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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

18. Visit the Vermont Veterans Militia Museum

My sister Katrinka is one of my heroes. There are lots of reasons for that, starting with the fact that she has the most integrity of anyone I've ever known, and has been a huge influence on me in that regard. She also has one of the most interesting jobs I can imagine. She's a museum content developer, which means that she does the research, writes the texts, decides the themes, and selects the images of many of the exhibits you see when you go to a museum. Unlike us academics, who take years to become experts, I've watched my sister go from zero to sixty in a matter of weeks on all kinds of fascinating subjects. Because of her I know lots of random facts about, among other topics, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science Church, jelly fish (did you know they are the indestructible cockroaches of the oceans?), African mud cloth, William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and my personal favorite, Thor Heyerdahl, the modern day explorer who sailed from South America to Polynesia in 1947 in a little raft made out of balsa wood. And of course, because of her, I love museums; all kinds, on all subjects. And, being a Navy brat with a father who loves military history, I'm fascinated by war and military museums (even though my parents, both former Naval officers, can't figure out how they produced such a peacenik daughter). So when I saw the Vermont Veterans Militia Museum on my friend and colleague Kristin's list, I immediately invited myself along. (Kristin has her own list of 52, some of which --like the Penguin Plunge and ice climbing -- coincides with things on mine and some of which --like dog sledding, kickboxing and this museum -- is stuff I wish I had thought of, and so have now decided to blatantly copy.)

Being a small museum, visiting hours are rather limited, and it's only open from 10 to 3 Tuesday through Thursday. So we decided to visit on a Wednesday afternoon, and weren't terribly shocked that we had the whole place to ourselves. It's really pretty interesting. Vermont soldiers have played a role in wars starting with the American Revolution, and there were exhibits from the Revolution to Iraq. Because there was a focus on the role of Vermonters, it was interesting to imagine how Vermont has impacted, and been impacted by, these wars. I was surprised to learn, for instance, that fully 10% of Vermont's population served in the Civil War. The flag with stars that I included here is from the town of Bridgewater, VT, and represents what was apparently a common practice here during World War I, where each town hung a flag commemorating the servicemen who were away (in blue) and those who were killed (in gold).

I think Kristin and I were both most fascinated by the Snow Snake, a sort of cross between a jeep, a tank and a snowmobile that was used in World War II to transport soldiers who fought on wooden skis and snow shoes. I included two pictures, one of Kristin and I standing in front of the Snow Snake, and another giving a better view of it from the side. Outside of the museum there are also numerous tanks and helicopters, and Kristin and I got up close (and got our feet tangled up in the ties that anchor them to the ground) as we peered inside. Our favorite outside vehicle was the little observation and taxi helicopter used in Vietnam (the explanatory text called it a "OH-6 Cayuse", though that didn't help me out much).

I'm a huge fan of travel, and am getting pretty psyched for a summer full of it -- to the Dominican Republic, the western United States, the Middle East, and Europe in that order. But it's also pretty fun to see what's in your own backyard, and be reminded that the world is full of new things only a few minutes away, too.

52 Ways to Say I Love You Albanian, with a huge shout-out to Pat, the father of my brother in law, Brian. Pat and his wife Kathy have had lots of great ideas for the list of 52, and one day Pat compiled the two longer phrases below in a whole bunch of languages, and sent it to me. Thanks, Pat!

Hello c'kemi
Goodbye mirupafshim
I love you Te dua
May I have two beers please? Mund te kete dy birra, asseblief.

Coming Attractions

Easter Sunday souffle lesson. This Sunday I'm having dinner at the home of my friends Brett and Zan (as in Alexander). But before I do, Zan has very kindly offered to increase my New Things cooking repertoire by teaching me how to make chocolate souffle. Doesn't that sound sophisticated in a Julia Child kind of way? I definitely think so.

Bike maintenance. Back in the dead of winter when he was teaching me to skate ski, Nigel told me he has also taught many bike maintenance classes, so of course I immediately put him on the spot and asked if he'd show me how to get my bike in running order when the warm weather came. This weekend is supposed to be in the 70s, so Nigel told me he'd give me a lesson either Saturday afternoon or during the day on Monday when we don't have class -- it all depends on his own training schedule and when he's going to do his 70 mile ride this weekend!

Ice skating. Still lots of work to do on my skating goals, though I'm happy to report that yesterday I started working on my very first jump (a waltz jump which is just a little half jump, but still). Still going Mondays at 8:30 am and Wednesdays at 11:30 and, when possible, Friday at 11:30 or Sunday at 1. And I'm always happy to skate with other people, so if you want to join in once or often, just let me know.

Eat a Vermonster. What could possibly be a better team-builder than a group exercise in gluttony? On Wednesday, April 21, the Saint Mike's team headed to the Dominican Republic -- Ashley, Carolyn, David, Eireanne, Erin, Joy-Anne, Katelynn, Korinne, Mark, and I -- will meet up at Ben and Jerry's after my ballet class gets out at 6:30 to jointly demolish a Vermonster. If anyone reading this wants in on the fun and indigestion (like maybe, for instance, a bunch of people planning a similar trip to India or Guyana), you can always get your own group together and get your own Vermonster to keep us company!

Monday, March 29, 2010

17. Participate in a contra dance

I don't know whether it's a Vermont thing, but lots of people I know contra dance. For anyone who isn't quite sure what that is, the best way I can describe it is as square dancing in two lines instead of squares of eight people. In fact, the two types of dancing are sometimes combined, with sets of both in the same evening, as they were the night we gave it a try. My colleague Will is a nationally-known artist, and though I didn't find out till last weekend, also known, and in high demand, across the country as a square dance caller. When there's a local opportunity to do either one he often posts to the rest of us, and so last Friday a bunch of us -- faculty, students and alumni -- answered the call. Will's the one wearing the vest in the picture standing next to my friend and colleague Crystal. By day Crystal teaches philosophy, and in the off-hours, she joins me in my New Things related to dance. Every Wednesday evening since mid-January we can be found at the Flynn Center in our ballet slippers working on our battements and rond de jambes (Crystal with much greater success than me).

One of the cool things about the evening is that it was very beginner-friendly. People who knew what they were doing were more than happy to partner with us newcomers, and we walked through all the steps of a dance before we actually all did it to music. Of course that didn't keep me from stepping on the toes of my friend and former student Derek while square dancing, and worse, completely messing up two whole rows of people in my first contra dance when I forgot to do my part of the "wave" (and if you want to know what that is, you'll just have to try it out for yourself sometime). I included some photos of some of my other friends who danced that night. There's one of Jerry, who teaches Journalism and Mass Communication and co-leads student trips to Tanzania with me, swinging Valerie, a wildly popular Education professor, and another of my student, friend and fellow AIDS activist, Madison (in the pink shirt) promenading, in addition to one of me swinging with a high school friend of Madison's. So there it is: free, friendly, and fun. Everyone should check it out sometime, and don't say "but I don't dance". Neither do I, but it's still a good time.

52 Ways to Say I Love You Setswana (spoken in Botswana), with many thanks to Heather B.who studied abroad there last year.

Hello: Dumela (Do-mel-a)
Good bye: Go Siame (Go Sia-may)
I love you: Ke a go rata (kay a go rata)
May I have two beers, please?: Ke Kopa biri tse pedi, tsweets tswe (kay kopa biri tsay pedi tsweets tsway)

Coming Attractions

As noted in my previous post on downhill skiing, Wednesday, March 31 is a museum field trip in the afternoon with my friend Kristin J. to the Camp Johnson Veterans Museum, and all this week and the following ones are multiple opportunities for lots of ice skating on Mondays (8:30 am), Wednesdays, (11:30 am) and possibly Fridays (11:30 am). I'll be going during my lunch hours at school for the Wednesday and Friday skates, so if someone wants to go over from campus with me, just let me know!

Dan and Nigel don't know it yet (though they will if they read this post), but I am about to hit them up on their offers to teach me bicycle maintenance, because it is clearly time to break out the bike this weekend, and my tires are feeling kind of flat. If I can talk one of them into giving me a lesson later this week or weekend, I'll post it on the Museum post.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

16. Go downhill skiing

I started this week feeling pretty good about the winter sports I've tried since the beginning of 2010. Since early January I've: gone ice climbing; done two winter hikes up Camel's Hump (one with snow shoes, one with hiking boots and crampons); gone snowshoeing through Nebraska Notch; ice skated (at Rockefeller Center and in Burlington); gone both classic cross country skiing and skate skiing (twice); and tried snow boarding. In fact, I did every winter sport on my list except downhill skiing, an observation I made to my friend and former student Drisk when we met up for a long-delayed beer at the Vermont Pub and Brewery on Wednesday night. And that's all I needed to say. One of the many things I love about Drisk is that he's got a very can-do attitude, whether it's figuring out how to get lots of fellow students excited about being political or getting his former teacher on skis before the week is over. The next day I was at the Alpine Shop where Drisk works getting fitted with rental skis, and on Friday afternoon I was back on a chair lift for the first time in almost twenty years.

It didn't feel like late March at all. The temperature was in the twenties, and the snow was a little icy, but still plenty deep for skiing, and the sky was a brilliant clear blue without a cloud in sight. Like so many of my student/alumni teachers, Drisk is a master of his sport, and it was almost as much fun to watch him ski backwards on the first two runs (he was watching out for me) and take jumps on the others as it was to be on skis myself. I was pleasantly surprised that the little bit I had known from before came back really quickly -- in fact the biggest things that I thought were different were the equipment (much simpler now than 20 years ago) and the fact that the sport itself is way more fun than I remember it.

My only complaint about the entire experience is that it's put me in a new quandary. In a previous post I had noted that I'm quite certain I'm going to keep going (and actually have) with a number of the things on my list. I want rock climbing and ice skating to be regular parts of my life, and of the winter sports I had tried, the two I was definitely going to stay with are skate skiing and snow boarding. But now I just don't know. It might have to be downhill skiing instead of snow boarding. Way easier, and oh, so much fun! It's a good problem to have. Sometimes too much of a good thing is still a good thing.

52 Ways to Say I Love You
Josh comes through again. The guy has taught me snow shoeing and rock climbing, made sure I didn't chicken out of the Penguin Plunge as part of the SMC team, and gave me the Danish translation for my 52 language phrases. He spent our recent spring break volunteering with migrant workers in Immokalee, Florida on a school MOVE-sponsored service trip, and while he was there, got me yet another translation -- Creole -- from a Haitian family he was chatting with. As far as I'm concerned, students like Josh are the reason that we SMC professors have the best job in the world.

hello komoye
thank you mercie beaukou (Josh got this one instead of good by)
I love you Meulu remen (-m)
May I have two beers, please? Eske ou ka ban muleu de bierre s'il vouz plait?

Coming Attractions

Wednesday, March 31 at 2 pm. Camp Johnson Veterans Museum -- Kristin and I will be doing our field trip this week and see what our own backyard has to teach us.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, March 29 (8:30 am), March 31 and April 2 (both 11:30 am). Ice skating, and lots of it! This is one of my more ambitious goals, and is going to take some ice time to get where I'm trying to go. Let me know if anyone wants to go, or find another time to skate at Leddy, Cairns, or the Waterbury rink next week, or in the weeks that follow.

Monday, March 22, 2010

15. Cook an Indian meal

When I was a little kid I really loved McDonald's Fillet-o-Fish Sandwiches, Chef Boy Ardee Ravioli and Twinkies. As an adult I think they're all kind of gross. On the flip side, I could not tolerate any degree of spice in my food, but now have come to understand that Indian and Thai food are wonderful contributions to human existence. I guess that's the upside of being a grown-up which, together with being able to drink all the Diet Pepsi I want and go to bed whenever I feel like it, helps balance out stupid grown-up things like income taxes, dealing with lawyers and retirement accounts, and finding a plumber to replace the water heater. Now that I know that I love Indian food, my problem is that I don't know how to cook it. So, I decided it needed to go on the list, as something to learn this year. And during our spring break last week, my colleague and close friend Tara and her daughter Katya donated an afternoon to help me get started.

The key to cooking Indian food, I have discovered, is the spices. The first thing Tara did is get out a couple of tins containing littler tins with all kinds of fun spices. The one pictured above (one of several) contains tumeric, cumin seeds, black mustard, split white lentils (urad dahl), fennel seeds, fennugreek seeds and cayenne pepper. She also introduced me to curry leaves, straight off the potted tree in her living room, and to a smelly spice with the crazy name of aeosefetida, that packs such a punch that it is stored in a tin in its own sealed bag away from the others when not in use.

We cooked three dishes, a basic dahl (lentil stew), mor keerai (greens (spinach) cooked with coconut), and a cabbage kari (dry vegetable saute). The most fun part is that all three started with frying the spices, which in the case of the seeds, means cooking them in oil under a screen till they pop like tiny pop corns -- as Tara is showing me how to do in one of the photos. After the spices are fried and the kitchen starts to smell wonderful, you add the other ingredients and let things simmer. It's amazing how just a few ingredients can come together to make quite a complex flavor in the dish. As I said, I'm pretty sure it's all in the spices. Obviously, my one afternoon of learning only scratched the surface of what I still have to learn. But I went home with containers of three delicious southern Indian dishes, and promises of more lessons, on top of the offer from my student Claire to teach me what she's learned this year in her preparation for the school's service trip to Kolkata. Clearly, more cooking (and eating) will follow, so drop a line if you want to be part of a later round!

52 Ways to Say I Love You Tamil. I didn't have the capacity to write it in the appropriate characters, so I asked Tara to transliterate into the English alphabet and here's what she came up with.

Hello Namaskaram

Good by Parkallam (literally, I will see you) or Poyvittu varen (I will go and come)

I love you. Naan unnai nesikkiran.

May I have two beers, please? Enakku rendu beer venum.

Coming Attractions

Try contra dancing. I've been saying I'd try this one since I started my list and this Friday, March 26 it's time to put my money where my mouth is. There's been a series of Contra dances at the Elly Long building on the North Campus at Saint Mike's all year, and this is the last one. I'm going to do it, and so are Crystal, Valerie, Anne-Marie, Karri (who actually knows how it's done), and possibly Kristin N. It's free and there's a dessert pot luck as well (I'm bringing molasses crinkles, of course), so obviously, EVERYONE needs to go. Anyone who wants to join us, drop a post or email, please.

Visit the Camp Johnson Veterans' Museum.Stole this one straight off my friend and colleague Kristin J's list. She's also got a list of 52, and though we have a fair amount of overlap, she's got a bunch of awesome things that never occurred to me. Like instead of kicking around dealing with lawyers and water heaters over her spring break, she went to Big Sur and communed with elephant seals and learned how to throw clay pots -- pretty cool if you ask me. She's the one that spotted the museum sitting tantalizingly close to our campus, and it's rather limited windows of opportunity for visiting (10-3 Tuesday through Thursday). So, Kristin and I are doing a field trip on Wednesday, March 31 at 2 pm.

Learn to jump and spin on ice skates. Although I'm very behind on this one, I've been going to town on it in the last week and a half. I am trying to skate at least two practice sessions, and have at least one lesson, per week to get back up to speed. Monday mornings (8:30 - 9:30)is the Leddy Park Rink and Wednesday (and hopefully most Friday) lunch hours are at the Cairns Arena. Who wants to join me on this one?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

13. Try snowboarding and 14. Do a winter sport at night

Winter is winding down in a hurry. I saw quite a few people in shorts and t-shirts downtown today -- though of course that doesn't mean anything since I live in Burlington, Vermont, where people break out tank tops and flip-flops the moment the mercury goes over 32 degrees. But still, I think the days left for me to try winter sports are numbered (for winter 2010, anyway), and so I was thrilled at the opportunity to hit two things on my list at the same time. Thanks to yet another friend and SMC alum, Dave, tonight I was able to try snowboarding AND do a winter sport at night at Bolton Valley. I had been forewarned by many friends that snowboarding is hard, and that I should be prepared to fall a lot, so I think I was ready to be disappointed with what will probably be my last run at an outdoor winter sport for the season. Instead, I had a blast, and will definitely keep going with this one, though I might wait till next winter. I was lucky because lots of great circumstances came together. It was a wonderfully mild evening, which made the snow very forgiving, and being outside really enjoyable. Dave was an awesome teacher, and we had the whole area where he was teaching me to ourselves. And I think the timing of trying this one, coming after my new-bee experiences in a whole variety of other sports, made my expectations pretty humble.
On the drive home I was thinking about the fact that I'm 11 weeks into 2010 and 14 New Things into this endeavor. The experience of learning new things has taught me a lot beyond the specific items on the list, and two were particularly reinforced by trying snowboarding tonight. Neither are particularly original, but both are, I think, worth repeating. The lessons are these:
Keep an open mind. My sister Katrinka sometimes reminds me of a question from her favorite former college professor -- do we know what we like, or do we like what we know? The experience of trying new things has made me realize that there is a whole world of experiences that I've never had, and things I've never tried, and the biggest reason why is that I didn't get to them when I was a kid or teenager. Of the things I've tried so far, the three I'm very sure I will keep going with are rock climbing, skate skiing and snowboarding -- none of which I ever would have predicted I'd even try, let alone enjoy, only a few months ago. And that brings me to my second realization.
There's nothing to be afraid of. A funny thing about purposely being a beginner at many things is that it lets you see other beginners. This in turn reveals that kids are much, much better beginners than adults are. That's because they know there's nothing to be afraid of, a lesson that gets forgotten by adults like me, who start manufacturing all kinds of fears -- of failure, of looking like we don't know what we're doing (a particular flaw of academics, I think), of being seen in front of students or others making a mistake, of having to ask for help. Fourteen new things and countless mistakes and missteps later, I'm glad I tried them all, and to my knowledge, have suffered no serious damage in the estimation of my teachers -- including my students and former students. A very liberating realization, that one.
52 Ways to Say I Love You
With many thanks to Alexsis, who is studying abroad in Istanbul right now (and who is maintaining a fabulous blog on the experience at
hello merhaba
good by hoscakal
May I have two beers please? Iki tane bira alabilimiyim luften?
I love you. Is seni seviyorum.
Coming Attractions
Ice skating. I'm kicking myself for not ice skating much this winter, but during this week of my spring break I've started to make amends and have gone three times since Sunday. One of the best (and sometimes worst) things about being an academic is that it's not a 9-to-5 schedule. On Monday and Wednesday I don't leave work until 7 and 10 pm respectively, but the flip side is that I have open space on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Starting next week I'm going to go ice skating at least twice a week to try to move toward my jumping and spinning new thing goals. Mondays will be 8:30 - 9:30 at Leddy Park (in the New North End) and Wednesday will be 11:30 - 12:30 at the Cairns Rink (in South Burlington) -- anyone who wants to do some skating with me on either day (and Friday morning is an option, too), let me know please.
Learn to cook Indian food. Tomorrow, March 19, I'm headed to my friend Tara's to get my first Indian cooking lesson. The lesson plan includes dahl, kari and khichidi -- can't wait!
Knit a pair of mittens. This one is actually a call for help. My sister Katrinka got me started when I was in Tacoma at Christmas, and I finished one there. This week I decided that I should give the other one a try and am almost done with the cuff. But then I have some tough stuff like the thumb, so if there is anyone reading this close by who's a pro at mitten-knitting, please shoot me a message.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Serendipity 4. Go skate skiing with an Olympic trials veteran

So, I mentioned in a previous post that I was planning to take a break from the list this weekend unless some fabulous unforeseen opportunity materialized. Of course I should have known it would. This weekend I got to go skate skiing with Nigel, and that's saying a lot. Because Nigel is a nationally-ranked athlete in the biathlon.

Before December of 2009 I knew Nigel as the guy in my U.S. Health Policy class who kept the rest of us on our toes by knowing more than anyone (including the teacher) about the ins and outs of the health care debate on Capitol Hill. When I got a request from Nigel for an extension on his final paper, I knew it wasn't for lack of interest or procrastination on his part. Rather, it was for possibly the most fun reason I've ever heard for asking for an extension -- he had qualified for try-outs for the U.S. Olympic team in the biathlon in Minnesota. How cool is that?

As it turned out, the weather in Minnesota made for problems -- both in the tryouts and in getting the paper in. The hotel the athletes were staying at didn't have Internet access, and so I'd get occasional messages sent from Nigel's phone, which is how I learned that the races were conducted in weather that ranged from a high of ten degrees above zero to a low of ten below. Unfortunately, Nigel didn't qualify for the Olympic team but he did email a stellar paper, when he was finally able to go to his coach's house and use his Internet connection, though I don't know how much of a consolation that was.

When I started the list of 52 New Things, Nigel said he'd be happy to give me some tips on any cross country skiing I might try, but our schedules didn't mesh well, so Dan wound up stepping up to give me my first lessons in both classic and skate cross country skiing (Dan was also working this last Sunday when Nigel and I went skiing so I asked if he'd pose for the picture I posted here, so I could have a visual record of both my cross country teachers). When Nigel said he'd have time to go skiing on Sunday, I thought getting to do my second time out ever on skate skis with a nationally-ranked athlete in the sport was a not-too-shabby score for the Serendipity List. So, I spent most of Sunday afternoon at Bolton Valley skate skiing with Nigel. He very kindly let me set the pace and pretended that it was the most natural thing in the world to be going at a fraction of his usual pace. He even refrained from taking a picture of me during an epic fall, though he had my camera in his hands at that moment.

In addition to hopefully improving at least a little, I learned a couple of valuable things. The first is another of those open secrets that I am probably the last Vermonter to know -- that the ideal time to do winter sports is actually when the weather starts to get warm in March. Though it may turn the Burlington area into a muddy mess, there's still plenty of snow in the mountains, and it's (almost) warm and wonderfully sunny being out and about in that snow. Bolton couldn't have been better. I also discovered that an optimum way to do a new thing that I think I like is to combine it with an old thing that I know I do. In this case that meant mixing skate skiing and talking politics for two and half hours straight with a student whose knowledge of the workings of Congress is just short of encyclopedic. We compared notes on our favorite and least-favorite members of Congress and decried American political culture (and in between I got to hear some cool stories about national and international cross country competitions). For a political scientist trying to become a winter sports enthusiast, it was just about as good as it gets. Overall, an awesome afternoon, and yet another unexpected perk of writing a list of 52 New Things!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

List Update: New and Improved (or at Least Longer)

One of the many fun things about last weekend's trip to Bar Harbor is that the drive up gave Leah, Siham and me all a chance to update and add to our lists. I posted my original list as a work-in-progress back in late December, and thought now was a good time to post the update. The original list had 49 possible New Things. Now the list is over the 52 mark at 59 (and that doesn't include the Serendipity List of cool "bonus" things that I've done because of the original list). But I don't expect that all of the things here will work out, and know now from experience that other new possibilities will pop up. Still, I think a rough idea is nice to have, so here the list as it stands, as of early March.

I am excited to report that I've discovered colored fonts, so like a small child, must use them immediately. Things I've already done are in green (my favorite color), ones in progress are red, and ones still to be done are boring blue. My earlier list grouped things by category. This one keeps roughly the same categories, but begins with a new category with two elements --the things I've already done, and the ones that I've begun but not completed.

Been There, Done That (or at Least It's in the Works)

1. Create a blog. This was the first thing I did. Funny how easy it turned out to be, once my friend Julia walked me through it.
2. Go to Nepal. Thanks to my gracious friends Cliff and Nicole, I had an amazing trip to Kathmandu for the New Year. What an incredible way to start off the year, and my travel plans. There's a picture above from Pashipatinath, site of a sacred river and temple complex where many go to die and be cremated.
3. Rock climbing. This and ice climbing were the things that intimidated me most on my whole list. But I luckily got to try this one out in Nepal, and it's hard to be (too) intimidated when you're being coached by a four-year old (as I was in the picture here of Jai and I on my first-ever climb). I thought it was great, and it's probably the activity I'm most excited to keep learning. Another of the pictures I've posted is from practicing on the climbing wall here at Saint Mike's, and I have to especially thank my student teachers, Josh, Amanda and Randall.
4. Ice climbing. Went with the Wilderness Program on January 16, and so happy I tried it, even though I don't think I'll make it a regular thing because it's just too cold!
5. Snow shoe hiking. Took my first snow shoe hike with Connor S. under Josh's leadership up Nebraska Notch and did a repeat a few weeks later with Ryan, Brigit and Alex up Camel's Hump (see #10 below). Who knew I'd like it so much?
6. Make fresh mozzarella cheese. Mark provided quite the tutorial for Valerie, Dan H. and I. We also learned the importance of labeling our reagents (or ingredients depending on whether it's a scientist or a cook who's lecturing you) if you don't want to put in salt when you mean to use citric acid.
7. Cross country skiing. Dan S. gave me a lesson in February, and I felt pretty stupid for having lived all these winters in Vermont without ever going. Better late than never, though!
8. Penguin plunge. When I told the student group that I’m going to the Dominican Republic with about the 52 New Things, they were all over it with suggestions. One was to participate in the annual jump into Lake Champlain (that is, through the hole that is made in the ICE) in February to benefit Special Olympics. Trip leader Erin and I did it, together with some other friends and turned out to be a lot of fun. I might even do it again next year.
9. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This was great. I went to New York City with Dan H., Alex, Michelle and Emily, stayed with my wonderful friend T. Richard, and my high school friend Angela flew in from Idaho to join me! Ironically, though none of them actually did the ice skating part with me -- my friends Aaron and Carolyn did that, and then Dan and I took the train home (yet another first). Fabulous weekend.
10. (1-4) Hike Camel's Hump in all four seasons. So excited about this one. It wasn't on my original list but I've already done the winter hike (twice actually, once with crampons with Conor D. and once with snow shoes with Ryan, Brigit and Alex). I think I'm going to try to do the spring one as a farewell hike with graduating seniors. Siham and Leah want to be part of Dan H.'s suggestion that the summer one be a moonlight/dawn hike that goes up in the evening and comes back down at dawn to catch both the sunrise and the sunset. Doesn't that sound cool? And of course, who would miss Camel's Hump, and all its glorious colors in the fall?
11. Try skate skiing. Once again, Dan. S. stepped up and taught me, and a group of SMC students who signed up through the Wilderness Program. In my opinion, harder than classic cross country (at least for a beginner) but also more fun.
12. Watch a sun rise in Bar Harbor, Maine. This was actually stolen from Siham’s list. She pointed out that, from October to March, this is the earliest place to see the sun rise on the East Coast. Leah and I invite ourselves along and we spent the last weekend in February having Cadillac Mountain all to ourselves. Needless to say, it was a tremendous excursion, and I just had to include a picture from the trip.
13. A few words (in 52 languages). My friend Matthew had the brilliant idea of learning how to say “May I have two beers, please” and “I love you” in a different language for every week of the year. I added "hello" and "good by" and so far have done 13 languages: Amharic, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Kiswahili, Korean, Lugandan, Mandarin Chinese, Nepali, and Portuguese.
14. Dance. My friend Crystal was the ultimate good sport, and is taking beginning ballet with me at the Flynn Center, our local performing arts space. We started in January and it's a 14 week class, but no danger that I'll be quitting my day job -- just as I suspected, no particular aptitude has been released with the donning of my ballet slippers.
15. Learn to use my digital camera. Don’t know why photography intimidates me so much, but it does. My friends John (who has his own awe-inspiring photography blog at, Alexander and Cailey have offered to help on this one, and I'm going to take them up on it. In the meantime, I've been taking highly amateurish photos for my blog postings with reckless abandon.
16. Knit a pair of mittens. I don’t feel the need to make a sweater or anything that ambitious, but mittens are different. My sister Katrinka, a world-class knitter, showed me how when I was visiting her and Brian and my niece Tigist at Christmas. Unfortunately, I only did one mitten and need to find a knitting coach here to help me do the other one.
17. Go to a college hockey game. For years Siham and I said we’d go together and never did. My friend Paul and I went to the last hockey game of the home season last week, and plan to go to some other college sporting events that I’ve never attended as well. Siham and I are still going to hit an early-season hockey game in December 2010, too.

New Countries

18. Dominican Republic. I’ll be participating in a school sponsored international service trip with a crew of fabulous Saint Mike’s students and led by our outstanding fearless leader, Erin, from May 18 – 28.
19. Jordan. At least two weeks in June. This trip is part professional development, part personal interest and part opportunism. I’m developing a class on the Millennium Development Goals for Fall 2010 and using Jordan as a case study, and I’m starting to expand my water scarcity research to the Middle East for obvious reasons, and one of my students, Connor is applying for our College's Provost Research grant to do some of the fieldwork in-country with me (that’s the professional part); several friends have told me that Jordan is a totally cool place and especially that everyone must see Petra (that’s the personal interest part); and two of my all-time favorite people (both of whom know Arabic), Siham and Jamila, have agreed to go with me (that’s the total opportunism part).
20. Lebanon. If you’re going to go to Jordan, doesn’t it make sense to see Lebanon on the same trip? What a silly question. The correct answer is obviously yes.
21. Syria. A maybe, but Jamila is advocating for it, and I think it sounds exciting…
22. Spain. A European country I’ve never been to, but could incorporate as a stopover with Siham in Madrid on the way to Jordan.
23. Denmark. My Journalism colleague Jerry and I recently learned that we'll be presenting a paper at an international conference at Cambridge University on interdisciplinary work in the social sciences, and I want to expand the trip on the front or back end (or both) to go to some other new European destinations. Denmark is the clear front runner, but there are some other possibilities that might get added, including other Scandinavian countries and/or the Netherlands.

Tackling the Fear Factor

24. Bike maintenance. My friend Dan H., who has already been a part of a bunch of other things on the list, has agreed to teach me how to fix a flat and general bike maintenance. Unfortunately, he just broke his leg, so we'll be waiting a bit on this one.
25. Snow boarding. Dave, Derek and Cailey have all offered to give me lessons, and have warned me that it involves falling a lot and winding up with a very sore butt. During the upcoming March spring break, I'll be making one or more of them make good on their promises (and warnings).
26. Car maintenance. There are a couple specific things I really need to know how to do listed in the category below, but I might just go for broke and sign up for a beginner car maintenance class.
27. Downhill skiing. Technically, this is not a new thing, since I skied a little in high school and college. But it’s been almost 20 years, and I’ve never done it in Vermont, so I’m counting it. Dan, Cailey and Drisk have all offered a refresher lesson, and Siham, Leah and Jess are coming up during March spring break to take part in the fun.
28. Drawing or painting class. Gary suggested this to me last summer and claimed he saw a look of panic on my face. That means this is the year to try it, probably this summer or fall.

29. Basic stuff with tools. I don’t know anything about home maintenance or repair. Not anything. Still not sure what my plan of attack will be, but I think I need to do it, so it's staying on the list.
30. Power point. I need to learn a bit beyond the basics that currently allow me to make the world’s most boring presentations. I think I am intimidated by all things design-related, but I definitely want to give it a shot, and my youngest sister Donna has offered to help.
31. Surfing. Leah took a look at an earlier version of the list and said she could provide the location, boards and instructors if we wanted to give it a try, so of course I added it. We'll be trying this one during the summer at a beach near her home. It can’t be any harder than snowboarding. Right?

Things I Want to Know How to Do or Make

32. Jump start the car. My sister Donna pointed out that it’s a bit ridiculous that I’ve made it this far in life without this basic skill. Siham offered to show me.
33. Change a flat tire. Like jump starting the car, I’ve somehow managed to skate through life without knowing up to now, but I think it’s time to learn.
34. Cook an Indian meal. Wouldn’t it be neat to be able to make some of the things I love to order at Indian restaurants? My friend Tara offered to give me lessons, and I'll be taking her up on it starting during my spring break in March.
35. Bake croissants. My friend Dean, a professional baker, is willing to guide me through this one at his home kitchen/bakery. I recently discovered that it's a multiple-day process, so scheduling will be trickier than I first thought, but he's still willing to do it, so we will.
36. Learn to do a one-footed spin and a single jump on ice skates. I know some fundamentals like backwards and forwards crossovers and 3-turns, but I think it would be fun to be able to do a trick or two. Julia has offered to provide some tutoring the next time she visits, probably in March.
37. Sea kayaking. I’ve tried kayaking once or twice on Lake Champlain, but want to try it out on the ocean. My friend and former student Kate, who I actually met when she taught me how to fall out of a kayak, says she’ll take me out to try it this summer, probably off the coast of Maine.
38. Brew beer. Dan and Derek were volunteered by another of our friends, Ted, to show me how it’s done. My colleague, John O. has also volunteered to show me, so I'll definitely be learning.
39. Star gazing. In addition to being willing to show me how to brew beer, I asked John, who teaches astrophysics and gives talks on questions like how old the universe is (how's that for a mind-stretcher?) to give an evening lesson looking up at the sky. He kindly agreed, though we'll wait to till it's warmer and clearer out.
40. Glass blowing. One of my favorite places to go in the world is Tacoma, Washington. It's the home of my sister Katrinka, brother-in-law Brian and phenomenal niece Tigist. Pat and Kathy, Brian's father and stepmom, live there as well, and all five of them have been big supporters of the 52 New Things. Next time I visit, Katrinka and I are going to do a special new thing -- sign up for an afternoon of glass blowing instruction -- in celebration of the fact that Tacoma is also home to the world-famous glass artist Dale Chihuly.
41. Learn to play an instrument. Although most of the serious relationships in my life have been with musicians, I am musically completely illiterate. While we were snowshoeing Connor S. suggested that I add learning some basics with a musical instrument, and that seems a very wise idea. Hopefully this summer or fall.

Never Put Off Till Tomorrow…

42. Go to Quebec City. Leah, Siham and I added this one to our list last weekend in Bar Harbor. Leah and I have always wanted to go, and Siham has wanted to return ever since she visited and stayed at the B&B that Edith Piaf used to use when she was in town. So, we'll be heading there this fall.
43. 24 hours in the city that never sleeps. Another really fun idea that came out of the Bar Harbor trip. I've already been to New York City once for the 52 New Things, to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. But Siham, Leah and I are planning to go back (and of course, everyone's invited) for a 24 hour no-sleep visit. The itinerary is still in formation, but so far it includes a visit to the Statue of Liberty and an early-morning breakfast at an all-night diner. We might take the train there and back, so we can sleep the eight hours coming and going.
44. Contra dancing. A bunch of friends have been suggesting it for forever. I’m going to take my friends David and Kristin N. up on their offers to go with me.
45. Bird watching. I’ve always been curious about this, and my friend Kimberly is willing to let me tag along with her.
46. Do a hike in New Hampshire. As a Vermonter, it’s not exactly an insurmountable distance to travel, but I’ve never done it. My friends Leah and Kate B. have offered to do the hike with me.
47. A moonlight snowshoe or excursion on cross country skis. I think this sounds so cool, but I missed the ones the Wilderness Program does them every year. Luckily, I have enough friends who are past and current student wilderness pros that I am highly confident I can do some arm-twisting during my spring break to make this one happen.
48. Go camping in Vermont. In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never gone camping in this state. My friend Melissa organized a highly-acclaimed group camping trip last year, and suggested I could join it this summer.
49. Visit the Rokeby Museum. For years I’ve driven by it on Route 7. My friend Valerie was the one who mentioned that I could put it on the list.
50. Do nothing. I thought this was an inspired idea from my student and fellow AIDS activist Madison. She suggested having a day of doing nothing but sitting, reflecting and listening. I want to try it.
51. Eat a Vermontster. Probably the most famous Vermont pig-out opportunity is the Vermonster, a ginormous 20 scoop ice cream sundae at Ben and Jerry’s. My Dominican Republic group suggested this one, but very kindly also offered to help me eat it, so we will have a gluttonous festival of dairy consumption together before embarking on our trip.
52. Martial arts class. I've always thought it would be fun to take a martial arts course, but never gotten around to it. This year I will, and Kristin J. might be up for it with me.

Assuming I Can Swing It and/or Don't Lose my Nerve

53. Visit Alaska. It’s the only state I haven’t been to. Kathy suggested adding Manitoba along the way to see the polar bears and I love that idea, so it's now part of the plan.
54. Do a meet-up in Latin America. Five of the coolest of my college’s recent alums – Derek, Dan, Drisk, Ted and Zack – are planning a Motorcycle Diaries – style trip from the bottom to the top of Latin America. Only they’re doing it the hard way, with bicycles instead of motorcycles. Assuming they can pull it off, I’m going to fly down in the fall and meet up with them for a visit to either Argentina or Chile.
55. Try falconry. This was my friend Kimberly’s suggestion, and we’ll do it together if we can find a place not too far away.
56. Fencing. Ditto on the fencing possibility, which I think will be a lot easier to locate.
57. Visit other new countries. In addition to the new countries list above, I'm always up to add to it. If other opportunities come up, or people have suggestions of new countries to see (or new places in countries I've already seen), I'm all ears. Please suggest away!
58. Take a flying lesson. This was a brilliant suggestion from my friend Henry. I love flying, especially in small planes. I know it’s bad for the planet (and also expensive), but if I can manage a lesson just once, I think this would be so very worth doing.
59. Get a tattoo. I've never wanted a tattoo because I never had anything that seemed so unique to me that I thought I'd be willing to wear it continuously. But I'm flirting with the idea of ending the year with my final new thing being a permanent reminder of all the other new things -- a small "52" etched somewhere on my being (shoulder, ankle or arm, most likely). Interestingly, most of my under-25 friends think it's a great idea, and Julia even offered to get tattoos together. Most of my contemporaries have raised polite questions of the "are you sure?" variety. We'll see (and if you have a compelling argument one way or the other on this weighty question, I'd love to hear it).

So, that's the list as it stands right now -- and I am sure it will continue to evolve as the year unfolds. But one of the best things that has happened as a consequence of doing 52 new things has been all the fabulous opportunities it has given me to learn from, and spend quality time with, new and old friends. I've discovered people I thought I knew have all kinds of hidden talents and expertise. It's also been a wonderful, (and humbling) experience to reverse roles with many of my past and present students who have taught me everything from rock climbing to ordering beer in Lugandan. Please take a look at the list and see if there are things you'd like to do or add -- or teach. If there are, post a comment or shoot me an email. I hope that everyone's year is filled with many new things!

Monday, March 1, 2010

12. See a Bar Harbor sunrise

Seven hours drive each way, too much snow to reach the summit of Cadillac Mountain, and too much fog to see the sunrise that we came to view. But as far as Siham, Leah and I are concerned, our road trip to Bar Harbor could not have been better. Siham and Leah, both close friends and Saint Michaels' alums, are the co-originators of the New Things List idea. Siham had the great idea of catching a sunrise from Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor because between October and March it is reportedly the earliest place on the East Coast to see a sunrise. When we saw this item on Siham's list, Leah and I immediately added it to ours and invited ourselves along.

The plan was for us to meet on Friday night in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with Leah and Siham coming from the Boston area and me from Vermont. But work and weather (at least threats of it) conspired against us, and instead we left at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. Seven hours later we arrived in Bar Harbor and discovered that the warnings we had heard that Bar Harbor rolls up the sidewalk in the off-season were not even slightly exaggerated. We started ricocheting from closed hotel to closed hotel, when we accidentally went down a one-way side street. Happily we then passed a bed and breakfast, the Canterbury Cottage, boldly displaying a sign that it was open all year round. When one of the innkeepers, Rob, greeted us at the porch with a heartfelt "You made it" (though none of us had ever spoken, emailed or otherwise communicated in any way), we knew we had found our home for the next 24 hours.

Sunday morning at 5 am we climbed again into Leah's parents' truck, and headed to the blocked-off road up Cadillac Mountain. After parking in front of the barrier we set off in the dark on the snowed-over road up the mountain, which we had been told should take about an hour. Over two hours later, the sun had risen, we had trudged in and out of mists and fogs, patches of deep snow and crusted over ice, and when the mists thinned, we had seen some truly spectacular views. But we had not hit the summit, the snow had reached our knees, and the footprints we had been following had stopped as well.

At that point we made an executive decision, for we had another task to complete, and in our cold, hungry state (and knowing that a lovely breakfast awaited us at the Canterbury Cottage if only we could get back by 9 am), it was feeling more and more urgent. Back on Halloween weekend when we thought up the 52 New Things idea, it was the result of a conversation about just how bad 2009 had been, and how 2010 was absolutely, positively going to be better. During the drive to Bar Harbor, we had another thought: what better way to say good by to the abysmal year that had passed than to burn it -- at the earliest sunrise on the East Coast from the top of a mountain? So, the executive decision was this: if you're not sure how much further it is to the top of a mountain, but you've gone pretty far and the snow is too deep to intelligently go any further, a clearing is as good as a peak. Being environmentally conscious, we wrote the highlights of our terrible year on a tiny scrap of paper (actually the back of a grocery receipt, how's that for reuse?), and set it ablaze (not that it was a very dramatic blaze, contained as it was on a few square inches of paper). Very satisfied that 2010 was now free to be full of many good things, we started back down the mountain and made it back to our B & B. We were just in time to get in on roasted grapes (if you're wondering if that's a typo, it's not. Roasted grapes are my new favorite thing, and if you've never tried them, do yourself a favor and go get some. Right now. I'm serious, they're that good.) and blueberry waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream on top.

Unfortunately, we knew it was going to be seven hours drive back to our respective homes and so, happy as we were to be in Bar Harbor, after stuffing ourselves at breakfast we went up to our room to pack up. As you can see from the photo, Leah and Siham did try to stage a little rebellion and hide in the bed rather than leave, but eventually they gave up and we sadly left our hosts, Rob and Martha and their very fun dogs, a Schnoodle who's name I've forgotten and a female Labradoodle named Melvin who desperately wanted to do our hike with us. In addition to the shot of Siham and Leah's attempt to delay our departure, I've included photos of Siham and I starting the hike in the dark; Leah and Siham finishing their lists before burning; me looking a bit anxious while the list was burning(I was worrying about whether we were going to make it back in time for the roasted grapes); and Siham standing in front of one of the spectacular views we caught on our hike. As far as we were concerned, it didn't matter that we didn't summit a peak or that the clouds covered up the sun rise. We went to an incredibly cool place, had a mountain entirely to ourselves, said good-by to a horrible year, and did an awesome winter hike -- all before breakfast. Everyone should plug Bar Harbor into their plans sometime. It's great, especially when you have it all to yourself.

52 Ways to Say I Love You Dutch, with thanks to Annemieke for the translation and pronunciation tips!

hello hallo (hahlloh);
good by tot ziens ('seens'),
May I have two beers please? Mag (with the gg) ik twee (tway) biertjes alstublieft (u, like french 'uuu'/ 'ie' is english 'ee'); and last but not least:
I love you Ik hou van je/ ik heb je lief.

Coming Attractions

Unless I get some unexpected idea or invitation, I think I'm actually not going to do anything new this weekend. I might do some work on my ice skating goals and/or do a repeat of one of the new sport things I've tried (anyone want to try the climbing wall at Petra with me?).

BUT I think the period from March 14 - 21 is going to be a Festival of New Things. It's my spring break, and there are lots of things in the works. Siham, Leah and Jess are coming up for a downhill ski day one of the two weekends, Dave is tentatively on tap to do a snowboarding lesson one of the two Sundays, Dan, Dan Derek and I are hopefully going to go ice skating, Julia is coming up for a few days and some jump and spin ice skating lessons, Tara is going to give me some Indian cooking, and though they don't know it yet, some combination of these people, and Allison, who offered a long time ago, are going to do a night hike or snow shoe with me one night of that period. So, if you want to get in on the last chance to do some cool new winter things before mud season is here for good, shoot me an email, and be part of the plans.

During the drive from Portsmouth to Bar Harbor, Siham, Leah and I did some substantial overhauls of our lists and have some very cool additional New Things in the works. I'm planning to post my new, improved New Things list in a post later this week, so I hope everyone will take a look and see if there are things they want to participate in during the coming weeks and months.


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Monday, November 9, 2009

Nothing Wrong With A Little Hard Work

I am a firm believer in working hard and that you get out of life what you put into it. I was out on a run yesterday (Sunday) and noticed three children raking leaves. As I got closer I notice that these children were not working on the same lawn. The first house I came to had a young boy about 8 years old and what I presume was his sister who looked to be about 10 years old. The two off them were armed with rakes and were busy working their piles of leaves to the curb. As I watched I thought nice job. Get out there early, work hard and get it done. When I was given these types of jobs as a youngster I would look at the work I had do and push through it as fast as I could while doing a good job and then get on with my day. The third child was working on the lawn next door was not armed with a rake. He was armed with a leaf blower. This was not just any old leaf blow. This was a heavy duty back pack blower. The kind I used when I worked for a commercial landscaper. This thing could knock a grown man down. Well, maybe not but it is bad ass! He was ripping through the leaves and making short work of his chore. I did not look at this and say to myself, nice work. It thought how does this teach him anything other than to take the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance doesn't lead anywhere I want to go. At the end of the path of least resistance you will not find any reward that you fought hard to earn. You will find nothing but mediocrity at best. When you have to work hard and suffer physically or mentally you have a greater sense of accomplishment once you have achieved your goal and I can assure you that the goals you reach will be much greater than the goals of those who chose to take the path of least resistance.

I think the youth of America is looking for the easiest way to complete any task that is put in front of them. Sometimes that is the right thing to do but I think we need to help our children understand what it means to feel the satisfaction of working hard to complete a task. Don't send them out to rake leaves with a leaf blower. Maybe if we put a rake in their hands fewer of them would be over weight. My daughter is only a year old so this is just my opinion at this time but I know when the time comes she will be picking up a rack and helping out in a way that teaches her that hard work has many rewards.

Please let me know your thoughts on this subject.

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How many Academy Awards were won by the 1939 film Gone with the Wind?

  • 3
  • 5
  • 8 correct

    Gone with the Wind won eight Oscars in 1940, not including an honorary award for its use of color "for the enhancement of dramatic mood." It was nominated for an additional five categories. Leading actor Clark Gable did not win Best Actor in a Leading Role, losing out to Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Source: IMDB, Oscars.

  • 11
  • ON A DAY
  • Fact of the day

    Alaska is the only state that can be typed on one row of keys.


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Monday, April 11, 2011

The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

Amazing book! I hardly know where to begin telling you about it! This book, The Final Summit, follows Andrews' earlier book The Traveler's Gift. Reading the inner cover summary I honestly didn't think I'd be too interested in this book. To summarize without giving too much away. . .David Ponder, widower, aged 74, embarks on another time travel adventure to save the world. Sounds a bit hokey, right? WRONG! The story includes many of the world's greatest people, in an imaginary setting where they would all be able to interact (despite not being historical contemporaries) to use their combined wisdom to find a way to save humankind.

I encourage you all to read this book—whether or not you’ve read the first book, The Traveler’s Gift (I hadn’t read it). I generally don’t care for time travel books or sci-fi books, but this was definitely an exception. It was so interestingly written that the chapters just flew by! How fun to imagine such figures as Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin, King David, Thomas Edison, and so many others—interacting and sharing ideas with each other! I can say that this book appeals to men and women, of all different ages—I would recommend this book to my dad, my grandma, my nephew, my neighbor! I plan on purchasing several copies of this book to use as gifts.

This book was entertaining, thought-provoking, suspenseful, and challenging. You WILL be glad you read it!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

Description from the publisher:
Book Description
David Ponder is back. This time the fate of mankind is in his hands.

This is mankind’s last chance. Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent humanity hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose. There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship, and it consists of only two words.

With time running out, it is up to David Ponder and a cast of history’s best and brightest minds to uncover this solution before it is too late. The catch? They are allowed only five tries to discover the answer.

Readers first encountered David Ponder in The Traveler's Gift. Now, in The Final Summit, Andrews combines a riveting narrative with astounding history in order to show us the one thing we must do when we don’t know what to do.

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Our Faith

In the verbal inspiration of the Bible.In one God eternally existing in three persons; namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. That He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor.That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that repentance is commanded of God for all and necessary for forgiveness of sins.That justification, regeneration, and the new birth are wrought by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.In sanctification subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Christ; through the Word, and by the Holy Ghost.Holiness to be God’s standard of living for His people.

In the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart.In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.In water baptism by immersion, and all who repent should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.Divine healing is provided for all in the atonement.In the Lord’s Supper and washing of the saints’ feet.In the premillennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second, to reign on the earth a thousand years. In the bodily resurrection; eternal life for the righteous, and eternal punishment for the wicked


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Liger Look

A series to launch our lion and tiger sleep/beach sets. We used a Victorian pond as the setting and filled it with plastic flowers. It was already surrounded with skulls and the strange looking water feature calmed the model’s nerves on their first Truly Knicker shoot.

Photography: Jesse Wild | Hair and make-up: Emmy Rhiannon Burbidge | Models: Hannah-Jo and Eilish

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The Charismatic Movement (6): Priority of Tongues

The longest section in the New Testament that addresses the subject of speaking in tongues is 1 Corinthians 12-14. The Corinthians were giving undue priority to speaking in tongues. So masterful are Paul’s arguments that even a cursory consideration of only a few of them would nearly shut down overnight the so-called speaking in tongues movement of our day. The principles laid down apply to those gifts that remain and therefore are invaluable to Biblically gathered companies of believers worldwide today.

The Introduction: Tongues compared with the past (12:1-3)

Speaking in tongues should be governed by Biblical knowledge, Holy Spirit guidance, a God Who communicates truth, and the Lordship of Christ. The statements, “I do not want you to be uninformed” and “I wish you to understand” highlight a cause of much doctrinal error – a lack of Biblical knowledge. Contrasts between their pre-conversion and post-conversion spiritual activities are striking. Notice “led astray … however you were led” and “mute idols.” Did speaking in tongues or the abuse of them have anything in common with this? Yes, they were being led astray by their own spirit, or another, but not the Holy Spirit. It was random, “however you were led” and it might as well have been mute for they were not being interpreted. Verse three reminds us perhaps of the core Jewish issues in reception or rejection of salvation – is Jesus accursed? (Gal 3:13), or is Jesus Lord? (Rom 10:9; Acts 9:5). The Corinthians were using tongues to exalt self. The Spirit will do in the congregation what He did at conversion – exalt Jesus as Lord.

The Interacting of Divine Persons: Tongues compared with the Trinity (12:4-7)

Here we learn that the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God the Father, are the source of true spiritual manifestations (1Cor 12:1 Darby) They move as one, each with His own role to play, producing a “common good” for all. When the Corinthians used the gifts, they needed to reflect the unity and harmonious character of the Triune God Who graciously gave (charismata, v4) the ability (v4), opportunity (v5), and energy (v6) for their employ. The misuse of tongues at Corinth was a dishonor to God and a far cry from the way the persons of the Godhead interacted. While ample emphasis is given to the Holy Spirit in this chapter, speaking in tongues or any other form of prayer is never addressed to Him anywhere in Scripture.

The Indexes of Gifts: Tongues compared with other gifts (12:8-10; 28-30)

There are three lists of gifts in this chapter which put tongues last instead of first. In the body illustration, the tongue is not even mentioned. Undue emphasis on one gift to the exclusion of others would be like reducing the body to one member. Imagine a body sized eye bouncing down the sidewalk toward you. No member should feel inferior (vv14-18), nor sufficient and superior to the others (vv19-26). The body illustrates mutual dependency, relationship, interaction, need, respect, care, sympathy, and joy. The “weaker members” should be regarded with greater esteem. God “composed” the physical body with the same pattern and plan as the assembly: “that there should be no division … but that the members may have the same care one for another.” At the end (v30), Paul queries, “Do all speak with tongues?” The answer is, “No.” “Eagerly desire the higher gifts” doesn’t mean to desire them for one’s self, but for the assembly. The “higher gifts” would not include tongues, nor any other miraculous “sign” gifts.

The Importance of Body Truth: Tongues and the Baptism in the Spirit (12:12, 13)

The baptism in the Spirit formed the body of Christ. All souls saved since Pentecost until the rapture are in it: “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (v13). The baptism in the Spirit happened only once, on the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem, and was carried out by Christ (Matt 3:11), not the Spirit. No believer is said to have been baptized in the Spirit at conversion. Neither Calvary nor Pentecost is repeated at every conversion, yet the benefits are still obtained. At Pentecost, only the 120 in the upper room literally experienced being baptized in the Spirit. The 3,000 saved the same day didn’t literally experience it, but were still part of the body of Christ. They (and all other believers since) came into the good of it upon accepting Christ. All are viewed as baptized in the Spirit, but not all speak in tongues (v30), therefore speaking in tongues is not the evidence of the baptism in the Spirit (taken in part from J. Hunter, What the Bible Teaches, pp. 146-148).

Internal Character and Speaking in Tongues: Tongues compared to love (12:31-13:13)

Performance based Christianity genders pride and rivalry, not humility and unity. The first and foremost feature of the fruit of the Spirit, love, is not the only measure of what is “spiritual,” but it is “a way of life that transcends all others” (Weymouth). This section is so eloquent and moving, its beauty so outstanding, that it cannot be pondered without compelling us to both think of Christ, and want to be more like Him. Love, this hallmark par excellence of Christian grace, must be pursued both before and during any meeting of the assembly. Love is like a driver’s license; it is illegal to use gift without it. The Corinthian failure in this led to one of the most powerful, but loving, rebukes in the entire New Testament. Love is the “way of more surpassing excellence” (12:31 Darby). Tongues do not measure spirituality, but love does. Unlike tongues, all could and should have this grace. Unlike tongues, true love cannot be given too much priority. Unlike tongues, which have ceased, love abides. Unlike tongues which were inferior compared to other gifts, love is supreme among the graces.


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Wednesday, 2 March 2016

The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon

The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon is the first book in a new series, The War of the Gods, set in the same world as the Hythrun Chronicles and the Demon Child Trilogy. It is set about ten years after the events in the Demon Child Trilogy and features many characters from both older series, as well as several new characters.

Her Serene Highness, Rakaia, Princess of Fardohnya, is off to Hythria, where her eldest sister is now the High Princess, to find herself a husband, and escape the inevitable bloodbath in the harem when her brother takes the throne.

Rakaia is not interested in marrying anyone, least of all some brute of a Hythrun Warlord she's never met, but she has a plan to save herself from that, too. If she can just convince her baseborn sister, Charisee, to play along, she might actually get away with it.

But there is trouble brewing across the continent. High Prince of Hythria, Damin Wolfblade, must head north to save the peace negotiated a decade ago between the Harshini, Hythria, Fardohnya, Medalon and Karien. He must leave behind an even more dangerous conflict brewing between his wife and his powerful mother, Princess Marla.

...And in far off Medalon, someone has stolen the music.

Their quest for the tiny stolen lyre containing the essence of the God of Music will eventually touch all their lives, threaten everything they hold dear and prove to be far more personal than any of them can imagine.

I have always been a fan of Fallon's books, since I first read the Second Sons trilogy, and my enjoyment of her writing has not wavered with this new addition. If you are familiar with the Hythrun Chronicles, that's the Fallon series this book most reminded me of. Furthermore, while this first book in a new series provides a reasonable jumping-on point, I don't particularly recommend starting here. It's not completely necessary, but I do recommend reading the Demon Child series and the Hythrun Chronicles to understand more about the recurring characters' back stories. About half the main point of view characters are recurring and half are new (this is out of I think five point of view characters, one of whom I don't think was very prominent in the earlier books.

Having said all that, it's been rather a while since I read the earlier two series. I think I last reread the Hythrun chronicles six or seven years ago, so my memory of the minutiae was hazy at best. While I had no trouble following the story in The Lyre Thief, giving this, I would have enjoyed it even more, I think, if the memory of "wait, who's that again? The name seems familiar" had been fresher in my mind.

As I said, there were five point of view characters in this book. There's Rakaia and Charisee, royal and baseborn sisters, respectively, whose shenanigans after Rakaia is promised to an old Hythrun lord attract the attention of the God of Liars. There's High Princess Adrina, sister of the aforementioned two and wife of Damin Wolfblade. There's an assassin, the Demon Child (which, actually, wasn't capitalised in the book, which kind of bothered me), a Fardohnyan seneschel... All of whom get entangled in interweaving plots and schemes.

One of the things I love about Fallon's work is how she writes intrigue with several characters having independent goals and schemes which just happen to overlap in entertaining ways. Most of the time, characters are just doing their thing without particularly considering how it might be affecting other people (especially when it's other people they don't even know well).

This is a long book with many characters, but one that I found difficult to put down. Aside from forgetting details from the earlier books about recurring minor characters, I had absolutely no trouble filling the story in The Lyre Thief. Even though there were long gaps between scenes for some of the characters (one in particular, but I don't want to spoil things), Fallon made everything memorable enough that I had no trouble remembering what they were up to.

I enjoyed The Lyre Thief a lot and the only disappointing thing is that I now have to wait a while for the next book! It didn't end on a huge cliffhanger or anything (well, maybe a small one? It was more of a hook for the next book. What constitutes a cliffhanger these days?) but most of the plot lines are unresolved and I want to know what happens next to all the characters! Very much looking forward to book two (which I think is still a year away :-/ ).

I highly recommend The Lyre Thief, especially to fans of The Hythrun Chronicles and The Demon Child Trilogy. You don't have to have read those two earlier series before you read this one, but I think that it would help. For those unfamiliar with Fallon's work, she writes excellent action and political intrigue focussed fantasy. Mostly the intrigue with many intertwining threads.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: March 2016, Harper Voyager AU
Series: The War of the Gods book 1 of 3
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased on iBooks
Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge

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Inductee Details

Koy, Ernie Jr.

Ernie Koy Jr. was a high school all-American and all-Southern halfback, punter and linebacker at Bellville. In 1960, he was selected team captain and “Most Valuable Texas High School Player”, which led him to play in the THS All-Star Game in 1961. His outstanding feats at Texas gained him deserved honors including All-SWC Freshman Back, SWC Outstanding Back, All-SWC Second Team, All-American Honorable Mention, and the UT Longhorn Sportsmanship Award in 1964. Koy played in the Cotton, Orange and Hula Bowls and was named All-Pro and All-Eastern Conference while playing for the New York Giants. As an attorney in Bellville, Koy has been highly active in community affairs including Boy Scouts, Hospital Authority, Lions Club and many others.


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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Week of 08/26/2013

Camera: Nikon FM2n

Lens 35-70 Zoom

Film: Kodak Portra 400

Date taken: 07/31/13
Location: 15th and Walnut

Develop and Scan: PhotoLounge, 19th and Chestnut

Conversion to b&w and editing in Photoshop

At this juncture, I don’t think of myself a street photographer. I’m not all that good at shooting from the hip (though I’ve improved a lot in the last year) and things have to be a bit internally off-center, in order for me to start pointing my lens at random strangers. More to my style is shooting objects and vistas--what I call the “urban landscape;” photos devoid of people or I’ll set up a shot and wait to see if a serendipitous figure will appear.

On the flip side, some things just get in my face and cry out to be recorded on film. Like so many photos, I barely remember taking this one and I have no conscious memory of the young woman with the rather indignant look on her face. While I was editing it, I also noticed that her fist is clenched.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Week of 08 19 13: Serious Toys

Location: Near 3rd and Girard
Image Size: 6 x 9” @150 dpi
Camera: Superheadz Blue Ribbon
Lens:  Super Fat 22mm plastic doublet
Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
Exposure: Approx. f8 @ 1/125
Develop and Scan: PhotoLounge
Conversion to black and white and adjustments in Photoshop

As more and more neighborhoods become gentrified (including my own), I’m finding I have to travel farther afield to find things to feed my eyes. The decaying ruin, the accidental, the rebellious, and the out-of-kilter generally are banished with alacrity where everything is polished to look new, wealthy and manicured.  As in this case, one need only hit the ragged fringes of an area to find something interesting. In less than a decade, much of Northern Liberties has gone from being old and odd to built-up and rather dull. It’s no wonder that photographers often trek to poorer countries where the texture of the human soul lives closer to the hardscrabble surface of the physical environment.

Granting myself permission to shoot with a simple, fixed focus camera is a great way to break the routine and feel lighter. The Blue Ribbon, an all plastic tool which is a deep cerulean blue, is technically a toy camera much like those sold by the Lomography people except its design and build does not create funky chance effects, aspects the serious Lomographer seems to crave. There is some distortion from the ultra-wide angle and a tiny bit of edge fall-off, but the lens is surprisingly sharp and non-poetic, so the camera goes for a paltry $20 on sale. It is lightly built but should hold for many rolls if not abused. The Ultramax  400 film used here is a mere $2.09 for a twenty-four shot roll from B&H Photo. The film color is a bit hyper-saturated for my taste but converts to black and white with no problem, the grain is quite fine and the sharpness is excellent

The camera is available at the link below:

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Week of 08/12/2013

Location: West End of South Street Bridge
Image Size: 10 x 13 @300 dpi
Camera: Panasonic Lumix G2
Lens: 14-42 Olympus ED

Although I may opt to simply see and experience, rather than photographing, there is nearly always a camera, often two, ready to go in my bag. This shot was caught on a morning walk up to Penn.  I’m pretty sure I just turned around and there it was; the camera was not out and I wasn’t thinking about taking pictures.

Often, the less I think about photography and the less self-conscious I am of being in the landscape with a capture device, the better things go.  I’ve never done well with the idea of “going out to take photographs” unless I give myself permission to come home empty handed. Also I’ve found, the lighter the gear, the better. The less the gear screams “Pro photographer!” the happier I am.  I’d much rather be taken for a tyro or a student and simply blend in. Toy cameras are great that way. I’m currently using a tiny 35mm camera that’s bright blue and it seems to do an end-run around what most people perceive as “camera.

More shots!
This weekend I did a late night shoot at Gemini and Scorpio's Lost Circus:

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Week of 08/05/2013

Location: Spring Garden Bridge, looking north
Camera: Panasonic Lumix G2
Lens: 14-42 ED @14mm, f6.3
ISO 200
File Size: 10 x 13 @300 dpi (Full Frame)

I guess the old saw about persistence being the key to success has some truth to it. I had shot from the bridged into the train yard many times and also shot the SEPTA yard from the side near Drexel many times, always with mediocre results; they were just very matter-of-fact shots.

Capturing the urban landscape I’ve become very aware of barriers and adept at working around them when possible. I often shoot only to come back and find a building has gone up and blocked the once open view. The Spring Garden Bridge has some solid walls in spots, but they are only about six feet high and I had a suspicion that they hid an interesting view. By using the fly-out LCD screen I was able to hold the camera above my head and trip the shutter. It was very sunny and the best I could do was to see the coarse arrangements of shapes, taking care to be sure the horizon was level—truly an intuitive act.

I made two files, one for the sky and one for the land that I then combined. I hope to print this one soon.


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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

TSLA Honors Gold Star Mothers Day

The month of September includes a very important day for all Gold Star mothers. In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated the last Sunday in September as “Gold Star Mother’s Day." The honor and tradition of the Gold Star continues to this day to remember the sacrifice given by our men and women who lost their lives in duty.

Raymond E Barnes, Soldier from Benton County.

The Gold Star program began during World War I when military families hung service flags in the windows of their homes. The flags had a star for each family member in military service. Those living were represented by a blue star, and those who had lost their lives in action were represented by a gold star. On September 24, President Obama signed a presidential proclamation proclaiming September 27 as Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day.

Private, S.J. Banks, Soldier from Davidson County.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives has our very own Gold Star Collection. In 1922, John Trotwood Moore, Tennessee state librarian and archivist, reached out to 4,000 military families, asking for records of war heroes and Tennessee’s “Gold Star boys." In return, he received more than 1,500 replies. In 1979, the Gold Star Records were microfilmed.

Private Joseph Adams, “Gold Star boy” from Grainger County, Dec. 26, 1922.

In a letter, Moore wrote: “It is difficult for me, however, nor would I presume to attempt it, to designate which of the mothers of Tennessee made the greatest sacrifice in giving her boy to her country…..When I look at the faces of the photographs collected for our historical department, of nearly 5000 Tennessee boys who made the supreme sacrifice, I feel that every mother of these boys is entitled to the crowning glory you have designated (of making the greatest sacrifice during the war)….”

“Gold Star Boys, WWI” monument, located in Lawrence County Tennessee.

Tennessee's Gold Star collection is available for research at the Library & Archives building, and work is underway to digitize the collection for Tennessee Virtual Archive by Veterans Day 2016. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about these historically important records on the TSLA website at:

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State

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Thursday, 19 March 2009

Thursday 19/03/09

The French (among others) have had a go at Pope Benedict XXXXXXXXXVIII’s pontification (if you’ll forgive the expression) on condoms not being a solution to combat the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa. A foreign minister is quoted as saying: "While it is not up to us to pass judgment on Church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life." I would contend it is EVERYONE’s earthly duty to pass judgment on illogical and harmful dogma, regardless of its source.

Rebecca Hodes of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: "His opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans." Can’t argue with that.

Only yesterday I was corresponding with someone in South Africa who said Jacob Zuma, the probable next President of SA, takes showers to prevent AIDS. That’s about as effective as Sellotaping an aspirin to your forehead for a headache (which I have actually seen done in Africa when I was at sea).

I was reading a BBC article about a study that shows how terminally ill religious people are, paradoxically, three times more likely to opt for intervention and treatments in a last-ditch effort to prolong life than the non-religious – even if those interventions reduce the quality of life dramatically. The conclusions are that either they are uncertain whether there is in fact an afterlife, or they think they’re headed straight downstairs to visit the eternal Guantanamo Bay.

I posited these conclusions on an atheist Facebook group yesterday. For some inexplicable reason it’s infested with religious people who keep telling me I’m going to burn in Hell forever, despite them not being able to back that up with unequivocal evidence that would satisfy our legal system. To be fair, it’s also infested with atheists who want to do nothing but shout and stamp their feet in a similar manner. Anyway, one person in Japan came back and made the bald statement he was not afraid of death. He made it in capital letters, so one presumes he felt strongly about it. I had to ask him to qualify the statement, as in order to gain any intelligence from it I needed to know whether he was:

1) Religious,
2) Non-religious, or
3) Already dead and helpfully communicating from the other side that death is OK and he’s enjoying it.

Talking of the terminally ill……. Bugger it, I won’t, except to say OK Magazine has already published Jade Goody’s tribute edition with the headline 1981-2009. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s quip that: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” when he read his obituary, which had been published by mistake. The news of the passing of Natasha Richardson, who gave joy to so many, will pass with a whimper, whereas I’m certain we’ll receive communiqués from the other side on the part of Jade for many months to come.

I’m having enormous fun on this Facebook group discussing a variety of philosophical concepts, like free will and it’s juxtaposition with omniscience, predestination and prophesy. It’s quaintly paradoxical how the vast majority of religious people seem to think free will and prophesy are mutually compatible and simply haven’t sat down and thought logically about the implication of each on the other. There again, few religious people actually take the time to study the religion they profess – and more importantly, its history and the milieu in which it developed. If they did, they would more as likely have second thoughts.

Reverting back to the Pope and his African trip, he warns of a threat to the Catholic Church in Cameroon from evangelical movements and from the "growing influence of superstitious forms of religion". The words pot, kettle and black spring to mind. Lee, over at the Hen Buddhism blog, has a nice chart showing the demography of belief in evolution vs creationism. The US is interestingly placed one position above Turkey. I know the Pope has come out of the closet and said evolution is compatible with Catholic doctrine, but it was said rather reluctantly and it took the Vatican rather a long time to find the right weasel words, which still aren’t unequivocal.

Had a look at PETA’s (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) website this morning. Seems they’ve been protesting about pig farming outside Jamie Oliver’s restaurant – that’s protesting outside Oliver’s restaurant about the condition pigs are kept in, not protesting about pig farming taking place outside Oliver’s restaurant. This is an extract from their site:

“Going vegetarian has never been easier. The explosion of vegetarian foods means that you can pop everything from bean burgers to veggie 'sausages' into the microwave and finish the meal with frozen nondairy 'ice cream'. You can order a latte with soya milk in the neighbourhood coffee shop, enjoy a veggie burger straight from the barbecue and stock your kitchen with wonderful products we could only dream of 20 years ago: flavoured rice mixes; a whole host of microwavable ready-made meals; soya-based 'cheeses', 'cream', 'mayonnaise' and 'milk'; and imitation meat products that can be used on their own or in your favourite recipes.”

Hardly a mention – if any – of just plain, wholesome vegetables. They seem to want to tempt people into veggiedom with pre-processed crap you sling in the micro. They then paradoxically go on to extol the health benefits of veggie diets. There again, if you are the kind of cook who uses nothing but the micro in meal preparation, even pre-processed veggie food might stand a good chance of producing an improvement in your health. The problem is that microwave divas are the least likely to want to eat healthily in the first place. Given the way Hay cooks, I don’t think I’d have too much of a problem going veggie, as her veggie recipes are simply to die for. However, giving up the odd bacon butty would be a step too far. I do believe I was intelligently designed as an omnivore – if the Pope is any authority.

  1. C.B., Back from to you on Pope Benedict: If he has so much regard for souls, he should turn over some of the riches in the Vatican to families whose children were abused by his sheperds. It turns out sheperds eat their sheep anywhere. They could definitely live by the very dogma they are force feeding the rest of us. What are we, in his eyes, fattened geese to be slaughtered for our livers?

    You've opened up a major sewer vein. When are the churches going to admit that absolute monarchies are past their prime?

  2. That sanctimonious soya argument really winds me up, every time.

    How about poor farmers in third world countries planting miles of soya beans for export, and not growing food for themselves or their own population? Not to mention the impact on the environment, the chemicals used, the food miles and the farm workers put out of work and forced to migrate because of the industrialisation of huge soya bean plantations? On a scale of one to ten, I think the fate of the planet is more important than some towny vegetarian being able to smugly sip a latte, while banging on about Jamie, who is also an irritating toad, but at least is trying to promote home grown food and some food sense into the ignorant society that we have become.

    As an ex-vegetarian of fifteen years, my advice would be to have a nice baked potato. It always worked for me. (But is much nicer with a bit of British free range bacon)

  3. "There again, few religious people actually take the time to study the religion they profess – and more importantly, its history and the milieu in which it developed. If they did, they would more as likely have second thoughts"

    Spot on! Ha!

    On the veggie theme - I love veggie food. Lived veggie for years because all my friends were veggie at the time, so it was easier. I used to cook with lots of pulses, fresh herbs, experimented with spices etc, I found that real veggie food was much more interesting in the end because when cooking with meat one can get a bit complacent, whereas when cooking veggie we tended to experiment more.

    Excuse me for sounding thick, but if we all went veggie what would happen to the pigs, cows, sheep etc? Would all the veggies watch as they slowly died out? Or not so slowly because surely they wouldn't survive long without the intervention of us humans. Or would they set up little retreats for them? Who would fund it? I've never really thought about it but guess that the veggie movement must have an answer.

  4. Lake - Pate de foie Pope.

    PG - Soya don't like industrial scale farms?

    HtD'sM - in a word, dog food!

  5. Being a veggie, I love seeing the little lambs in the fields, but I am more pragmatic and wholly understand that if we all went veggie, there would be so many farm critters to gawp at... I also choose to wear leather shoes and have leather bags. I am often aghast at strictly vegan friends who wear plastic (or 'pleather', TC!) shoes and yet smoke like chimneys... Whereas I could not reconcile their beliefs with the image of 'smoking beagles'!

    So, I don't have the answers, but nor would I ever try to convince the world that all should follow my path...

    Unlike the Pope, and er creationists!

    Sir, what are you doing on the Yoof-full Facebook?!

  6. ...there wouldn't be so many farm critters to gawp at - Sorry! Dyslexia strikes again!

  7. My thoughts have been wandering, and I find myself wondering what experience of condoms the Pope actually has. If he's seen some of the sex education videos that are doing the rounds, he probably thinks that they are putting the condoms on bananas and/or cucumbers. If so, then it's no wonder the man's a moron!

    I think about being veggie every now and again - but have the same weakness as you do....damn those bacon butties!!!

    I was slightly worried to hear you say that Hay's veggie recipies are to die for....... Should we keep a close watch on the obituary column, or was it perhaps a compliment? I only ask, as I know what people mean when they say it about my cooking.


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Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Tuesday 16/06/09

Hay is convinced I’m part fly. She’s never known someone who can scuzz a wineglass quite like I do, leading her to think that – like a fly – I part regurgitate the wine onto the glass before drinking it.

She was reading an article from the Sunday Times’ Homes supplement and creased up with laughter at the names in a highlighted family (see page 2 of the article); Perry Hayden-Taylor, his wife Vik and their children, Perpetua (7), Helvetica (4) and Clarendon (1). Strange to name all your kids after typefaces, it makes you wonder whether these ex Battersea (pronounced Bater-zee-a) people and their 11 bedroom Somerset home are real. I think the editor is having us on.

Watched a DVD of the film ‘Withnail and I’ last night. One of the funniest films I’ve seen in ages. Danny the Dealer and Uncle Monty are superb. My favourite words from the film are those said by Withnail during their sojourn in the Lake District: “Excuse me, can you help us? We’ve gone on holiday by mistake.”

Get hold of the copy of the DVD – you won’t be disappointed.

  1. Hi bill. Yes, Withnail and I is quite wonderful. Want my kids to see it when they're bigger

    My mate actually reminds me of Uncle Monty so don't want him near Son's friends when they grow up xxxxx

  2. Shakespeare started the whole name thing with Arial...


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Tree Services Newtown PA

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Aydin, Turkey

Aydin is a large place in the region of Aydin in Turkey with a population of approximately 163,022 people and is one of the largest places in Turkey. Find all facts and information about Aydin.

Facts and figures on Aydin at a glance

Name: Aydin (Aydın)
Status: Large place and regional capital
Population: 163,022 people
Region name (Level 1): Aydin
Country: Turkey
Continent: Asia

Aydin is located in the region of Aydin and is also the regional capital of this region. The distance from Aydin to Turkey's capital Ankara (Ankara) is approximately 492 km / 306 mi (as the crow flies).

Maybe also interesting: Distances from Aydin to the largest places in Turkey.

Facts and figures about Aydin
Aydin AydınLarge place / Regional capital163,022 peopleAydin Aydın

Map of Aydin

Map of Aydin, Turkey / View larger map of Aydin

Hotels in Aydin

Find your hotel in Aydin now. Book a hotel for your stay in Aydin.
Hotels in Aydin

Information on Aydin

Information on Aydin
Place nameRegion name Level 1CountryContinent
Aydin AydınAydin AydınTurkeyAsia

Time in Aydin

Time in Aydin
Current timeSummer time (DST)Standard timeCurrent timezone offsetTimezone
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 - 2:01pmNoWed, 13 Dec 2017 - 2:01pmUTC +2.0Europe/Istanbul

Geographic coordinates of Aydin

Latitude & Longitude of Aydin
PositionLatitude (width)Longitude (length)
Show on map37°50'42.0"N (37.8450100°)27°50'22.7"E (27.8396300°)

Distances from Aydin

Distances from Aydin
To equator (0° lat)To prime meridian (0° lon)To the largest places
4,196 km north of the equator2,441 km east of the prime meridianDistances from Aydin

Places around Aydin

13 places found within 5 km around Aydin. You can expand the radius of your search: 10 km15 km
Places in the regional area of Aydin
Yenikoy Yeniköy-2.3 km 1.4 mishow
Cestepe Çeştepe-2.4 km 1.5 mishow
Ovaeymiri Ovaeymiri-3.1 km 1.9 mishow
Kalfakoy Kalfaköy-3.2 km 2.0 mishow
Isikli Işıklı-3.3 km 2.1 mishow
Kadikoy Kadıköy-3.7 km 2.3 mishow
Tepecik Tepecik3,8013.9 km 2.4 mishow
Kuyulu Kuyulu-4.1 km 2.6 mishow
Konuklu Konuklu-4.2 km 2.6 mishow
Danisment Danişment-4.3 km 2.7 mishow
Sevketiye Şevketiye-4.6 km 2.9 mishow
Yilmazkoy Yılmazköy-4.6 km 2.9 mishow
Dogan Doğan-4.7 km 2.9 mishow

Airports around Aydin

2 airports found within 15 km around Aydin. You can expand the radius of your search: 50 km100 km
Airports in the regional area of Aydin
Airport Aydin Havalimani Aydın Havalimanı5.4 km 3.3 mishow
Aydin Airport Aydin AirportCII, LTBD5.5 km 3.4 mishow

External sources of information on Aydin

Aydin on Wikipedia