San Diego

I seem to be here in San Diego for a while. I've been hanging out with Jon and Vanessa and their friends (one of whom I actually knew in college! We did a seminar term at the Newberry Library together -- how strange it that!), buying last minute things for my trip, and going to puppy school.

I've also been checking into the "ideal job" -- I'll say more about that in a minute, but first, a tangent. "For those who came in late..." (as the film The Phantom starts -- I love it by the way -- such a bad film, but a sweet story) this summer, after my retirement, I told people I would hang out in Chicago and look for the perfect job, and if I did not find it, I'd head out around the world: the trip I am now on. Well, somehow the job did not manage to fall into my lap (as I am sure you are aware because I am -- theoretically -- going around the world), but the idea of it did. The week before I left (or thereabouts) I had lunch with a friend who suggested exhibit design. It's perfect! it combines art and science (in a science museum), education, and my continued interest in learning new things! Unfortunately, I had already given up my apartment and possessions, and bought a ticket to NY, etc. So, it remained an idea. Until now (sort of). Vanessa has contacts in the museum field, and one (at the Historical Society) has offered to let me shadow and/or participate in putting together an exhibit. Very Cool. If it works out. If it comes together I may be here longer than I thought -- though I've already been here longer than I thought -- so I'm not sure what that says. (This is a photo of the lemon tree that grows just outside their kitchen window. It has the best lemons I have ever tasted -- "almost like fruit!" and not a bit like the song.)

Christmastime in San Diego is odd. I'm having a very hard time realizing how close it is to the day itself. The weather here has been very warm (though we are in a cold spell at the moment -- highs in the low 60s, and record breaking temps at night -- it actually got down to 32oF a day or so ago!) -- at least by Midwest standards. The grass is green and the jade are all still blooming -- as are the Birds-of-Paradise (is that the correct way to pluralize it?) and various other flowers. The ornaments, however, hanging from the cactus just seem bizarre. And I can't quite reconcile seeing inflatable snowmen and light-up reindeer on beautifully manicured lush green lawns, or strips of cotton batting draped over bushes to look like snow. Too strange for my Midwestern brain. It's also funny to see the full range of clothing, being worn outside -- people are walking around in flip-flops and parkas -- sometimes simultaneously. I suffer from cold feet (no pun intended) and have begun wearing socks and sandals. It looks very strange. But I'm hoping it will start a new trend!

I miss everyone in Chicago (or returning to Chicago, or nowhere near Chicago). Enjoy the weather where ever you are and have a good, happy holiday -- whatever you chose to celebrate or ignore!

And here is one last comment, to ponder until the next installment: I found a transition hair the other day -- hairs that actually show the change from brown (or whatever) to white -- but this one (oddly enough) went from white to brown. The only conclusion I can come to is that I'm getting younger! Somewhere or other I came across the fountain of youth!

And finally, for real this time, I just found this quote that I copied from somewhere at some time. Just a reminder...

For if every true love affair can feel like a journey to a foreign country, where you can't quite speak the language and you don't know where you're going and you're pulled ever deeper into the inviting darkness, every trip to a foreign country can be a love affair, where you're left puzzling over who you are and whom you've fallen in love with. All the great travel books are love stories, by some reckoning...and all good trips are, like love, about being carried out of yourself and deposited in the midst of terror and wonder. -- Pico Iyer, "Why We Travel"

Birthday Idea, part 2

Several people have asked about contributing to the birthday phone. There are two ways I can see to do that.

Option 1) Send me an e-mail and I will send you my mother's address (her address is my permanent address for the time being (!)) and you can mail any contribution to me care of her.

Option 2) Send me a contribution to my old address (4247 N. Hermitage, 60613) and the post office will (hopefully) forward it to my mother who can then take care of it.

If anyone knows any better ideas for how to do that, let me know and I'll consider it.

Thanks very much to those of you who have already given me a contribution! I'm slowly getting there.

Las Vegas

I am back in San Diego after a week in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is a very strange city. And, though I think it is worth a visit at least once in a life-time (if for nothing more than a the realization of how bizarre it is), I have visited it many more times than I ever expected to. The first time I visited was bout 15 years ago. The Geology Club planned a summer field trip to California -- Death Valley, the White Mountains, etc. It is hard to take gear for 20 to 25 people (stoves and tents and such) on air-planes. So, some of us drove the van, loaded with equipment across the country, camping and enjoying the emptiness of the west on the way. We arrived at the Valley of Fire state park and spent the night, sleeping out, under the stars, listening to the sounds of the desert in the spring. The next morning, we got up and drove down the strip, looking for breakfast. ... I think we all experienced culture shock without even leaving the country. There were slot machines everywhere (even in the airport!), We got trapped in Cesar's Palace (there is a moving sidewalk into the casino, but no way out!) where, in the streets of ancient Rome, the statues of the gods come to life and clouds drift across a painted sky. The second time I visited I overheard two women on the street talking about the city. One says to the other as they walked under the Eiffel Tower at the Paris (?) Casino, "I don't know why anyone needs to go to Europe, when you can see all the wonders of the world here. In one place."

What can I say. I'll tell you in a year if you should listen to her, or see the real things for yourself.

(I actually kind of enjoy LV. I could die happily if I never go back again, but ignoring the ecological disaster that it represents (Kentucky Bluegrass and fountains in the desert; and enough lights to make it seem almost like daytime in the middle of the night), there is a festive, amusement park feel to the strip. It is every excess of American culture with no apologies.)

Mostly, I avoided the strip and hung out with my friend Wendy and her family. I hung out in the Geology department at UNLV (where I ran into Spider, for those of you who know her). Playing on the Internet, attending guest lectures (which I am proud to say that I understood about 90-95% of! -- the geology of the western US is as bizarre as LV itself, by the way), and playing with an SEM (we looked at an ant head -- and got to see the hairs on its "nose" -- very cool!)


Wendy and I did couple of "hikes" over the weekend; one in the ravine behind her house, the other at Red Rocks -- Red Rocks is beautiful and a great site to see cross-bedding! We hiked up to a frozen pool and a view of the city. Our quite and serene (though very dark by the time we got down -- I thought that this far south, it would stay dark after 5pm, but I was very wrong!) hike was followed by a drive down the strip. One last comment about Las Vegas. It was COLD! -- there were two days where there was frost on the grass in the morning! a rare thing I hear.

I also found out that Wendy and I share a delight in what I affectionately call "trashy TV" and, as a result of this common decadence, I got to wallow in the Sci Fi series: Farscape! For the uninitiated, and from my perspective, Farscape is the Australian version of Blake's Seven, which is the British (anti)-version of Star Trek. -- I love looking at how the story/situations/characters/etc. change over the decades as they jump across the oceans! Wendy credits sci. fi. for getting her interested in science, and I know that my affection for the good stuff (and frustration with the bad stuff) has increased as I have learned more about science.

I'll close with a general statement of what my plans are for the future: I don't know. I'm staying in San Diego with my brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law for some period of time. I intend to head out in a few weeks for parts unknown -- Australia/New Zealand on the way to Thailand in Feb. I'll keep you posted on future movements!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I survived! (Actually, I more than survived, I had a good time.) My mother and I went to visit my brother (Jon) and his fiancee (Vanessa) in San Diego for Thanksgiving. I have to admit that I was a little worried when my brother told me that there would be seven people (the four of us, Vanessa's mother, grandmother and brother), and two dogs (though very small dogs) in a two bedroom/one bathroom house. For a week! "Humm." I though,"I wonder how that will work? Where will they put us all? And for a week!" But, to be fair, we did basically the same thing last year at Christmas time, so I knew it would be OK. "And besides," I tried to reassure myself, "much of the rest of the world does this all the time!" And it worked out well. Every room in the house was filled with at least one bed, and there was very little room to move until the beds were put away for the day, but all in all it was good. There was a feeling of having a great big, on-going, sleep-over every morning. Everyone woke, or at least started moving around, at about the same time in the morning. Jon made coffee and we sat on the beds in our P.J.s and drank it, while cuddling with the dogs and generally being lazy. It took a while for everyone to get dressed and ready to start the day, what with having only one bathroom, but that just added to the sleepover feeling.

Most of our days were spent being very mellow and relaxed. Jon and Mom put together a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and did a marvelous job doing it, even working around the limitations of an "apartment sized" ( i.e. one pan) oven. Vanessa picked the Turkey recipe and Jon and Mom spent hours making sure it came out golden and delicious! And then, a day or two later, Mom and I turned our Thanksgiving dinner (sans cranberries and sweet potatoes) into a wonderful pot pie! (I love, love, love pot pie -- I know that some people prefer mac and cheese as a comfort food (and it is one of mine, I admit), but for me, in the fall, winter, and spring (which is most of the time in Chicago), my comfort food is a turkey pot pie! Yum!)

We didn't tend to do much touristy things. It is hard to get up enough momentum to get seven people out the door on an adventure. Have you ever noticed that? This is not an unique observation, I know, but the more people there are, the harder it is to get them all moving! And to make decisions. A lot of our conversations repeated the pattern of, "I don't know, what do you want to do/eat/etc." So, by default (both for lack of a decision, and to pass time while people were walking dogs and bathing, etc.) we watched a lot of movies. I think I watched more movies in one day than I ever have before: five. But they were all good films -- or at least interesting. And it was nice to just sit and let time pass. (I think I'm stocking up on American experiences -- films, TV, whatever, so that I will be glad to be without them on my trip! -- I'll let you know if it worked).

We did have a couple of adventures. The most humorous, and also the saddest, was the Adventure of Leo's Tail (This is still a working title). Poor Leo was bitten by something. And, being a dog, kept "scratching it" with his teeth. So, after a while his tail became a bit messy (not too bad, but not getting any better either). The day after Thanksgiving, Jon and Vanessa took him to the vet. They were still gone about two hours later -- the rest of us were wondering what had happened to them -- the vet was only a 10 minute drive away. When they finally showed up, the poor puppy had a big plastic cone on his head! He looked so silly! And so pathetic. And he knew it. He milked it for all it was worth, though, getting sympathy love from seven different people!

We dispersed a bit on Monday -- the boys going to the University (one to teach, the other to observe) and the girls going to Coronado Island and then on a chilly, but beautiful, quest for "the lighthouse." We finally made it just as the sun was setting.

In the movie A Clockwork Orange there is a scene where the "hero" returns home and, in the background, there is a song playing on the radio. Whoever put together the soundtrack included it in the "playlist." (I know this because that was one of the tapes (am I dating myself?) that I listened to regularly while working in the art studio or the geology lab in college). The song goes something like this:
I want to marry a lighthouse keeper
and live by the side of the sea.
I want to marry a lighthouse keeper
and keep him company.
Those lines were running through my head the entire time I was at the lighthouse. I've always wanted to live in a lighthouse. I think I could handle it (even enjoy it) for a year or two, more would drive me crazy -- though I said the same about living in Chicago proper, and I was there for about 8 years. I must say, though, that I don't envy the children the five mile row-boat ride, or the 18-mile horse back ride, to school every day! (both of those are one-way distances, by the way.) Can you imagine how strong your arms would be after a 5-mile row?!

On Tuesday everyone left. And by everyone I really mean Mom, Danny and me. But we were 3/5 of the guest population, so that counts for a lot. After taking Mom and Danny to the airport, and watching another movie, Vanessa's mother, grandmother and I wandered around the San Diego Natural History Museum. It is very small, and does not have very much exhibit space, but the paleontology/life in California exhibit is very good. There is a sense of whimsy in how it was put together that is delightful. It also does a good job of encouraging people to try to think scientifically by asking them to draw their own conclusions based on the evidence. For instance, one display showed a humerus from a mammal and asked the participant to decide if the animal had been a runner, swimmer, or climber, based on comparisons with living (well, now dead) animals that were runners, swimmers, and climbers. Very Cool! I also liked the way they depicted the dinosaurs. The skeleton was mounted inside a skin depicting what we think the dinosaurs looked like. It is interesting to see the relationship between the bones and the skin. It makes the bones more accessible.

And then I hoped on a plane and flew to Las Vegas. I'll tell you all about that trip next time!

Tennessee

My time in Chicago ended in a flurry of activity. I packed my bags and headed off to the Field Museum -- a little later than I intended. One last ride on the number 6 bus along LSD -- great views of the city by the way. I spent the day in the museum working on the zoology collection: cleaning bones, relabeling specimens. I actually got to end the day in the fluid range, which is where all the "wet" specimens are stored. Those animals that are not skinned or their skeletons cleaned (which is most of the collection) are stored in alcohol. Imagine the mad-scientist/science fiction-esque scene of jars of two headed pigs and albino snakes stacked on shelves in all directions and you get an idea of the collection. It is actually much tamer than that, but I thought that might be a semi-familiar image. I had lunch with another friend at the museum, and then dinner with a couple more, and was finally dropped of at a bar for one last hurrah of people gathering to see me off (for real this time), that included Chocolate Martinis (very good!) and half-price appetizers. Ironically, I bumped into a work colleague also celebrating at the bar! It was nice to see her and chat about NNMS.

Since then, I have spent the past long weekend visiting my Mother in TN. This trip, and time, are going to fast! I feel like I am rushing from place to place, never really being ready to move on to the next place. This happened again with Mom. Mostly I rested and visited. But on the last full day, Mom and I got to work! We burned the trash, we mowed the yard and chopped the leaves, and I even got up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters! I love being handy!

Speaking of time: there is a quote that has been running through my head a lot recently. When I was in Junior High School (or there abouts -- it might have been a year or so earlier, or later, I don't actually remember), I read a short story about a boy who goes to visit his grandmother. They get to talking and at one point she talks about time speeding up as you get older, "until one summer bumped into the next." That quote (it may actually be a paraphrase by now) has stuck with me for years. I love the idea of times remembered not as blurring together, but as bumping into each other. As if the time between didn't matter, and yet periods still remain distinct. Also the idea of remembering the warm, relaxed together time and not the cold, busy, time apart.

More Chicago (and environs)

This entry apparently does not want to be written; this is the third time I've tried to write it -- first I resisted starting it at all; then I didn't like it so I started it again; and just now, when I went to add pictures and post it, somehow (and I have no idea how -- because all I did was double click on it) I managed to delete it! So, I'll keep it short.

My two weeks in Chicago flew by. I thought I would have oceans of time, but somehow, and I'm really not sure how, the time flew by! I tried counting up my days, to figure out what I had done with my time and couldn't do it. Some of it I spent at the Field Museum volunteering: cleaning skeletons, both fossil and bone; making labels; giving tours to friends. Some of it I spent babysitting or cat sitting. A lot of it I spent visiting with friends. I want to take a minute here, to say thank you to Charlotte and Andy for letting me live in their house while I stayed in Chicago. I was wonderful to have a "home" in my home town.

I took two jaunts out to western Illinois while I was in Chicago. The first was to visit a good friend of mine in Monmouth, the second was to McNabb. The trip to Monmouth (birth place of Wyatt Earp -- for those who know who he was), was the continuation of my visits to all the points of my past. (The only one (that I can think of) that I have not made it back to this time in Maine, but I've been there fairly recently, so I'm not sure if that counts.) I went to High School (freshman and sophomore year) in Monmouth, and my friend Elke and her family have moved back there after many years away.

Monmouth is a small, quiet town. It has a town square where we spent one art class chasing chickens that had fallen off a truck the night before. And streets with no curbs. I can't explain how profound I find that. It is a town that is large enough to have sidewalks and green ways between the walk and the road, but small enough that no one has ever bothered to put in curbs. Big cities have both, small towns have neither (or maybe just a sidewalk with a curb). But Monmouth is somewhere in the middle. It was interesting to go back, to see the town again. And see how much it has (or has not) changed. I'm not sure if it is related to the change or not, but I had large gaps in my memory of what the town was like. There were somethings that had clearly changed: the college, for example, has expanded and taken over much more of the town; the library, too, has expanded and taken over one whole section of the square; and the movie theatre is gone. Some things were very much the same: the bank, my old house, the High School, and the house I was so proud of drawing in art class (it actually looked three-dimensional: sun and shadow on different planes, and bushes that had depth and looked cool and dark at the bottom and bright green and leafy at the top). And then there were things I had no memory of: like the blocks between the school and the library. I know I walked them every day, but I had absolutely no memory of them. Have they changed that much? They don't look like they have. But how could I not remember them so completely?

I had a wonderful time visiting with Elke, Tim, Stella, and Hollis. Elke, Stella, Hollis and I had an adventure on my last day there. We went out to an apple orchard and walked along the country roads for a little while. On the road we came across a little garder (or is it garter?) snake, warming itself on the pavement. (I almost stepped on it, but Elke saved its life, but grabbing me back from its fangs!) I never knew that garder snakes had fangs and would attack if threatened. Logically, it makes sense, (there aren't any vegetarian snakes as far as I know) but who knew that tiny, "cute" garder snakes would hiss and attack?!

My other trip out of the city was to McNabb. It is an even tiny-er town (no curbs here either) that is the home of Clear Creak Friends Meeting and Illinois Yearly Meeting. They are a very warm and welcoming meeting that has meant a lot to me over the years. I am very happy to be part of the meeting, even if I am not there physically. They have done a lot of work on the grounds in the past few years and it looks wonderful! It, too, is an interesting juxtaposition of the past and the present/future.Memories of childhood balanced against the changes and growth towards the future.

The rest of this is some pictures of Chicago that I took and liked. Enjoy (or not). Also, I got a picture of a bendy bus and put it on the birthday entry, so check it out, if you so choose.

This one I took driving on LSD. Not the best idea, I realize, but traffic was actually very slow and, having a digital camera, all I had to do was aim in the general direction and click the shutter.

This is a turnstile (obviously). I find myself fascinated by decay and creation. I love looking at buildings and such that are in the process of being torn down (or are falling down), or in the process of being rehabbed. It is fascinating to look at the internal structure -- the skeleton -- and see how it works within the skin of the structure. Or things like this, where the turnstile continues to function, despite the obvious wear. It is all part of the creative process -- the old breaking down and becoming something else. I'm still working on how to express this idea.
I think this one is more towards the decay end of things.

The lions are always wonderful! And iconic to Chicago. I actually fell off this one when I was in Jr. High. Oops. I'm sure that is part of why they don't want people climbing on them.

This is another view of LSD (also from a car). This is the intersection of LSD and 12th street. Hidden in the bank of fog to the left is the Field Museum. Believe it or not.

Well, so much for keeping things short.

Birthday Idea

As you may or may not know, today is my birthday! Talking to Gordon last night, he came up with a wonderful idea. I was describing this perfect phone that would allow me to do everything on my trip (Thanks Kevin!) . It is a quad-band phone with an additional signal (?) that also works where the four bands don't (i.e. Japan). It is unlocked so I can use it anywhere (after buying the appropriate sim card). It is Wi-Fi enabled (and able to view full web pages) so that I can be sitting at an Internet cafe somewhere and post things to my blog from my phone! I don't know if it plays music, and I don't know if it will let me up-load photos from my camera. Sounds amazing. All this for about $500. Gordon's brilliant idea was to suggest that everyone who wants to keep in touch with me, should sends me $10 for this phone! He has started the ball rolling with the initial $10. -- Great idea, don't you think? I promised him that I would suggest it. I'll leave it up to you to decide what to do with the idea. It might be the push to actually get me to leave -- several people have said to me recently, "Aren't you supposed to be gone somewhere? Like Thailand or something; somewhere far away."

OK, so I can't have my entire birthday entry devoted to a shameless request for presents!

My birthday itself was beautiful! The day was bright and sunny, though a bit chilly (at one point the temperature was the same as my age!) -- and how can anything be bad when it's a beautiful golden fall day! On top of that I got to ride a "bendy" bus into the city. (I don't know if any of you have ever had the thrill of a bendy bus, but it's great! My recommendation, though, it not to sit in the bend itself. It looks like a good idea, but really you don't get to experience the thrill when the bus goes around a corner. I was lucky and got the perfect seat: slightly elevated in the back, facing forward. That way you get to see the bus bend as it goes around the corner. If you are really lucky, you can look at someone from inside the bus, and then see them again by looking out your window and see them looking out their window! Awesome! Some friends and I once gave the bus driver a good chuckle by enjoying our bus ride so much.) Otherwise I ran some errands (it felt great to be getting things accomplished!), and visited with some friends (always a good thing) and generally had a very productive, but relaxed day.

One of the best parts though, was that I got to start it and end it dancing! Rockabilly/Swing on Thursday at Marters -- which bled into Friday (complete with a birthday toast and cake -- from a woman who's birthday was the 2nd) -- and Java Jive at the U. of Chicago that night. And I got to dance with (and keep up with) all the best dancers! (I didn't have a birthday dance, though -- where everyone in the room takes a turn dancing with the birthday person -- maybe next year when I get more practice). Ahh! Smile.

The strangest part of the day, though, was that I almost forgot that it was my birthday -- which is mostly why I didn't tell anyone. I realized at about 5pm on Thursday -- "Hey! It's my birthday tomorrow!" My Mom tells me that happens more and more after 30. I'll let you know.

Chicago

Well, my plans have changed. I am spending the next two weeks in Chicago, staying in Hyde Park with friends (thanks Charlotte and Andy!). Having spent my early years in Hyde Park, it is a nice circle to end up here again. In the mean time, I am visiting with friends and volunteering at the Fiedl Muesum! Always a great time!

While I am here I wanted to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped me move out of what my sister poetically called my "death trap" apartment (even if it was cute).

Thank you especially to Janet (who is kindly letting me store all my stuff in her attic -- all the stuff that isn't farmed out to someone else), Dennis, and Michael for their help on the first shift. And to Gordon (who showed up early), Michael (who risked his life --literally -- to help me again), Jonathan (who saved Michael's life), Hanna (who has boundless energy), Jeremy (who added a needed burst of energy during the final push) and my Mother (who came all the way from TN to help)!

Thanks, too, to everyone who offered to help, but couldn't make it, or sent good will during the move.

I could not have done it without you!

(the story of the Death Trap Apartment is this: As Michael, Gordon and Jonathan were moving my mattress down the back stars of my apartment -- as requested by the landlord in the lease -- the railing against which Michael was resting gave way, and fell two flights to the concrete sidewalk below. Michael was left flailing in mid-air clutching desperately at the mattress (carefully covered in plastic) and at the rotting brick wall of my kitchen! As he was about to plummet to certain hospitalization, if not a more unpleasant end, Jonathan's hand reached out, grasped his wrist in an iron grip, and pulled him back onto the porch, and the land of the living!

-- OK, its a bit overly dramatic, but it's more or less accurate)

New York (Again)

I have noticed that my visits to New York seem to have themes. My first trip was Free New York, another trip was Museums of New York, this trip was New York Parks, with a few Museums thrown in. I can't remember them all now, but I spent a lot of time wandering around or sitting in parks!

Thanks to a suggestion from Neal (feel free to make suggestions for places for me to visit, by the way. I'd like to see the places you have been and thought were wonderful, and/or go to the places you want to go, but haven't been yet), I set out on a trek to the Cloisters! The Cloisters are a satellite of the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- and worth the trip way, way up to the northern tip of Manhattan. I Took the A-train (whooo hooo!) and got off a stop too early and accidentally discovered a beautiful Park: Fort Tryon Park! It was donated by Rockefeller (I think) to the city and was the site of a fort built to keep the Brits (or was it the Americans?) at bay during the Revolutionary War! There is a beautiful view of New Jersey across the river -- gray-black bluffs of basalt rising from the river and topped with golden and green trees! "I bet it will be beautiful in a week!" I thought to my self. Yet another state where I missed the glorious fall color!

The Cloisters, for the uninitiated, is a museum designed to house buildings! It's very strange, actually, to wander from room to room, looking at the apes of one church in one room then pass through a door of another church into another room with a completely different apes and sculptures! Cool, but very odd. (furnished rooms sometimes have the same effect -- or the Throne Rooms at the Art Institute, but at a much smaller scale.) The Cloisters form a nice blending of my museum component and the park component, because of the the gardens within the three actual cloisters. I have heard they are a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the weather in the summer (it was a bit chilly the day I was there). They are planted with herbs and flowers used by Medieval Monks for medicines and such. My favorite part though, was the basement. It is full of reliquaries! I hope I don't offend any Catholics, but the idea of saving a bit of the body of a dead saint (the finger, or rib, or skull (with or without hair)) seems very strange! I find it fascinating as well -- it's the cool and creepy thing again. And the artwork, the reliquary, to house the relic, is often so beautiful. They are made with great detail and sensitivity. Faces, they are often in the form (or imagined form) of the dead saint, that are filled with anguish and hope blending together so tenderly. This is why I love Art.

Another theme, in both my life and in my art experiences in New York, is the face. Faces and hands. Those are the things that attract me in art. I was fortunate enough to see two exhibits focusing on faces. One at the Met -- the struggle between the naturalistic and the idealistic in art from the Renaissance (I think) -- and the "portraits" (both professional and private) of Annie Libovitz at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The Met is Amazing of course -- I once made my brother spend eight to ten hours wandering around the museum. I'd never been to the Brooklyn Museum. But I would agree that had it not been in the same city as the Met, it would be regarded as an amazing museum. I got kicked out after only two hours -- which was a very strange experience in itself. I walked past the guard and into a gallery. The guard says to me, "The museum is closing in two minutes." OK. I go in and have a brief look at something, when all of a sudden the guard calls out "the museum is closed!" and the lights go out. Click, click, click, bank after bank of lights get turned out and the I am left to find my way out of the gallery using only the emergency lighting! Behind the museum is a strange enclosure of fragments of sculptures, light posts and other random bit of things. It was like a cage for the broken toys. As if they were afraid the fragments would escape!

Other than the museums most of my time in NY was spent wandering the streets and visiting with Friends. Always the best of times!

To end this long and rambling entry, I'd like to leave you with a few random thoughts and images. As I walked down one street I was surprised to see the glint of a fishing line. On one end it was attached to a crumpled dollar bill. As I followed the line up, I saw a boy standing back from a second floor window with a fishing pole in his hand. He and I looked at each other and grinned. I also got to see one of Suzy's lectures. Again, I love Art History. I really enjoyed being reminded of some of my favorite spots in Rome. And it made me wonder how art/images (and architecture) are being used to control our thinking. She mentioned that the Romans exported specific building structures as a way of exerting control over the provinces -- It reminded me of McDonald's, the golden arches are the same, the food is the same, all over the world! The coffee (actually tea) shop where Ben and I hung out while he studied, seemed to characterize some of the differences I see between Chicago and New York. Chicago seems like the younger sibling. Still struggling a bit to fit it, fit into its skin. New York seems gritty and rough around the edges, but comfortable with itself that way. Chicago coffee shops are clean and the furniture sort of matches. In New York, it was old and battered and quirky.

Finally, I have seen tube mice in all three cities! Some people think mice in the subway are a pest (and I agree that rats are gross!) but the mice are good luck!

Washington D.C.

After a wonderful visit with my parents in Massachusetts, I headed down to D.C.

I took the Chinatown bus from New York to D.C. (very cheep -- $35 round trip) The Chinatown bus is, obviously, in Chinatown. But I'm not sure Chinatown is really part of New York. As I walked the streets from the subway, which is still fairly western, heading towards the bus, I moved farther and farther from the (relatively) familiar to the strange and exotic! The closer I got to the bus "station" the more the signs were only in Chinese; the more the people only spoke Chinese; the more strange roots and herbs and fish and things I couldn't even guess at sat in bins on the street. It didn't even smell the same! Waiting in line to board the bus, the man next to me said, "I feel like I am in Beijing." Me too. It made me question this whole "round the world" thing! It is a bit intimidating to be hungry and see nothing that looks like "food." On the other hand, Chinatown in D.C. is totally different! It is about a block long, and blends in well with the rest of the city, except for the huge, shiny arch across the street (flanked on one side by the subway and on the other by a CVS.) A bit of a let down actually after being in China just a few hours ago!

In D.C. I stayed with my friend Tammy. We had a great time wandering around the Renaissance Fair. I got to see "real" jousting -- with lances splintering from the force of impact and everything! The force was so great that one man was knocked off his horse and had to wait for his squires to help him up! I was rooting for the one woman knight. She came in 10 of 10, but at least she was there! We also got to see Hack and Slash, a comic sword fighting duo, who were very funny (Women love Puppies, says Hack (or was it Slash?) holding up an imaginary puppy. They will forgive anything if you have a puppy. If I have a puppy in one hand, and in the other hand I have a box of chocolates, and in the other hand I have a bunch of flowers, how many of you would choose the puppy? See, half of you go for the puppy even though I have three hands!) We also got to see a man juggling a running chain saw (very impressive, though not quite in keeping with the Renaissance theme)! My favorite, though, was the sword swallower, Johnny Fox. (That's a stage name of course, his real name is John Fox. -- OK, that might have been funnier in person.) His sense of humor was very dry. (You should see your faces! he said, after pulling a huge (at least two-foot long) sharp, wiggly sword out of his mouth!) That was one of the most impressive swords, that and the huge, industrial size, cooking spoon and an equally huge (again 2-foot long) screwdriver! He also stuck a 3-inch nail up his nose (!) and did the cups and balls trick, making apples appear under the cups! (If you ever see someone winning at cups and balls, he warned, they are working with the the person moving the cups!) I was enraptured -- it's like science: cool and disgusting at the same time!

I also got to see Bethany, which was great! She and I had a very pleasant time wandering around the Botanic Gardens. I learned that the flowers of a chocolate tree (OK, cacao tree, for those that want to be precise) come out of the bark of the trunk! There was a tree in the garden (about 1-foot DBH (diameter at breast height) -- so a mature tree) with flowers about a foot off the ground! very cool, but very strange! After the Botanic Gardens, we walked over to the Natural History Museum. Spectacular geology exhibit! I highly recommend it to those of you visiting the east. We got into conversations with other science nerds about the HUGE super volcano that sits under Yellowstone National Park and is due to erupt any time now (it erupts about every 600,000 years and its been about 600,000 years -- as an F.Y.I. last time it went, it dropped about a foot of ash on Montana!)

All in all, my visit to D.C. was great, but I seem to be mentioning the most disturbing parts, so, to round things out, I will end on the very first disturbing thing that happened -- the haunted bowl of soup. Tammy and I sat down to dinner one night and the waitress put a bowl of soup in front of Tammy and walked away. Just as Tammy was about to dig in, the bowl moved, sliding, on its own, about three inches across the table. We look at each other and then back at the bowl. Which moved again! Another three inches! At which point we both burst out laughing hysterically! I took the bowl and started eating it, and... you guessed it, it moved again!

Western Mass

The other day I took good old Amtrack from NYC to Amherst (a lovely ride surrounded by 20-year-olds returning to college) and I have spent the past several days here in western Mass with my father (Roger) and step-mother (Shirley). They live off in the country, and when I look out the window (as I did just a minute ago), we are surrounded by trees! I timed my trip to arrive in the height of the fall colors, but they aren't here! Well, to be fair, there are a several trees that are brilliant reds and yellows, and (my favorite) oranges, but most are either still greenish or brownish.

We went for a long beautiful hike yesterday (reminded me of the Windy City Hikers group I hike with) along an old rail like and over or past several fabulous stone bridges! The rail line was designed by the father of J.M. Whistler (and thus the husband of the woman in the painting). It was the longest (and the steepest (1.6%) I think) at the time. They didn't actually have the technology to get the trains over the mountains when the line was built! It was so impressive, in fact, that he (and his family) were summoned to Russia to design and build the Trans-Siberian Rail Road! (I will have to go and ride it (!) now I know it was designed by a local boy -- so to speak.) The bridges were spectacular! They were hugely tall (the tallest is 70 ft. above the water!) and built without mortar and still standing strong (and able to support trains of more than 200,000 tons!).

We've done some other fun stuff on my visit, too. We just got back from a jazz concert at Smith. Piano (one of my favorite instruments -- I liked it so much I begged my mother for a piano and lessons, which she gave me. But then I never practiced, so I'm not any good. It remains one of my favorites, though, despite this murky history) and clarinet. It was wonderful. The two men (Bob Sparkman and Jerry Noble) clearly like each other and love to play together. So much so that some of the songs went on longer than they anticipated. They wound up cuting some of the songs they intended to play out of the program, and still went long! I'm not any good at describing music -- one of you music people will have to teach me something about music one of these days -- so I recommend you check out one of their five albums (I mean CDs -- I'm dating myself) and hear it for yourself.

We also went for a walk up one of the local mountains (Mount Tom), but had to turn back for lack of light. And last night we went to a fund raising dinner for the Massachusetts-Cambodian Water Project. This is a very grass roots organization that has, over the past three or four years raised and sent about $15,000 to Cambodia to buy supplies that help three towns improve sanitation (i.e. dig pit toilets) and collect and store "clean" drinking water to make it though the dry season (via wells, water retention ponds and cisterns). They also buy books and pay for two English teachers in each town ($175/teacher/year -- makes my salary look astronomically huge!). It is a very impressive project -- all volunteer run. And I just have to say, both as a biologist and as a human being, that so many of the world's problems could be solved with decent sanitation! Everyone should have access to water that is at least free of human and animal waste! -- OK, I'm off my soap-box.

Finally, I can't end without mentioning the Contra Dance! WOW! I can't remember now who suggested it first, but Thank You! The dance in Greenfield, MA has (apparently) an international reputation (and I don't just mean Canada). And I've been told that people come from other states for the Friday and Saturday dances. To put the Chicago community to shame, they sometimes have five (five!) contra lines! On Friday, when I went, there were at least three lines for each dance. The dances seemed simpler than those called in Chicago, and there wasn't very much hot-dogging, but almost everyone I danced with was excellent! Nice firm, well balanced, smooth (though not fast or fancy) swings. Everyone was clearly having a great time and had great energy. And the Floor! smooth and soft. A dream! I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to the East.

One final note. I am not sure if I will be able to update this again before I go home to Chicago on the 28th. But I am looking forward to seeing everyone there as often as possible before I leave again on Nov. 1st! If not, I'll be back again (from Las Vegas!) on the 8th -- so save me a dance