Bob

   One of the joys of my job as an ENL teacher is the freedom to teach what I want.  I always make time for a couple lessons focused on Bob Dylan so the kids might "catch a spark".  I'll never forget Dora's response after listening to a duet with him and Joan Baez from 1965 when she exclaimed, "They're singing in English?"

  When I heard about the movie A Complete Unknown a few months before it came out, I found myself down the rabbit hole a few times in anticipation of the era the movie is about.  I still wasn't prepared for how much I enjoyed seeing it and had to see it twice over the Christmas break.  It's going to take awhile to emerge from this rabbit hole.  Then the director's cut will come out and it will start all over.

  Hard to say what my favorite scene was, kind of like naming my favorite Dylan song.  But this one stood out for a bunch of reasons: Dylan was starting to feel jaded and pressured to be who everyone wanted him to be.  They showed he was still able to sit down with Pete Seeger and enjoy singing a song together, even if it was in front of a bunch of record company execs and other rich people.  Timothee Chalamet and Ed Norton did great jobs singing and playing live to the camera (as does Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez) and in this scene they are playing Pete's guitar and banjo. 

  For anybody unfamiliar with Dylan and go to see/hear Timothee Chalamet, you're going to love the albums:

 

  There are a few books to read too.

New and Old Around Town

 

  

This is a familiar building in College Town to me.  I saw my first old time performances here when Mac and Marie would play at Cabbegetown Cafe.  The Four Seasons Korean BBQ has been there for over 20 years and it's been too long since I had the tofu bokum.  But in all that time going there, and walking past it and Fontana's across from it, I never noticed the brick work at the top until the other day when a railing for security during a roofing job appeared.

   The Breeze Apartments at the former Ithaca Gun location are well underway.  There's a project that only took 15 years to get started.

Some Siblings

  Pat sent me a picture of us with Janet and Mary Ellen.  That is so familiar, it seems like it could have been just a few years ago.

  The next, next generation are growing just as fast.  Declan and Dori are proving that.

  Brian and Brett sporting shirts honoring their grandfather who wrote a comic strip in the last century.  Sadly, Brett died in December, he was a good friend when we were growing up and I was fortunate to see him occasionally as we aged.

  And a couple sisters I was fortunate to know when they were in high school, Tin Cho on her first Christmas break from college and Nano still living in her parents basement. 

Merry Christmas

 

  We had a quiet Christmas on Columbia St.  The neighbors have a traditional open house and we went over for a couple hours.  I got a cookie from a student when her class decorated them.  And Santa switched up the mode of travel this year.

A Good Ski Run

 Winter made a timely entrance this year. Snow fell heavier than expected on Friday after school ended for 11 days and I made an effort to get out and ski at the break of winter on Saturday.  Timing is everything.

  The first ski of the season on South Hill revealed a surprising new development: someone (not me) has cleared the old rail bed behind the houses on Kendal Ave.  I haven't checked with the Town Parks Dept. yet, but it seems like large equipment was needed and they have it.  Maybe it was to increase access to college kids on Kendal to have a more direct route to Second Dam?

  She's still around.  Probably old enough to have a fawn this year.  About 1% of deer express the gene necessary for this.

  You've heard of ice wine and cider, now get ready for ice hot sauce.

  Took a drive to the Arboretum for a spin around the grounds, and then checked out the Dryden Rail Trail to Rt. 13 and saw signs of progress on the north side of the highway.  

  Since the snow was on the thin side, Gail wore her rock skis.

  My new coworker, Bailey, is a skier and lives near the Burns Rd. end of the Rec Way so we met there and I showed her some of the trails in the woods.  She survived.

 
  Alas, the snow melted and precipitation turned to rain.  I went out in it to tend to the trails that had some obstructions.

  Out in Caroline, Andy and I were able to cut a tree that fell across a trail.  He didn't think we could do it using my folding saw, but we got it done.  I've been told that Connie went by later and was able to get the trunk to stand up straighter.

Gone to the Dogs

 

 

Roxy had a good spin around the Secret Dog Park.  In addition to getting to run a bit, she feasted on several frozen watermelon rinds.

I approve of the new signs at Cornell Natural Areas.  No word on how enforcement is going and I haven't seen if any are available for Ithaca city natural areas.  I'll keep you posted.