Book Club
After completion of "my exam," that dreadfully horrible time when I was consumed with everything epidemiology, I found that I had hours of free time that had been previously consumed with studying that I suddenly had no idea how to spend. One of the ways in which I decided to fill that time was to join a book club with some fellow students at UM.

I just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle today; it was the second book of the summer for the club...and it was wonderful. Stephen King reviewed it and said, "I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It's over, you think, and I won't read another one this good for a long, long time..."I can't agree more. I wish there were another 562 pages to read. It's a mammoth by most standards, but the pages just fly by.

It's a work of literature. Yes, it's fiction. But it is such good literature. I haven't read anything like it in a while. Normally when I get a chance to read fiction, I read Grisham or Sparks or some kind of "paperback"...which I absolutely love, but those usually don't stick with you. Edgar Sawtelle sticks. And regarding the literature, it brought back some of those 10th grade vocabulary words I thought I had forgotten. :) You just get lost in the beautiful language...words like nefarious, incuse, empyreal.

Anyway, the book is about a mute boy and the dogs bred by his family. But it's about so much more too. The American heartland, family, growing up, love, and loss. I don't want to ruin it for you. It probably helped that I am a dog-lover, but you don't have to be to enjoy the book. Read it. I know you'll love it.

The life of a doctoral student...

I'm not sure if anyone will find this cartoon funny or not...but it sums up the relationship between me and my advisor. I'm intimidated by her. She is amazing, very accomplished, brilliant, and... intimidating. Last week I completed a draft of a manuscript/data analysis project I've been working on, but I have agonized over sending it to her for fear of criticism. (If you didn't know, I haven't quite found my "thick skin" yet. But I'm working on it.)

-

Anyway, I finally worked up the nerve to send it this morning, after an email similar to the one in the above cartoon. Within an hour, she had read all 18 pages, commented on them, and sent me an email that said "please see me immediately." Great. What have I done? I thought. But, much to my surprise, she complimented me (for the first time ever, I think). She made a few minor changes, as expected, but overall she was extremely pleased and told me I should be very proud of my effort!

-

Then she asked for my cell phone number so she could call me whenever she needed me. Uggh.

Happy Birthday, Jake!

I can't believe Jake is 4 years old today. He has brought so much joy to our lives and I can't imagine our family without him.

We tried to make his birthday and special day for him. The dog park was fun, but it was a whopping 90 degrees here today so it was uncharacteristically empty due to the "heat wave"...but Jake is such a happy dog he had fun anyway. Then he got a special bone to enjoy after the park.
*

*

*

*

*

*

Tomato, Tomato

We brought home a little $5 tomato plant from a farmer's market in downtown Detroit back in May.




















And it grew and grew.




















Tripled in size!















And with the help of my sweet 80 year old neighbor Seymour, his tomato ties, and (despite) my watering skills....we finally harvested a tomato! It was beautiful and delicious. We have many more on the way. My mom gave me a salsa recipe book as a gift and I was hoping to make homemade salsa, but they are ripening one at a time so far-- not enough for the recipes.

We also purchased several different varieties of pepper plants. They were doing well until a rabbit or a woodchuck ate the top half of them. We've still managed to get two peppers (see the red one below?) but it wasn't the crop for which we were hoping.

Also, have I shown you our other plants? These are pictures from our front deck.

I really love gardening. It reminds me of a favorite passage of Scripture:

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots do down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen. ~Ephesians 3:14-21 (NLT)