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Author Archives: Ebony

Where did the turkey get its name?

Have you ever wondered what Turkey (the country in the Middle East) and the American bird have in common?  A case of mistaken identity resulted in the American Turkey being named after the country.  When the Spanish first found the bird in the Americas more than 400 years ago they brought it back to Europe. The English mistakenly thought it was a bird they called a “turkey” so they gave it the same name. This other bird was actually from Africa, but came to England by way of the Turkey (lots of shipping went through Turkey at the time). The name stuck even when they realized the birds weren’t the same.

Turkey Terms

Caruncle – brightly colored growths on the throat region.  Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

Gizzard – a part of a bird’s stomach that contains tiny stones.  It helps them grind up food for digestion.

Hen – a female turkey.

Poult – a baby turkey.  A chick.

Snood – the flap of skin that hangs over the turkey’s beak.  Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

Tom – a male turkey.  Also known as a gobbler.

Wattle – the flap of skin under the turkey’s chin. Turns bright red when the turkey is upset or during courtship.

More interesting facts about Turkey the bird can be found at

Geyers in Yellowstone Park

Do you like them?

Home made birthday cup cakes

To All Moms

I love my mom!

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Ten Best Mannered People of 2010

Ten Best Mannered People of 2010

1. Drew Brees – for being positive example and helping New Orleans rebuild.
2. Justin Bieber – for consistently showing courtesy to his fans.
3. Kate Middleton – for the poise and dignity with which she conducts herself in the public spotlight.
4. Jamie McMurray – for the respect he has earned as a NASCAR driver.
5. Elizabeth Edwards – for the grace she displayed in facing life’s greatest challenges.
6. Chilean Miners – for demonstrating optimism under pressure during their struggle for survival.
7. Taylor Swift – for inspiring young people with her music and manners.
8. Sandra Bullock – for setting high standards of excellence as an actress
9. Robin Roberts – for extending warmth and kindness to “Good Morning America” guests.
10. Bill and Melinda Gates – for their example of generosity to those less fortunate

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 7

   My house was quiet. No music, no conversation, no laughing. I closed the door and walked down the hallway into the living room. My mother was staring at herself in the mirror. She did that a lot these days, since she had lost her hair from chemo. She saw me looking at her looking at herself.

   “What do I look like, Lucy?” she asked me. “I look like something.”

   “An ostrich,” I said.

   Mama smiled.

   “I do,” she said.

   She took a breath.

   “What happened at school today? How is the beautiful and creative Ms. Mirabel?” she asked.

   “She is beautiful and creative,” I said.

   “And how is that hair?”

   “Robust,” I said.

   I smiled at her because she knew that was one of my vocabulary words.

   Mama’s hair was growing back, in small fuzz all over her head. She did look a bit like an ostrich. But she said she was getting better. That’s what she said. That’s what mattered.

   “Russell wrote a poem about his dog dying,” I said. “He brought his baby brother, Oliver, under the lilac bush.”

   “Russell?” asked Mama. “Russell who drives Miss Cash to distraction?”

   “He drives her to sighs,” I corrected her.

   “Well, Ms. Mirabel seems to be working miracles,” said Mama. “What about you? Have you written anything for Ms. Mirabel?”

   I shook my head, thinking about my poem about sadness. That’s all I wrote about these days. Sadness.

   “One poem. I’m waiting for something to whisper to me.”

   “Whisper? I am sure there are whispers all around you, Lucy.”

   Mama turned back to look in the mirror again.

   “Maybe you aren’t listening. Children hear everything. Children know everything.”

   Mama and I looked at each other in the mirror for a moment. Then the front door slammed shut.

   “That’s your dad,” said Mama. “How can we convince him to take us out for dinner?”

   “Tell him we’re having liver.”

   Mama laughed. She didn’t laugh much these days, and I liked the sound of it.

   “Jack,” she called as we hurried to the kitchen. “Luck thinks I look like an ostrich!”

   “I was thinking that very same thing,” Papa called back. “What a smart girl she is!”

   “And, Jack,” added Mama. “We’re having liver!”

   “NO!” came a cry from the kitchen.

The moon came through my window. Soon it would begin to move away. I could hear my mother and father talking in the living room as if …. As if nothing was wrong. I reached for my pad and pen. I would write something that would change life in my house. I would not write about sadness. Ms. Mirabel had said that she wrote to make life come out the way she wanted. Maybe I could do that, too.

                        Sadness. Your laughter can’t brush away

                 the sadness here. I hear you trying to laugh. I see you trying to smile   and trying to talk away the sickness.

                                    You can’t, you know.

                                    You can’t.

                                                             ———– Lucy

             No use. It was still sadness. Sadness was all I had.

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 6

Chapter 6

   Russell ducked under Hen’s big lilac bush. We were five today. It was late afternoon, and shadows fell across the yard.

   Russell wore a pack.

   “What is that?” asked May loudly.

   Inside the pack was a baby.

   “My brother, Oliver,” said Russell.

“You’ve seen him before.”

   “I don’t like babies,” said May.

   Russell smiled. He took Oliver out of his pack and sat him on his lap. “You’ll like Ollie,” he said. “There is not one bad thing about him.”

   And as if Oliver had heard Russell, he smiled and pumped his arms up and down.

   “I babysit for Ollie every day after school.”

   Hen reached out and took Oliver’s hand.

   “That’s why you don’t lay soccer?”

   Russell nodded.

   Oliver grinned and then reached out o May. May drew back.

   “He likes you,” said Russell. “Here.” He handed Oliver over to May, who held him away from her, as if he were a package of trash. But Oliver didn’t care. He leaned closer and closer to May until his head lay on her shoulder. Slowly, May put her arms around him and closed her eyes.

   “I think he’s wet,” she whispered finally.

   “Of course he’s wet,” said Russell cheerfully. “He’s always wet. My babysitting time is over pretty soon. I’ll take him home and change him.”

   May still held on to Oliver. She didn’t open her eyes. And when she did, she whispered to Russell again.

   “That was a beautiful poem about your dog, Russell.”

   Russell nodded and picked up Oliver. He ducked out from under the bush and put Oliver back in his pack.

   “He was a good dog,” he said softly.

   “What was his name?” asked May.

   “Everett,” said Russell before he disappeared in the shadows.

            There is a soft sweet smell here.

            The smell of somewhere far away

            I may have been one time but can’t remember.

                        It is a soft sweet smell.

                        Why is it I know it? Why is it so familiar?

                        I can almost reach out my hand to catch it.

                        But not quite.

                                                            ——- May

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 5

     The next day May came to school with a grim look, and Russell came with his writing.

   “May? You look thunderous,” said Henry.

   “Hen, you’ve been reading the dictionary,” I said.

   “I have.”

   “My very, very, very dumb mother is going to adopt a very, very dumb baby,” said May.

   “Too many verys,”, said Hen.

   “There can never be too many verys about this,” said May.

   “Your mother is not dumb. She’s smart,” I said.

   “Until now she was smart,” said May.

   “There’s one thing,” I said.

   “What?” grumped May.

   “You have something to write about,” I said. “And I sure wouldn’t mind having a brother or sister.”

   “Get a cat,” said May.

   She glared at me and stomped to her seat.

   Ms. Mirabel watched her. Ms. Mirabel wore purple today. Everything was purple: her skirt, her top, her shoes, her headband that failed at holding back that hair.

   “Is there trouble?” she asked.

   “A new baby at May’s house,” said Hen. “Her parents are adopting.”

   “Ah,” said Ms. Mirabel.

   I thought about Evie’s father saying “ah”.

   “Does May have any brothers and sisters?”

   “Four sisters. May is the  youngest one.”

   Ms. Mirabel smiled.

   “I remember loathing my baby brother.”

   “Like outliners,” said Hen.

   “Like outliners,” she repeated.

   “You probably love him now. Right?” I said to her.

   She looked at me as if surprised at the question.

   “Your brother,” I repeated.

   Ms. Mirabel sighed. “No, Lucy. He’s not a very nice person, as it turns out.”

   Ms. Mirabel shook her heads as if chasing aways thoughts. She looked at the class, everyone sitting quietly now.

   “Let’s read!” she said. “Russell? did someone whisper to you?”

   Russell got up and stood at his desk. The paper shook a bit in his hand.

   “And who whispered to you?”

   “My dog,” said Russell. “Just before he died.”

          I’ll fly away

          Above the big maple tree

          Where I peed every day.

         I’ll fly away

         Above the garden

         Where I dug up carrots

          And radishes

          Where I rolled in something

          Bad smelling.

          I liked running with you

          And chasing balls

          And sleeping under your quilt.

          But now

          I’ll fly away.

                                                  ———— Russell

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 4

   We sat in Evie’s bedroom, Evie hiding behind the curtain, looking across the yard to the house next door. A woman was moving things inside.

   “A new neighbor. She looks healthy,” said Evie. “She has short, curly, yellow hair. Actually, she’s beautiful,”

   “Not that it matters,” reminded Henry.

   “Of course,” said Evie. “My father doesn’t need a beautiful woman. Just a woman.”

   May and I laughed.

   Evie’s cat, Looley, came in, saw us, and hissed before he began to frantically lick himself.

   Evie’s brother, Thomas, came, too, carrying empty pots from the kitchen. He sat them down and began stirring each with a wooden spoon. The light came in the window and touched his blond hair. He was short and stocky like a rain boot.

   “Hello, Thomas,” said Henry. “What’s up?”

   “Soup,” said Thomas seriously.

   “Two pots of soup?” asked Henry.

   Thomas nodded as he stirred.

   “One is good. One is bad,” said Thomas.

   “Which is which?” I asked.

   Thomas looked up and smiled.

   We laughed. Evie smiled as her father came into the room to scoop up Thomas. He leaned down to kiss Evie on the top of her head.

“We’re going for a bike ride,” he said.

   “Look, Papa,” said Evie. “An interesting woman is moving in next door.”

   Her father leaned next to her to peer out the window.

   “Ah, yes,” he said.

   After they left, Evie smiled at us.

   “He said ‘ah’ – did you hear?”

   “Your father always says ‘ah,’ Evie,” I said.

   Outside, her father rode down the driveway, past our window, Thomas sitting on a seat behind him wearing a helmet.

“We’re going for a bike ride,” he said.

   “Look, Papa,” said Evie. “An interesting woman is moving in next door.”

   Her father leaned next to her to peer out the window.

   “Ah, yes,” he said.

   After they left, Evie smiled at us.

   “He said ‘ah’ – did you hear?”

   “Your father always says ‘ah,’ Evie,” I said.

   Outside, her father rode down the driveway, past our window, Thomas sitting on a seat behind him wearing a helmet.

   “I don’t have one thing in the world to write about,” said May. “My life is the same, day in, day out.”

   “You’re lucky,” said Evie.

   “You could make up something drastic,” said Hen.

   “Drastic?” said May. “Like what?”

   Hen shrugged.

  “Disaster. Violence. Alienation,” said Henry promptly. “I read those words on the back of an adult novel the other day.”

   “I don’t have any of that,” said May.

   “How about this,” said Henry, frowning. “How about I push you. A little violence.”

   May laughed.

   “Do you see any kid stuff? Bicycles, toys?” I asked Evie, knowing that is what she was looking for.

   Evie came out from behind the curtain and looked at us.

   “She’s single,” she announced matter-of-factly. “I know it!”

   “Evie,” said May, “what if your father doesn’t want a new woman?”

   May’s voice was so quiet that we all looked up. There was silence. Evie’s face was still and thoughtful. Finally, she picked up her notebook. She opened it.

   “I have a character anyway. Like Ms. Mirabel says.”

   She wrote something down.

   I looked out the window and watched the woman next door carry a box into the house. A cloud passed over the sun, darkening the grass and trees for a moment.

   “Her name is Sassy DeMello,” said Evie.

   “Sassy DeMello??!” hooted Henry. “What kind of a name is Sassy?”

   “Do you mean your character’s name or the name of the woman next door?” I asked.

   “Both,” said Evie. “I like Sassy. She looks a bit like a Sassy.”

   We burst out laughing, but Evie ignored us. She put down her notebook and walked to the window to look out.

   “What do you think?”

   “I think you are a very funny girl,” said Hen. “And probably you will be an amusing writer.”

   Evie turned to grin at Henry. She hadn’t smiled much lately, and we all smiled back at her. Then she got serious. It was a little like the cloud passing over the sun again.

   “But Henry,” she said. “This isn’t funny.”

   “I know,” said Hen.

    She has come here after a sad time. Sassy has left much behind: her home, her life, the friends who made her smile. The sun lights up her loneliness. But she won’t be lonely for long. I will save her.

    I will save my father, too.

                                            ————– Evie

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 3

   The class was quiet – no coughing, no rustling of papers – at the sight of Ms. Mirabel. She wore a bright pink jacket trimmed with what looked like feathers. She wore long earrings that had feathers, too. Maybe  she would fly around the room, words falling like bird droppings on all of us.

   “I am going to sit in the back today,” siad Miss Cash. “It will be Ms. Mirabel’s class. Think of her as your teacher. She will be visiting us for six weeks, sometimes on a daily basis. At times she’ll be in charge of the class. Sometimes I will be.”

   The windows were open, and the breeze rippled the feathers on Ms. Mirabels.

   “I’m going to read some things to you,” said Ms. Mirabel. “Words. Some I hope you will like. You may not like some of what I read. You don’t have to like everything.”

   We all looked at one another. Miss Cash had never told us we didn’t have to like the things she read. I looked quickly at Miss Cash, but her face was still and stony.

   “Some words may make you happy, some may make you sad. Maybe some will make you angry. What I hope” – a sudden gust of wind made Ms. Mirabel’s hair lift – “what I hope is that something will whisper in your ear.”

   “What does that mean?” asked Russell.

   Miss Cash sighed loud enough for me to hear. Russell always asked questions that made Miss Cash sigh.

   Ms. Mirabel didn’t sigh. She smiled brightly.

   “You will know,” she said.

   Surprisingly, Russell grinned back at Ms. Mirabel as if they had a secret pact. Quietly, Miss Cash got up and opened the door at the back of the rrom and was gone.

   Ms. Mirabel looked at us. “First, a place.”

   “The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of bay and it smelled of  manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.”

   “Charlotte’s Web”, someone whispered excitedly.

   “I knew that,” said Russell.

   “Now, a moment, a time, a place,” said Ms. Mirabel.

   “The road that led to Treegap had been trod out long before by a herd of cows who were, to say the least, relaxed. It wandered along in curves and easy angles, swayed off and up in a pleasant tangent to the top of a small hill, ambled down again between fringes of bee-hung clover, and then cut sidewise across a meadow.”

   “Characters,” said Ms. Mirabel. And she began to read.

   “`Did Mama sing every day?’ asked Caleb. ‘Every-single-day?’ He sat close to the fire, his chin in his hand. It was dusk, and the dogs lay beside him on the warm hearthstones.

   “`Every-single-day,’ I told him for the second time this week. For the twentieth time this month. The hundredth time this year? And the past few years?

   “`And did Papa sing, too?’

   “Yes, Papa sang, too. Don’t get so close, Caleb. You’ll heat up.’

   “He pushed his chair back. It made a hollow scraping sound on the hearthstones, and the dogs stirred. Lottie, small and black, wagged her tail and lifted her head. Nick slept on.

   “I turned the bread dough over and over on the marble slab on the kitchen table.

   “`Well, Papa doesn’t sing anymore,’ said Caleb very softly.

   I smiled. I knew that story.

   “Now a memory,” said Ms. Mirabel.

   “The memory is this: a blue blanket in a basket that pricks her bare legs, and the world turning over as she tumbles out. A flash of trees, sky, clouds, and the hard driveway of dirt and gravel. Then she is lifted up and up and held tight. Kind faces, she remembers, but that mighbe the later memory of her imagination. Still, when the memory comes, sometimes many times a night and in the day, the arms that hold her are always safe.”

   Ms. Mirabel smiled. “And a poem,” she said.

            “A nut

                        My poem.

            When cracked you’ll find inside

            That tuck in snugly to make

   Ms. Mirabel read on and on, some things I’d heard before, some things I hadn’t. The breezes came in and around us like the words Ms. Mirabel spoke. No one moved, even when the bell rang for lunch.

   Ms. Mirabel stopped.

   “Maybe tomorrow some of you will bring your writing. You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. I can read it for you. When we talk about it, we will be very kind. We will talk about what we like, and we will ask questions.”

   Ms. Mirabel waved her arm toward the door, her bird feathers rippling. “Go,” she said.

   And we went.

            Hollow boned

            Until the sun falls down

            They tuck themselves under the

            Green leaves of trees

            And sleep until the sun calls

                        them to

            Sing again!

                                    ——- Henry

Our Trip to St. Louis

Arch Under Blue Sky

The Arch Under The Moon - can you see the moon?

Arch at Sunset - a view from 27th floor

Arch Reflection on the Mississipi River - view from top of arch

Giraffes in St. Louis Zoo

Don't be fooled by looks!

Lizard working out on his upper body ...

Owl on Cactus

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 2

   We sat under Henry’s huge lilac bush next to his house, the four of us: May and Henry, Evie and I. In a month or two, the smell of lilacs would fill the air.

   “So, what do you think?” I asked.

   No one said, “What do you think about what?” Everyone knew what I meant.

   “I like her,” said Evie. “Even if she sends her pathetic kids to camp all summer long.”

   “I think I love her,” said Henry. “She tells the truth.”

   “Or maybe not. Maybe she lies,” I pointed out.

   “Right,” said Hen, smiling. “Real and unreal are the same thing. So she says.”

   “What do you suppose that means?” asked May.

   No one answered.

   “Do you think she is happily married?” asked Evie thoughtfully. “She might be very good for my father.”

   “Evie, you can’t just pick out some woman for your father,” I said.

   “Why not?” said Evie. She turned and looked at me, her face fierce. “Why not?”

   Then her face crumpled and she began to cry.

   I put my arms around her.

   Henry’s mother, Junie, put her iced tea glass on the windowsill and leaned out.

   “Is everything all right out here?” she asked.

   “Fine,” said Henry.

   Junie, who knew better but didn’t say so, backed away through the window. Junie was the only mother we called by her first name because Henry did. And he called his father Max. Max worked at home because he loved Junie, and spent his time working on the computer and looking at Junie.

   “They are like kids,” said Hen once.  “Sometimes I am the grown-up. I don’t mind.”

   The steam from a pie on the table rose out the window. I watched a drop of water slip down the glass of iced tea as Evie cried on my shoulder.

   After a while Evie stopped crying and leaned back. I could feel the sudden wet coolness the tears had left on the shoulder of my T-shirt.

   “I’m a big, fat crybaby,” said Evie loudly. “Big, fat crybaby.”

   “No,” I said at the same time May did.

   “You’re not fat,” said Henry.

   Evie began to laugh then; and we all laughed, leaning back under the lilac bush, getting leaves and bits of dirt in our hair.

   “Not fat at all,” repeated Hen, making us laugh harder. I could almost see the laughter as it rose up and wound around the branches of the lilac bush, touching the blooms before lifting up to the sky. I took out my notebook.

          Sadness is

          Steam rising,

          Tears falling.

          A breath you take in

          But can’t let out

          As hard as you try.

                                                   – Lucy

Word After Word After Word – Chapter 1

Some things happen in fours.

On the fourth day of the fourth month after the winter holiday vacation, a famous writer came to our fourth-grade class. Her name was Ms. Mirabel. She liked the “Ms.” a lot. She hissed “Ms.” like Evie’s cat, Looley, hissed. I looked over at Evie and she was smiling. She had thought of Looley, too.

    Ms. Mirabel had long, troubled hair and a chest that pushed out in front of her like a grocery cart.

   “Did you always want to be a writer?” asked Henry.

   He smiled at me. Hen carried a notebook with him at all times, sometimes stopping in the middle of soccer practice to pull it out and write something.

   “No,”, said Ms. Mirabel. “I wanted to be a stage performer or an electrical engineer.”

   “How much money do you make?” asked Evie.

   “Evie,” warned our teacher, Miss Cash. “That’s not a proper question to ask.”

   “That’s all right,” said Ms. Mirabel cheerfully. “I make enough to send my children to camp in the summer.”

   Evie frowned. She hated camp. She had once said that only cruel and uninterested parents sent their children off to camp in the summer. Evie knew firsthand. Her parents had sent her off to Camp Minnetuba the summer that they separated. When Evie returned home, her mother had moved out; her father lived there with Evie and her little brother, Thomas.

   “Temporary,” said her father and mother. “It had nothing to do with you.”

   Evie thought it had lots to do with her. From time to time her mother visited, but she never stayed very long.

   “Is what you write real?” asked May.

   Ms. Mirabel brightened. She liked that question.

   “Real or unreal. They’re just about the same,” said Ms. Mirabel. “They are both all about magical words!”

   She said words with a soft hush in her voice.

   “Do you write with an outline?” Russell asked.

   Ms. Mirabel laughed loudly. It was a sudden, startling laugh; and we all laughed, too.

   “Of course not,” she said. “Outlines are silly. Once you write the outline, there’s no reason to write the story. You write to participate … to find out what is going to happen!”

   Miss Cash frowned. This is not what she had taught us in creative writing class.

   “Actually, I loathe outlines!’ said Ms. Mirabel with great feeling.

   Miss Cash closed her eyes as if her head hurt.

   And then Hen asked the question that made all the difference to us.

   “Why do you write?” he asked.

   Ms. Mirabel sighed. There was a sudden hush in the room, as if Ms. Mirabel was about to say something very important.

   As it turned out, she was.

   “I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to,” she said. “But other people write for other reasons: to see more closely what it is they are thinking about, what they may be afraid of. Sometimes writers write to solve a problem, to answer their own question. All these reasons are good reasons. And that is the most important thing I’ll ever tell you. Maybe it is the most important thing you’ll ever hear. Ever.”

   “Some writers write to earn money,” said Evie.

   “They do,” said Ms. Mirabel. “But that is only one reason to write. And usually not the most important.”

   “What is we have nothing to write about?” I asked. “And how do we change life by writing?” I added.

   Miss Cash smiled.

   “Lucy doesn’t think her life is very interesting,” she said.

   My life wasn’t interesting. Unless you counted my mother’s cancer. Her cancer filled up the hours these days. Sadness filled up my house. Sadness was all I knew. How could I change that?

   “Well, she’s wrong,” said Ms. Mirabel. She walked over to stand in front of me.

   “You have a story in there, Lucy,” she said, touching my head. “Or a character, a place, a poem, a moment in time. When you find it, you will write it. Word after word after word after word,” she whispered.

   The school bell rang. Ms. Mirabel jumped slightly. No one moved. Then, after a moment, Miss Cash took Ms. Mirabel’s arm and they went out the door. We all picked up our notebooks and went off to try to change our lives. Word after word after word.

(— to be continued)

“Word After Word After Word”

By Newbery Medal-winning author PARTRICIA MacLACHLAN

Vote For Ebony’s Art – Happy Rabbit Year!

I took this picture in the Nelson Atkins Art Museum’s 2011 Chinese New Year’s Celebration event.  Inside the building, right when you walk in, the hall was decorated with lots of lanterns that spread the festive spirit of the holiday.

I am not a very good photographer, but do you like it?

Mission Impossible – Can you tell what it is?

What is this?

A different view

A close-up

The finishing touch

Shoes for the “Mittens on Vacation”

I saw the perfect shoes for the mittens on vacation. What do you think?

What do you know about the Chinese New Year?

When is it this year? When was it last year?

What year will it be in the new year? What year is it this year?

What do people do before, during and after the Chinese New Year? How will you celebrate it this year?

A Letter to Question Mark – 给”问号”的一封信

To: Question Mark
Dear Question Mark,
   Why did you leave? You are really important to the whole, wide, world!  You need to come back or questions wouldn’t make sense at all. Books would be ruined! Presidents’ speeches wouldn’t make any sense! Please come back question mark, please!

MMXI – My New Year Resolutions

2. Think Before Talk

3. Be Positive and Supportive

I publish my New Year resolutions because I want everyone to monitor me and hold me responsible for my promises and to help me achieve my goals.


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Gertie’s Basic Bodice – Space Dress

I had a vision of a gorgeous vintage inspired white collar combined with a dark moody fabric.  I thought this space fabric would work well.  I like it, but something feels off.  Maybe my ridiculously square shoulders push the collar up too much or my narrow shoulders don’t allow for drama with collars.  I wanted a large dramatic collar.  It’s not quite what I expected.  Combine that with the utter failure of my second attempt with tulip sleeves.  I tried them on another dress a few years ago and made the same mistake again.

I’ll probably wear the dress a lot especially now with the “cooler” weather.  Oooo, 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit.  It should get cooler soon though.  I also have some leg warmers to make so I can wear under my boots, instead of having to wear tights.

I really wanted a circle or 3/4 circle skirt, but again, I did not buy enough fabric.  I only purchased 2 yards.

I do have 2 yards of very similar fabric that I hope will end up as a nicer dress than this.

I initially made a muslin of the Gertie basic bodice, in muslin fabric and it was loose.  The last two dresses I have made, using the same pattern, have been tight at the waist.  I’ve either gained a few pounds or I made a pretty big mistake with the muslin.  Oh well.  Time to fix the pattern for the now.  There’s also something weird going on at the bust.  I still think I prefer princess seams.  I might convert it to princess seams for the next dress.

The collar looks great on the hanger, but not on me.  The original Gertie Peter Pan collar looked even worse.  Oh well, that’s what fabric is for and learning is for, making mistakes and hopefully I’ll get it right one day.

This is my attempt at a self drafted collar.  The skirt is my go to box pleated skirt.  I’ve forgotten the pattern number it’s from.

Simplicity 8130 – Cherry Dress

I’ve always wanted a cherry dress.  I found the fabric at a remnant bin at Wal-mart, sad, lonely and abandoned. I had to rescue it.  It was only about 1 and a half yards of fabric.  I was concerned it wouldn’t be enough.  Well, it wasn’t enough for a circle skirt.  It was enough for my pleated skirt, more than enough.  I guess it’s a little long.

I left the front band as is, but with a smaller seam allowance.  It’s probably a bit larger than intended.  It’s cut on the bias and is not interfaced.

The red fabric is also from Wal-Mart.  The quality of it seems much better than the quilting cotton I buy from Joann’s.  When I buy solids from Joann’s they fade after one wash.  It leaves white lines at edges, good for jeans, bad for dresses.  This red fabric has held up well after multiple washes.  I can’t tell it’s faded at all.  It’s also cheaper than any of the Joann’s quilting cottons.

The whole dress was probably $7 of fabric and included the zipper price.  Awesome.  I don’t get lucky like that often though. I had purchased a bag of zippers at a thrift store many years ago and hoarded them.  I kept thinking when the heck would I use such a lime green color zipper or this pale yellow zipper.  Well, they have been used.

I seriously need to add hooks to my dresses.

Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book – Secretary Dress

I started making this dress.  I have dreamed of having a dress with a Peter Pan collar forever.  They always look so cute. The Peter Pan collar did not look right, so I removed it.

I traced out the pattern.  I even made a muslin.  The muslin fit fairly well.  I took the shoulders up a little, making them more square.  I also took 3/4 inches from the center back for swayback.  That’s it.  I used a straight size 6 for the bodice.  I think I went up 2 sizes in the skirt.  I did not line it.  I used a self drafted facing because the shoulder slope was very different.  The only other adjustment was lowering the neckline by a bit to make it more comfortable.  The size 6 was very high and tight for me.  However, I might have traced the wrong one. I didn’t bother to go back and check.

The fabric was a very cheap crepe type fabric I bought from Walmart in 2007 I think. I am almost out of it.  It doesn’t press well.  I also kinda melted it a little by the zipper.  Thankfully, it was only on the inside.  Phew.

Anyway, I really love this bodice.  I see myself making more dresses from Gertie’s Ultimate dress book.  The horizontal balance line for me is absolutely perfect.

Sheath dresses are my biggest fear.  In order to wear this in real life, I’m going to need to find some comfy shapewear. Even then, eek. So this is my attempt at making myself a little uncomfortable.  I’ll try something new.  It’s not my favorite.  I like big full skirts better.

With a necklace my little sister gave me.  Combined with some crazy hair, again a windy day.

Simplicity 8130

Ok, I couldn’t resist Simplicity 8130 again.  I had a different picture in my mind of how I wanted it, but I ran out of precious fabric.  This fabric was from Hancock’s. I loved the Hancock’s novelty fabrics.  They always felt nice, and often resisted wrinkles even though it said they were 100% cotton.  I sat on this dress for what 6 ish hours on 2 airplane rides on our way to South Carolina and hardly had any wrinkles.  I was very impressed.  I have never tried the burn test on them though.

I do wish I would have enjoyed these fabrics a little more and truthfully purchase more, if not all that they ever offered.  Boo.  I’m still sad about it.

I wanted something Cambie-esque but with my fantastic Simplicity 8130 bodice.  Anyway, long story short, my vision did not work.  I needed a tiny bit more fabric, so I had to scrap the idea.  I wasn’t even able to put the adorable flaps or as they are called by the pattern “Band.”

I added the same McCall’s 7626 skirt, that I love, still.  I also used horsehair braid at the hem.  It is still the same “soft” horsehair, but I am seriously tempted to buy the more expensive “stiff” horsehair.  I will eventually, it’s just a matter of time.

I just had to try to make this dress before we left on our trip.  What I should have made was a bathing suit.  Ok, next time. We do make many trips to San Diego, so I’ll likely make a playsuit or two.  I do already have a dress I like to wear while on the beach, but, I want something even more fun.  There are so many options, so, why not, right?  Plus, who am I kidding, I have enough fabric I could open a shop.

It wasn’t what I wanted, but, I wanted another dress to take on our vacation.  I rushed and ran out of this fabric, so….

butterfly front
With a lightly gathered cotton petticoat.

butterfly back

butterfly petticoat
With a petticoat.

Please excuse the crazy hair.  It was a windy day.  I really do like the boob flaps.  They help minimize the bust on me.  Perhaps the flaps give the illusion of a better proportion on that part of my body.  I think I will make a lot more dresses with the flaps.

Simplicity 8130 – Pokemon sundress

I am in love with this bodice pattern.  I kind of knew I was going to like it when I first saw it.  Simplicity 8130.  I omitted the buttons, but added a zipper.  My sewing machine does not handle buttonholes very well.  I could see myself making this top as just a top and not attaching a skirt to it.  I can do so much with this bodice though.  I have one more idea, but it will have to wait until we return from our vacation.  My weekly project pledge will have to take a pause for a week.

Full petticoat. Big skirt.

The skirt is Mccall’s 7626.  It is a 3/4 circle skirt, so it doesn’t take up as much fabric as a full circle skirt.  I had just enough of this pokemon fabric.  I had purchased all they had left at my local Joann’s about a year ago, about 1.25 yards or so.  I really wanted a dress so I held on to it until I found a good fabric that coordinated.  I couldn’t.  I wanted something summery and nothing looked good to me.  Then, I found the same fabric at another Joann’s and immediately purchased it.  It might not have even been on sale, gasp.

Once I started sewing, I was a little disappointed.  The fabrics are not quite the same.  One is a little thicker and darker than the other.  😦  Plus, it looked like it had a bleach stain here and there.  Thankfully, the fabric is so busy it’s not super visible.  What is it with my luck at Joann’s?  It’s as if I have better luck at the National City Swap meet.

More subtle on my monitor, or because of the camera, but a bit more visible IRL.
Small bleach type spot by Eevee’s ear.

Anyway.  I used a straight size 12 for the skirt, and the pockets, oh my goodness, the pockets.  This girl’s dream.  So large and generous.  Exactly what I want, plus, they get sewn a little into the waist seam.  Now my side seams don’t get pulled on as much when I pack (seriously, it’s like a small purse if you include total space for both pockets) my Nintendo DS and various chargers in my pockets.  The skirt fit perfectly to the bodice, thank goodness.

I also decided to add some soft horsehair braid to the hem.  It isn’t the super stiff kind, but it still adds a little drama.  It also makes it easier to hem.  I decided to hand sew the hem this time.  It took a while, but I didn’t have thread that matched exactly.

Without the full petticoat.  I am wearing a lightly gathered cotton petticoat.

I had been debating between blue and black for the bias.  I am glad I went with black.

I got the horsehair for about $6, 25 yards of it!  It’s not the super stiff kind, it’s soft and a little floppy, but it does add enough drama for more casual dresses like mine.  I got it from here  I did contact the seller before placing my order because I noticed some review pictures had the string you pull and some didn’t. I wanted it with the string.  However, now I realize, I could have just sewn a row of basting stitching with the machine and used that as the string.  I am going to place another order very soon.  I want every skirt to have it.

So far, I have washed it in the washing machine (gentle cycle), inside one of the lingerie bags.  I folded the dress neatly in one of the larger sized bags.  I also dried it in the drier, gasp.  It was fine, and everything was intact.  It didn’t seem to move very much in the bag.  I’ll continue to wash it that way.

Simplicity 8130 – Purple Iris Dress

I am in love with this pattern.  The fit is fantastic.  It adds great shape.  I want a million of these.  I did not make a muslin, but should have.  I really messed up the details.  The flaps are all messed up.  My homemade bias tape is messed up.  The application of it is also messed up.  Oh well.  I used the bodice from Simplicity 8130, the straps from New Look 6048, as well as the skirt.  I used my own pockets.  The fabric was a gift from my Mom and Dad.  I also used one of my metal zippers.  They are my precious.  Much like most of my fabric.

I’m still going to wear the dress.  I really like the fabric.  I have always been scared of yellow.  I was told I should never wear yellow because it makes me look sick.  I’m not sure this shade of yellow makes me look sick though.  I think it looks very summery.  I really like it.

I used a size 10, but used a smaller seam allowance in most areas and a much larger seam allowance around the waist and above the chest.

The dress is so comfortable and a perfect fit.

Last night, I was browsing through Pintrest looking for inspiration.  My husband is sitting next to me and well, conversation below…

Husband – That

Me – What?

Husband – Put a bow on it.

Me – What are you talking about?

Husband – The dress, put a bow on it, just like that one.

So, this morning, that is what I did.  It does cover up my mistake somewhat, and makes it look a little more intentional, and a little more girlie. So, essentially my husband fixed the dress by saying “Put a bow on it.”  I would have never guessed that would come from him.

New Look 6048 – Strawberry Dress

I ran across the strawberry fabric on clearance at Walmart.  I was super happy since it was $1 a yard.  I bought 5 yards.  I think I used 2 to make this dress.

I used New Look 6048.  I did modify it slightly just like my muslin.  I didn’t fold the contrast piece over, I just sewed it on top.  It would have been too low for me to sew it that way.

The sewing was quick and easy.  I used a size 10 and used a larger seam allowance where I needed and less where I didn’t.  I prefer a smaller seam allowance on my princess seams, otherwise they end up puckering and being weird, even if I cut them after they are stitched.  I also made this dress a lot more fitted than I usually make them.  Most of my previous dresses have about a 2-3 inch ease around the belly.  That is usually enough to make me look bigger, but, they are much cooler to wear.

Anyway, I am in love with the finished dress.  It is one of the few dresses the husband actually likes.

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Cart 0

Baluch (336169) 150 X 67 cm

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Buy this authentic rug - hand-knotted Baluch (336169) 150 X 67 cm made of Wool coloured in beautiful shades of Burgundy, Navy and Red

Baluch rugs are tribal hand-woven rugs made in the southern part of Persia by nomadic Baluch tribes. The majority of Baluch rugs are woven in the province Sistan-Baluchistan, which sits on the extreme Southeast boundaries of Persia. Colours of Baluch rugs are usually predominantly a rich burgundy with some very dark navy blue and accents of ivory. They frequently have either an overall pattern, or a prayer rug design. Any Baluch Persian rug is one of a kind and has absolutely no duplicates anywhere in the world. Being of tribal and often nomadic origin the Baluch rugs are generally small in size, typically limited to a length of 8 ft. Often using wool pile and foundation the rugs are resilient, however due to the materials used and the circumstances of the weavers the knot count is generally low with about 60-180 knots per square inch (KPSI).The people of Baluchistan are descendants of Turkmen weavers and they are amongst the poorest in the in Persia. Low wages and tribal lifestyles mean that Balouch rugs are some of the best value for money carpets from Persia. FREE DELIVERY ON THIS RUG within UK mainland.

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What is air pollution Asydybaran ?

What is air pollution Asydybaran ?
Any questionable air pollution to rain , snow , sleet or maybe harmful substances like element oxides and sulfur might wherever there’s one . These 2 compounds with element and water vapour within the atmosphere by chemical process tired aqua fortis and sulphuric acid return.

The main issue for this waste product industries , transportation and facilities vary , inflicting a pointy increase in acidity of precipitation and damaging plant and buildings square measure. Most major industrial cities square measure vulnerable by acid mud . London within the winter of 1952 a severe attack of acid was mud and cause the premature deaths of four,000 individuals were sick . The accident was caused by town administration Pyshgyranhay measures so as to require action to manage pollution . As a result , these days town is taken into account among the cities that have comparatively clean air .

Acids facilitate of robust winds will stay within the air for days and travel many kilometers and therefore could also be passed from one country to a different .

If the mud -air mixture is acidified with water particles within the atmosphere to create air pollution falls and damages the surroundings . air pollution is caused directly Rvyydnyha trees , soil beam balance goes down and it unsettles . once the rain drips down into rivers and lakes and aquatic animals and plants results in destruction .

Forests and lakes , air pollution victims
The effects of air pollution on trees , forests are going to be severely vulnerable . Few ways in which to air pollution harms trees .

– one in all the disorders that cause excess sweating and makes the pore water shortage leaves the tree .

– The soil is acidic and damages the roots of trees , therefore the tree absorb water and nutrients organic process drops. The mineral soil are going to be needed , these materials square measure driven into the bottom water and surface structures of the skin and leaves it destroys . Cause they’re attacked by insects and plant diseases and organic process keep open .

The current torrential rain is acidic , your path are going to be on the bottom and eventually flows into lakes . air pollution natural action of lakes and rivers , killing fish and different aquatic animals square measure. Lakes dead (no fish) in most places as antecedently exist , however they will not live any fish in acidic water .

Trout and perch in but five hydrogen ion concentration and hydrogen ion concentration shells in but 6/5 die. additionally, eating away, cytotoxic metals like metallic element , that square measure discharged into the water with the fish system and will cause death . In square measureas with impure atmosphere square measure acidic in spring waters are the foremost impure lakes as a result of the melting winter snow , acid lakes can go in conjunction with them .

Wear chemical
Acid rain devastating and irreversible injury to monuments and cultural treasures and cultural heritage of states create the cut analysis . Practices air pollution stone buildings, bridges, dams , etc. By air pollution , ground and square measure destroyed .
Famous buildings like the temple in Athens , the sculpture of Liberty in ny , the money ‘s Cathedral in London , the mausoleum in Asian country , Trayan building in Rome and also the church of Cologne, Cologne, European country are attacked by air pollution , and chemical deterioration of their method , is remodeled .

These buildings square measure typically Hkdar surface rocks . once mud and air pollution on a building , sits down with rocks and minerals, chemical interactions , and turns them into powder-like substance . thanks to this marble sculpture of lawyer in Washington Vaknshhast the thick over eighty years , has been reduced by quite eight millimetre . apart from the surface buildings and structures that square measure subject to wear , glass windows , they’re not immune from damage .

Affecting the transportation business
Both the railway and aviation business annually thanks to air pollution quantity they price. Railways and even cars thanks to exposure to the outside , the best injury from mud and air pollution , square measure incurred . Procedures in impact, acid rain , chemical wear thanks to corrosion of steel bridges can lose its effectiveness .

The impact of air pollution on humans
Man seriously hurt as a results of air pollution to the extent that it’s going to be her death urban center . air pollution caused many folks , particularly people who have asthma attack , respiration issues square measure found. impact of SO2 and Roman deity emissions on humans , dry cough , headache , raw throat and is angry . Consumed by plants or soil organisms on to air pollution and also the plants appeared to have absorbed , affects the brain and kidneys and may cause presenile dementia in humans .

Ways to manage
One of the only ways in which to avoid acid contamination , clean coal before burning it. For this purpose , charcoal, crushed and water wash before use , or throughout sure operations , sulfur shelter. If the oil clearance is out and with it a particular means that the sulfur treatment .

The principal ways of fuel consumption additionally plays a task in preventing pollution is natural action . Use filters to see however smart it’s. victimization this system , cars , trucks and motorcars , environmental pollution میز خنک کننده لپ تاپ acid considerably reduced . Safety management and motorcars to forestall them , scale back pollution, acid , plays a vital role .

Above all, careful designing is powering . as a result of where energy is consumed in conjunction with acidic pollution – in some cases terribly tiny and typically terribly dramatic and dangerous – is made . In fact, the wind and rain, acid factories and cars with wheel rotation is directly associated with the replacement of different materials that may be substituted for fossil fuels within the long run, an inexpensive plan is to avoid environmental contamination . during this regard, we tend to Renewable Energy sources like star and wind generation, taking their name , doesn’t result in complications like pollution .

One of the attention-grabbing things regarding it’s that associate acidic pollution could also be mud -producing country with monumental resources , air pollution be acidic , however not below significant attack by . for instance , Canada, that annually acid mud abundance in North America square measure moving towards it .

Acidic pollution , most industrial countries have suffered disproportionately in poor countries and other people plagued by acid contamination . Forests and plant resources of those countries is declining and thence terribly robust resistance by the individuals against dangerous biological development has been created. In some Western countries , teams and political parties are developed that aim to tackle pollution and acid various countries to fight this to the eye of authorities . It ought to be noted that the pollution in developing countries and countries with foot infections in industrial countries isn’t less business , less pollution .

Unlike developing countries, wealthy countries can’t afford the high price of acid pollution hindrance afford. thence it’s necessary with their industrial development , pollution management even have to later be forced to fight the terrible pollution , acid , to caused by the high prices square measure Tolerante .
In respect to a rustic like Islamic Republic of Iran, not solely agents defiler base of the plants and stuff like that to contemplate . In fact, countries like Islamic Republic of Iran, whose space is many times the scale of European country , however thanks to plant contamination thanks to high volume of non-normative specialize in central and unneeded enlargement of their

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Shorai LFX lithium battery tested and proven in Daytona 200 mile race

Shorai Inc. sponsored rider Shawn Higbee, competed on the Buell 1125 in the Daytona 200, to finish 17th out of 44 riders.  The small and lightweight Shorai LFX14L2 started the big V-twin engine quickly and performed flawlessly all weekend.  On track performance was improved by using the Shorai battery because it saved about 7lbs compared to the OEM lead acid battery.

During the AMA Pro Roadracing event at the Daytona International Speedway fan walks allowed the spectators to meet the riders in person and see the bikes up close.  Shorai pins and stickers where handed out along with autographs for the fans.  As people picked up the Shorai sample battery the most common comment was, “wow….is that the actual weight!”.

Higbee also debuted the CrotchRocket.TV EBR1190 Shorai sponsored effort in the AMA superbike event at Daytona but mechanical problems prevented Higbee from starting the Superbike races.  ”It was a real bummer not to be able to race the EBR1190.  I only had a chance to circulate in practice for 5 laps before we dropped a valve.  The EBR1190 is really fast, the data indicated over 190mph on the intial laps and it had a lot more speed left!”

Look for Shorai, Shawn Higbee and the CrotchRocket.TV EBR1190 later this season in AMA Superbike competition.


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Life has been quite good to me recently.. Im finally better now and finally got back to attending classes. Today while i was in class, the principle, Mr Amos called my house. Looks like he’s worried that im gonna get his school infected with H1n1 haha. Looks like today class was as usual, nothing much out of the ordinary.

2 days being absent from class and i cant believe i would say that i ACTUALLY miss my class. I miss everything.. especially my dearest friends. I really wanna thank all my friends who are always soo concern and caring.

Haix.. no plans for tomoro yet.. Tuesday, the most boring day of the week. Seems like its another day im spending alone. Unless if anyone plans for a outing or something like that.

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The Usual

As I’ve stated a few times before I am a creature of habit. I get up at the same time, eat my meals at the same time, workout at the same time and generally eat similar meals.

I know this meal time repetitiveness can lead to nutritional deficiencies so I always try to squeeze as many nutrients into my meals as possible. For the past few months I have been on a serious smoothie kick, with the weather being much warmer theres nothing better than a post workout smoothie. Smoothies are the perfect vessel for nutrient overloading, you can basically keep adding and adding whatever you’d like and as long as you have a banana it will generally still taste delicious.Image

When making my smoothies I always make sure to include lots of healthy fats, fresh organic fruits and veggies and a clean source of protein.

My go to these days is a delicious blueberry banana protein smoothie: 1/2 ripe avocado, 1-2 tbsp chia seeds, a few handfuls of kale, 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2-3/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use raw sunwarrior sprouted protein powder) and 1 cup almond milk… blend until nice and creamy 🙂 Avocado in your smoothie is a game changer! honestly it makes the smoothie so thick and creamy.

Another favourite of mine is a almond butter, banana and date smoothie: 1-2 tbsp almond butter, 2-4 dates (depending on sweetness), 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tsp cinnamon, a handful of kale, 2 tbsp hemp hearts, and 1 cup almond milk… blend until smooth 🙂

The balance between protein, fat and carbs really helps keep you satiated, it’s the perfect start to the day!

I don’t know about you, but I find starting the day with lots of fruits and veggies really sets me up to make more nutritious decisions throughout the day.

Hope you enjoy 🙂

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When frustration becomes serendipitous – My second most cited paper

For most of the 1980s and the early 1990s I worked for the UK Forestry Commission as a research and advisory entomologist. As a civil servant I was subjected to a lot more rules than I am now as a university academic. The most frustrating set of rules in my mind, were those associated with publishing papers. The initial consultation with a statistician before your experiment was planned and any subsequent collaboration with the analysis was very sensible, and I had no problems with that part of the process at all. Our statisticians were very good in that they helped you decide the analysis but expected you to learn GenStat (the Forestry Commission standard statistics programme) and do it yourself unless you were really stuck.

The next bit was the frustrating part. When it came to writing papers you first submitted your paper to your line manager. They then read your paper, very frustrating indeed for me, as my immediate boss considered papers a very low priority and it could be several months before he got around to passing it back with comments and suggestions. Then it was passed to a member of one of the other department such as silviculture, tree breeding or pathology for them to read and make comments. The idea behind this being that it helped make the paper accessible to a wide audience, again a good idea. The problem at this stage was that once again your paper was likely to be a low priority, so yet more delay. Once that was done you then had to submit your paper to the Chief Research Office for him to read and comment on, so once again yet more delay. This meant that quite often it was a year before you actually were able to submit your paper to a journal, which could be deeply frustrating to say the least.

In 1986 a new journal to be published by the British Ecological Society was announced, Functional Ecology. In those days, the dreaded Impact Factors had not yet raised their ugly heads, and one tended to publish in journals relevant to your discipline, or, as in this case, the fancy took you.  I thought it would be cool to publish in the first issue of the first volume of this new journal.  I therefore set to work, with the help of one of our statisticians to produce a paper about life history parameters of the pine beauty moth, from a more ecological point of view and not from the more applied view-point of it as a forest pest (my job remit). I was very proud of the paper and confess to having got somewhat carried away in the discussion, so much so, that it was suggested by all who read it in the very lengthy internal appraisal process, that most of the discussion should be cut as being too far away from the main story. As the process had taken so long already I decided to go with the flow and eventually submitted my paper about a year after first writing it, incidentally giving my statistician a co-authorship. It was accepted and did indeed appear in the first volume of Functional Ecology, albeit the last of the year (Leather & Burnand, 1987)! It has to date (14th October 2015) being cited 53 times, by no means a disgrace, but certainly not my second-most cited paper.

I mentioned earlier that I was really proud of my discussion and I decided that I was going to publish it regardless. I reworked it slightly and submitted it to Oikos as a Forum piece, taking the calculated risk of not submitting it through the official Forestry Commission system. My reasoning was, that a), it was unlikely to be read by anyone in the Forestry Commission, being a very ecological journal, and b), if challenged I would say that it had already been seen by the powers that be, albeit not officially. To my relief it was accepted as is (Leather, 1988) and my immediate boss never mentioned it. To my surprise and delight this is now my second-most cited paper, having so far acquired 207 citations and still picks up a reasonable number of cites every year. I guess that I should actually be grateful to all those internal referees who insisted that I cut my discussion down so drastically.

Leather, S.R. (1988) Size, reproductive potential and fecundity in insects: Things aren’t as simple as they seem. Oikos, 51, 386-389.

Leather, S.R. & Burnand, A.C. (1987) Factors affecting life-history parameters of the pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea (D&S): the hidden costs of reproduction. Functional Ecology, 1, 331-338.

Post script

In case you wondered, my most cited paper is an Annual Review paper, written with one of my former PhD students, Caroline Awmack, and now has almost a thousand citations (994 as of today).

Awmack, C. S. &Leather, S. R. (2002). Host plant quality and fecundity in herbivorous insects. Annual Review of Entomology 47, 817-844.

Filed under Bugbears, Science writing, Uncategorized

3 responses to “When frustration becomes serendipitous – My second most cited paper

  1. Pingback: Ideas I had and never followed up | Don't Forget the Roundabouts

  2. I had almost forgotten the joys of the internal review process in Civil Service research institutes! The trick was to submit the paper to the journal at the same time as you sent it round for internal review, without telling your managers that it had already been submitted! With luck you could then incorporate and suggestions when it came back from the journals reviewers!

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Tag Archives: University of East Anglia

Ideas I had and never followed up

“When I was younger, so much younger than before” I never needed any help to come up with ideas for research topics or papers.   When I was doing my PhD and later as a post-doc, I used to keep a note pad next to my bed so that when I woke up in the middle of night with an idea (which I often did) I could scribble it down and go back to sleep.  (These days sadly, it is my bladder and not ideas that wake me up in the wee small hours 🙂*)

On waking up properly, these ideas, if they still seemed sensible, would  move onto Stage 2, the literature search.  In those days, this was much more difficult than it is now, no Google Scholar or Web of Science then, instead you had to wade though the many hard-copy Abstract series and then get hard copies of the papers of interest.  Once in my hands, either via Inter-library loans or direct from the author, or even photocopied from the journal issue (we did have photocopiers in those days), the papers would be shoved into a handy see-through plastic folder (Stage 3).  Depending on how enthusiastic I was about the idea, I would then either mock-up a paper title page or put the folder in the ‘to deal with later’ pile (Stage 4).   Many of these eventually led on to Stage 5, experiments and published papers.  Others have languished in their folders for twenty or thirty years.

As part of my phased run up to retirement (2021), I have started farming out my long-term publishable (hopefully) data-sets to younger, more statistically astute colleagues and ‘publishing’ less robust, but possibly useful data on my blog site.  I have also, somewhat halfheartedly since the task is monumental, started to go through my old field and lab books that

A monumental collection of data.  The top right picture is my 20-year sycamore data set.  I estimate that there are about 7 million data points in it; of which to date only 1.6 million, give or take a million, are computerised.  I also have a ten-year bird cherry aphid data set from Scotland, waiting to go on the computer, any volunteers?

are not yet computerised.  Whilst doing this I came across some Stage 3 folders, which as you can see from the colour of the paper have languished for some time.

The Forgotten Nine

There were nine forgotten/dismissed proto-papers, the oldest of which, judging by the browning of the paper and my corresponding address, dates from the early 1980s, and is simply titled “What are the costs of reproduction?”.  This appears to have been inspired by a talk given by Graham Bell at a British Ecological Society, Mathematical Ecology Group meeting in 1983.  In case you are wondering, this was one of those meetings supposed to bring theorists and empiricists together.   It didn’t work, neither group felt able to talk to each other 🙂  The idea, inevitably based on aphid data, didn’t bear any fruit, although I do have this graph as a souvenir.  If anyone wants

In those days we used graph paper 🙂

 the data, do let me know.

Slightly later, we find the grandly titled, “Size and phylogeny – factors affecting covariation in the life history traits of aphids”.  This had apparently been worked up from an earlier version of a paper, less grandly, but no less ponderously, titled, “Size and weight: factors affecting the level of reproductive investment in aphids”.  This is based on some basic dissection data from eight aphid species and presents the relationships, or lack of, between adult weight (or surrogate measure), ovariole number, potential fecundity and the number of pigmented embryos.  As far as I can remember these are data that Paul Wellings** and I collected as a follow-up to work we had published from a side project when we were doing our PhDs at the University of East Anglia (Wellings et al., 1980).  The second title was inspired by a paper by Stephen Stearns (Stearns, 1984), who was something of a hero of mine at the time, and was, I guess, an attempt to publish pretty simple data somewhere classier than it deserved 🙂  So this one seems to be a Stage 4, almost Stage 5 idea, and may, if I have time or someone volunteers, actually get published, although I suspect it may only make it to a very minor journal under its original title.

Then we have a real oddity, “Aphids, elephants and oaks: life history strategies re-examined”.  This one as far as I remember, is based on an idea that I had about r- and k-selection being looked at from a human point of view and not the organism’s point of view.  My thesis was that an oak tree was actually r-selected as over its life-time it was more fecund than an aphid 🙂  I suspect this was going to be aimed at the Forum section of Oikos.

The next one, dates from the late-1980s, “Protandry versus protogyny: patterns of occurrence within the Lepidoptera”, and reflects the fact that females of the pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea, on which I was then working, emerge before the males (Leather & Barbour, 1983; Leather, 1984), something not often reported in Lepidoptera.  I wondered what advantage (if any) this gave P. flammea.  I planned this one as a review or forum type paper but never got beyond the title and collecting two references (Robertson, 1987; Zonneveld & Metz, 1991).  I still think this is an interesting idea, but do feel free to have a go yourselves, as again, I suspect that I won’t actually get round to it.

Finishing off my time in Scotland, is a paper simply entitled, “Egg hatch in the bird cherry aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi.” I have ten years of egg hatch data from eight trees waiting to be analysed.  This is almost certainly not worth more than a short note unless I (or a willing volunteer) tie it in with the ten years data on spring and autumn populations on the same trees 🙂 Aphid egg data although not very abundant, is probably not in great demand.  My first published paper (Leather, 1980) was about egg mortality in the bird cherry aphid and 36 years later has only managed to accrue 32 citations, so I guess not an area where one is likely to become famous 🙂

I then have four papers dating from my time as an Associate Member of the NERC Centre for Population Biology at Silwood Park.   The first is titled, “The suitability of British Prunus species as insect host plants” and was definitely inspired by my foray into counting host plant dots as exemplified by the late great Richard Southwood (Leather, 1985, 1986).  I think I was going to look at palatability measures of some sort.

The next is called ‘Realising their full potential: is it important and how many insects achieve it?”  I’m guessing that this was a sort of follow-up to my second most-cited paper ever (Leather, 1988), the story of which you can read here, if at all interested.  Most insects, even those that are pests, die before achieving anywhere near their full reproductive potential, but then so do we humans, and our population continues to grow.  So in answer to the question, I guess not and no it doesn’t matter 🙂

Also linked to insect reproduction is the next paper, which I have followed up with the help of a PhD student, and do hope to submit in the near future, “Queue positions, do they matter”.  As this one may actually see the light of day, I won’t say anything further about it.

And finally, another one about aphid eggs, “Bud burst and egg hatch synchrony in aphids”.  This one was going to be based on my then ten-year sycamore aphid data but is now based on my twenty-year data set and is now in the very capable hands of a PhD student and hopefully will see the light of day next year.

There are also a number of other folders with no titles that are just full of collections of reprints.  I can only guess at what these ideas were so won’t burden you with them.

I mentioned at the beginning of this piece that I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with ideas any more.  As we get older I think there is a tendency to worry that we might run out of ideas, especially when, as we do in the UK, suffer from ludicrously underfunded research councils with very high rejection rates that don’t allow you to resubmit failed grant applications.  It was thus reassuring to see this recent paper that suggests that all is not lost after you hit the grand old age of 30.  That said, I do believe that as you move away from the bench or field, the opportunity to be struck by what you see, does inevitably reduce.  As a PhD student and post-doc you are busy doing whatever it is you do, in my case as an ecological entomologist, counting things, and inevitably you see other things going on within and around your study system, that spark off other ideas.  It was the fear of losing these opportunities as I moved up the academic ladder, which inevitably means, less field and bench time and more time writing grant applications and sitting on committees, that I specifically set aside Monday mornings (very early mornings) to my bird cherry plots and even earlier Thursday mornings to survey my sycamore trees.   Without those sacrosanct mornings I am pretty certain I would have totally lost sight of what is humanly possible to do as a PhD student or post-doc.  This, thankfully for my research group, means that I had, and have, realistic expectations of what their output should be, thus reducing stress levels all round.   As a side benefit I got to go out in the fresh air at least twice a week and do some exercise and at the same time see the wonderful things that were going on around and about my study areas and as a bonus had the chance to get some new ideas.

Leather, S.R. (1984) Factors affecting pupal survival and eclosion in the pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea (D&S). Oecologia, 63, 75-79.

Leather, S.R. (1985) Does the bird cherry have its ‘fair share’ of insect pests ? An appraisal of the species-area relationships of the phytophagous insects associated with British Prunus species. Ecological Entomology, 10, 43-56.

Leather, S.R. (1986) Insect species richness of the British Rosaceae: the importance of host range, plant architecture, age of establishment, taxonomic isolation and species-area relationships. Journal of Animal Ecology, 55, 841-860.

Leather, S.R. (1988) Size, reproductive potential and fecundity in insects: Things aren’t as simple as they seem. Oikos, 51, 386-389.

Leather, S.R. & Barbour, D.A. (1983) The effect of temperature on the emergence of pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea Schiff. Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Entomologie, 96, 445-448.

Robertson, H.G. (1987) Oviposition and site selection in Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera): constraints and compromises. Oecologia, 73, 601-608.

Stearns, S.C. (1984) The effects of size and phylogeny on patterns of covariation inthe life history traits of lizards and snakes. American Naturalist, 123, 56-72.

Wellings, P.W., Leather , S.R., & Dixon, A.F.G. (1980) Seasonal variation in reproductive potential: a programmed feature of aphid life cycles. Journal of Animal Ecology, 49, 975-985.

Zonneveld, C. & Metz, J.A.J. (1991) Models on butterfly protandry – virgin females are at risk to die. Theoretical  Population Biology, 40, 308-321.

*I hasten to add that I do still have new ideas, they just don’t seem to wake me up any more 🙂

**Now Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong

Filed under Science writing, Uncategorized

The Seven Ages of an Entomologist – Happy 60th Birthday to Me

Today I turned 60 – an event which has come as a bit of a surprise to me as inside I still feel about 17 😉 I thought, given the occasion and the fine example set by Jeff Ollerton‘s recent birthday blog post  that it seems a good time to reflect on my career in particular and academic careers in general. Despite there already being at least two other excellent articles about the “Seven Ages”, Jerry Coyne’s, The Seven Ages of the Scientist and Athene Donald’s The Seven Ages of an Academic Scientist, I felt no qualms in adding my own modest contribution to the genre 😉

Given my own career trajectory it turns out that I need more than seven ages, so as an entomologist I feel justified in adding five larval or nymphal instars to the traditional progression.

The Larval Stages

The Infant (first instar)

According to Shakespeare “mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”, which spending the early part of my childhood in colonial Ghana is actually very apt,

Simon babe in arms

although the photograph below shows a very contented baby indeed.

Simon - baby

I have no entomological memories from this time, although given that then it was normal practice to leave babies outside in their prams, I am sure that I was exposed to the whole range of flying Ghanaian insects. There is some evidence of an early interest in nature and entomology in the picture below where I seem to be investigating a small white butterfly whilst indulging in some early forestry work.

Simon Ghana

My first real biological memory, is however, non-entomological, the blue whale skeleton in the Natural History Museum London in 1958 when my parents were on home leave.

The Schoolboy (second instar)

 In 1960 my father was moved to Jamaica to work in the Department of Agriculture as a Plant Pathologist and this is where I started my formal education. Shakespeare describes the schoolboy as “whining schoolboy with his satchel, and shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school”.

Simon, Mark & Spences

I certainly had a satchel and it is from this period of my life that I have my first definite entomological memories. We lived in a suburb of Kingston, 32 Gardenia Avenue in Mona Heights. My father kept bees and I spent a lot of time playing with ants, conducting behavioural experiments with crab spiders and having close encounters with wasps and apparently in this picture from 1961, helping with my father’s very luxuriant garden; he grew a great variety of ornamental plants as well as fruit and

Simon 1961      Simon & Pussy cat

vegetables, including grapes, bananas, passion fruit, papayas, peanuts and breadfruit as well as coffee and more traditional vegetables. My final school report from my time in Jamaica shows a prescient comment from my biology teacher;

School report

School report bit

Secondary school (third instar)

My father’s next posting was to Hong Kong to work for the Ministry of Agriculture; his office was in the New Territories but we lived in Kowloon (Wylie Gardens) where I attended King George V School. Biology was again my favourite subject but apart from cockroaches and ants my entomological experiences were very limited.

Simon - schoolboy           Before braces – 1966

Simon braces

Keeping my mouth shut to hide my orthodontic appliances 1968.

Boarding school (fourth instar)

In 1968 my father returned briefly to the UK before his next posting to Fiji and I was sent to a state school, Ripon Grammar School, which had a boarding section. I was to spend five relatively happy years there and despite the competing interests of girls and sports, further developed my interest in invertebrate zoology, due in the main part to my zoology teacher ‘Brian’ Ford. I have many happy memories of pond dipping, searching for Cepea nemoralis and generally fossicking around in hedgerows.

Simon Fiji 1970

When on school holidays in Fiji I found time to investigate the local insect and amphibian fauna; our house seemed to attract toads in huge numbers which my brothers and I used to competitively collect in buckets for later release.

Sixth form (final instar)

In my two final years at school sport and girls continued to play a larger part in my life than entomology although I see from the fly-leaf of my books from that time that I owned and had read both volumes of Ralph Bucshbaum’s Life of the Invertebrates and also Darwin’s Origins.

Second fifteen

Ripon Grammar School 2nd XV – I am third from the left on the front row.

 Careers advice when I was at school was not very sophisticated and if you did Biology ‘A’ Level and were a school prefect, it was automatically taken that you were either destined to be a Doctor, a Vet or a Dentist.

School House Prefects1973

I was no different and despite my misgivings, duly applied for and was accepted at Birmingham University to read Medicine. As luck would have it, things did not work out as planned and after a less than happy year at Aston University in Birmingham, in 1974 I left Birmingham and moulted into a proto-entomologist at the University of Leeds.

The Undergraduate

The discovery that learning can be fun and that there might actually be a career in doing something that you enjoy.

I did a now extinct degree (although I have plans to exhume it), Agricultural Zoology, essentially a year of vertebrate zoology, with two years of invertebrate zoology, essentially applied entomology, parasitology and nematology. I loved it and thrived on it and grew my hair even longer.

Simon - undergraduate

I decided to become an entomologist in my second year and discovered the wonders of aphids at the same time. It was also round about this time that I decided I was going to become a university academic and started to work a lot harder; the logical end point of someone with a mother who was a secondary school biology teacher and a father who was a research scientist.

The Postgraduate

Discovering that being on “the road to find out” (Cat Stevens) is exhilarating

Simon - PhD student

I did my PhD at the University of East Anglia in Norwich – Aspects of the Ecology of the Ecology of the Bird Cherry Aphid, under the supervision of Professor Tony Dixon. A totally fantastic time, despite the ‘second year blues’ which all PhD students seem to go through when they think that they don’t have enough data. I was lucky enough to be in a large research group, at one stage there were thirteen of us in the lab, so there was always plenty of help and advice available. In addition we had the excitement of conferences and the first unsteady steps towards learning to lecture, mainly demonstrating in undergraduate practicals; I spent a lot of time pithing frogs for physiology classes (don’t ask) and also tutoring first year students in mathematics. We also played a lot of squash and enjoyed our social life; for those of you who know Norwich, The Mitre pub on Earlham Road, was our regular haunt.

The post-doc

Discovering how to run a research lab

I did two brief post-docs, the first in Finland, under the auspices of the Royal Society and the

Simon Finland 1981

second back at the University of East Anglia funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Council, both working on cereal aphids. At this stage of my career I started to learn how to supervise postgraduate students; the first port of call in a busy lab after the senior PhD student has failed to supply an answer is always the post-doc as the lab head is inevitably very busy. I also got my first real opportunity to lecture undergraduates, which turned out to be a lot harder than I had thought it would be even when talking about my own research.

Interlude or host alternation

 The Research Scientist

 Discovering that directed research on its own is not enough

Copy of Simon SSO

In a normal academic career, the next stage after post-doc is an appointment as a University Lecturer. In the early 1980s university lectureships were in short supply and many of us who would normally have gone into an academic career found ourselves either having to go abroad as lecturers at Commonwealth universities (I was offered but turned down a lectureship at Kano University in Nigeria) or joining research institutes. In 1982 I joined the UK Forestry Commission’s Northern Research Station where I spent ten years as a forest entomologist, answering enquiries, conducting directed research and giving the occasional guest lecture. I was however, lucky enough to be able to gain some PhD supervisory experience and after ten years, the last five which were increasingly frustrating, was lucky enough in 1992 to be appointed to a Lectureship at the Silwood Park campus of Imperial College.  In retrospect this was the last time I was able to spend about 90% of my time at the bench and in the field doing ‘hands on’ research, but I have never regretted moving into academia – the opportunity of being able to pass on what you have discovered and hopefully enthuse and motivate a new generation more than makes up for the loss.
Back to the primary host

The Lecturer

When I discover that I love teaching

Simon - Lecturer

You may have noticed that I have had a haircut; it was a source of some amusement to me that on joining the university sector I was expected to get my hair cut.

I was appointed as a Lecturer in Pest Management to teach on the world-renowned MSc Entomology course at Silwood Park, and as I was replacing a specific person (Geoff Norton), although not in exactly the same subject area, my ‘grace’ period was shorter that it might have been. Normally at research intensive institutions like Imperial College, new appointments are given two to three years to apply for grants and get their research groups started before being given teaching and departmental jobs. I had a year, but as I discovered that I very much enjoyed teaching (something that many of my colleagues then and later found very strange) I was not dismayed. Unlike some of my colleagues I had read the dictionary definition of the word lecturer: noun. One who delivers lectures, especially professionally.   I have never really understood the mentality of those who aspire to university positions and yet find the idea of having to teach students not only a distraction but in some cases abhorrent and to be avoided at all costs and strive to obtain funding to buy them out of teaching as soon as possible. Some of my senior colleagues at Imperial College (and elsewhere) had and have almost no experience of teaching at all and so have no idea of what is involved in delivering a decent course, a state of affairs that explains some of the very strange decisions that are made at some of the research intensive universities in the UK.   I often felt that they would be much happier in a research institute.

I also discovered that if you take teaching seriously then your ‘bench time’ is much reduced and you begin your career as a research manager, appointing PhD students and post-docs to carry your research ideas forward. I made a decision early on that I would attempt to keep some of my skills extant and set up a long-term field project looking at the insect communities living on sycamores at Silwood Park, especially the aphids. This meant that I had to set a day a week aside to collect data. By doing this it meant that I had a reality check on what was actually possible. I have seen too many colleagues who because of the time they had spent away from the bench or the field, had totally unrealistic expectations of what was actually possible to be achieved by their students and research assistants.

The Senior Lecturer

When the Department discovers that I love teaching

In 1996 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer (I think that it is a real shame that some UK universities have decided to adopt North American terminology and introduce the title of Associate Professor, apparently to avoid confusing the rest of the World. At Imperial College promotion to Senior Lecturer was to reward teaching excellence and was usually the kiss of death for any further promotion.

Simon - Lecturera

Senior Lecturer in Applied Ecology

 I was as well as teaching on the MSc Entomology course doing an increasing amount of undergraduate teaching including a final year course in Applied Ecology of which I was very proud, hence the decision to retitle myself. I was also very busy with external activities, being on the Editorial Board of the Bulletin of Entomological Research and just been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Entomology, just finished a term on the council of the Royal Entomological Society and been appointed to a slew of Departmental and University committees. My research group was really starting to take off, I was supervising 8 PhD students at the time; given the poor return rate on major grant applications in the UK, I decided early on that going for PhDs was a better use of my limited time and this is a strategy that I have mainly followed to the present day.

Research group

This does not include MSc or BSc students – they would add about 10 to each yearly figure from 1995 onwards

The Reader

 When I discover that it is possible to get even busier

In 2002 I was promoted to Reader one of the definitions of which according to Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary is defined as follows; Old English rǣdere ‘interpreter of dreams, reader’. In the UK university system, it is the rank below full Professor and comes with an endowed title, in my case I chose to become Reader in Applied Ecology to reflect the

Simon - Reader

myriad teaching roles I had accumulated and also to encompass the fact that my research group no longer dealt solely with arthropods, vertebrates had somehow sneaked their way in. Looking at Athene Donald’s list I see that I was pretty much doing a professorial role, serving on external committees, validating degrees for other universities and acting as an external examiner. I was also appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Insect Conservation and Diversity, a new journal for the Royal Entomological Society. My administrative duties had also continued to increase.  It was no wonder that my beard was getting greyer! I was however still preparing my own talks, although I will confess that a lot of my data analysis was being passed on to members of the group, duly acknowledged of course. I am extremely grateful that I have always had a loyal and very supportive research group, without their help life would have been impossible.  My thanks to you all (if any of you are reading this).

The Professor

Discovering the joys of being pretty much able to do what I want (with certain restrictions)

It became increasingly obvious that things could not carry on as they were, my teaching and administrative loads were becoming ridiculous; our Director of Teaching calculated that I was actually doing more teaching than anyone else in the Department including the Teaching Fellows. I was seriously considering early retirement although I was reluctant to do this as I was sure that with my retirement the last entomology degree in the UK would quickly disappear. Luckily in 2012 my team and I were miraculously offered the chance to move to a new more supportive location, Harper Adams University in Shropshire.

Simon 2015

So now I have become a Senior Professor, with a new entomology building, with less undergraduate teaching, which I miss, and a role that requires me to sit on more external and internal committees, to meet the great and the good and to make solemn pronouncements.  At the same time however, it does allow me to plough my own furrow and to influence university policy. Most importantly I no longer feel that I am beating my head against a brick wall and that the future of entomology as a degree course in the UK is much safer than it was five years ago.  I think I am at Stage 4 in Jerry Coyne’s list as I now find that I am much more interested in synthesizing and disseminating what I have learnt rather than doing original research – I can feel a book coming on 😉

My hope is that in five years time when I become a retired Professor and my hair and beard colour are the same, that entomology will be taught at more than one university in the UK and not just at postgraduate level.

A small point of personal satisfaction, is that, despite my elevation, I still do not own a suit 😉

For reference

Jerry A. Coyne’s summary, reproduced from his blog

  1. As student, listens to advisor give talk on student’s own work
  2. As postdoc, gives talks about his/her own work
  3. As professor, gives talks about his/her students’ work
  4. Talks and writes about “the state of the field”
  5. Talks and writes about “the state of the field” eccentrically and incorrectly—always in a self-aggrandizing way.
  6. Gives after-dinner speeches and writes about society and the history of the field
  7. Writes articles about science and religion

And the famous original from which the title is borrowed and adapted.

Seven Ages Of Man

(from As You Like It by William Shakespeare)

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice

In fair round belly, with good capon lin’d,

With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws, and modern instances,

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,

His youthful hose well sav’d, a world too wide,

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again towards childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

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Poor Performance First Disciplinary Meeting Notice

Notice Of First Disciplinary Poor Performance Hearing

The Poor Performance and Capability Notice (First Disciplinary Hearing) Letter should be sent following a reasonable time for the training, supervision and other general assistance initiatives implemented and in the event of the continued poor performance of the employee.

The Notice should state the reasons for the disciplinary hearing, that the employee has the right to be accompanied, and will have an opportunity to explain the Poor Performance.

First Disciplinary Hearing:
- If the employee's explanations are unsatisfactory a First Formal Warning should be issued to the employee.
- If the employee's explanations are satisfactory, the employee's performance should continue to be monitored and, after a further reasonable time and subject to the employee achieving a satisfactory level of performance, a letter should be sent acknowleding this improvement.
- If a First Formal Warning is not issued, but the employee's performance does not improve (given acceptable reasons), the procedure should restart with an informal discussion. Alternatively, the employer should consider offering alternative employment.

This Poor Performance and Capability Notice (First Hearing) Letter template is in open format. Either enter the requisite details in the highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.


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Armina Designs- The Big Wheels Kit Release

I was so excited when I got the preview for this kit.  It’s so hard to find fun kits for boys!  This one is chock full of dirt, wheels, trucks and other boy stuff!  Check it out!

Here are a few LO’s that I’ve created with the kit.

Happy Scrapping!


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Meet your Counselor

The Glendale High School Counseling team is available to assist you Monday-Thursday from 7:30-3:30 and Friday from 7:30-3:00 pm. Please expect some wait times if you plan on stopping by due to counselors assisting students, teachers and working in and out of the classroom, or please be call ahead and make an appointment to ensure you will be assisted as quickly as possible as we are aware that you time is valuable.
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Bronwyn Campbell
Guidance Department Chair
Last Names - A-C

Teresa Cabrera
                                                               Last Names - G-L

Jason White
Last Names - D-F

Mr. White is only in the counseling office from 12:40 - 3:30 PM his office is located in the Career Center, he will be teaching science in the mornings. Please plan accordingly when looking to stop by to see him.

Laurie Barden
Last Names - R-X

John Peterson
Last Names - M-Q and Y-Z

Teresa Cabrera,
Aug 18, 2017, 9:54 AM
Teresa Cabrera,
Jul 25, 2016, 2:50 PM


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UNIV 2013
[UNIV Philippines]

Reality Check: Discovering Human Identity in a Digital World

UNIV Philippines Facebook page:

Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Law:

· Metaphysics: Revisiting Thomism &Aristotelianism

· “Personalist” currents: Learning from Blessed John Paul II and other Personalists

· History of political thought: Where/When did the human person disappear?

· Human identity in the Human Rights Movement

Science & Math, Life Sciences:

· The Business of Abortion: Unmasking Anti-Life Propaganda

· In Praise of Pro-Life Scientists (Jerome Lejeune, etc.)

· Educating the Less Privileged: Leveraging on Web-based Science/Math Teaching

· Sustainable Development: Adding “Human” to Development

Pedagogy, Business & Economics:

· “Ideal” Educational Frameworks: Idea of the University by John Henry Newman

· Serving Human Dignity and the Common Good in Business: Goods that are truly good and services that truly serve

· Economics of Human Capital: Attending to individuals amidst collectivities

· Home-School Collaboration and Mentoring/Coaching: Challenges and Recommendations

Arts, Communication, Fashion, Culture:

· The Internet/TV/Ads: Instances of Objectification of Women

· Social Networks: Where is the human “face” in Facebook?

· Educating Young Persons in Elegance and Modesty: A Gameplan”

· “Film/Music Idols and theirimpact on young persons: A Survey”

Year of Faith (Oct. 2012 - Nov. 2013):

· Evangelization and the Internet: How the Church [specific Church groups] pursues individuals taking advantage of advanced means.

· The Family Under Siege: Proposals for and from Christians (FamiliarisConsortio, etc.)

· Preferential Option for the Poor: Fund-raising and Social Enterprise through the Internet and Social Networking Sites

Official developed theme for 2013:

“The digital world is opening a world of possibilities in communications, in the economy and in personal relations. Even twenty years ago, only a few visionaries would have guessed how naturally we would come to terms with this world. The Internet and its associated technologies allows us to communicate with an ease unprecedented in history: to spread ideas, share information, offer help, resolve problems, get to know people with similar interests, develop business projects…”

See: univforum.org :-)

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