Bunch of Young People

Cali got dressed up for Valentine's Day.  Or is this an old picture of Matt?

 And an old picture of Dylan?

Luba also dressed for Valentine's Day.  But this is a pretty typical outfit for her.

Emma had us concerned over Christmas break when she visited her family in Japan and there was an earthquake.  I got bad info that she was in the area that experienced heavy damage.  She wasn't, and was OK.  She also was not on the plane that caught fire.                                                                                 After returning to the US, she went to NJ for a climbing competition and did really well, just missing nationals.  Maybe next year (after winning states in tennis, of course).

Like a lot of my friends from Westfield, Susan was born in 1964.  February 19 in her case.  

 

There are also a whole bunch of friends and family turning 70 this year.  Frank hit the milestone in February, Tom will in March.  Funny, the kids at school think I'm old.

A photo I found on the internet recently.  Various ages, most of them still playing together after almost 50 years.

No idea how old they are, but they are fun to hang around with.  Kind of quiet.

 

Remember Work Travel?

Gail revived an old activity: traveling for work.  She went to a meeting in Amsterdam (the Netherlands, not NY) and met with all her coworkers; they all work remotely from a few different countries.  She was blown away by the museum of street art.  I think it just looks like a bunch of post-its on sheets of contact paper, but she said she was jet lagged and thinks maybe that influenced her appreciation of the exhibits. 

 The bike garage under the river holds tens of thousands of bikes.  I'm impressed.

 Coincidentally, while she was away, someone loaned me a book about biking in Amsterdam that included this passage from a 1933 travel guide to the city.  She didn't write me a postcard, but did bring a few home.

She tagged on a couple days to take the train to Oxford (England, not Mississippi) to visit friends who used to live in Ithaca.

She saw cool, old trees.

And a dry-laid stone wall that was several miles long (also old).

Lorraine took an action photo of Gail (and Darragh's back) and her new book bag from a famous bookstore carrying some interesting books she bought us at the famous bookstore.

An old building at Oxford.

Between walking the dog, working and thawing out food from the freezer, I didn't have much time to shave.  I decided to see what my beard would look like after a 25-year absence.  I was hoping the wall would make it look redder.

It doesn't look all that different than when I was in my 20's.  I think it's the shirt that makes it look so red in this photo.

Localler Travel

 

 

While Gail was across the pond, Roxy and I spent a few days out in Caroline with Connie and Andy.  No skiing, but plenty of sunshine.

 

And couch time.

 

Connie "hates" the section of the FLT I maintain, but she was willing to slum it and go with Andy and me to do a little work on it.  Getting to see these trees is totally worth falling in the mud.  At least that's what I tried to tell her.

 The warm temps brought a good flow of sap and Yaple Maple fired up the evaporator for their 31st season.  We've been getting ours there for about half of that.  Not sure why we didn't before, I used to live just down the road and C&A have lived in the hood forever.

 I signed the book and had a nice visit with Frank while he was idle.  He always remembers at some point when we talk that I'm "that guy who built the half-cabin on Honeypot."  Guilty.

 There's a lot to do besides tap, run lines, haul sap, cut, split and stack wood, feed the fire.  They have two or three different timers set to make sure everything gets checked and done at the right time.

 No timer reminds visitors to sample.  Roxy enjoyed her first taste of maple syrup.  But now she'll only eat it if it's less than an hour old.  Spoiled bitch.

The sunrises and sunsets were not to be missed while I was there.  I think I even put on a coat to watch a couple of them.

I hopped in the old neighborhood school bus but couldn't get the engine to turn over. 

 

They took advantage of trapped support to get started on a 2000 piece puzzle.  We got about 1000 together in the few days I was there, then the other half took a week.  That's not to imply anything.

Found a photo in an album that I've wanted to recover.  Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, 2002.

Didn't even know about this photo.  2005?

The second cairn I ever built.  Easter Sunday, 2003.  All the others of this style have fallen or been knocked over.

The pond went from solid ice to almost no ice in the four days we were there.

This week provided an unexpected opportunity to return to Caroline and ski.  Three times!  Gail and I went out after they got just enough snow to ski (we missed it by an inch in town);  I returned with a couple friends for a tour the next day, and made a final trip for an hour solo and 3.5 hours with Andy to the Summer Land Preserve and back as it warmed up.  It wasn't much snow, but the conditions were mighty fine where there was enough, and I got a rare chance to ski in single-digit F temperatures.

That Doggie in the Doorway

 

Roxy enjoyed having the front entrance available for sunbathing.

On the Trails

 

 

That stream bank erosion I've reported on previously got worse.  The latest re-route was done without consulting me, but I approve of it.

I especially like the nightlight they installed for these days when it's still dark when I go there in the morning.

 

Someone didn't see any issue with setting up a mobile sauna on a little-used trail in the Wildflower Preserve.  I didn't get a response when I asked the city forester if I could remove it and haven't been back to check to see if it's still there.

 

This piebald deer is still around, though it better stay on the trails and out of the street more or it won't make it until next summer to eat our flowers.
 

 Glad to see Mary Ann and Glenn getting out on the trails in the Adirondacks.  Although it's possible Mary Ann had to go it alone and used a timer to get this picture.  Thomas Mtn. with Cat and Lake George behind.

Local Skiing

 

 

We got just enough snow a couple times to get out on the trails of Six Mile Creek.  Whenever I go past this tree I wonder if their hearts are still as scarred as the bark.  There's a good song waiting to be written.

 No scarred hearts for Gail or me.  She does have scars on her hips as reminders that there were a couple times she couldn't ski.  Glad those days are well past.

In Print

 

 

I went 19 years and 2 months as an anonymous teaching assistant, but I finally got some recognition after a month of being a teacher.  I'm finally somebody!

 

The kids at school got to use ipads to translate for some of their midterm exams.  They don't understand why we insist they use a paper dictionary.

I found a writing sample of a former student when I was going through materials to use in my new position at work.  

 

Being a vegetarian, I just couldn't order V4 at my favorite Chinese restaurant.  Yep, another former student works there, but she saw the problem right away when I pointed it out and now you can order sauteed spinach with chopped garlic.