Speed Up, Slow Down!

It’s been a quiet week in Laramie… yes, we are reading Garrison Keillor! It has been cold all week. The high is predicted at 14, with snow. In the five years I’ve lived in Wyoming, I’ve never seen a cold snap like this one (or I block them out). Thus, I’ve been staying in and keeping warm. Crafting, reading, cooking… avoiding cleaning. My downstairs table is covered with feathers and beads. Our bedroom is covered with frames and photographs and I don’t even want to look in the guest room/gift wrapping room!

The class I was co-teaching, Intro to Public History, ended last week. I was sad to say goodbye to the students. It was a wonderful opportunity and made me realize that life as a professor wouldn’t be all bad. It was uplifting to see the students get into “history”, boring ol’ history, and actually think critically about its role in museums and non-profits. Needless to say, it was a very rewarding experience. Now I need something new to do!
This morning I volunteered at the Laramie Plains Museum and helped decorate. This Sat. they are having a free open house for the community. I’ll be a greeter in one of the decorated rooms this Sat. from 3 to 6 if anyone wants to stop by and say “hi”.
Last night was our last broomball game of the regular season. We started early this year. Going into the game, we were in a three way tie for first place. After much huffing and puffing, falling on the ice and possibly a bruised rib, we lost the game 0 – 1. Bummer! Because our games overlapped with hunting season, we didn’t get any video this year. I’m hearing rumors of a tournament game next Sunday so I’ll be sure to snap some pictures.

The rest of the week will be filled with holiday activities: the Game & Fish Christmas party, a baby shower, confirmation class, cookie baking party, entering sweepstakes, and hopefully some new volunteer opportunities.

Jason is on his way home so I’m going to work on getting dinner on the table. Happy Holidays!

Weekend Update

So I misplaced my camera so its storytelling with text…
Friday night we learned a close friend was admitted to the hospital in Fort Collins for an infection after having her wisdom teeth removed. Jason drove down with her husband and two young girls at one a.m. and then the next day at 3 p.m. Turns out he is a pretty good “baby-sitter” as he did a good job of entertaining the girls and brought home a half a ream of paper with tiny little drawings. (I’m thinking of making a mobile out of them.) Unfortunately I had to be up bright and early for class the next morning so I didn’t go down. We are wishing her a speedy recovery and healthy return to Laramie. (C&B – can the girls come over to play sometime this week?)
Full day Sat. as I attended a nifty conservation class for 2D artwork. We learned “ideal” storage, care, tactics and “realistic” ones for small museums. It was super practical and a ton of fun. I got to meet some new people from Laramie and the Front Range (southern border btw WY and CO). It was fun to see the various items from the local museum including hand tinted photographs, 4H scrapbooks, original artwork by a local painter, and early maps of Laramie. I brought one of our prisoner made frames with an oil painting to work on.
Sat. night I spent a few hours scanning photographs and documents from our church. Trinity Lutheran is celebrating its 125th anniversary in August. Jason and I are both on the committee. He has been working on t-shirt orders and I’ve been attempting to put up an exhibit. Starting this coming Sunday we’ll both be involved in an oral history project to create a “Love Letter” to the church. The idea is to gather fun stories from various church members and weave them into a narrative video discussing “firsts” at the church; wedding, baptism, confirmation memories along with some historical tidbits and folklore.
Wish us luck!
Sunday after church we visited with some friends, Jason painted and reinstalled trim in the hallway and I continued to scan documents.
Sunday evening we won our broomball game and will continue on to the championship game. I think we are currently ranked 3rd. A big improvement from last year! For those of you who don’t know, we are the Fire Monkeys. We played the Ice Toads. They always bring a slew of stuffed frogs so we started collecting screaming monkey. A friendly banter typically occurs during halftime but this game they broke out a squeaky plastic banana on a rope! One of our more expressive teammates was out on the ice, chasing it like a chimp. Despite his antics and maybe pulling a muscle during this routine, we went on to win the game.
Late to bed and early to rise. We have a busy week ahead of us including a board retreat, visit to the chiropractor, unwrapping our new cabinets, recruitment party for Leadership Wyoming, Lent service (I love the Holden Evening prayer book), hopefully babysitting for friends, visiting landowners, completing contracts, and oral histories.
I’ll be back in touch next week. Hopefully with photos to share!