I came across an article recently about the effects of affection on learning.  It said that mice and rats which were held, cuddled, and petted by their owners learned to navigate mazes faster than those which were neglected.  Both the cuddled and neglected rodents received the same amounts of food and water, and lived in identical cages ( Read more... )

My partner gave me a lovely birthday present - a trip to Lake Tahoe last weekend ( Read more... )

My best friend has given me a really nice gift.  She's taking me to Lake Tahoe for the weekend.  We leave tomorrow and return Sunday evening ( Read more... )

Every story has an epilogue, for each story causes and influences later stories  in an endless series of epilogues.  The adoption story has many epilogues.  This part of the story just mentions a few things we did after we got back.

We sent the photos of other children in the home to the adoption agency in Kansas City.  From there, the photos were ( Read more... )

I just heard back from my mother about my cousin's death earlier this week ( Read more... )

One of my cousins died in a hospital yesterday morning.  I don't have any other details yet.

He was just a few years older than me.

My in-laws left today.

Yesterday, we traded notes on our planned trips.  We told them what to expect when touring archeological sites in Turkey.  We visited Çatalhöyük, Ephesus (speaking of Ephesus, I told them to look for a sign in ancient Latin which says "We raised your taxes  to pay for the money your corrupt officials gave away to their friends ( Read more... )

My in-laws arrived today.  We spent part of the afternoon hiking on Mt. Diablo, and then off to dinner with them.  I like how easily they laugh, at how they accept others, their intelligence, and their concern for others ( Read more... )

This is the story of when we went to India to adopt our daughter.  This part of the story covers our last 2 days in Kolkata, and the trip home.  Today is her Gotcha Day - the day that adoptive parents celebrate when their child(ren) first came to live with them.

I finally got out of bed just before noon on Thursday.  I had been in bed all day ( Read more... )

This is the story of when we went to India to adopt a baby girl.

This part of the story covers 2 days in Calcutta.  My partner and I were there for 4 days along with another woman whom we met in Delhi.  She and her wife were adopting a girl from the same children's home.  (Side note: Calcutta was renamed back to Kolkata.  The Indians claim the ( Read more... )