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Holly Doyne

words, wool, and travel

Holly Doyne
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Completed

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-30 by Holly2020-08-01  

Farewell to Anger

Considering 76k+ stitches, I am rather pleased.

Started 1 Jan 2020 (on Gold Coast NZ time) and finished 30 June 2020 – PDT. Artist is Leonid Afremov, design executed by Heaven and Earth Designs. Stitched on 16ct gridded Aida with ~ 90 colors. 

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a reply

Mini-Puzzles

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-24 by Holly2020-08-29  
Nautilus Puzzles has minis. They don’t take all that long to put together being about 50 pieces each, give or take a few.

Trick or Treat
Art Deco
Witch

But they are fun…

Posted in puzzles | Leave a reply

and the consensus seems to be

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-18 by Holly2020-06-19 3
that if I am feeling stuffy, or pretentious, I can always put more initials after my name.  Or just for the heck of it.

I am not really sure who, if anyone, I might need to impress – but there you are – MD, MPH, MSL, MFTM (RCPS-Glasgow). Said string could also include COL USA (ret) if I would want.

In a more sensible vein – Noah and I put in a small bit of time in the garage. Excess boxes and the plethora of books are the low hanging fruit at the moment.

And then there is stitching

Farewell to Anger at 85% complete

and new puzzles from Nautilus

Trick or Treat
Art Deco Peach Princess
Halloween

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Graduate Education, puzzles | 3 Replies

I finally checked

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-17 by Holly2020-06-17 4

For whatever reason, I screwed up the courage this morning to visit Webadvisor. What is that you say? It is the extremely clunky and difficult to use registration/transcript program that UCHastings uses. 

Amazingly enough, this time (as apposed to a month or so ago) it was willing to log me in for the start of an extremely frustrating attempt to located my transcript. Believe it or not – hitting the “transcript” button gets you exactly nothing. No idea why it is there, nor do I remember if it worked in the past. But for now? Meh. Rotating down the list several times – I tried “grades” which led me to the choice of Fall2018, Fall2019,Spring2019. The first was blank. Go figure – I wasn’t a student then. Fall2019 actually gave me a list of the courses I took that first fall. Of course, since the MSL students are not on the same grading system as the law students, I have the explanation for why clicking the GPA button got me no where. 

[side note – programers are not stupid, that page could be designed so that it only gives you the options which are applicable to your situation. This means that the person who wrote the specifications was either shortsighted or the school was cheap on funds.]

Checking the Spring2019 showed that my incomplete had vanished and an MSL version of a grade was posted. This means that I am done, Done, DONE!

Now, do you suppose that they will ever mail me my diploma?

Should I add more letters after my name? Perhaps in the British or European style so that the numbers of letters after one’s name exceeds the actual length of the particular name? Having a short name could really help.

Just wondering…. 

Posted in Graduate Education, Uncategorized | 4 Replies

Old Listens

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-14 by Holly2020-06-17  

Really, I will not tell you how many audio books that I own. Or have a license to (after all, there is Audible, iTunes, Chirp, GraphicAudio). What I will say that is currently I have very little tolerance for blood shed or violence. Not interested in reading or hearing about “bad things happening.” You can tell me that I can’t just stick my head in the sand – but really, all I have to do is listen to the news to get my fill of ugly – I don’t have to voluntarily import more of that to my ears.

As a result, I find my self listening to old favorites – the San Francisco library provides access to Hoopla, so I have been scouring their lists for books missing out of various of my series. Following links for “similar authors” and otherwise avoiding the worst of ugly.

All of this finds me listening to a number of old favorites. And I can stitch at the same time!

Posted in Books & AudioBooks | Leave a reply

It is the little things

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-11 by Holly2020-06-17  
right now that I am concentrating on. The sound of flamingo wind chimes in the breeze as they dangle from George’s new patio umbrella.

the well traveled Flamingo

The taste of the morning coffee that is my daily treat from Peet’s and The simple pleasure of one stitch after another going through the cloth of the cross stitch project on the floor frame.

past 60% complete

All of which are within my sphere, under  my control.

Posted in Home | Leave a reply

alternate space station

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-09 by Holly2020-06-17  
Seeing a great marketing opportunity – Nautilus Puzzles came up with a “Heye” like puzzle to celebrate the successful space launch. – The Space Colony

Alex and I started it a couple of days ago, sitting at the dining room table quietly enjoying looking at the pieces and putting together a bit of here and there.

Miriam decided it needed to be finished…

 

Space Flight

 

If you click on the picture – you will see a bit more detail. Perhaps better would be to go to the puzzle site – it is a real hoot… and they have a lot of pictures

Posted in puzzles | Leave a reply

Porto-whatever

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-05 by Holly2020-06-17  

a Liberty Puzzle

I was thinking about starting a new puzzle, and found that I had failed to put this one away.

So, I sat and admired it for a few minutes before carefully placing it back in its box and cleaning the puzzle board for the next round.

[As you can tell – I am not going much of anywhere at any time…]

Posted in puzzles | Leave a reply

what can I say

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-06-04 by Holly2020-06-17  

Not mine

It seems that there are two options for cat boxes – this particular one is call – to no one’s surprise….Sushi.

(photo furnished by the Eldest who just couldn’t resist the idea of more “cat in boxes or bags”

Posted in family | Leave a reply

And they flew

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-30 by Holly2020-05-30 2
from Kennedy Space Center in Florida – Dragon with two astronauts successfully flew with the Falcon launcher returning and landing. As I understood it – it will be a bit more than nine hours from launch to docking with the International Space Station.

And, in just as momentous although without the same amount of speed – the first of the Cal Falcon chicks launched from the Campanile.

The rest of us? Home bound, land bound and dreaming of flight.

Posted in Home | 2 Replies

The Power went out

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-27 by Holly2020-05-27  
There I was, last night, just before 2200. Happily stitching away on the rather large cross stitch that inhabits my floor frame and chatting with Jill, who is doing much the same while in her home on the eastern Australian coast. And, suddenly, as noted above – I am sitting in the dark. It is quiet. No motors anywhere. No signs of life. No computer, no wifi, no FaceTime.

Looking out the window – our entire neighborhood is dark. Ok, it is not our circuit breaker. The dark extends almost the entire way to the bay with only an occasional gleam of headlights as cars make their way along without the benefit of street lights or operational signals.

Over the next few minutes, I can hear the occasional generator starting up, breaking the peace and quiet. But it is dark. My phone is at 35%. Using it as a flashlight to head to bed will take the charge down further. George checks the PG&E website – yes, they know the power is out. These leaves me wondering if another squirrel has been crisped, since that was the origin of a previous transformer failure.

Somewhere after midnight the power comes back on. No, I wasn’t still awake. But the lights came on….

Posted in Home | Leave a reply

Sitting on the back deck

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-26 by Holly2020-05-26  
I started up Youtube and picked one of the Cal Falcon cams. The minute I did, two things happened. The first was that I promptly heard screeching over the cam. The second was that several birds in the area immediately flew to the redwoods near the back deck and started strongly voicing their opinions about falcons in the neighborhood.

Who knew? Well, I should have. Bird cries and calls serve as identification within and between the species. Obviously, to the ears of one of my local birds – there is no difference between a falcon heard from my computer and one actually present in the area.

Since the crew seemed to be quiet after the first minute I tuned in, I went back and pulled up some of older clips featuring a lot of calls, complaining and ear splitting cries.

Things are otherwise quiet here. I am spending the mornings out on the back deck before the sun gets too bright. switching to indoors for a while, then back outside at the end of the day when the setting sun streaming through the living room window makes it impossible to see what I am doing.

There is a quiet rhythm to life and I am putting off all decisions about travel plans, baseball,  or what I will be doing next year.

Posted in Home | Leave a reply

Blockley

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-16 by Holly2020-05-26  
As I am sure that just about all of us know by now that there are no universities holding actual, physical graduation ceremonies.

So, enter the Minecraft World – visit Blockley – and watch today’s Cal Graduation on Twitch.

The story behind the project is perhaps best captured by NBC (link here).  There is also an extensive description here –  complete with interviewers.

If you want to explore the campus – log into your Minecraft account – the specific server is mc.blockley.com

Posted in Around Berkeley | Leave a reply

They shouldn’t be driving

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-15 by Holly2020-05-15  
I have the blessing, or the curse, depending on the particular moment and point-of-view, of living where there has been an excellent public transportation system since the mid 1970s. Although some will argue a bit about the routes or the price (based on distance, not a fixed-per-ride like NYC), the fact remains that BART served as the main artery in and out of SF and the surrounding area for over 40 years. The ridership was extensive; the system allowed people to move further and further away from the city in an attempt to control housing prices while maintaining a well paying job.

All of that is currently on hold. Almost all of those with well-paying jobs not in the health-sector are working from home. Which means that they are not riding BART. In turn, BART has decreased the trains about 90%, eliminating many of the straight-through routes in favor of conservation of drivers by forcing transfers. These people are neither on public transportation nor are they out driving. Most sensibly, they have jobs and are at home busily insuring their next pay check.

Which takes me to the next set of riders, those with only an occasional need to drive into SF. Since parking in SF is scarce and extremely expensive, most people who had an easy to reach destination would normally park at a local parking lot for $3 and take BART vs paying $10/hr or more at the rare open parking lot in San Francisco. Many of these same people would use their cars only locally for important uses like trips to the doctors, dentist, grocery store, and movie theater.

Now, that many here are seriously worried about the safety of public transportation – they are driving into the city. It is scary. The German phrase is almost identical to the English – Sontags Fahrer = Sunday driver. I am using it to express my fear and loathing of individuals who, most obviously, should never, EVER be behind the wheel of a car.

Not into SF, not on the Bay Bridge, not on Oak St, not on University Ave. Frankly, not within 10 km of where I am driving. If I had had the time, or a passenger, I would have been taking license plates and calling the Department of Motor Vehicles to report them. Instead, I spent my time avoiding the opportunity to be a participant in a motor-vehicle incident. Or disaster, but I most certainly could not call anything an accident. That would imply no fault or responsibility where there obviously was some.

I was on the road to the SFVA and my oncologist suggested that I not be on public transportation. The ride over on BART is never an issue, nor is the transfer to the METRO shuttle bus. But if I had wanted to head home before 1500, I would have been stuck with the 38 SF Muni which is slow, crowed, and not great at the best of times. It took me 31 minutes from the Peet’s on College Ave right next to where Angel works to the VA, The toll plaza and Bay Bridge were wide open. It took an hour to get home. The difference? People who should NOT have been driving….

(and I am fine. Back on my regular immune therapy schedule since nothing is going to change around here for a long time….)

Posted in Home | Leave a reply

How many pairs of glasses

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-13 by Holly2020-05-14 1
Do I really need?

Probably only one, to tell you the truth. But it is always good to have a second pair in case you can’t find your main pair. And, if that pair you have from a couple of years ago could be used in a pinch, why not hang on to it? After all, you spent money on it (normally) and it isn’t going to do anyone else any good.

And so it goes. Which might explain why I have about five pairs of glasses. Since the military/VA have been using the same frames for ever (why would I pay extra for fancy frames) I have trouble figuring out which pair is which. If they are old enough, that bifocal line is pretty obvious. But now? I have two flavors of black, one of silver, a no-quite gold, and I don’t remember which pair is from what year. This is not counting the good commercial pair which is more easily identified. (Excellent frame, that)

The prescriptions are not identical, but they are pretty close. Which is not to except the sunglasses which I have found and lost a dozen times in the last year. Or my wonderful special stitching glasses that I have as a one-time prescription for close work. And they really only work for distances less than 25cm, but since that is where I like to hold my needlework if hand stitching. Add in a light/magnifier and everything is absolutely terrific. I can actually see what I am doing without having to function sans glasses. Of course, if I have them on, I am unsafe to walk across the room, especially when there is a cat underfoot.

Posted in Home | 1 Reply

and a bowl of cherries

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-11 by Holly2020-05-11  
and there was marked success at the Farmer’s Market yesterday.

Obviously, I was presented with cherries –

California Cherries and my cup of tea

Additionally, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and the most incredibly strawberries made an appearance in our kitchen.

I had two bouquets of flowers, supper brought in from a local Mediterranean restaurant and an evening spent quietly stitching.

The high point of today is going to be banding of the Falcon chicks shortly before 1400 PDT (which you can recalculate to your own time zone.

Posted in Around Berkeley, family | Leave a reply

Mother’s Day

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-10 by Holly2020-05-10  
Being a mother has nothing to do with biology and everything to do with attitude, love, and care for others. At sometimes it means a bit of self-sacrifice and other times teaching that self-reliance is important. Imparting the ability to cope with the simple (and sometimes complex) activities of daily life; to be able to have your loved one venture out in the world and be able to stand, stump, or roll on their own.

It is teaching the important difference between unconditional love and setting limits on unacceptable behavior: I love you, but I do NOT like what your are doing – to put it in the simplest terms.

I am planning a quiet day. George and Miriam headed to the farmer’s market. With any luck, there might be early cherries. but I am not holding my breath as 1) it has been cooler along the coast than usual & 2) you need people to pick cherries. With the shutdown, there just aren’t the seasonal agricultural workers… So I might just have to eat scones without cherries. Angel is at work. Shana is bringing dinner at 1730 after she finishes some work. The dogs downstairs are still quiet. The cat has given up on begging me for food. So I am quietly sitting comfortably near the fireplace with my cup of mint tea (coffee? Already had more than a full dose of caffeine this morning) with some knitting and cross stitch.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms today in my time zone (and hoping yesterday was great for those of you in OZ).

Posted in Prose | Leave a reply

Fog rolls in

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-09 by Holly2020-05-09 1

East Bay cut off….

I am deriving this from the old English headline (1930’s?) which declared – Fog rolls in – Continent cut Off….

from the living room

 

where most days I can easily see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands

 

even in closeup

 

I can barely see the Berkeley marina and parkland which stretches out a short way into the bay.

The traffic report this morning, and yes, public radio reports on traffic on Saturday as well, noted the Golden Gate full of fog, and high winds on the Bay Bridge. Also, at different locations – old furniture in the road, a bicycle in the road, and a multi-car fender bender. The road construction slow downs make complete sense. CalTrans is very sensibly using their budget early in the year to make critical road repairs and upgrades while traffic is at a minimum. 

So, I am still hanging out at home while attending various webinars, conferences and social get togethers. Over Zoom for the most part with the occasional drift into GoToMeeting. 

Still safe, still relatively healthy.

Posted in Around Berkeley | 1 Reply

Better than Burmese

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-07 by Holly2020-05-07  
There is a Burmese Street Food restaurant on Shattuck in downtown Berkeley. Last year I had lunch there almost every week. It was an easy stop heading back from UCHastings after morning classes, take BART, have lunch, then show up for 1400 class at Cal on Tues/Thurs. I had eaten there often enough that I really didn’t need to look at a menu.

When everything here shut down, they closed as well. When your primary customers are students, faculty, and staff from the University, even if you could be open, it simply doesn’t make sense. Like many other restaurants here-  it is family owned and run. About two weeks ago, they started offering take-away between 1100-1700. I’ve grabbed lunch a couple of times and missed the time slot several others. Even tho my two favorite choices are not on the menu, I could find an alternative.

Today I had planned on lunch, then realized that I wouldn’t have wheels. Yes, I could have hiked into town and back (or ridden the bus up the hill). But has become increasingly peoplely out. George had to head to UCSF for an appointment this afternoon. Since they are not letting in anyone who doesn’t have to be there, I didn’t see any point in riding along to sit in parking garage. Mostly because the lightening is totally inadequate for reading, stitching or knitting.

When I offered lunch to Dani as a bribe to pick up Burmese, she begged off. But a few minutes later, she sent Alex up with a most excellent salad.

(insert imagination here – I forgot to take a picture before enjoying every last scrap).

 

Posted in family | Leave a reply

No word yet

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-05 by Holly2020-05-07  
I emailed off my paper on 27 April. Haven’t heard anything back.

I would be worried, except that I can’t get all that excited about it. Not whether it was accepted. Not even if it bounces.

Not my problem anymore.

I guess I mentally closed the door on that portion of my life and am moving on to more exciting (HA!) things like ….. oh, tackling the garage. Or the studio. Or contemplating sitting down and doing a bit of sewing…

Otherwise. We have sunshine, package delivery, electronic friends, food, shelter, and family.

I think that is what really counts

 

Posted in Graduate Education | Leave a reply

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