I promise i'll take some photos of the house and post soon, but I thought this was a funny sight this morning. Barkley, half under the bed, curled up in the covers and on top of a bedskirt I have yet to add to the bed. Cutie pie.

Praise

Praise. I get awkward when I get it and generally don't take it well, and definitely don't like to share. But I just got some reviews back from a proposal and, after the last 2 months of pretty much generally low self-esteem, I really needed this tonight and it's brought a light to the end of the tunnel. I don't know if the proposal is funded, the reviews were all good (not one negative comment in fact) and recommended it for funding, I just need to respond and then sit and wait. I've had reviews like this before and not got the funding, so the reality is I am not hopeful. I don't intend this to be boasting, I just desperately need to boost my inner soul right now, and having these written down here where I can read them i'm hoping will help.

I'm just enjoying the comments from anonymous colleagues. Maybe I am doing something right after all.

"Dr Waller seems to be perfectly qualified to conduct this project as she has an ideal research background and an impressive publication record in this field."

"The proposal is exactly in line with two of the three Deep-Sea Coral Research priorities. It is grounded and led by an extremely competent PI with the right background and significant prior experience in the field, as attested by her publication and funding records."

"Based on her extensive publication record and conversations with experts in the field, Rhian is very knowledgeable on the reproduction and development of deep-sea corals. Thus, she is the ideal scientist to carry out the proposed objectives, all of which have been clearly justified."

"In conclusion, I sincerely hope that Rhian will receive the funds necessary to complete the proposed project. Rhian is more than qualified to see this project to completion and the entire deep-sea community is anxiously awaiting her results."

Back!

I'm back. Back in Maine. Back (mostly) in brain. Back on the blog. 

It's been a hectic, emotional, but mostly fun six weeks - filled with students, driving back and forth to Maine on weekends to deal with house moving and Barkley, more students, and an awful lot of paperwork (some of which I still have to do). 

There's too much to really sum up in one blog post, so instead a few photos from the last six weeks. I don't have any of my new house up on here, to be honest because I haven't taken any! I should have taken some "befores", oh well, there's no way i'm unpacking now! 

There was some diving. Some fun diving - not as much as I would have liked, but the fact I squeezed 5 dives into my schedule over the last six weeks is quite the miracle. 

The Alvin sphere. Alvin is being disassembled right now to be refitted, and I took the students to meet the pilots and look at the parts. Was fun.  

King Neptune was there too. 

One weekend we had a great snowstorm. It was a great down day for me, much needed. I worked on lectures, caught up with emails and took Riley the dog out for walks in the snow. 

And Riley loves the snow. 

Really loves the snow....! 

Nobska Beach. One of my favorite spots to yell at the ocean and watch the sunset. 

Nobska light. 

The snow in Woods Hole. It was fun to be back, but I was so busy I didn't get to catch up with many folks. 

The Knorr and the Oceanus in dock. 

I was having a really crummy day one day, and these beautiful anemones appeared in my room. Thanks to all my wonderful friends who took me in for the six weeks. 

Happy New Year!

And what better way to celebrate than doing a 5K run and a dip in the Atlantic Ocean! Definitely not in Hawaii this year! 

The weather was, well, polar! Freezing rain, 29F and a lot of ice. In fact if i'd taken my skates, i'm sure I would have halved my 5K time....

Post dip......a little brrrrr.....

And now the run up to Woods Hole. I leave Monday morning and start work that afternoon. It's going to be a hectic six weeks.....

Christmas comes early....

Someone just wandered down the stairs with her Christmas present in her mouth. It's been a while since I gave her a new ball, so opened it up and let her have it early. Merry Christmas miss Barkley. 

She doesn't "play ball", just likes to chew them until they're destroyed. I pulled all three out for her and she chewed on each before deciding which one to play with first. I couldn't find non-squeaky ones, so the last half hour has been a little loud....!

More friday

How she breathes when she does this I don't know......

Our 7yr old neighbor checking out the snow with Barkley

Sledding! 

Neighbor came over and helped me make cupcakes for Amy & Peter's Christmas party (below). He had a great time making his creations, and my kitchen....well, it's still covered in food dye....but a lot of fun was had, and I needed the downtime. 

Friday!

Nothing quite like a dry basement (phew!) and a few inches of snow when only flurries were predicted to brighten the day. Snow tastes pretty good too apparently. 

Days like these...

I'm having a tough time right now. So many emotions running through, many I can't talk about, but it's all connected i'm sure. Trying to write proposals, papers and keep samples running through the lab; bummed out by cool projects not being funded & excited by cool projects being funded; buying a house (it's moving forward, I move in in Feb and as soon as the Green Card comes through it's mine); overwhelmed by finances right now; excited by teaching soon (less than 2 weeks) & scared to death about teaching soon; missing friends and family; nagging insomnia that's been going on for over a month now. Those are just a few. Then on top my washing machine decided to burst a pipe and flood all over my carpet tonight, just as i'd managed to start to wind down from a stressful day. Cleaned that up as much as possible tonight (with the help of my 6yr old neighbor!) and hope to hell it doesn't all turn moldy. Last thing I need is to pay for a new carpet here.

So to try and get back into the spirit, out came the fondant icing. They're not done yet, but they're getting ready for an appearance at a Christmas part on friday. Definitely helped me wind down, long day tomorrow, lots to do....including find a wet vac for the carpet!

Winter!

It might be 12F out there, but darn is it just beautiful! In work today trying to catch up with some things, but couldn't resist swinging by the lighthouse for a walk with Barkley first. Just gorgeous!

Christmas Crafting

Christmas crafting has unfortunately been at a minimum this year (sorry folks!), but I did just finish this blanket up for some good friends here. Barkley decided the blanket needed a model in there, for scale.

How much to destroy our Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems?

Had to go up to Orono today for "sexual harassement" training. No, I haven't been harassing people, it's required by the state within the first year of employment, and I hadn't yet gone through the torture. On the way back we did take the time to drop by a store a postdoc had put me on to. He mentioned there were corals in there, so I wanted to take a look. Indeed there were.

The above are precious Red Corals, these particular pieces are from Italy. Sadly there is no regulation on trade of Red Corals, there was a move a few years ago to put them on the list (CITES), but it was turned down, primarily from Japan and Italy fighting the move. There are large fisheries for these corals there. Precious red corals are deep-sea corals, so grow very slowly. These pieces here are about an inch each, and constitute probably ~20 years of growth. Being sold for $8.40. That's less than 10 cents a year. Pretty sad. Very sad in fact. You can guarantee these corals were collected live, there were others in there that looked like they were washed pieces collected from a beach, but these were almost certainly a large tree that was cut into pieces, probably as the bulk was carved.

More interestingly there were several large black corals in there. The manager said they came from Haiti. Black corals are CITES listed, so to be able to trade them you have to have a permit. I took photos of the corals and will check up to see if this particular store has a permit. Black corals are potentially the oldest living organisms on the planet - a single black coral collected off Hawaii was recently dated to more than 4000 years old. So it will take 4000 years for another one to grow.

There is no such thing as a sustainable fishery for corals - either tropical or cold-water. These creatures are indeed beautiful, but lets reflect in their beauty by photos, drawings and sculptures, and even pieces collected washed on the beach.