SYMPATHY NOTES

The many condolences from friends, colleagues, neighbors and former and current students have been comforting.
Thank you.

DAD 14 September 1933 -22 October 2009

My dad passed away on the evening of Thursday, 22 October.

He suffered much from Parkinson's and dementia for the past four years (nine years since he was diagnosed) and now he is at peace. In the past few months we've seen him slowly drift away from us as his dementia transformed him into what most resembled an infant: Aware, but unaware. Complex emotions stripped down to comfortable/uncomfortable, sad/happy, hungry/not hungry.

My mother is doing well. She, my brothers, Adrienne and I have been expecting his death for the past week--we have been by him since he stopped eating and drinking last Saturday. There is sadness mixed with relief. My sadness emerges when I recall his and my mother's struggle. I recall those many moments of pain as he saw himself no longer able to be an individual, self-sufficient, intelligent being and how my mom was ever faithful and supportive of him.

Here's the obituary we wrote:

On October 22nd, George Thomas Jenkins, beloved husband of Elizabeth and father of Mark, Thomas and Eric, passed away after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He was 76. In addition to his wife and three sons, he leaves behind five grandchildren and one great grandchild.

George, also known as “Jinx” and “Tom”, was a Deacon at Our Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Middle River. George worked for the Glenn L. Martin company and then with the State of Maryland. His most memorable occupation, however, was a soda jerk at Block’s Drug Store in East Baltimore in the late 1940s. After graduating from Calvert Hall High School, he attended Towson State University then graduated from University of Baltimore’s School of Law. He also earned a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore.

George was active in the community including managing championship teams for the Harford Park Little League, coaching basketball and writing successful grant proposals for the West Twin River Community Improvement Association. He was also an umpire in the Mason-Dixon Umpire Association whose members honored him with “Oakie” award in 1996.

In addition to his many sermons and poems, he also wrote skits that his family, friends and co-workers performed at holiday events. George will be remembered as caring and compassionate man with great integrity.

Viewing, Wake Service and Funeral Information for George T. Jenkins here.

SOUL LINE DANCE

Went to a soul line dance class out in Maryland. They run through about 6-8 dances in an hour long class. Too much fun. Songs like this one called "Texas Twist"

PILLOWS MOM MADE US

EN VOGUE-PNE

If the rain holds off, gonna see En Vogue tonight at the PNE

En Vogue PNE Vancouver Tuesday, August 25 8 pm

2009 PNE SUPERDOGS SHOW

I start work at the 2009 Vancouver PNE tomorrow. Am looking forward to seeing as many PNE Superdogs shows as possible. For opening day on Saturday, they're giving an extra show at 10 am. Every other day shows are at 1, 4 & 7:30 pm. For the inside scoop on how to get into the PNE free, click here.

NEW BOOKSHELVES

Here are the new bookshelves in my office. They are made of inexpensive OSB (usually used for sheathing) but finished with tung oil--though the desk has a polyurethane finish. The vertical fins, which follow vault's contour, are identical but the shelves get shallower as they move upward. Bill Putnam and Ari Goldstein, two former students who have started a side business called "Department of Furniture", developed and fabricated the design.

Updated by Eric

FACEBOOK, TWITTER?

Image Source: Terinea IT Support

Just joined Facebook but will Facebook Make You Stupid?
Study Finds Link Between Facebook Use, Lower Grades in College.

RUBBERMAID STORAGE SHEDS

Been busy writing about plastic & vinyl
Vertical Outdoor Garden and Storage Sheds.

Shopping Guide to Vertical Rubbermaid Storage Sheds

Bestselling Rubbermaid Outdoor Storage Shed
Why Vinyl Storage Sheds Are Better Than Wood or Metal
Checklist for Buying Vinyl Outdoor Storage Sheds
Where to Buy Inexpensive Plastic Garden Sheds

FLOWER PRUNING SHEARS

I'm in Writing Summer School at Squidoo and my assignment was to write a short piece. So I chose to write about my favorite gardening tool from Lee Valley Tools, given to me by my Dad. If you've never been to this fantastic gardening and woodworking shop, just ask my Dad to take you on a tour on the way to/from the airport.

http://www.squidoo.com/flower-pruning-shears

GREAT BOOKS

Great Rosy-Fingered Dawn! It's Eric's summer of dactylic hexameter as he bones up on the classics that he read (or was supposed to have read) in high school and college! Why? Well, let's just say that the Dean and Provost requested (that is a more polite term) that he teach a freshman honors seminar on several "Greats" of Western Literature. If your second question is "Why in Hades realm is an architect teaching classical literature?" I will be happy to explain at another time over a glass of ambrosia. In the meantime, this summer the reading list includes:

Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey"

Sophicles' "Oedipus Rex"

Dante's "The Inferno"

Milton's "Paradise Lost"

Please join me in some interesting summer reading!

(Posted by Ericus)

BARRY MANILOW 4th of July

Security lines were off the hook to get into the Capitol Fourth celebration on the Mall. So Eric and I sat on the grass by the Capitol Building. At least got to hear Aretha Franklin sing the American National Anthem. Barry Manilow opened the show with "It's A Miracle". Here's a YouTube clip from his show in Vegas.

EASTERN MARKET RE-OPENS

Capitol Hill's famous Eastern Market re-opened June 26th 2-years after a fire gutted its interior and destroyed much of its 19th c. exterior detailing. The fire forced the hand (finally) of the city, market management and local residents to renovate and restore the building. The renovation is sensitive and maintains it's identity as a neighborhood market.

In other words, it has not been turned into a "Whole Foods" or "Dean and De Luca". Like Gaul, the market is divided into three parts: the South Hall (market stalls), the Central Hall (service area) and the North Hall (meeting room/reception hall). Posted by Eric

SOUTHWEST DC AT NIGHT

SW Living: Flashback to the 60's & the glory of post-war modernism.
Posted by Eric

YOUNG JENKINS

I was asked to offer some thoughts on the retirement of Professor Karl DuPuy from the University of Maryland. The presentation began with the story of how I met with Karl just after my acceptance into the architecture program. In this first advising meeting Karl grilled me on my class schedule, career plans, grades, etc. On my way out of his office I must have no longer resembled the student in the above 1984 university I.D. for standing outside Karl's office was a veteran architecture student (who was a whole year ahead of me). The veteran grinned and said "Welcome to Architecture..." This got a few laughs. (posted by Eric)

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Tweet for Trees - World Environment Day & Twitter
Today is World Environment Day. Follow UNEP on Twitter & the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP will plant one tree for every twitterer who follows @UNEPandYou by Friday June 5th, World Environment Day. Find out more here.

"Portraits de planteurs" © Patrick Wallet / Yves Rocher
United Nations Environment Programme

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES

Here are before and after shots of our garden...taken about 6 weeks apart. The perennials have filled in the blank spots. Our garden theme this summer: "Garden of the Misfit Plants".


Our annual window box & tropical container plantings are dried out rejects, were saved (with the garden center owner's blessing) from the "to be tossed" pile or germinated from old seed packet samples. I am also transplanting tree seedlings--I found a bevy of Ginkgo tree seedlings (literally with seeds attached) underneath our community's elderly trees. (Update by Farmer Eric)

SUSAN BOYLE ELAINE PAIGE

O.K. Mama-san, you're usually a good judge of talent. Have you seen this video yet? What do you think? Eric brought it to my attention. Martin -- your fellow Brit is amazing. Click here then feel free to leave a comment in the guest comments at the bottom of that page.

Image Sources:
Susan Boyle, susan-boyle.com
Elaine Paige, broadwayworld.com

JOHNSON'S GARDEN CENTER

I started a new job at one of the premiere nurseries in the Washington, DC area to buy annuals for Johnson's Florist and Garden Centers which has been in business for over 77 years. Johnson's got its start as a small grocery store in the 1930s, later selling a few geraniums then in the 1950s dropping the grocery store and becoming a florist. Later plants, trees and shrubs were added to become one of the area's most beloved and thriving garden centers in D.C.

TENNIS BALL MACHINES FOR DOGS

Automatic Tennis Ball Launchers for Dogs

Over 2 million people have viewed this video of Jerry the tennis ball chasing dog who loves his automatic tennis ball throwing contraption. The University of Victoria built something similar to assist a wheelchair bound client who still wanted to play fetch with his dog. Click on the link above for the video and story I filed.

DEEPEST SNOW IN YEARS

Storm Drops Most Snow Area Has Seen in Years

"We finally received our long overdue Washington snowstorm!"

Only 5-8 inches - a mere pittance compared to the 18 inches we experienced this past winter in Vancouver.

Image Source: Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post

FIRST DAY OF WORK

Washington, D.C. Monday Morning at 4:30 am

Since we've been back in D.C. we really have had nothing like the exceptional snow we experienced this past winter in Vancouver. Today's my first day back at work at the garden center. I look out our back patio onto the parking lot and look at what greets me.

KITTY YOGA

BENTO BREAK

Eric suggested we take a break from writing & have lunch at the Korean grocery emporium. Took a ride to Virginia & stocked up on oriental cookin' supplies. Doesn't even come close to Fujiya's.

Oishi! What's left of my Pork Tonkatsu lunch.


I've been busy writing about music for a website called Squidoo...

Did That Pregnant Lady From The Grammys Have Her Baby Yet?
2009 Grammy Videos

Rap Pack vs. Rat Pack. Who's The Epitome of Cool?

BACK TO WORK

#1 - GETTING READY FOR SPRING

Went into Home Depot last week to confirm I'll be returning in the Spring to do garden merchandising. So at home I've got about 3 weeks to file a backlog of mail, get started on '08 taxes, work on our finances to check we're saving enough for retirement, schedule appointments for the doctor and dentist and try to meet with friends and ex-colleagues before the season gets underway.

#2 - NEW YEAR'S PICTURES ARE IN THE MAIL

Mom - Sent you on CD all the Bowlerama, Xmas, New Year's & Oye cousins get together pictures from Eric's camera and my camera. I copied everything unedited so included are tons of snow pictures & fuzzy camera shots.

#3 - RECIPE FOR AUNTIE MAY FOR BAKE SALES

Trailer Trash Toffee

Tracey - Your Mom wanted a recipe for the Trailer Trash Toffee I made for New Year's. Just click on the link above. She should use the one that says EASY version - This is the One I Use.

Picture of Betty and Jinx with Father Jason From Jinx's Retirement Party in 2008.

#4 - BUSY CHECKING IN ON ERIC'S MOM

Eric's Dad has been relocated to a nursing home and we've been busy spending time with Eric's Mom who's been unable to visit Jinx because of her pelvic fracture. Normally a whirlwind of energy, Betty is frustrated because doctors have relegated her to complete bed rest. She is trying to adjust to doing nothing while in the care of Eric's brother Mark and his wife Denise. Betty just finished reading Marley & Me, is working on Grisham & developing an appreciation for Manolo Blahnik shoes through Sex & the City DVDs.

#5 - WRITING, WRITING, WRITING

With only a few weeks left before I start work again, it's been great to have this time with Eric who's on sabbatical this semester. So we're both at home writing and eating. From this point on, besides what's going on with Eric, me and the cats, I'll be keeping the blog updated with links to some of the online writing I'm working on. I get paid when people read my articles, so please do click on the links which also help to raise money for charity.

My latest piece is about the auditions they're holding for the open casting call in Vancouver for New Moon, the Twilight sequel -- you know, that vampire movie and book series tweens and teenagers are mad about. So if you know any First Nations or Aboriginal teenagers between 15-24, send them this link. It's too bad my cousins Ian and Chris were not younger as they often get mistaken for First Nations.

New Moon Twilight Auditions Vancouver Kelowna Victoria FAQs

OBAMA INAUGURATION

Slide Show Of Photos From Our Day On the Mall at the Inauguration

On the bottom left hand corner is a white beige building,
The National Museum of the American Indian.
Eric and I are standing on the diagonal street right beside it.
This is an aerial image of the inauguration taken at 11:19 a.m.

GeoEye Satellite Image originally posted on washingtonpost.com

INAUGURATION PREVIEW

Weren't planning on going down to the Inauguration but we at least went down to the Mall and visited on Martin Luther King Day.

1) Here's an article I wrote about walking around

Obama Inauguration Preview: Mood on the Mall

2) Here's a slideshow of pictures Eric and I took

Barack Obama Inauguration Preview Pictures

3) Here is why I probably won't go down to the inauguration

7 Reasons Why I'm Not Going To Obama's Inauguration

SNOWMAGEDON

SNOW, SNOW, GO AWAY. It was fun 3 weeks ago. Good exercise and quaint to shovel. Yesterday was the first day it started to rain. But like ice slowly melting in a fridge, it's still pretty slow in dissipating. With students from Langara college parking across the street from us, you can hear frustrated drivers unaccustomed to parking in ice and snow, futilely spinning their wheels taking them more than an hour to dig themselves out.

MOM HITCHHIKED HOME! Mom was caught snowbound working Sunday night. It was so bad that after waiting half an hour, with no buses coming, Mom even hitched a ride from a passing motorist. But then cars got stuck on the snowy streets so that prevented the buses from being able to get past them. She was eventually dropped off on a main street about a 20-30 minute walk home and she trudged about 2 hours after she left the mall.

MY BROTHER'S CAR GOT STUCK FOR 2 HOURS. Then after my Dad had retired for the evening, my brother ended up getting stuck for 2 hours in the alley down the street and they worked tirelessly using a combination of sand, chains and digging to get my brother's car unstuck otherwise he'd be blocking the alley.

SO MUCH SNOW WE COULDN'T VISIT MOM. Today Eric and I took the car out to run errands and headed to Mom's for a visit but their roads were still so terrible that we had to head back home. Tire tracks on their side streets were melting snow but the middle of the road was filled with at least a foot of snow which was scraping perilously against the muffler.

SNOW PARKING TERRITORY GRABS. We did a couple of passes on major streets close by to see if we could park but there were no available parking spaces just cars heaped with snow from snow plows. Like the game Risk where territories are marked by plastic pieces, any cleared parking spaces were occupied by empty plastic five gallon buckets and plastic garbage cans. Remove at risk of the owner's wrath.

Image Source: daylife.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS

VANCOUVER RECORD SNOWFALL

Why Did Vancouver Get So Much Snow?
The EJ Factor - Blame the American

Most Vancouverites will wake up Christmas morning to over a foot and a half of snow - the most it's snowed in Vancouver since 1964. But if you ask my Mom, she seems to remember it being pretty snowy the following year when I was born when Dad got up on the roof to clear the snow. But most Vancouverites are oblivious to the true facts of why we got so much snow this past week.

Forget blaming Vancouver's record snowfall on global warming, according to my relatives, my husband is to blame. Their evidence points to the fact that he's an American from back East and by all karmic meterological accounts, he has brought the snow with him.

Plus you know when you go vacation somewhere sunny and you kind of take a secret delight when the weather is terrible back home. I'm not suggesting that the friends we're house sitting for are enjoying a Schadenfreude-esque vacation retreat, while they are drinking Mai Tais with umbrellas on some beach in Thailand. But isn't it oh so convenient for them that of all the years for them to choose to go away, they chose the one with the most back breaking snowfall in over 40 years.

SNOWBOUND

Stuck Inside...

Eating...

...Working Off the Calories