Quick Updates for my Subscriber Fam

Little extra details :)

Hello to my lovely subscribers!

I wanted to do a quick update that I won’t share quite as widely, but I wanted to both thank you for your patience as I’ve been quiet for the last several weeks and let you know some fun updates!

The quiet was due to the closing up of summer and some really lovely vacation time with my family. I also turned 40! I celebrated the day in Wisconsin, getting a mani-pedi from the world’s nicest humans at a salon in Shawano (shout out to Island Tropics!) They made it such a fun day because not only did they sit and go through everything that was fun to do in town (and nailed it, I’m letting these girls plan my next vacation) but also informed me all about the cult in Shawano called the “Ramas” by townspeople. As a religious history buff, this sent me down a rabbit hole for two days! (Check it out here and here.) Apparently the kids in town used to do something called “Rama Running” which was to drive past the compound enough times to entice out the guard lady, complete with shotgun, to chase them down the road. I got all the town tea.

I ended the day at a Wisconsin Supper Club, which is starting to turn into a tradition, and I’m not mad about it.

While up on vacation, I took the first of my language assessments for doctoral work. Yes, I am getting a bit ahead of myself, but its going to come around quickly, and learning a language takes time!

Regardless, I sat in a darling Wisconsin cabin that looked like Snow White’s cottage and took a test on academic French which required me to work with an article entitled: “Is Reality Real?” (Well, technically it was called: "La réalité est-elle réelle?”) It was about as dense as you might imagine.

The funny thing about the test is that my brain took in an article like that and, under pressure, pulled the largest blank you can possibly imagine. Everything looked like gibberish, and meanwhile, I’m being proctored by professional people in a class where everyone else on the Zoom call is scribbling away, ostensibly in Perfect Fluent French.

It took a few minutes to breathe through it, and then all of the work I had done for the last several months started trickling back, and lo and behold, I could read in French again.

I just received my results yesterday: I got a High Pass, which is the highest you can get on the ARCA (Academic Reading Comprehension Assessment). I really do read French! I deeply appreciate the team at the University of Chicago’s Office of Language Assessment—they were extremely helpful, especially the Director Ahmet Dursun, who met with me. I am one of the first, though it sounds like I won’t be the last, to take the test as a non-UChicago student for a personal project.

Onto German.

I started school this week, at least the precursory stuff, with an official start up at the seminary in person mid-September. I have my hotel, my flight, my books, and one very cool leather backpack courtesy of my parents. They’re helping me live out those Indiana Jones dreams.

Lastly, it looks like the Cranmers may be getting another cat! The cat distribution system struck again on my birthday celebration with my parents, we had stopped at their house, and I kept hearing a “meow” that I couldn’t track down until Colin spotted this baby through the window, face absolutely smashed against it, crying for attention.

We go outside to see this long-haired-tortoiseshell-angel-fuzz-doll-baby with sea-green eyes meowing away by my parents’ garbage can. She eats all the ham slices my parents had in their house and some milk, and within a few minutes lets me not only pet her but pick her up. (I don’t necessarily advise this, but it worked out okay this time.)

After some investigating in the neighborhood, we came to find out that she belonged to a house that had been busted for drug production, the home abandoned and owners gone for over three weeks, with huge dumpsters out front. Her people were gone.

She is currently receiving care over at McHenry Animal Control, as we needed to ensure that she doesn’t carry anything that could hurt our current critter crew and also ensure she’s not pregnant. One cat, yes. One cat plus assorted smaller cats might need some sorting out. But our adoption forms are all signed, sealed, and delivered, so we’re all hoping she can come home soon. It was terribly hard to leave her, and we are all desperately hoping that she is doing okay, but at least she’s safe, with consistent access to food and water and veterinary care.

Meet Winona. I am hoping she will be with me for many birthdays to come!