Kudos for Peter

In a recent email, we got this great news on a project Peter (Gaffney) has been working on for some time. The editor at Minnesota Press (the book's publisher), has just forwarded Peter reviews of the manuscript he is putting together on philosophy and science. The reviews are great but as Peter said [he] "didn't want to just sit here at home with my arms raised in the air indefinitely" so he emailed us to share in his good news.

Following are some of the comments from reviewers:
"This book definitely makes a significant and needed contribution to the literature...There is no comparable collection available as a book..."
"Minnesota have done well to have scooped up the best volume on the topic."
"This is an important book for a fairly wide audience of practitioners in philosophy, science studies, cultural theory, and any other academic discipline that deals with the philosophy of contemporary science...there is good reason to anticipate a broad readership in the English-speaking academic community..."
"I am not aware of another anthology that is comparable in focus and scope."

These comments were made by writers in the field (selected as part of the official review process at Minnesota Press) - Peter can't disclose their names, but he says he is "proud to hear it coming from them (one of them is a quantum physicist, the field I keep blabbering on about when I visit you guys)."

Yeah!

Pete Two is in Town

Pete surprised his father on Father's Day. Tom didn't know he was in town and thought he was talking to him in New York when in reality he was chatting with him from the phone at the entrance door to the condo. When he walked through our door seconds later, Tom's mouth literally dropped. He joined us for a wonderful tribute to his father and to Shawn, the other father present, celebrating with dinner.

Pratt

Last weekend while Tom boated with his sister Christie and her husband Jim on their new 42-foot Nordic Tug, I participated in an intensive, 4-day, all-day metal jewelry workshop. In the four days, not only did I learn a lot, I bonded with the other 7 women in my class who had come from Portland, Vancouver, B.C. Whidbey Island, the Penninsula to attend the class. We "sisters" have all vowed to stay in touch and reprise our group with a wire class on Whidbey given by the same instructor.

The class at our very own Pratt Art Institute is a wonderful resource in the heart of Seattle. The artists who teach there are superb and famous in their own right. I took the class from Kristi Zevenbergen and she was the best teacher I have had thus far in four years of jewelry making classes.

The day (9-5:30) flew by and I could not wait until the next day's session. On the third day, I made a silver and turquoise ring using the stone we had purchased in Quartzite on our trip from the Grand Canyon through Arizona on the way to San Diego. The stone was from a collection (from which we purchased four stones) of turquoise representing all of the major Southwest mines, some of which no longer produce turquoise. The man who collected the stones, also cut them. I also finished a set of 6 bezel-set druzie crystals I had set in a previous class but never finished. The difference between these stone settings and my ring is huge.

My metal-smithing skills have increased ten-fold as the result of the class and I've purchased a set of tools that are compact enough that I can actually work from our very cramped office quarters. I can't wait to start creating.

Empty Space Where There Once Was A Shop

Tom's shop is gone. It is now one big empty space. He did preserve his door and whenever we find a spot to build a new shop (hobby-size) and studio (for me), we'll make that door our entrance.

Summer Soccer

Peter and Cherise began soccer at 6 years old. In the 70s that was the earliest you could begin. Now, even 3 year olds are learning to play. Last week, I took Andy to his first soccer camp where four other school mates joined him. He spent the whole time running and laughing and giggling. At the end of what looked like the most fun time ever, I asked him "Did you have fun?" and he said simply "No."

Andy's Year End Musical

Andy's school year ended with a musical in which he (and his other 3ish year-old classmates) were mimes -- no speaking parts but lots of hand movements and singing. I, of course, was his biggest fan.

Fly fishing on the Yakima River

We took advantage of our new semi-retirement status and headed to Ellensburg for a day of fly fishing on the Yakima River with a guide from Worley Bugger fly shop. It was an absolutely glorious day which started at 9 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m. We fished all day with a stop on the banks of the river for a lunch of barbeque steak, corn on the cobb and salad. We fished holes, from the banks, boat, and river. Tom caught a lot of fish -- white fish, trout... It is catch and release on the river now and so none of them were taken, but it was fun to see that with a little more experience, I too could have caught a few.

Tall Tails

Andy has for some time been fixated on tails. At any given time, he is either a lion or a bear and in order to "realistically" be one of these ferocious animals he needs to have a tail. For some odd reason, Andy insists on using socks as tails. Moreover, he's only happy when he enlists me in his play as a lion or a bear. Ergo, I must also stick a sock in my pants. More than once, their mother (my daughter) has stopped me from walking out of the house with my "tail" -- "you may want to leave your, ahem, tail here," she'll say gently. Just as often, I will find one of Andy's socks still stuffed into my pants at the end of the day. As you can imagine, Andy's drawer must contain many lonely socks in need of a match.

The other day Andy talked me into, once again, going to the Zoo. When we entered the Zoomazium (a great indoor playground for kids) he voiced his mounting concern that he didn't have a tail. So we asked the kind attendants and they provided a piece of beige paper, scissors, and tape and he proceeded to draw his tail and happily (even relieved) wore it for the rest of the day.

Attached are some photos from Cherise's website. In an effort to keep all socks in their proper place in drawers or on little feet, she made a slew of various animal tails (and purchased a few ears). Apparently, even little Sylvia must now be outfitted with the mandatory tail and even donned a pair of non-mandatory ears while at play in Andy's room.