More Birthdays

I think fall is a great time for birthdays. Happy Belated Birthday to Uncle Don! Happy soon-to-be-five Ian!! ... am I counting right?? Is he really going to be 5?? Ian?? Send me a picture of Nola, so I can put her happy doggy face on the blog! And of course, Matthew. How are you, anyway? Have you moved back up from SoCal?

And the biggest news ... [drum roll, please] ... I am an aunt! Again! I hope I get to meet the new nephews soon. Before they start kindergarten, let's say. One of them lives in Hong Kong, the other in Australia. Well, congratulations, Timothy, on being born!!

I am moving my own birthday to October. September 28 happens to be a busy day this year. I'm taking control of the situation not by skipping any of my engagements, but rather by relocating my birthday. Not the celebrations, the birthday itself. This year, I will be born on a date that is more popular anyway: October 2. It'll still be a work day, so the celebrations will still be limited, but I'll at least get to share a mental birthday, if not an actual party, with Candice and Anthony.

I guess that probably seems silly to you, but I won't be mad on the 28th when I have to spend the day in meetings and the evening schmoozing with historians.

Fall is almost here!

Labor Day

We celebrated the holiday by driving to Iowa to see Patrick's mom. We had a wonderful time canoeing and swimming at Lake McBride; visiting with Patrick's friend, Grant, and his new fiancee, Liz (nice Ethiopian dinner at a very traditional restaurant called David's Place); and of course, chatting and eating with Mary and John. Another fascinating highlight was the amateur film of Patrick's great-uncle Tim, which Mary recently got a copy of on DVD. Tim has won awards for his work, which I can easily understand after seeing the Cadillac vs. Rambler short (titled "Beep Beep!" or something like that), the hour-long Yellowstone documentary, and the footage of family trips to the zoo (with voice over from two "sparrows"). So much has changed in the last half-century. For one thing, you don't have to haul as much gear to take video; for another, there are boardwalks now amongst the geysers, so you can't just stroll wherever you please around the crusty edges of the 180-degree water, and it's no longer acceptable, or even legal, to throw food to the monkeys and the polar bears (at the zoo, not at Yellowstone, as a nefarious comment would have you believe!--but the geysers are at Yellowstone. I don't know of any zoos that have managed to simulate those yet).

The best parts of the weekend were outdoors. I love the water. I've been worrying that I'm not really an outdoor person: I have a ten-degree range of temperature comfort, and the sight or sound of mosquitoes sends me running and skipping in a totally crazed way. But the weather this weekend was perfect (especially in the shade), and it wasn't too buggy in the places we went. I like paddling, although paddling a canoe is frustratingly inefficient compared to rowing. For whatever reason, it's important to me to exercise in the most efficient way, even if that gives me less of a workout. Anyway, I like using my whole body, and canoeing is just arms. I've been looking into getting a kayak; Patrick suggests that the two-bladed paddle involves your back more, and a kayak is clearly more maneuverable than a row boat. Places sell inflatable tandem kayaks for about $300, too, so that could be affordable! And an inflatable one would be easy to travel with, even in my Honda. Anyway, we'll probably rent one for a day and paddle around the Chicago River or something and see how we like it. My two kayaking experiences were in California, one in Tamales Bay in a closed-top (I enjoyed the challenge of flipping it over, getting out, righting it, and climbing back in, and it was a really neat thing to do with my dad and uncles), and one in ... what's the name of that estuary, I always forget ... by Monterey ... in an open top. There were lots of pelicans, seals, etc. My arms got tired. Anyway, there are a lot of lakes and rivers in this part of the world to be boating in, and having a little boat would help us take advantage of the most beautiful spots.


This is a picture of a bug. I don't really like insects (a little shiver goes up my spine every time Patrick picks up a "cute" little caterpillar), but you can't deny that they are CRAZY-looking creatures of endless variety. This one was hanging out on a railing at Matthiesen State Park, where we stopped on the way home from Iowa. We had a good time splashing in the creek, with its little waterfalls, and exploring a new place in general.