new life; new look

I do whatever Hazel tells me to do, ever since 1996.
She wanted to see a new look so here it is.

Hey, Hazel--let's see a post from you soon!

PS Thanks for the chat tonight. Come visit Chicago soon!

Bucket list, or at least a list...

P
Inspired by Beth's blog
http://queensfeast.blogspot.com



 1. Teach at a major university (done)
 2. Go to Rome (done)
2.5 Go to Rome again to see the rest of what I missed.
 3. Ride in a helicopter (done)
 4. Fly a helicopter (unlikely due to poor eyes)
 5. Get an honorary doctorate (earning a real one is really hard!)
 6. Volunteer at a food kitchen.(done)
 7. Volunteer at a pet shelter. (done 2011)
 8. Go back to Greece and the islands with JJ and D. (done Sept. 2010)
8.5 Go back to Greece to visit Delphi and Agora and maybe the Odyssey cruise.
 9. Own a beach property (done)
10. Visit Alaska (done 2011)
11. Visit North Dakota (done 2011)
12. Visit all fifty states (done 2011)
13. Be a professional photographer (Tyra handles this one for me)
14. Write a book
15. Read my old journals (In progress)
16. Get my slides digitized (done)
17. Graduate from college (done--twice)
18. Clean my office
19. Organize my office closet
20. Learn Latin
21. Learn ancient Greek (tried and bailed in Feb. 2011)
22. Learn Hebrew
22. Translate some ancient text (done Jan. 2011)
23. Publish an article in a journal
24. Make a difference in the life of others (in progress)
25. Love and trust someone fully (done)
26. Love and trust someone fully again (done)
27. Giggle (always)!
28. Drive cross country with no time frame
29. Have a dog who I love like a child (done x2)
30. Pay someone to clean my house and mow my lawn (done)
31. Buy really nice sheets from Marshall Fields without looking at the price tag.(I tried to in 2009 but there were none I liked. Besides, Fields is now Macy's.))
32. Play like a 5 year old in the water.
33. Spend a week on the Vineyard.
34. Attend an authentic Passover seder. (done x2)
35. Visit the wailing wall.
36. Walk out my door to the lake with a book and a cup of coffee.
37. Be important to kids. (done)
38. Spend a weekend at a retreat in silence (The Cenacle?)
39. Read all the books on my shelf.
40. Volunteer in a literacy program or the pet shelter.
41. Have a scholarship fund in my name. (in progress)
42. Go to Esalen with Dorian. http://www.esalen.org/ (Went to Mago retreat in Sedona AZ instead)
43. Learn about Buddhism.
44. Swim with the dolphins.
45. Visit living history farms (done)
46. Learn to play the cello (in progress 2010, started in May)
47. Rescue a dog. (done)
48. Take crew lessons in Boston on the Charles River.
49. Forgive and forget. (done)
50. Rent a villa on the Amalfi Coast for several weeks and invite my friends to visit.
51. Read the story of David.
52. Read every page of the Bible.
53. Be about something bigger than myself; pull others forward. (in progress)
54. Attend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at temple.
55. Go to a supreme court session with Sarah.
56. Walk the El Camino (1 week then all of it)
57. Go to the opera and understand it. (done)
58. Spend a month at Big Sand Lake.
59. Play a duet (piano and cello) with Sarah and have me sound 1/2 (ok--1/4) as good as she does.
60. Help JJ house hunt for his retirement home, like I did in Villa Park as Mrs. Nieman.
61. Find myself. (always in progress)
62. Have a fire pit. (done, July 2011)
63. Visit Asheville/NC (done 2018).
64. Find a new place to be a home away from home.
65. Be first. (done with JB)
66. Own a VW convertible bug. (done)
67. Have more Chicago based friends. (done)
68. Finish my bucket list 100. (writing it and doing it!)
69. Read Walden. (done 2019)
70. Study Homer's Iliad. (fall 2011)
71. Rent Joe's Pond house from Gary and Chris for 3 weeks to reflect on life. (done Sept.2011)
72. Visit D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival (done April 2011)
73. Teach Homer's Odyssey (planned spring 2012)
74. Retire by 60 and drive an RV with JJ cross country.
75. Redo the first floor bathroom.
76. Go to Vienna with Janene. (done 2015)
76.5 Return to Austria and Hungary
77. Swing on a swing set with Sarie like little kids do, just like I saw the two older women in September 2011 at Joe's Pond.
78. Have a monthly massage appointment for at least one year. (done and still doing)
79. Attend a gospel church service on the west side of Chicsgo.
80. Research the canon. According to CB, there is a great literature on oral-to-written knowledge, including the processes of canon-formation. I also need to find Max Weber's paper, "The Routinization of Charisma."
81. Build my own labyrinth in the yard.
82. Spend more of my days reading, walking, working on class stuff. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired. (Just like at Joe's Pond in September 2011.)
83. Have comfy wooden Adirondack chairs.
84. Zip line down a mountain.
85. Spend January in AZ.
86. Civil war tour with Martha and Andy
87. Practice yoga daily
88. Visit Aunt Karen and Uncle Roger in AZ

89. Master breathing while swimming.
90. Viking River cruise in Europe
91. Visit Prague.
92. Cruise with Captain Kate again in the Western Caribbean and go snorkling
93. Visit HEEFS to volunteer with Esther the Wonder Pig.
94. Downsize to a ranch or duplex
95. Meet my grand-godchildren
96. See Billy Joel perform (done May 2016)
97. Become fully debt free including car and house

  = 100 (including 2.5 and 8.5 and 76.5)...
 plus
101. Shave my head for St. Baldricks
102. Spend at least a week in Santorini