Wednesday, December 31, 2008

feline ethology

We gained a pint-size family member over the holidays. A sweet calico kitten with a tiger tail named.….that’s just it, we don’t know yet! Initially, I was thinking something Irish, Aoife (pronounced “eefa”), or something Japanese such as Keiko. She has a black fleur-de-lis on her back. Perhaps she should be named Fleur for the famous and beautiful French witch in Harry Potter’s Tri-wizard Tournament.

What kind of feline ethology might guide us? She came from a litter of four kittens. So, if we follow western European naming traditions, she should be named after my mother’s mother, my father’s mother, my mother, or my mother’s oldest sister, depending on birth order which we don’t know. If we follow the ethology thread of animal behavior character, that leads us to all the leaping and hopping. Maybe a frog-based name—Hyla (“heela”), the genus name for tree frogs or Rana, the genus name for green frogs. She does like water and enjoys perching on an island of knee in the bathtub.

Some native american traditions involve looking to the nearest water. In this case, that is the fish tank. How about Fighting-Fish-Stalker, as she is enthralled with the fish tank. Just kidding. Maybe she should name herself. This what emerged when she leapt from my lap to the keyboard…. gjmn,0pdddddddddddd. Gijmin Opped? Gidget? Sounds like a scat singing cat.

Our daughter has not been challenged with naming so far, given the following rapid name evolution. Cinderella (too Disney) turned into Snow (too Disney) turned into Flower (too Disney) turned into Christmas Ornament Flower. That’s more original. Then the flower got more specific. Christmas Ornament Daisy. Next came Daphne Daisy. Eventually that morphed into Daisy Mayhem, which suits her well. Daisy Mayhem she’s been for a few days now.

It’s been wildly entertaining having a curious, furry sprite scampering and leaping about. I have not laughed this hard this often in quite some time. Then, last night I heard a Buddy Holly tune on the radio. Could it be that our new kitten will be named Peggy Sue?!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Breakfast in New Orleans...


…Dinner in Timbuktu. That line aptly describes a dynamic eight weeks this fall where I traveled four weeks to Wisconsin, Cleveland, Tucson, and New Orleans. That line is also the title of one of my favorite Bruce Cockburn albums (pronounced “coburn”), eleven of which I have. Here are some flavors of things I learned and experienced as I hop-scotched across this country.

Ashland, Wisconsin—late September. While attending the International Social Scientists and Resource Managers (ISSRM) conference held in Vermont in June, I was invited to write a chapter for a book about place-based environmental decision-making. The twenty-one chapter authors converged on the shores of Lake Superior for an intensive, multiple day immersion into mutual peer reviewing and critiquing. It was an incredible opportunity for incredible thinking, and I was thrilled that twenty academics were interested to hear from a practicing land and water manager. Shared synergy! The last day was spent kayaking sea caves around the Apostle Islands, a place I vow to return to. Sea synergy!

Cleveland, Ohio—early October. You already had a photo essay of my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary and helping them move and unpack. The nice postscript is that I am really enjoying pouring tea out of the trophy cup that my pie-baking company owning, horse trotter racing great grandfather won in 1884. It’s really nice communing with this elder whose name I share over a cup of tea.

Tucson, Arizona—late October. You already had a photo essay of Día de los Muertos. My reason for traveling there was to attend a small workshop entitled North and South American H.E.L.P: a 10-year retrospective. H.E.L.P stands for Hydrology, Environment, Life, and Policy and is a UNESCO program based out of their Paris office that promotes information sharing among river and lake basins worldwide. Lake Champlain is one of seven basins worldwide considered a demonstration watershed due partly to our strong partnership with and investment in citizens. Our twelve-member task was to craft a white paper to help UNESCO’s International Hydrology Program chart out the next 10 years and evaluate successes and pitfalls of the program.

New Orleans, Louisiana—Thanksgiving. Ah, breakfast in New Orleans indeed! At Croissant D’Or specifically. We are grateful for the generosity and invitation of our dear friends G & J to join them in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. Steam ships, street cars, jambalaya, jazz. Strolling the sunny French Quarter was truly divine. The new insectarium was interesting, intense, incredible.

Huntington, Vermont—December. We were glad to have a dreamy white Christmas at home unpacking presents instead of suitcases. Thankful for all the opportunities and excitement of the fall and thankful to be surrounded by family and dear friends.