I went to campus three days this week, my teaching days Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Limited mobility means I have to get systematic about things which I imagine most of us do ad hoc: a checklist for getting out the door, since I can’t run home to get things I forget, and I’m more forgetful than usual on pain medication; keys in the left pocket, phone in the right; planning my movement around the building and campus, since our elevator is slow; cutting back on coffee, since 15 minute round trip walks to the union just aren’t gonna happen. Etc. I already have daily checklists for class, and use our groupware calendar extensively. So that’s not a very big adjustment. I’m lucky that my classroom is about 50 feet from my office.

I’ve had a lot of help. Multiple colleagues have offered to drive me to and from campus. Our department office manager Barb Arvin did a fantastic job getting me a few accommodations for teaching without walking. In less than 24 hours, she got a rolling desk chair for my classroom–much easier to scoot around for group work and the like than to use crutches– and got Physical Plant to fix my sticky door lock and slow down the timing on the door closer to the bathroom I use most often. She and my department chair gave me rides to and from a meeting. My students have also been very gracious. Every day before and after class, students have volunteered to help me carry books, open doors, and the like. Small things, but add up to a tremendous difference, and I appreciate them very much.

At home, things are going well, too. Friends brought food the first weekend after my surgery. John and Karen brought greens from the garden. Since I was planning to go to a conference, we had already scheduled sitters so Erin could go to book club. They came over to help with bedtime, since what I could do was limited, to say the least. AJ brought a great math activity from her block teaching to share with the girls, and Elisa worked her baby whisperer magic on Amelia the next night. My parents arrived Monday, taking over most of the chauffeur and taxi duties from Erin, and helping with housework, harvesting tomatoes in kale in advance of our first freeze, etc. I’ve been able to help in limited ways, like reading books to the girls, prepping food, and directing Madelyn during pick-up-around-the-house time.

I’ve made some little adaptations to get around, like wearing my fingerless bike gloves most of the time, since my hands get a workout from the crutches, and wearing a backpack most of the time as well, so I can carry things around school and the house. One of my travel mugs fits right onto the handle of my crutches, which is nice. We’ve put a stool into the bathroom so I can put weight on my left knee while I shave and sponge myself off (no showers for now). And at times I give up on standing and just sit down to do stuff–like the other day when I couldn’t find one of my NA beers in the fridge (no real beer because of pain meds). My mom put zippers into two pairs of pants for me so I can get them over my cast, and modified a hat to fit my foot. All in all, while crutches are certainly an inconvenience, I’ve figured out ways to keep up some of my normal activities, with help from others. I’m glad my parents visited–they were helpful, and Madelyn and Amelia were thrilled to see them.

Erin deserves the most credit here. She’s been simply great, never blinking despite adding an array of duties to her mama schedule. I never forget how wonderful my wife is. But now it’s especially apparent. I’ve recruited friends to help her get some time for herself. After I hang up these crutches, I’m going to invest some serious energy into that project.

Today is our sixth pajama party for the girls’ birthdays. Breakfast at dinnertime, Erin’s choice. We count 70 people on our RSVP list. Gonna be a full house, to say the least. Erin and my mom put together the “haunted closet” which the kids love. I’ll be cutting up some pineapple soon and helping make some other things. And so far today I’ve been off the pain meds (yay!) so maybe I can have a glass of beer with my pancakes.

Though I missed MWCA, Neil and I have kept up our research schedule. We’re halfway through the second round of student interviews now, and we’re contacting faculty members to make arrangements to interview them. This weekend, we’re answering a call for proposals for the Kairos special issue on multimodality and writing across borders. Friday afternoon, we spent an hour and a half catching up, planning our work for the rest of the year. We decided to start using a weblog to write regularly about our progress. I’ll have more to say about that shortly.

What else? Not much. Getting to and from the university, helping with parenting, and keeping up with research is enough. Wednesday and Friday, I was booked pretty much solid 9-5: and exhausted at the end of the day. Certainly, I’ve had no problems sleeping since my surgery! As my leg heals, perhaps I’ll be able to do more–but I’m not going to overdo things. Better safe than stupid. This coming week, I meet with my surgeon Thursday; he’ll remove the staples and put on a new cast, and we’ll talk about my rehabilitation. I’m going to ask if I can switch to a VACOcast achilles boot a few weeks after that. It would be great to be able to walk before February.

This is just a start. Our annual ridiculously huge pajama party is late afternoon this Saturday. Y’all come.

It’s a fantastic life we have, my girls and I.

Photos by Sean West.

Thank you, Els and George.

• I’m still catching up from four very long and productive days at Computers & Writing. Madelyn got sick the night before the conference, literally; two times I woke to help her throw up, then get cleaned up, settled down, and back to sleep. (Poor girl. Something she ate, I think; she was better a day later.) So I arrived short on sleep, and did nothing to catch up during. A good problem to have: excellent sessions and conversation. Easily the best C&W I’ve attended. I’ll have a more complete post about the conference in a few days.
• The day before the C&C book award was announced for From A to <A>, we were #1,200,000 on their best-sellers. The day after, #141,000. So I guess a few people bought the book right away. Cool.
• In the next few days, I hope to put a few beers now in secondary into bottles: IPA, session pale ale, and spiced pumpkin honey wheat. The Saison Chris and I brewed May 7 is still fermenting away. After a week, it looked dead, but when I racked it, it woke up enough to build up a second krausen. I’ve read that’s typical of the yeast I picked (WLP 565): it has a tendency to stop and start. I hope so; the saison had only moved from 1.054 to 1.032 when I racked it after 12 days. I’d like to see it under 1.020 before bottling.
• My new profile pic on Facebook is this snap from our mothers’ day trip to the Peoria Zoo. We smile with our whole faces!
• We are in minimal child-care zone, now that WIU is out for spring and the girls’ day care is closed. Madelyn will be doing pre-K and YMCA day camp this summer in between our travel, and we’ve planned some playdate trading and babysitter time for the girls as well. For those of you in Macomb, we’re always looking for more of the former…
• Speaking of travel, we’ve planned a three-plus week road trip this summer. Arkansas, where we’ll meet my brother and sis-in-law to camp; northern New Mexico; Pagosa Springs then Denver, Colorado; Rocky Mountain NP, and maybe Rapid City after that. Many miles will be driven, trails hiked, DVDs watched, craft beers consumed.
• Madelyn and Amelia have been getting some grandparent time lately. Bits and Eric were here for five days or so last week, and my parents are coming next week. I’m very pleased about both visits, and I hope for more.
• My running injury troubles are returning, or continuing, depending on the way I think about it. Lately my feet have been bugging me. Erin was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, so that’s on my mind. Suck. I think I need to start another cycle of swim and bike only pretty soon. But I want to finish being a Couch to 5K volunteer first. I haven’t made it out for as many runs as I wanted. Maybe half of them. Regardless, it’s been a lot of fun. Now if my body would just cooperate.
• I’ve been trying to update rsync on our Mac Mini today, which means I need to compile it. Which means I need developer tools. So, credit card in hand, off I go. No. fun. at. all. I can’t believe how shoddy Apple Store / Apple ID / Apple Developer / App Store / iTunes integration is. Trying to get an update for Xcode, I finally got a download started–then realized I had created a new Apple ID, rather than updating my existing one (despite using the same credentials). Great. Now I’ll have to log in and out to update different pieces of software.
• Making ice cream today, I overheated the custard. Gack, scrambled eggs. First time I’ve done that. Well, we get to see if Lebovitz’s prescription for that mistake–into the blender while it’s still hot!–is a winner.

Elisa Vanina and Ellsworth Dilger
November 22, 1944

And so it happens that I have no living grandparents. It’s amazing to say that for the first time, as I look forty square in the eye. I grew up with four grandparents living about an hour away. Even as a kid, I knew that was unusual. Plenty of my friends had grandparents die before they finished high school, or even before they were born. My father’s mother, who you can see above, died in September 2000, meaning that I was 29 before I had a grandparent die. In fact, Erin’s maternal grandmother Blanche (Nana) is still alive, though unfortunately her quality of life is limited by severe dementia and memory loss.

Memories cross with imagination. Last January, on a previous visit to Grandpa, I ran by my other grandparents’ house, where my mother and her parents lived for many years. Much about it looked exactly the same as always. I stopped and stood in the road and considered walking up to the door and ringing the bell. For a moment I thought my Papa would answer, shouting “Hello Brad!” and shaking my hand before hugging me, like he always did. My grandmother, whistling her “Woo-hoo” call in the background. And we’d go to the back of their house, and sit in the kitchen with the glass doors open for the breeze, and have strong, hot coffee in little cups. Or a beer, ice cold, pulled from the very back of the fridge. And my grandmother would ask Erin and I the same questions she always did, and my Papa would roll his eyes a little.

I can play the same game for my fathers’ parents: arriving in south Florida after driving from Gainesville. The little white house like all of the others. My grandpa in his chair, with the remote on one arm, and the crossword puzzle on the other. My grandma in the kitchen, or in the chair next to his. The house full of amazing food: sausage cooling in a pot on the stove, something in the oven, cookies in the jar, more things waiting in the fridge. Pouring a glass of wine and trying to get grandma to sit down for a minute. Erin and I sitting on the floor next to her chair and waiting for her to snap at my grandfather. “Are you ever gonna shut up?” she’d ask. And he’d smile and go right on talking, and she’d remember something she had to do in the kitchen.

Yes, I feel loss today. But I have more to celebrate. From my past, rich memories of time spent with Elisa, Mabel, George, and Ellsworth. For the present and future, the bond Madelyn and Amelia have made with Bits, Eric, Richard, and Sandra. I hope to remember my grandparents well by ensuring my girls grow up with theirs.

• Madelyn and Amelia turned 5 and 2. Busy and busier–you pick. Both are avid readers; both would be on the computer eight ours a day if allowed.
• Lots of travel. We visited family in Florida (January) and Alabama (March). Our longest trip was a fantastic tour of parks in Utah and Arizona. In late September, the girls and I enjoyed a one-night camping excursion in a local park. I predict even more travel in 2011.
• My essay “Beyond Star Flashes” appeared in Computers & Composition 27.1, and From A to <A>: Keywords of Markup was published.
• Sick, I struggled through ATTW and part of CCCC, and finally gave up and left early. WPA went a lot better.
• Jeff, Thomas, and I met in Portland to drink local brews, eat good food. And I started brewing beer again. That’s continued with no major hiccups, except two broken carboys (augh).
• All of us got bike upgrades. As the girls get older, we’ll be using them a lot more.
• We said good-bye to Lumper, our girl cat.
• Erin and I painted the back and front porches, and got a new driveway. Other than that, not very many big house projects this year–a lot of small stuff.
• My sabbatical is going well. It’s a little more than half over, and I’m pleased with the retooling, reading, and writing I’ve accomplished to date.

Happy new year, everyone.

Swirled strawberry & sour cream ice cream

• 1 lb frozen strawberries
• 1/2 c + 3 tbsp sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 c cream
• dash of salt
• 1 c sour cream

Thaw strawberries and drain any liquid into a small saucepan. Smash the berries and transfer about half to the saucepan. Add 3 tbsp sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring as needed, until reduced and thickened. Chill in the refrigerator.

Make a custard with the eggs, cream, salt, and 1/2 c sugar. (See Lebovitz’s directions, from the aforementioned book or his weblog, if you need to.) Add the remaining strawberries and cool in an ice bath. Once cooled, the sour cream, mix well, and chill until thickened.

Churn the ice cream until it sets up. Return to the freezer, and move the strawberry sauce there as well. Stir both occasionally until they are almost hard, then fold the sauce into the ice cream and let it set up. (Don’t stir it too much!)

Madelyn said this was better than chocolate. Now that’s a compliment!

Amelia got the rails taken off her crib tonight–she has a big girl bed now! (But would still rather be in bed with her mama or daddy . . . she is a cuddle bunny, that Amelia.)

Madelyn concluded her birthday by (a) peeing on the floor; (b) taking a 45 minute bath; (c) freaking out for her aunt Erica and uncle Curtis on Gmail chat (after they sang Happy Birthday quite nicely); (d) doing somersaults off the couch; (e) quietly reading her illustrated bible for 20 minutes; (f) reading books with her mom; (g) typing “5 FIVE!” on her dad’s computer; (h) falling asleep 0.02 seconds after her head the pillow.

Now my turn for that last one.

Welcome, Judah. The Dilger girls are already eager to meet you. Today Madelyn said, “Vered has a brother and he is zero!”

Here’s to October birthdays, brothers, and beautiful babies.