Labor Day Weekend- Musings

It's Labor Day weekend in the US-- it signals the social end of summer because school starts right after Labor Day. For many, school started last week if not the week before, but after Labor Day, the summer ends seriously! Stores that have been stocked with back-to-school supplies will have a clearance sale and all the Halloween merchandise will now be put out.

Mentally, I'm not ready.  I had hoped to get in another beach trip, but instead, I'm cleaning my home office (which really needs it!). Reluctanctly, I cleared the beach paraphernalia out of my car and am loading it up with stuff to donate, take to the used book store, or consign. Besides emptying out my clothes closet, I am also purging the office. Yes, cleaning out is fruitful and I love the process!

Today started off with an impromptu trip to meet my daughter at Janssens Market for coffee... we were waiting for Talbot's to open because she needed to get uniform apparel for her new teaching job. The plus to this morning's experience was running into an old friend and colleague!

Sigh... all these things were good, but now I have to mentally prepare for the coming winter, which, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, is supposed to be just as bad, if not worse, than last winter. So-- I will be shopping for some serious boots and a gorgeous cashmere sweater, and try to find a bargain southern getaway for Ed and I around the end of January. We deserve it- I just need to find someone to babysit the dog!

Checking Out

Ok- I knew this day would come-- has anybody else had this feeling? You know, that feeling of now you're floating around on your own with no place to call home? No anchor to help you feel secure?

It's that time between checking out of your hotel room and the hours and hours before your flight departs. What do you do in the meantime? Where do you hangout?

For me, I guess it means taking up residence in the hotel lobby....finding a seat to call my own and settling in with some reading. Hmmmm...there's a lot more to this concept called home... amazing how a few hours of displacement can be so unsettling for me!

Conference Routine

 My favorite annual conference by far is attending ASA. It's always held in an interesting place where there is so much to see and do, but it's also so stimulating to attend sessions and learn what other sociologists are researching...

Each year the conference has a theme, but that theme is not the only topic of discussion. For example, this afternoon I attended a marvelous session on Collective Memory in which Aaron Cicourel presented a paper on the cognitive domain of memory making.

He discussed how medical interviews are paraphrased by doctors in doctors' notes and this becomes part of the archival record. However, the archival record only tells a small part of the story-- so in essence, doctors' notes are an example of sharpening and levelling-- a trick used by the advertising industry to market a product. Interesting stuff... maybe nerdy to others, but fascinating to me!!!

Saturday Morning in San Francisco

My wonderful new Sony H400 camera battery died right at the end of the winery tours yesterday, and when I got back to the hotel I found out I didn't have the right charger to recharge the battery! Sigh... So it was up early this morning and headed for the City Target store who directed me to RadioShack who directed me to the Discount Camera store around the corner--

Success!!! Turns out that this camera's battery charges in the camera but I needed a cable to fit so it could be plugged into an ordinary wall plug. The bonus was a lovely and interesting conversation with the camera man- who explained why Sony cameras were such good cameras and how Sony came to build their camera business. Sony acquired Konica Minolta on the 1990s when electronics companies became so diversified that some of the, including Konica Minolta wanted out of the digital camera business. According to Allan, the salesman who helped me, Sony management visited all Konica Minolta factories, shut down several and reorganized the digital camera business-- all without laying off anyone!

Then I also found out that the camera that's a level above mine, although it has lesser zoom, does have a German Carl Zeiss lens!!! Sigh and doublesigh.... for now, I'll do with mine-- it's not shabby-- 63x zoom and 20+ megapixels-- makes for clear photos when your style of shooting is on the go!

After a few hours of charging during which I took a much-needed nap, I'm now back in business! Yay!

Engineering A Sewing Project

Feeling my domestic goddess mood that cannot be quenched unless I try my hand at sewing this camera cozy... Have seen them online but decided I wanted to make my own. I unearthed the Bernina from underneath piles if stuff in the corner of the bedroom, but found out it needed servicing as the lever was frozen in the up position. Off to Hayes Sewing Machine it went. The bad news is that it will take a week to fix, so in this age of instant gratification, what's a domestic goddess to do? Then I found this little Sunbeam for beginners- it's so cute!

It weighs 2.5 pounds. It's small, but larger than a child sized machine. It does all the basic stitches and comes pre-threaded! Oh joy of joys! Of course, it is nowhere in the league of my wonderful Bernina, but is helping me get my sewing "fix" under control! I've had my Bernina since 1983 and it has been a wonderful tool. It just is undergoing a major cleaning and adjustment since I haven't sewn much in the last ten years.

Actually, this little Sunbeam is perfect for apartment dwellers with little space to store things...

Postscript: Cute as it was, this little machine did skip a lot of stitches, so I returned it. Such a shame. 

Abandoned Places- Old Barn

I remember driving by and seeing livestock on this property when we moved here in 1988, and marveling at how close we lived to actual, working farms! At any time of the day we could always hear seep bleating and cows mooing—and I had a real sense of having moved into a development that was in the country! Across the street from this farm were several other farms, but over time, the properties have made way to housing developments.

Sadly, this barn is now about to be demolished to make way for a controversial charter school (controversial because it is thought that the property is neither big enough nor are the roads able to handle the extra traffic this school will create). It sits on the old Coffee Run Mission site in Hockessin, which is the site of a historic Roman Catholic mission church started by Father Kenney in the late 1700’s. Out of this place both St. Mary’s Church (now St. Mary of the Assumption) and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington started. This barn was part of a homestead that included a fieldstone house built in 1812 (now torn down) and a cemetery that is the resting place of 62 graves.

Construction crews have moved in to clear the property, so who knows how much longer this barn will continue to stand? It doesn’t take long for things to be forgotten, does it? 

Abandoned Places- A House

Whenever I see one of these old houses I always wonder about its story... Who lived there? When was it built? What caused it to be abandoned? Does anyone own it now? Most of these houses in this area of the country are several hundred years old. Interesting in that so many old houses like this in Europe are still actively occupied, but in America, many old houses are abandoned, and eventually torn down. Wonder what the future holds for this house?

Quiet Mornings After A Storm

Enjoying my morning coffee outside... It's a cool, quiet morning after a summer thunderstorm last night. It must have rained for quite a while because everything is still wet. Cloudy skies and greyness are welcome after a few days of sultry heat and thick air. Not complaining though, after this past grueling winter anything summer is welcome!

Love how this sunflower, though imperfect, faces the day!

Dutch Mourning for Victims of Malaysia Flight 17

Today is the official day of mourning in the Netherlands, as the remains of the victims of flight 17 are brought home. Short down by a missile over the Ukraine last week, passengers aboard this flight were on their way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Many were going for vacation, others to an AIDS conference, and yet others were going home to Malaysia or travelling further to distant destinations. No doubt, each of these passengers boarded in anticipation of the future...a stark reminder how precious our lives are!
While the country mourns and trains stop for one minute during the day, clocks toll their bells, and the general business of the day is interrupted into silence so as to respect all those whose lives were cut short, one unique element to this day of mourning is the position of all of the 1200 remaining Dutch windmills in mourning mode.

Disclaimer: These are photos are not mine but borrowed from the internet to illustrate the mourning position of the sails of the Dutch windmill. Note that the bottom sail is positioned slightly to the right so as to signify what has gone and past on.

The normal resting position of a windmill's sails is straight down. As this straight-on photo shows, this windmill is in mourning position because the bottom sail is slightly to the right.

May all those souls rest in peace. 

Bicycles and the Dutch: Social Interactions

I’ve driven a lot this week--- a trip to Georgetown, DE and another one to Dover on top of the normal going back and forth to work and running errands… I tanked up 3 times! The cheapest gas was found in Dover at $3.55 per gallon. The price of gas elsewhere has been hovering around $3.69-3.70. While my European family might think this is not very expensive compared to what they have to pay, let me just remind everyone that distances in the USA are farther apart, we don’t have a public transportation infrastructure, have no bicycle paths to use to get from point A to point B, nor do we have walkways that allow us to walk to a store that’s a half mile distant. So Americans drive… and drive… and drive. It’s rather insane!
I am convinced that all that driving creates an isolation of sorts—after all, many people driving are the only human beings in the car!
Ironically, I am a driver—I enjoy driving by myself and just having some high quality “think time.” However, I am also frustrated by the inability to ride a bicycle to the drug store just a half mile from my house.

Whenever I go to Holland I am always struck by the bicycles, and flash back to memories of bicycles trips with my parents. We rode bicycles everywhere—to visit grandparents and then ride home in the dark, in the rain, and against the wind. My sister sat on the back of my Mom’s bicycle, while I sat on the back of my Father’s bicycle. Our bicycles were our primary mode of independent transportation. My grandfather was in his 80’s and still riding a “brommer,” which is a motorized bicycle, to run errands.
In America we pave large parking lots around shopping malls, so that individuals can jump out of their cars and shop in the most efficient way possible. In Amsterdam or Rotterdam large spaces are devoted to open air markets and parked bicycles can be found in abundance!

Going to the market is also a social function connecting neighbors and friends, and contributing to social interactions between the buyer and the fishmonger or cheese merchant. After all, the ritual of buying at a market is to ask about the item you wish to purchase which always leads to a little chat!

I’m struck by the difference in social interactions between the two societies.
For a great New York Times article about the Dutch and their bicycles see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/the-dutch-way-bicycles-and-fresh-bread.html?_r=3

Chanel Jacket- To Bucket List

Oh yes-- I'd like a Chanel jacket added to my bucket list :). Coco Chanel was quite the woman-- her fashions were timeless and elegant bar none.

Am I Clever, Or What?

Now that I'm back into swimming, there is the issue of being able to lock my valuables in the Women's Locker Room lockers. I've forgotten the combination to the lock I used last Fall, so I bought a new one, and after one time (basically one use), I forgot the combination!!!

So what to do? Well, I came up with what I thought was a clever idea... I bought some cheap flip-flops and with a Sharpie wrote the combination on the sole of my flip-flops. Sharpie ink never wears off-- or so it says. Guess this will be the test.

Let's see how this works next week- maybe I'll also write the combination in the hem of my towel-- that way I'll have extra insurance that I won't forget it. Stay tuned... :)

"Doctoring" Away This Summer- Light At the End of the Tunnel?

The challenge of working toward earning a doctorate is that it never seems to end!

Sometimes life gets in the way and it's easy to get derailed. Going down rabbit holes... not the best approach but I have learned more than I have room for in my brain! Sometimes I feel like my harddrive-brain is full. However, my day in Ashburn yesterday was very productive as my Chair and I reviewed my writing in detail. The revisions will be made soon and then on to the next chapter!...

Perhaps I'm beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunell after all... :)

Scrabble & Word Games

I love having children! They teach me something new all the time. Without them, I'd be stuck in a rut of seeing and experiencing the world according to my generation's view. It's true that kids do keep us young. For example, I learned something new from my daughter-- how to play scrabble and word games using my smart phone.

Now you might think this is not new or novel, but to me it was. Over the course of several days we played a game of scrabble, and I have to admit she’s much better at it than I was (even though I did give her a run for her money!). In the process, I also learned that she scored higher points than I did because she was focused on playing a word that earned the most points, while I was focused on playing the most letters per word. I played to create longer words that would give us both more opportunities to form words in the future. She played to score points. She won- I lost.
Perhaps the lesson is to focus on the here and now, on what's in front of you, instead of looking ahead for opportunities that may not materialize.
Now we’re on our next game, but the fun doesn’t end there. She showed me that one can play a word game with an anonymous opponent “out there, somewhere.” So now I’m playing 2 games of scrabble, one with Lili and the other with "Doobus." In the meantime, I've also researched scrabble playing strategies online, and stopped at Barnes & Noble to pick up a Scrabble Players Dictionary so that I can expand my vocabulary.
I do hope that I’m building lots of dendrites in my brain!

Uncovering the Secrets of Life

The weather's turned cold and my boots have come out of the closet. One of the challenges wearing boots is wearing socks that don't fall down in the boot-- you know, that wrinkled feeling as you realize that your socks are falling down and sinking to the bottom of your boot! Or-- when taking off your boots your socks stay in the boot.

I've solved the problem and have labelled it one of the secrets of life-- MEN'S SOCKS!

When I wear men's dress socks in my tall boots, the socks stay on my feet and legs and don't fall down into the boot.

For really snowy days I wear a sturdier boot with which I wear men's construction boot socks-- they are warm and have a great foot cushion!

Who knew men had it so good?

Ice Cream & Contented Cows

Tonight was one of those wonderful, perfect summer evenings that we remember and long for in the dead of winter. While the day was hot and humid, the temperature dropped when the sun went down leaving that faint glow of daylight and summer day warmth. It was a perfect summer evening to go for an ice cream at Woodside Farms, a local ice creamery situated on a historic farm. Next to the historic farm house is a small ice cream house where customers line up to get their favorite ice creams. Mine is always the same: coconut and cappuchino crunch. I've tried other flavors, but these two are my favorites!

Fawn always loves going for an ice cream—and banana is her favorite! As soon as we ask "Do you want to go get an ice cream?" she bolts out the door and waits by the car. When we cross over onto Brackenville Road, and then over Limestone Road, she hangs her head out the window sniffing the air as if to follow the trail to the ice cream farm.

Tonight was a special treat because the cows were out in the field, and Fawn got up close to see them. After a thoughtful close look and sniff, she was ready to wait in line for her ice cream.

Destiny Day

My trailblazing, mountain climbing daughter has returned—she got within 2400 feet of the summit on Mt. Ranier and had to opt out of climbing the summit because her knee was not capable of going any further. After a successful 92 mile hike on the Wonderland Trail, not reaching the summit on this first attempt was her destiny, and she was wise in making her choice. The mountain will still be there next year!
Yesterday was destiny day for quite a few of us—as I met 2 wonderful women at the 10:30 round table session on Innovative Research Methodologies (I’m at the ASA conference in Atlanta). At the table were Marianne and Karla, both dynamic young women who reported on two very different but very interesting research studies! Marianne, whose research paper presentation was about aid workers fatalities, works for a think tank organization and travels all over the world! She had just flown in from Germany to attend the conference. Talk about a world class citizen! Karla is also international—she is Colombian and married to a Russian. Although she’s a statistician, her doctoral research work is a qualitative study based on the dynamism of food and our intimacy with food. Karla is interested in food because she, through personal experience, has found that our processes foods can make you seriously sick and compromise your immune system. Since Karla ‘s research is about food and people’s relationship to food, she suggestion we go out to lunch at a place where the food “is touched by human hands.” That’s how we had the most divine meal touched by human hands at La Pietra Cucina in Peachtree Center! We ordered the Prosciutto di Parma appetizer, and then shared the Black Spaghetti, Gabby’s Fettucini, and Mezze Penne al Pomodoro for the entrée. Our wine was Enzo Di Sotte Rue Primitivo 2008, which was a soft, light red – the perfect complement to our meal! After lunch we searched for Karla’s favorite dessert place, a little donut place where all the donuts are personally made by the owner, a CIA educated turned donut shop owner, but given that this was a Monday, the little donut place was closed. It was now time for Karla to pick up her kids from school, and for Marianne and I to tour the textbook exhibit and part ways, as so many strangers do when they meet in a strange place and bond over a meal. As Marianne said, “We were destined to meet today,” hence this was our Destiny Day. There’s something about having a meal with people you’ve just met that forges immediate bonds! Good people, good food, good wine, good time and sharing our adventures with strangers. Destiny.

Catching Up

Whew! Times flies as they say-- and the last few weeks have flown like dandelion puffs in the wind! I joined a gym, worried about my daughter hiking 100 miles in the wilderness around Mt Ranier, and bought an e-reader (Nook). The gym has made me fall in love with yoga and water, the daughter has safely survived her 100 mile trek, and I am just now using my e-reader to read Eat, Pray, Love before the movie comes out. It's already a fun read and pure escape from what has become, sad to say, the drudgery of doctoral work readings! I loaded up my Nook with several other books this evening and each involves some sort of true-life travel story. Think I'll promise myself a magnificent trip once the dissertation is done!