It seems like ages since I posted anything. My excuse - I was away over the Christmas break. So, today, we left Utah and drove back to Montana. We were very sad to leave after having had lots of fun with kids and grandkids - but not nearly enough time to do all the things we had hoped to do. I suppose that we did accomplish rather alot - I made 5 Christmas stockings, two batches of shortbread (one of them orange, as per G'pa Irv's request), a gingerbread house, almost three bathrobes, and a birthday necklace! Not bad for just over a week. Needless to say I feel as though I have not had any exeercise in as long. But the weather just didn't cooperate. We had taken our snowshoes with us, but most days it was about 10 degrees or so, and windy!

On the drive back up here we encountered every imaginable weather pattern - from cold and grey and snowy when we let Park City at 7 am, through icy and snowpacked interstate with several accidents and one large multi-car pileup, to driving snow, rain and strong winds to blue sky and 40 degree temps.

Here in Lolo it is not too cold, and not rainy or snowy, although it has snowed some in the last week. We will stay here for a day or two before we head back to Pullman.

It sure is quiet without three little girls around! We really enjoyed our time with family.

At Sea
by Wendy Mnookin

At the end of the jetty.

Where the boats come in.

Where the boats go out.

At the pile of rocks that swallows the sun at the end of the day.

At the turn of the trail.

At the last dune.

In front of the hot-dog stand.

At the door to the pub.

By the shanty, the shipbuilder's yard, the discarded yellow boots, the smashed clam shells.

You thought I'd give in to despair.

But today is today, everywhere I look.

And I look everywhere.

"At Sea" by Wendy Mnookin, from The Moon Makes Its Own Plea. © BOA Editions, 2008.

Life with Libirv - just another day

Why is it that when you have to get organized and leave town there seem to be a hundred different things to do. I started off the day with an email about some editing that I should have done weeks ago, and had not quite finished - so I got it finished first thing so that it wasn't in my way. Then I had an email from my colleague about our 2 o'clock meeting saying that she wasn't quite ready and it would be better if we used the time to work instead of meet. That was fine since i wasn't ready either.

So then we ran errands, mailed christmas cards and packages, registered the car in WA - not so easy since I still had a lien on the title and it is actually paid off but I couldn't prove it, so we have to wait for the bank to sign off on it.

Then we bought tire chains to make sure that we make it over all the mountain passes between here and Utah, via Montana.

Then of course, I forgot to pick up some videos at work that I need to bring with me for the break in case I get to doing some work; and fax my evaluation form back to UM since i haven't resigned yet. So it was back to the office again, and while I was there I dropped off some presents for office staff and chatted with them about their vacations.

Then it was home to pack, fill bird feeders, clean out the fridge, make sure mail is stopped and paper is stopped and ...

Not so easy to just leave town any more. so we will leave first thing in the morning. After coffee anyhow.

It is now 7:30pm and the temperature is 5 degrees Fharenheit! COLD!!!

Now, grandpa wants me to cut his hair with the Flowbee! This will be a first!! Check back in in half an hour and I'll tell you how it went.

Brr!!! We are in the deep freeze now! My thermometer tells me it's 14 degrees outside right now! And it will get colder overnight, and be cold again tomorrow.

After shoveling off the front steps and the deck, we stayed in most of the day, and spent a good deal of time just watching the great variety of birds that visited our bird feeders again. All the birds seemed bigger than usual - they were all puffed today up because of the cold.

This evening we went to a wine club gathering with one of my colleagues to taste nine different dessert wines - icewines, botrytis wines, and late harvest types. All rather sweet, but some quite tasty. We were all to bring some fruit or nut dessert (non-chocolate since the organizers felt that the wines didn't pair well with chocolate). So we ate lots of sweets and sampled some sweet wines. Now I feel totally sugared out! It will take a while to get off this sugar high! Guess I'll settle in now and watch a movie.

Winter has hit the Palouse! It has been nice to just hunker down, stay warm, write Christmas cards, watch the snow fall, and watch all the different birds that visit our (6?) bird feeders around the house. There are juncos, purple finches, sparrows, goldfinches, chickadees, and even California quail! Not to mention the squirrels and the magpies who visit us frequently. This is when I wish I had Mama V's camera. Mine does not have enough zoom. But I took a pic of one of the bird feeders with purple finches on it and a quail on the ground.

This morning - at about 6 am - I saw a rabbit just hanging out in the garden. I watched him for quite some time and he just sat, contemplating life.

The snow is still coming down. We probably have close to 6 inches. Tomorrow the deep freeze is supposed to hit. 15 degrees for the high!

Today is the last day of the semester. There was a HUGE full moon out there last night as I walked home from work. Today it has turned cold and wet - we had some snow earlier and now it is blustery and sleety. We are forecast to have as much as 10 inches of snow tonight.

After work I walked down the hill into town to Merry Cellars, our favorite winery here, to take part in the annual barrel tasting event. Tonight, they featured three of their wines - Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, and Merlot. We tasted the wine right out of the barrel. Each of them was distinctive, but all three were excellent. It is so nice to know that we have particpated in the crushing of the grapes that went in to making the wines. We feel a sense of ownership and loyalty. Mama-V will be happy to know that we bought 3 bottles to bring for christmas.

What I forgot to mention with all the other musings on numbers in my blog on Monday is that my mother turned 83 on Monday. She seems to be doing well, but says she is slowing down a bit and may have to stop driving soon!

I just returned from a quick trip to Oregon to talk with some colleagues there about a grant. As always, its was a productive visit, and exciting to brainstorm some possible activities.

Flying back this evening the plane passed over Mount Hood in all its snowy splendor, and then the Palouse at sunset. It is amazing to see the enormity of the rolling hills, wheatfields, farms, and shadows in the setting sun. Quite a vista.

It's nice to be home again. At the same time, before I sat down to watch a movie this evening, I made a list of things to do. i came up with 11 non-trivial things. That's a usual, normal state of affairs. I guess I will hit the ground running in the morning trying to cross things off my list.

All of a sudden, the holidays are looming, the semester is almost over, and we will be heading to Montana and then Utah for the holidays. and of course I am not ready yet!

a bit of unrelated trivia, excpet that I am watching another Kate Winslet movie tonight. Mama V and Kate Winslet were born in the same town! But Kate is 6 years younger!

I seem to have been really preoccupied with age-related issues lately. I have developed a huge respect for my feet, since I figure they have carried me about to lots of places in the last almost 58 years, and I think it is totally amazing that they are still in such good shape - even though they get dry and scaly sometimes, and I get a callous on my toe.

And then I got to thinking about my eyes and how much seeing they have done for me int he last 58 almost years. And being the mathematician that I am I wanted to get my calculuator out and actually figure out how many steps my feet had taken, and how many hours or how many images my eyes had seen for me. And then I got to thinking about my heart, and how many beats it had beaten over the past 58 almost years (which would be about 60 times a minute for 60 minutes times 24 hours times 365 days times 58 years (60*60*24*365*58 =1,829,088,000 = 1 billion eight hundred twentynine million eighty eight thousand beats) and I just became overwhelmed by the fact that the human body is able to keep on going for so long.

I watched the movie "Iris" tonight about the author and philosopher Iris Murdoch. I have decided that Kate Winslett is a great actress. She does a great job plyaing Iris. The film is really well done. In the movie it is mentioned that Iris Murdoch wrote about what it means to be good. I'd like to read what she had to say. I have only read one of her books - The Dark Prince - and that was a long time ago. I'd like to contrast that with what it means to be mean. What does that mean?

I really enjoyed my evening. My better half? was off taking tickets at the basketball game tonight. I stayed home and relaxed, had some wine, ate dinner, and baked a christmas cake and two baguettes. It is so nice to be at home by myself and just putter around. Keeps me sane.

"To my way of thinking, we learn more about love and kindness by understanding all the differences between ourselves and our essential others"

And how do we do that exactly? By exerting our power and dominance over others? By chastising others about taking responsibility without taking any ourselves? We need to be sure that we practice what we preach. Life is about co-existing and getting along, not about controling, dominating and convincing others - by force or otherwise - about our own power and worth. That is why the stars are up there in juxtapostion with the moon, none outweighing the other, none pressuring the other into subservience, all coexisting harmoniously. The moon's light is still observable, as is the light from the other planets, Jupiter and Venus.

We traveled back from Texas yesterday and managed to get voluntarily bumped on the way. That meant we didn't get back to Pullman until 1:30 in the morning, but it also means we have two free tickets. So look out family - we will be coming to visit you!

Back to work today after a week off. Invigorating, exciting and exhausting. How can work be all of this? But it is.

I had several meetings and other and sundry things to take care of. I finished editing some stuff that I should have finished already. I ride the bus to and from work occasionally, especially when tired, or rushed or it's cold, or ... but I often walk. It is 3/4 of a mile, and uphill both ways! Pullman is built on 5 hills, but the hill that the campus is on is really quite "up-and-down" so I am told that it one develops "cougar calves" from all the hill walking!

Here's a link to the NY Times 10 best books of 2008 list. Maybe I will read a majority of them before the next year is out. Right now I am reading The Age of Shiva, by Manil Suri, who, it turns out, is a mathematics professor! I didn't realize that when I chose his book to read at the local library. I seem to have a fascination with India, and books about India and by Indian writers. One of these days I'd like to travel there, but it doesn't seem too safe right now in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

I am also reading bits of The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. This evening I read the part "What's wrong with religion?" where he makes a compelling argument that the problem in cases like this one is not "religious extremism" but simply "religion". That leaves me wondering about Unitarianism - it is also a religion. Could it also cause similar single-mindedness and righteousness?

How did it get to be December 2 already? So, not only did I not do 30 pposts in November, i can't do 31 in December. Oh well, the pressure's off!

It's hard to blog when visitng family - we are having too much fun! Warm weather, walks, cards and games, cooking and eating and a little shopping too! I got a head start on Christmas shopping.

It's hard to believe that we are sitting by the fire thisd morning! It got down into the 30's last night and it seems really chilly!

Today, it's back home to Pullman and work. but the semester is almost over and it'll be time for a break again.