Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

Tonight Katherine and I went to a dinner for my reading group.  I’ve known some of the women in that group for four years, and we’ve covered a lot of ground in our talks about life and theology.  This was our year-end celebration, and also a goodbye.  I am really going to miss them!

Katherine was a hit, particularly when she moved beyond shyness and started investigating every corner of the house.  She learned that, in houses where there are dogs, she’s going to have some competition for her teething cookies.  I think the dog got more than half of the loot.

Erin

I need to write two conference papers and rewrite a chapter so that I can submit it for publication.

So far, I’ve written one of the conference papers.

Erin

Erin

On Saturday evening a bunch of friends from church hosted a barbecue for those of us who are leaving.  Good food, good friends–and a lot of babies.  I don’t usually like to post pictures of other people’s kids (cute as they are!), but I had to at least include the group picture.  Katherine is the only one missing from the picture (Heidi took it), and that was because, after much fighting it, she succumbed to a nap right about then.

Erin

Heidi (a frequent commenter here and my best friend since fifth grade) drove up from DC to spend the weekend with us.  It’s been oppressively humid and rather warm, but we managed to make two visits to the Farmer’s Market, walk the trail to Taughannock Falls, take a hike at Monkey Run, and go out for dinner at Just A Taste.  And, as you might imagine, we’ve done a lot of catching up.  A lot.  As she gets ready to head home again this afternoon I know I’m already going to miss talking things out with her.  And Katherine’s going to miss the extra attention!

Erin

I think we reached a major milestone today: Katherine’s wooden blocks were scattered all over the room, but, as you can see below, they no longer are.

All but two of them are in the trailer in which they belong. She suddenly got it into her head that instead of scattering them all over the place, maybe she should collect them and put them into the trailer. The resolute purpose with which she then proceeded was quite remarkable. She did not, however, have any intention of carrying blocks around the room. So she would pick up all the blocks within two feet of the trailer, drag the trailer to the next part of the floor, and repeat. Unfortunately, she tended to lose a few blocks each time she dragged the trailer. She usually went and retrieved the dropped blocks, but I guess the last two drops didn’t merit retrieval.

Sydney

Sydney’s had a very busy week, with a slew of grading and conferences with students, followed by a weekend conference at Cornell in which he’s making a presentation.  As Katherine and I have been making our own fun without him, I realized that I’m scheduling more and more “final” events, fitting in last trips to favorite places around town and final dinners with friends.  We’re going to miss this place!  I’m very glad we’re moving somewhere we fully intend to love, otherwise moving would be very difficult.

Erin

After what seemed like a long winter of keeping Katherine inside, we’re now showing her a bit more of the world outside.  Since the chickens have taken over the lawn outside our door, we roam a bit farther for our playground.  I take her on a good number of long walks near our house, either in the backpack or in the stroller, and we often stop to explore the grass of a Cornell property a mile from our house.  When we’re in town we’ll stop at one of the many parks, or we’ll take advantage of the rolling green on Cornell’s campus, where K is fascinated by bicyclists and skateboarders, and where she catches the eye of a lot of students (primarily women).  Now that it’s also prime bird-watching season, we put her in the backpack and take her on birdwatching expeditions (well, Sydney watches, and I walk; Katherine likes to move) to half-a-dozen parks and trail systems around town.  I’m going to miss this place!

When we were out on a walk to a new place the other day I discovered that Cornell owns a large meadow just down the road from our house.  They have small patches of corn and shrubs there, but there are grass-covered paths for vehicles and the like.  Following a path into the woods, I found myself on an old footpath that led down into Brooktondale.  Halfway to the main road I came across two abandoned cars from the sixties.  There was something eerie about coming across abandoned motorcars in the middle of the woods.

Far less eerie was the walk we took today around–I kid you not–Quick Cemetery, in which most of the inhabitants died before the turn of the last century.

Now that we’re the parents of a little one, we’re enjoying the opportunity to look anew at the world.  And it looks pretty good!

Erin

A Bar-tailed Godwit with an implanted satellite transmitter was tracked flying nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand. It flew 7,250 miles over eight days with no food, water, or sleep. How something this size can store enough energy for such a flight is entirely unfathomable to me.

And if that isn’t enough: the adults migrate from the breeding grounds in Alaska sooner than the juveniles do. So the juveniles have to make their way to New Zealand, adjusting for five different wind systems to avoid being blown off course, without any guidance from experienced individuals.

Sydney

I love having the government look at our taxes.  They audited us our first year here, when we had H&R Block do our taxes, and they dug up some job we’d forgotten we had and then proceeded to give us back a couple hundred dollars in taxes we’d paid out of it.  This year it seems they corrected my form (sorry, this baby thing is new to me), and sent me a check for more than I’d expected, followed with an explanation of the changes.  How very nice!

Erin