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.

first guest blogger

My very first guest blogger is four years old! She knows how to type her own name, and other important words. She spelled and typed the next five words herself! And picked the colors too!
I LOVE YOU

DADDY

MAMA

Things she would like you to know about her are...

My favorite fruits are strawberries and other red fruits.
I like blueberries too.

My favorite dress to wear is red with roses.

I like to paint.

I like to ride horses.

I like to play with my dolls.

Their names are Kipper and Kelly.

I like to ring bells.

Tomorrow I am going to New Orleans.

I love going to dance class.

I love books about the pigs named Toot & Puddle.

día de los muertos

A couple weeks ago we returned from Arizona. I was fortunate to have a three-day workshop followed by a long weekend in the Sonoran desert with my family. An incredible cultural highlight of our visit was participating in a Día de los Muertos celebration, outdoors at the Tucson Museum of Art. Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is celebrated every November in Mexico and by Mexican families and others in the US. It is generally a combination of an ancient Aztec tradition honoring the dead and the Catholic celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Families who celebrate Día de los Muertos in their homes build an altar called an ofrenda to honor their deceased loved ones, even including pets. Each altar is different, but most include candles, statues or religious icons, and favorite, food, photos, and possessions of the dearly departed.

While we missed the big All Souls Procession which was delayed for a week this year and is usually attended by 12,000 people in Tucson, we enjoyed the following on the ofrendas:

Esqueletos y calaveras--skeletons and skulls are symbols of Day of the Dead since Aztec times. Skeletons are not considered scary, rather, humorous reminders of death.

Papel picado--colored tissue paper is cut into traditional designs and strung overhead the celebration.

Calaveras de azúcar--sugar skulls re decorated with intricate patterns of icing or shiny foil and given as gifts.

Candles--light the way for the deceased to find their ways home.

Water--quenches the thirst of the traveling spirits after their long journey back home.

Cempasúchitl--marigolds are the flower of the dead. Known for their bright color and potent smell, these blooms are a common decoration in Día de los Muertos celebrations.

Food and drink--the dearly departed will often find their favorite dishes and drinks awaiting them on the ofrenda. Pan de Muerto is a sweet-tasting decorated bread that is a tradition.

Pictures and personal effects, such as reading glasses, jewelry, or toys are placed at the center of the ofrenda.

Here is our SLIDESHOW (at LINK below photo) of Día de los Muertos celebrations. You will have to click on the link below the picture. Despite trying for over a week to figure how to embed a slideshow, I am still scratching my head. Text is below the slides.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/bluefrogfarm/arizona_favorites

short note, cow

Last week's neighborhood stampede elicited a lot of nice three-lettered-words. Cow! Moo! Huh? How? Apparently, cows and calves were separated, so the mamas broke out of jail in protest and strolled a mile up the hill. Coincidentally, my husband, a dairyman in a long ago prior career who understands bovines, was helping a neighbor build a horse shed. So, he stood in the road with a 12 foot 2x10 trying to keep the mamas from going farther up the road where they sometimes graze at our place. Faux fence.

Coincidentally, another neighbor, an internationally recognized computer programmer, soon-to-be famous author, women-in-technology-leader, was home writing her book. So, she stood on her front lawn and immortalized the moment on film as the cows grazed at her place instead. These exciting moments are recorded on her blog at this link: http://www.thedatafarm.com/blog/2008/11/06/Moo.aspx

I don't pretend to understand a fraction of the types of things often posted on this blog, although I was glad to learn the definition of the word "transhumance." It's good to be surrounded and supported by dear friends and family who understand the intricacies of bovines and technology. Yay! Another nice three-lettered-word.

Picasso pumpkins and pop quiz

Pumpkin carving and roasting salted pumpkin seeds are annual rites of Halloween for us. We were up to our elbows in pearly white, pear-shaped seeds as we scooped out pumpkin contents and cut out faces. This year's tours de force were quite cubist. My daughter drew the faces, from various angles on the same pumpkin, and I cut them out. Picasso would be proud of this four-year-old's post-impressionist interpretations. Next year, perhaps she'll inject some Monet inspired light play, or some abstract expressionism, Jackson Pollock style. Makes we wonder why we ever carved conventional faces before.

We also hosted our 12th annual Halloween Open House! By design, I created a ghoulish table of haunted delights WITHOUT SUGAR OR CANDY. Real food for unreal people. Old standbys were garlicky vampire repellant, crunchy turnip witches teeth (in water), paranormal pizza...

Here's a pop quiz to see if you can guess what other savory delights were, and to test your "talk backwards" abilities.

Fare: Bat wings dipped in gore, Fun: aslas dna spihc nroc eulb

Fare: Ants on sticks, Fun: selknirps etalocohc htiw rettub tunaep ni deppid slezterp

Fare: Troll tongues, Fun: edisni dellor eseehc maerc htiw staem iled decils

Fare: Octopus tentacle, jellyfish, and mermaid hair soup, Fun: sreppep toh decils dna smoorhsum ekatihs elohw seldoon daerth naeb

As always, the cupboards were bare by the time all the guests left. All that food fueled good humor and greater hauntings all evening long.

pictures tell the story

'Twas a fine gathering on the shores of Lake Erie to celebrate my parents' fiftieth anniversary and to help them move a block away to a somewhat smaller abode. It has been a couple years since we have all been together in the same place at the same time, so the festive atmosphere prevailed. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Hanging pictures in the new living room...then hanging them again...and yet again...yes, the same ones.

Finding my great grandfather's beaver top hat circa ~1880 and my grandfather's bowler hat circa ~1910.

Toasting my parents with home made, home grown currant and raspberry liqueur.

Everyone laughing at photos in the memory album.

Wearing mom's velvet opera cape.

Outside the Hermit Club where mom and dad had their wedding reception, and featuring the black straw coat from Rome (middle).

Sweet little girls in velvet dresses.

a golden anniversary

The eternal optimist within me likes to think there is something momentous or outstanding about each day. Today needs to be magnified exponentially as it is the occasion of my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary.

Married 10/4/58 – Still Married 10/4/08

When challenged with how to describe such a titanic event, my trick is saying it out loud so I get to the point quickly. Here are some favorite “out loud” stories I like to tell as memorable lessons I learned from my parents.

1. Know when to throw out the rules
My long-time bachelor father had three rules about selecting a wife: he had to like her family, she had to be a good driver, and she had to be a good bridge player. When he married my mother, he had never met her family, and she neither drove nor played cards. Way to go dad. Way to go mom!

2. Do it yourself
I grew up with a dad who could fix or build anything and a mom who could cook or draw anything. Strong memories of dad working are in the woodshop and house, not the law office. Our house is filled with rooms he built, artifacts he carved, woodwork he stained. Strong memories of mom creating are in the kitchen or at the “old family room” table with pastels and chalks. Sometimes it took time to appreciate her fine cuisine. My annual grade school dismay that mom always made rum cakes for the cake walk, quite unlike the other moms’ iced pastel fabrications, turned to pride when her cake was always selected first.

3. Let there be fondue!
Fondue is undoubtedly the iconic meal for our family. A good Riesling, the right combination of Gruyere and Emmenthaler, crusty bread, and some Elizabeth Schwarzkopf music are a recipe for family togetherness by the fireplace. Seriously, unlike many families we grew up with, we ALWAYS ate dinner together (except when dad was at the Hermit Club rehearsing for the Christmas concert). My husband and daughter and I virtually always eat dinner together too. A fine family tradition continued.

4. Speaking the native tongue
My sister and I were lucky to share a bilingual early childhood—German and English. This experience gave good perspective on words and meaning, and I have made a point to learn some of native languages where I have traveled for work—Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Japanese, and a little Albanian. The story of my father meeting his German in-laws for the first time is priceless. A little tale about simply reversing “ie” and “ei.” He was invited to go boar hunting with my mom’s brothers. Schiessen is shooting. My dad, who had some high school german, said he was excited to go “scheissen.” You’ll just have to look that one up!

5. Be comfortable expecting the unexpected on vacation
I need to use a little shorthand here, but my family will know what I mean. Kind of like numbering favorite jokes and then calling out the numbers. Expect on their honeymoon in Ireland, my dad will get thrown from a moody white movie star horse into a pasture with an unknown angry bull. Expect that when everyone else is catching bass off Scudder Dock on Pelee Island, mom will catch a rare bowfin. Expect that my little brother will see our close neighbors in Teton National Park, 2000 miles from home, and act like it’s no big deal. Expect that the sheep will escape from the pasture and run through a christening at Walnut Hill Farm—three times. That was a long christening. Expect that the suitcase holding all of our camping gear will blow off the car in Paige, Arizona, and we get it back. Expect to wear rubber boots and raincoats the entire month we travel to Germany and Holland because it rains—every day—so we pick mushrooms and mussels—every day—instead of swimming. Ok, that’s enough.

6. Bring your own dictionary
It’s virtually impossible to have a conversation with my parents without looking something up in the dictionary or encyclopedia, especially my dad. This affliction has plagued me since childhood, and in fact today, as I took a walk with friends, I flagged three different things to look up when I got back to the house. There are several dictionaries at my parents’ house, which is helpful when several family members want to look up things at the same time. I was proud when I saw my parents’ passing on this vital tradition to the younger generation when we spent nearly an hour investigating the origins of the word of their choice,“booger.” Interesting etymology indeed!

I tried to select fond memories and stories from different time periods during the last 50 years, and what golden memories they are. Thanks mom and dad so very much for sharing these many lovely lessons and family love. My great love to you both. I can't wait to celebrate with you in person next week with the special liqueurs I made from homegrown currants. Love, m

Please join me in celebrating my parents’ anniversary by posting well wishes and thoughts.