Thanksgiving holiday is over! We did the turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, rolls, yams thing - actually, H did almost all the work, I was out sick that day - I think I slept for about 12 hours....

H used the neighbor's oven (two doors down) to get everything done! The neighbors were visiting friends for Thanksgiving, so they gave H a key to use the oven. It worked out well - I think she did the turkey over there and baked everything else here. Her mom and dad (P&G), as well as one of the kid's cousins, A, were here too. We had a full house and a nice visit.

Yesterday they all went to the wave pool in Surrey, B.C. I didn't go because there wasn't enough room in P & G's van (it seats 7) and I didn't think it was worth driving a second car just so that I could go too. And I am still recovering from this cold. Still have the annoying cough. But I wish I could have gone. S, N and M all went down the slides for the first time, and I would have liked to have seen them do that....

On Wednesday I came from work and jumped right in to helping G put up some plastic over the front of our garage. It had been pouring rain for the last three days and on Wednesday our garage flooded! H called me earlier that day while I was at work to let me know - by the time I got home there was about 2 inches of water in places on the floor. Thankfully the floor isn't completely flat and the water had pooled up in a few places. Otherwise it would have gone into the basement.

Anyway, there I was in the rain, getting drenched (not so good for my cold), nailing up plastic over the garage door and trying to figure out where the water was coming from. G pointed out that the gutter above the garage had pulled free and all the water from the roof was just pouring straight down the side of the house and then under the garage door. I'm glad he was there to help. The next day I was up on a ladder nailing the gutter back in. Hopefully it will work during the next big rain. Oh yeah, it rained so much that we even got a little flooding in the basement. The water came seeping up from under the floor in places. What fun!

Fall quarter is almost over - just a couple more weeks really. Pretty much done with all major work for 510, one more paper due next Sunday for 568 (which I should start tomorrow). I have to get this Iraq blog article I'm co-writing with Paul done by Monday too.

The kids are doing well, they've enjoyed A's visit. The grandparents and cousin go home tomorrow, then it's time to start getting ready for Christmas.....which I actually enjoy. Also time to start thinking about telemark skiing. I've got to go this year and see if my knee can take it!

Met with the principal (Jill Iwasaki) and community coordinator (April Busch) for Windward High School last night at Stuart's Coffee House to talk about volunteering to help them with their library. The meeting went very well. We are all enthusiastic about making this work. I'll be helping them organize their library (which at this point consists of donated books on shelves), using cataloging software (which I need to research and evaluate) and student help (I'll have interns working for me!)

We also discussed collection development and information literacy workshops for students and staff, as well as research workshops for the students. This will be a long-term relationship that will fit in nicely with my portfolio requirements at the iSchool. Jill said I'll be the "Librarian Mentor".

They were also excited to have someone "young and cool" and thought it would be great to have a librarian male role model.

I joked that the last time I met with a principal was when I was getting suspended from high school for a week....

I'm getting towards the end of Fall quarter. Grupo Cinco just finished our project and submitted it last night. Just a couple more papers to go in both classes and then a break!

M really liked his pottery class and made some beautiful pieces. Now he's decided to join N in his dance class, so now all three kids are dancing again.

H's kid acting classes continue to grow- two new students starting this week. The bartering seems to be working out pretty well too. She had a great experience taking improv classes in Canada, has finally dropped Sheila Goldsmith's improv class here in Bellingham (along with a lot of other students), and will be starting an informal improv get-together/learning time with them. She also just got cast in one of the leading roles for a play at the iDiOM Theater here in Bellingham, written and directed locally.