Tadpoles growing up

If you get the chance, check out this link to a webcam pointed at that Iceland volcano: http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/. When I checked it out the other night, the lava was fountaining (it was sunrise there at about 11 pm our time). Since that time it has been too cloudy there to see much. A couple of our tadpoles are maturing to the point where they will no longer eat lettuce, so we set them loose at the big puddle (the recent rains filled it again) rather than have them starve. Here is a picture of Katie playing in a gym. She can somewhat identify and draw the letters: O, X, K, T, and W. Final exams for my Bradley classes start next week.

Karen's mom visit

Kris's second show went well. This tree looks like it is snowing flower petals. Karen's mom and her boyfriend John are in town for a visit this weekend and I showed them around campus.

Survivor: Babylon

Kris (a.k.a. Shadrach) did great in the middle school musical "Survivor: Babylon", which opened today.

Pix of living things

Pix from the weekend of our one tulip blossom. We now have only 6 tadpoles, but they are getting bigger and the back legs are growing in.

Katie's Baptism

On Saturday Katie was baptized at St. Anthony's Catholic Church; with Jill Kaeder and Wayne Bosma being her godparents. Overall, Katie did OK: she did not have a serious meltdown, but she was scared and cried when she got water on her head. At one point we used Jill's iPhone to distract her attention. Afterwards we had a good party. My parents and sister joined us this weekend for the baptism and left this morning. This afternoon we attended the Chemistry Club picnic in Bradley Park. Now we are tired. One last half-baked thought: before the adoption took place I had not put a lot of thought into this whole event, but by the time yesterday rolled around it felt like I had been waiting a very long time for it to happen.

3 months

We "got" Katie 3 months ago today. Wow she has changed, and I suppose we have, too. Pix from Saturday, mostly at Bradley Park.

Letter to the Editor of C&EN

The following letter was published in the April 5, 2010, issue of Chemical & Engineering News. I did not send in any associated pictures, but include them here:

I would like to thank the authors of C&EN for their continuing coverage of chemistry in China. While I waited years to travel to China, I have found C&EN to be a good source of chemical and non-chemical insights about that amazing nation and its people. I recently returned from the long-awaited trip and noted the article “In Pursuit of Clean Water” and its discussion of pollution of the Pearl River (C&EN, Jan 4, p.14) . Having spent several days near a small portion of the Pearl River on Shamian Island in Guangzhou, I can offer some additional images of the river:
- a scenic, tree-lined long park/pathway along the Pearl River in parts of Guangzhou busy with pedestrians and a smattering of food carts
- a river confluence near Shamian Island where there are nightly spotlight, laser, and music shows which attract both land-based spectators and tour boats
- mornings on that same confluence, where multiple boats and people remove the previous evening’s accumulated debris from the river
- parts of the river (especially the more stagnant narrow channel along the back side of the island) smelling and looking like a sewer drain
- a couple of men swimming in the river near a bridge where the homeless sleep, hanging on to life rings and beverage coolers as they bob in a boat’s wake
As Guangzhou readies itself to host the Asian games this November, I hope that it can clean up the chemistry of the Pearl River as well as it has begun to clean up its cosmetic appearance.

Dean Campbell
Peoria, IL

Meeting trip

Wednesday and Thursday we were visited by longtime freind from back in our college days, the Kaeders. Benjamin (Kris's age) is our godson. Today I was at the annual meeting of the Illinois State Academey of Science - this year at Milikin University in Decatur, IL (home of the Decatur Staleys, which became the Chicago Staleys, and then finally the Chicago Bears). On the way home I stopped at the towns of Mt. Pulaski and Lincoln, to see a couple Abraham Lincoln sites.

Easter Sunday, 2010

Our family of four and my parents celebrated Christ's resurrection today by first enjoying a visit from the Easter bunny, complete with jelly bean trails and candy hunts. Then we all went to Mass, where Kris served and Karen read. My parents headed for home after lunch, and we hung out at home the rest of the day. I went for a walk in the woods with Katie: we picked up cans, water for the tadpoles, and found a few fossils. This evening we had severe weather roll through the area, but it mostly missed us.

Holy Saturday, 2010

My parents are in town for Easter weekend. We are all having fun hanging out together. The rain passed earlier than I anticipated. We have wake-robins close to blossoming in our woods, and I counted 4 dandeleons in the yard. We dug a bike out of the shed for Katie and helped Kris with her science fair project. We decorated eggs today.

Good Friday, 2010

Nice weather today, cooling and rainy tonight. As you can see our forsythia is in blossom.