Madison (that's the neice's name :) came with our group. They had been assisting Ian yesterday afternoon.
So... Griding... anyone who's ever worked on an archaeological dig knows... this takes a bit of time and several repetitions before you'll actually get the perfect measurement. "Why?" you might ask... because it involves math. Getting into archaeology I never thought that it would involve much math. I was not alone in this assumption as I often hear the same wishful thinking from other archaeology students. But alas, tis not true. In fact, the grid is all about the math and to grid in a unit, you definitely need math (the hypotenuse of a triangle!). Ok, it may not be the hardest math for some people (ahem... Elijah... Dad), but for the math skill deficient (that is me) any math is hard... without a calculator at least. :)
So in order to grid out our unit we have to measure in from the nearest grid points that we helped plot yesterday with the geophys guy Ian using the GPS. The GPS he uses takes readings from 8 satellites to pinpoint the exact locations for our grid points which are each 20 meters apart north to south and east to west. From the nearest grid point, the northeast corner of our unit will be 4 meters west and 3 meters south and our unit will be a 4 meter east-west by 5 meter north-south unit. A large portion of which there is a bit of what appears to be the remains of one of the walls of the friary but at the moment looks like a big lump of rock. Well, our lump of rock is covered in grass and weeds and of course nettles so most of the day was spent clearing away all of this stuff to get to the actual stones. And low and behold, we found our unit also has another bit of stones that belong to a wall. Well, my trowel got to see it's first bit of Irish dirt! It was actually mostly being used for cutting away the knots of weeds that we were removing from the surface of our stones. By the way, there are tons of different bugs that live in that knot of weeds, some that Megan and I think look like mini trilobites, as well as some pissed off red ants. They bite too... but I think the nettle stings are worse.
When we stopped for lunch, some of us headed to the SuperValu, since we now know it is around the corner of the site and we were going to walk down to the cafe when we saw some of our other companions disappear into a house just down the street. We discovered this is going to be our site house that Finn has been cleaning up for the past two days. It was recently vacated by a squatter and was in less than ideal condition when the town council decided we could use it. Finn has put a lot into cleaning it. One interesting thing we noted was the leopard print border running along the top of the wall near the ceiling. Makes you wonder who was actually living there before. I also finally got to meet the mysterious Steve, who was my only contact before attending the school but who has never been on site. We all laugh because he's kind of like the "Oz" of IAFS. We were sitting around in our new headquarters when this tall guy with dark hair just walked in the house and said "Hello". We all politely, and somewhat awkwardly said hello back thinking... "who is that?" and it was almost as if he heard our thoughts because he said "I'm Steve" and all of us sitting there said "OH!" with such realization it was funny.
Upon returning from lunch, we continued working on the weeds and grass covering our stones. We got a fair amount of the stones uncovered before Jean Marco asked us to all start picking up the rubbish that is surrounding our site so that Ian could start using the magnetometer to run over the site and see what he finds (this area had been used as a dump by the surrounding neighbors so it'll be a wonder if he doesn't have a lot of interference). It's amazing what people will dump! I'll try to post a picture of our rubbish pile later. So after we cleaned up, Finn returned with some ice pops from the shop while we got a quick run down of our safety from the health and safety inspector before calling it a day.
Today Finn asked if Jean Marco could drop as at our lodging with Mary and after a wrong turn he found his way to Mary's place. (It's hard to give directions to an Italian driving in Ireland...)
Upon returning to Mary's and cleaning off the grime of the day, Maeve, our little baking instructor wanted to teach us how to make brownies. We had all been thinking of the brownies all day so we were ready! Flour, cocoa, brown sugar, butter and eggs and viola! Brownies! The first batch didn't turn out to Maeve's liking but she told us we had to make the second batch "on your own". But by that time, Mary said dinner was ready and we all sat down to a nice little barbecue in the backyard. Mary's daughter Mora joined us for a bit. She's a primary school teacher who's going to be taking a whole year off to travel the world starting with three months in South America and continuing to New Zealand, Australia and Egypt! Wow... if only! After dinner, we enjoyed our cup'o tea with our brownies, ice cream and strawberries as served beautifully by Maeve. It still being light out like usual we had plenty of time to continue with our next batch of brownies. Maeve had disappeared with Michal to pick up Emma and Megan so we all made the second batch of brownies. This batch turned out to Maeve's liking. After we had each enjoyed a brownie from the second batch the doorbell rang and Elle had walked all the way from their cottage (4.5 miles) to join us!
This is where it got interesting :) Maeve decided we needed to play a card game called spoons. I don't know if any of you have ever played it, but I haven't. It's really quite fun. However many players there are you have one less spoon (yes an actual spoon). You set them in the middle of the players and you each get five cards. The dealer takes a card and passes it on with each person keeping a card if they need it or passing it on to the next person. The first person to gather four of the same cards (like four 5s or kings, etc) grabs a spoon and everyone grabs a spoon after that but whoever doesn't grab a spoon is the loser. (It's kind of like musical chairs but with cards and spoons and no music... ok, maybe it's not like musical chairs but same concept). Then you keep playing removing a spoon each time. Elle, being from Australia mentioned that it is sometimes played without the spoons but by sticking out your tongue. This was an even more fun version because we are left looking down at the card just passed to us and then looking up around at everyone else as we pass that card or another on, while still attempting to keep straight which card we need. In the end everyone is just left looking paranoid around at everyone else while just moving cards around. This version is slightly more difficult because you don't really know who the last person to stick out there tongue was because if you are the first person, you just continue to pass cards like normal until someone notices :) My problem was I would get the four cards and my brain would slow down to say "stick out your tongue" and wouldn't grab the cards and someone would notice me. But I didn't loose, I just had a slow tongue reaction time! So in one evening I played an Irish and Australian version of a card game. Although I'm sure there is an American version that is fairly similar, I just never came across it.
Anyway... it's 11 p.m. here, the sun has finally gone down, and it is time for me to as well!
Until tomorrow!
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