Nirvana or Overload?

Or both?

This weekend was an incredible luxury. From 6pm - 9:30pm Friday, 9 am - 6 pm Saturday, and 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday I got to learn about a subject that has long fascinated me from a true expert using FACTS and EVIDENCE rather than emotion. The class was small, and the other students absolutely engaged in what we were learning. And there are no term papers and no final exam.

What a fabulous class! Presented by Dr. Julia Coates of the Cherokee Nation, this class is a college level class on the Cherokee people. The good news is that I haven't exactly been teaching the "wrong" stuff all these years (whew, that's a relief) .

In 1987, I returned to college after a fifteen-year absence and changed majors to history with the intent of focusing on Native American Studies and Indian/White Relations. Unbeknownst to me, the professor who ran the - apparently - one-man NAS department at the university I was attending (UCSB) retired the June before I arrived. They brought in a graduate student to teach the one and only NA class that I could take in the two years I was at the university, and that was during my last quarter. Fortunately, I was able to take Dr. Dick Oglesby's series on Westward Expansion, but what he had to share about Native Americans not the same as the in-depth knowledge shared by Dr. Coates this weekend. And Dr. Coates only got up to but not through the Trail of Tears. In two weeks we get to go back for the second session (another 20 hours) to get up-to-date.

Needless to say, NOTHING else got done this weekend. I spent the nights at my folks' house since they live much closer to the site of the class. I'm hoping to FINALLY finish packing up the Christmas decorations this weekend (the goal is always to have them down by Valentine's Day and I may make it this year.) Progress report grades are due tomorrow and I have the final step to do during my work period tomorrow morning. Then I can breathe a LITTLE sigh of relief.

Last week I got quite a lot done on the Hollyhocks cross-stitch. I have found Nirvana. DH and I meet in the family room in the evening. He puts a sporting event of some kind on the television with the sound off. I pick a piece of stitchery to work on. Then, he puts an audio book in his iPod dock and we listen to a book. We just finished Next by Michael Crichton and are starting The God Delusion. It's wonderful to get to "read" and do handwork at the same time.

Anyway, I'll post a pick of the hollyhock progress a little later in the week. Come to think of it, I got something done on Santa since the last pic, too, so I'll have two to share.