KansasKate

ICE STORM UPDATE

We are fine. However, my hometown - just 30 miles south of here - was on the edge of the storm and part of the town was hit hard.

The south half of town (where my mother lives) looks like a disaster area. Every single house lost at least 1 tree -- the ice builds up & gets too heavy, the trees split and limbs fall. Mother lost 3 trees in the back yard; at least they missed the roof & windows. The neighbor's oak (which is a huge, strong tree!) dropped a big limb in mother's drive, blocking her garage door. (Which is ok - she doesn't need to be out driving on the ice anyway!) Some streets are closed because the city is still working on getting fallen trees out of the streets.

Most of that southern part of town is without power -- 4300 houses in a town of 20,000 people, which is about 1/3 of the town. That's a lot of trees to cut & lines to restore. The power company says it could be 7 to 10 days before all power is restored.

We moved mother into a hotel & boarded her cat w/ a vet, both places in a suburb on the north side of town where there is power.

As bad as all this sounds, it could be worse. The temps are between 20º-35ºF which is a lot better than 0º or -10ºF! (Still, it's too cold to be without heat.)

There are several small towns nearby with NO power. None! Whole towns without any electricity -- little rural towns with no university or hospital or other place that has their own "power plant" and can serve as a shelter.

So, on top of working 10-12 hours/day, every day, now I'm having to make daily trips (60 miles RT) to check on mother and the situation w/ the electricity & trees at her house, my grandmother in the nursing home, etc.

And as much as I would like to have a big pitty party right about now, I know so many other people have it worse -- the poor, the elderly, people without hotel rooms and family and resources. Please keep those people in your thoughts & prayers.

SENDING: I usually send swaps within the first 2-3 days after partners are assigned. However, work, family and health matters always come before hobbies and all things virtual. I do not flake, but due to current demands on my time, I cannot dedicate as much time to swaps as I would like. When I can't meet a deadline, I will let you know via email, the swap page, or by posting a comment. So if the mailing deadline has passed and you haven't received anything yet, please email/convo me and let me know it never arrived.

RATING: I try to leave a rating as soon as I receive an item or shortly thereafter. If it has been a while since you sent me something, and I haven't rated it yet, please email me to make sure it arrived.

HEARTS: I give hearts to partners if they include something extra, or use info from my profile to custom-tailor an item just for me, or go the extra mile in some other way.

STARS: I give stars to coordinators if they have clear instructions, email send-date reminders, offer to angel a no-send, or do something else above-n-beyond in some other way.

SPOILER: I post photos of the swap items I send & receive on Flickr.

I'm in my mid-40's. My birthday is in March. My favorite gemstone is my birthstone, the aquamarine. Though I'm not "into" astrology, I like my zodiac sign - two fish - pretty well too.

I have been happily married for over 20 years. He's a Gemini; I'm a Pisces. He's an only child; I'm a first-born. Theoretically, it shouldn't work. But it does.

For my birthday this year (2007), my husband gave me a gorgeous blue cat. She's the best cat I've ever had, and I love her. For that matter, he's the best husband I've ever had, and I love him too.

I'm bilingual (English-Spanish) and know a little bit of a few other languages. Y de yapa chamuyo lunfardo.

I'm a former academic who misses teaching & students but not departmental politics & administrators. I'm a philologist & geographer who has worked as an importer, tour guide, translator & interpreter, copy writer, proofreader, journalist, and historic preservation activist. Currently I'm a - gulp! - corporate wife who does a lot of volunteering for charities & community projects.

Labeling my beliefs isn't something I usually do, but for those who like or need labels, my personal philosophy is closest to Secular Humanism and my politics are liberal. I hold an elected position in the Democratic party at the county level. (Yes, there really are "blue" voters in the "red" state of Kansas!)

I believe in the power of both saints and iconoclasts to inspire us, focus us, and help us to help ourselves. My favorite saints are St Jerome (patron of translators & bibliophiles), St Gertrude (patron of cats) and especially St Anthony (patron of lost things), who has come to my rescue on many occasions. I think Frank Lloyd Wright and Picasso were brilliant.

My favorite color is blue, in almost any of its many varieties: indigo, cobalt, teal, turquoise, aqua, periwinkle. My favorite color combo is bright pink + lime green.

People who know me well say "Hotel California" and "Cumbiera Intelectual" are the songs that most remind them of me. (¿¿¿??? Well, maybe in my younger days…)

Making beaded jewelry and doing paper crafts & altered art are part hobby, part therapy. Mostly I use my creations myself or give them as gifts; I also enjoy trading craft projects here on Swap-Bot and in private 1:1 swaps; once in a while I offer something for sale on Etsy.

When I have time and remember to, I blog on Blogspot, read friends’ blogs on My Space, check out FaceBook and Classmates.com, and upload photos on Flickr.

FOR WORK: Philology . Linguistics . Second Language Acquisition . Teaching . Translating . Interpreting . Lunfardo . Geography . Maps . Nautical Charts . Tour Guide . Historic Preservation & Restoration . Architecture

FOR FUN: Literature . Reading . Cinema . Art . Art History . Travel . Sailing . Wine & Oenology . Genealogy

CRITTERS: Cats . Rabbits . Llamas

DESTINATIONS: Latin America . Mexico . Argentina . Uruguay . Caribbean . Jost van Dyke . BVI . Spain . Toledo . Italy . Tuscany . France . Paris . Provence

EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY: Pusser's Painkillers . Malbec . Meditrina . Three Gardens . Opus One (when I can get El Marido to crack open a bottle) . Penfolds bin 389 . Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva . Evolution #9 . Conundrum . Sangria . Margaritas . Mojitos . Caipirinhas . Tanqueray & Tonic (in the summer) . Cape Cod (rest of the the year) . Tapas . Empanadas . Gnocchi con Quattro Formaggi . Pizza a la piedra . Pasta a la puttanesca (my husband's recipe is the best!) . Pan au chocolat . Dulce de Leche La Pataia

FAVORITE THINGS FROM KANSAS & FROM KANSAS CITY: Magic Focus mirrors . Chicken Poop lip balm . wheat weavings . Sunny Seed Drops . Bogdon's Reception Sticks . Zum by Indigo Wild

I love to create - and would be thrilled to receive - anything inspired by Latin American art & culture, especially milagros, Mexican loteria, Gaturro or Mafalda (cartoon characters from Argentina) . Shrines & nichos . Bead jewelry, especially bracelets . Collage, decoupage & other paper crafts / paper arts . Cards & tags . Fibers . Altered things (Moleskine journals, Altoids tin, match boxes, Mexican market bags, etc) . Almost anything with blue cats (either gray or literally blue).

Cats & Rabbits (figurines) . Coin Purses . Día de los Muertos (figures, sugar skulls, etc) . Dictionaries & Style Manuals . Fiestaware . Hèrmes Scarves . Latin American Art & Folkart . Letterpress Cards & Labels . Lithographs . Latin American Masks . Moleskines & other little notebooks & journals . Molinillos . Old Postcards . Sun Faces . Talavera & Majolica . Tiny Boxes . Vintage hotel luggage labels

ART: �lvar Suñol Múñoz-Ramos . Marc Chagall . Diego Rivera . Fernando Botero . Frida Kahlo . Graciela Rodo Boulanger . Mauricio Lasansky . Pablo Picasso . Rufino Tamayo . Zoma Baitler

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gianni López . Gordon Parks

ARCHITECTURE: the Arquitectonica firm . the Bauhaus school . Buckminster Fuller . Frank Lloyd Wright . Paolo Soleri . Mies van der Rohe . Prairie + Mission + Arts & Crafts styles . Spanish Colonial style

INTERIORS: Elsie de Wolfe . William Morris

FASHION: Anglepie . Eskandar . Flax by Jeanne Engleheart . Hèrmes . Mary Frances . Meant To Be Big . Pineda Covalín . Lilly Pulitzer

AUTHORS: Gabriel García Márquez . Ilan Stavans . John Grisham . Oscar Wilde

BOOKS IN ENGLISH: The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho) . The Book on the Bookshelf (by Henry Petroski) . The Botanist and the Vintner (by Christy Campbell) . Death Comes for the Archbishop (by Willa Cather) . Don't Stop the Carnival (by Herman Wouk) . The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (by Daniel Mendelsohn) . The Mapmaker's Wife (by Robert Whitaker) . The Old Patagonian Express + The Mosquito Coast (both by Paul Theroux) . MexiColor + MexiCasa (by Melba Levick) . The Red Tent (by Anita Diamant) . The Sophisticated Cat (ed. by Joyce Carol Oates) . Waiting for Gertrude (by Bill Richardson) . What's the Matter with Kansas (by Thomas Frank)

LIBROS EN CASTELLANO: La casa de los espíritus (por Isabel Allende) . Desvidas (por Guillermo MacLean) . El espejo enterrado (por Carlos Fuentes) . El laberinto de la soledad (por Octavio Paz) . El país de las maravillas (por Mempo Ghiardinelli)

MOVIES: The Birdcage . Breakfast at Tiffany's . Casablanca . Chocolat . Cinema Paradiso . Como agua para chocolate . Esperando al mesías . Everything Is Illuminated . Frida . Il Postino . La historia oficial . Man on Fire (remake) . El Mariachi + Desperado + Once Upon a Time in Mexico . The Mexican . Motorcycle Diaries . Night of the Iguanas . Nueve Reinas . Plata quemada . Return to Me . Roma . To Catch a Thief . Under the Volcano

TELEVISION: The Book of Daniel . Epitafios . If These Walls Could Talk . The Naked Archaeologist . Real Time with Bill Maher . The Sopranos . Sex in the City . This Old House . Ugly Betty

ENGLISH: Beatles . Diana Krall . Eric Clapton . Frank Sinatra . Jimmy Buffett . Michael Bublé . Nora Jones . Renne Olstead

CASTELLANO: Charly Garcia y Sui Generis . Fito Paez . Joan Manuel Serrat . Joaquín Sabina . Mercedes Sosa . Pablo Milanés . Silvio Rodríguez ...

SPANGLISH: Kevin Johansen . Joan Baez

FAVORITE SONGS: California Dreamin’ . Canción para mi muerte . Cumbiera intelectual . Fly Me to the Moon . Gracias a la vida . Las casitas del barrio alto . Midnight at the Oasis . Necesito . Sur or No Sur . What a Wonderful World

FAVORITE TANGOS: Adios Muchachos . Cambalache . Caminito . El Choclo . La Cumparsita . Volver

Las artesanías pertenecen a un mundo anterior a la separación entre lo útil y lo hermoso (Octavio Paz)

Translation: Handicrafts belong to a world existing before the separation of the useful and the beautiful