Flying On Wax Wings

Tractors, Winter and Washington

2011-12-23T17:50:00.001-05:00

In a whirlwind of craziness we finally made it to Washington.

Nice 11 degree morning in Washington

B-man has had a great time with Grammy and Papa at the ranch. We took him out to see the horses and he couldn't have cared less about them once his eyes caught hold of the tractors.

He wanted to climb up on them and drive them all on his own. Then Papa came up with the backhoe and gave him a ride and he was in love from that moment on.

Cute Pictures

2011-12-18T15:49:00.001-05:00

I had the opportunity to take some pictures for our friends and I wanted to share a couple of the pictures of their kids. "active" would be a mild adjective to use for their little wigglers, even their infant wouldn't hold still, so we didn't get very many. But a couple of them are just precious.

Paper Moon Birthday

2011-12-06T09:31:00.001-05:00

Last week was Barec's birthday. He is T.W.O. The child is totally obsessed with the moon. He points at it and in his extatic little voice happily cried, "Mooooo" (Of course without the "N"). So incidently, the party had to be moon themed as well. We wanted to shoot for something a little vintage for the theme and we love a picture of my great-aunt and grandfather posing on a paper moon back in the 1920's. We decided to build a little backdrop with a giant cardboard cutout moon and stars to take pictures with. Juliana made little paper mustaches glued to BBQ skewers for the kids. It was a lot of fun and Barec had a great time with his friends.

Gift bags, invitation, cake and "moon rocks"

The party boy

Barec with his friend M.

Our family

Barec moistening the cake while trying to blow out the candles.

So happy to be dancing with friends

Snarfing down his cake and ice cream

Ryan's Chipotle Beef Chili

2011-10-29T20:26:00.004-04:00

I have had a few people ask for this recipe over the last few days so I thought I would post it and share with anybody who wants it. I have to toot my own horn here a little and say that I won the Halloween chili cook-off at church this year with this recipe.

Picture not my own: from Vegetarian Recipes

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef or round roast
2 large onions diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 cubes of beef bullion
1 can diced tomatoes with juice (I prefer the fire-roasted kind)
2 6oz. cans of tomato paste
3 chipotle chilis minced (from the can with adobo sauce)
5 cans kidney beans (or mix it up with 3 cans kidney and 2 cans black beans)
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup dark molasses
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (half the amount if you aren't very tolerant of spice)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. oregano

Instructions:

1. Brown ground beef with onions and garlic over medium heat. If using roast, chop into bite-size pieces after browning the outside of the roast.
2. Mix all ingredients in a large cooking pot or crock pot and cook on low for at least 4 hours. I prefer to let it cook for at least 9 hours so the flavors can mix. And it's even better the next day as a leftover.
3. Optional: Add 1 tbsp cinnamon for a Cincinnati style chili flavor. You can also substitute fresh diced jalapeños for the chipotles to change the spiciness of the chili from the low burn that you get from the chipotles to a mild zing from the jalapeños.
4. Enjoy!

IFA Picnic 2011

2011-09-05T22:25:00.001-04:00

It's been quite a while since I sat down to blog. That typically means that I'm stressed out. Well stressed out doesn't begin to describe my emotional state of being lately. Luckily there are things that help with stress. For me it's getting outdoors and enjoying nature. It's a good reminder that with all the world-crushing things going on in my life, things keep on doing what they do in nature the same as they always have and at just about the same pace. It gives me a little perspective and lightens my load.

Last weekend was the Indiana Falconer's Association Picnic where we all get together and enjoy chatting and eating and looking at some beautiful birds. We had a special guest speaker this year; the President of NAFA (North American Falconry Association), Larry Dickerson. I was actually pretty put off by his presentation. He drives all the way from North Carolina to talk to us, stands up and introduces himself and then puts on a 20 minute slide show while he excuses himself to use the bathroom. He didn't have anything productive to say and really gave me a poor perspective of the guy whose supposed to be the "governing force" behind falconry in Washington DC.

Anyhow, the food was great and the birds were pretty, which more than made up for his presentation. Here are some pictures of the birds at this year's picnic.

Red-Tail Hawk

Antique Eagle Hood and accessories

Peregrine Falcon

Goshawk

Silver Gyrfalcon

Silver Gyrfalcon (just took off his hood so he looks a little funny)

Tiercel American Kestrel

Peregrine Falcon

Goshawk

Red-Tail Hawk

Goshawk

Goshawk in an exercise flight/quarry

Goshawk

American Kestrel with tidbits still on his beak

Bloomington Civil War Encampment

2011-07-31T16:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went downtown to the history museum where they had a Civil War encampment set up with all sorts of activities for kids. Wildcare Inc had a volunteer with a barn owl for the kids to look at. They had rabbits to pet, a booth to make clothespin dolls, a booth for the kids to make their own trail mix, and the soldiers did a little march and shot their black powder rifles. There was also a big stuffed grizzly bear in the museum that Barec didn't like AT ALL. We tried to get him comfortable with it, but he just kept shaking his head and saying "no" in a worried little voice. Other than the encounter with the stuffed grizzly bear, he had a good time and we had fun watching him explore.

Step by step painting

2011-07-20T11:50:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I bought a 30 x 40 canvas and frame and wanted to paint something to add some color and decoration to our bedroom. We are going for a kind of modern arabic theme (we like the geometry and the textures of Moroccan design, just not the gaudy golds and purples). To give you an idea, this is what Juliana wants.

I really like it too, but I could use a little more color and I'm not in love with the thin red line. Really the only thing that remotely makes this modern arabic is the mosaic mirror on the wall. Anyhow, keeping mosaics in mind, I thought it would be nice to have a mosaic for our room, but with a bit of my own fling to it. Here is the process documented for you.

Step 1: make LOTS of lines on the canvas and see how they connect for you. Add some overlapping circles, diamonds or whatever and see what comes out of it. This is what I got. You can click on it to see it larger.

Step 1: the stetch

Step 2: I was super nervous about color choices, so I made 3 smaller sketches and dabbled with difference colors, overlaps, designs, etc. to see what I likes and what I didn't. And more importantly what Jules likes and she didn't. I lean toward the warm deserty colors and we needed to match a bit with what we have in our room already. You can see our decorating start here.

Step 2: the color swatches

Step 3: It wasn't without much hesistation that I added come color to the canvas (canvas isn't cheap and ending up with something I didn't like wasn't in the cards).

Step 3: adding color

Step 4: Just one layer of color started to look really flat, so I did some detail work to give more depth. The part I struggled the most with was the background. Juliana wanted it to look like old stucco, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to make oil paint look like old stucco. I dabbed with a paper towel trying to give texture and ended up with a blue sky straight out of a romantic landscape. Nice, but not for this piece. I wanted to add some "grunge" to it with a little brown and gray and after 4 days and probably 20 + hours I ended up with this.

Step 4: hanging the final product

All in all I like the way it turned out. As with all my projects, it wasn't the way I imagined it when I started. It kind of took on its own life as I went along. There are some things that I am still not thrilled about, but I think all artists find things wrong with their work. It gave me some confidence to continue practicing with oils (as I have the cash, tubes of oil paint are WAY expensive), and though they are very different than watercolors and it takes a whole different approach to painting...

I.had.fun.

The Blank Canvas

2011-07-12T21:21:00.000-04:00

I purchased a 30x 40 canvas the other day and am planning to paint something to hang in our bedroom. Barec pulled the last one down and it crashed beyond what I am willing to repair. Anyhow, a few days have passed and the canvas is still blank. I'm not sure what I should paint or in what style. I don't feel like I am an "artist" enough to have my own artistic voice, (especially in oils) so I usually cruise through other painters' work for inspiration. Here are a few of the paintings that really grab me.

Carmine - Natalie Shau

Circle of Seasons - Ilana Manolson

Enterado - Frank Gonzales

I'm really into deconstructed and drippy forms right now. I think they are just fantastic. And while I'm at it. Here is a sculptor, Dessa Kirk, that I think is great. I would love to do something like this, maybe on a smaller scale in my own garden some day. I love the greek mythological reference and the combination of art with nature.

Daphne Gardens - Photo by Joe Lekas

Hopefully my canvas won't stay blank for very long. I will take pictures of the process when I get going. This will be my second, yes that is correct, second oil ever, so I have a bit of trepidation going into this project.

Daylilies

2011-07-04T16:26:00.001-04:00

Daylilies from my garden

The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.

                                                     -Rudyard Kipling

A day at the beach

2011-07-03T21:37:00.001-04:00

We took an overnight trip to Ocean City, Maryland to enjoy the beach and the boardwalk. Barec had a great time playing in the sand, watching the tractors comb the beach in the morning and eating junk food. He downed half of a funnel cake by himself with no problem. The kid has a sweet tooth for sure. This morning we rented a surrey and rode it down the boardwalk, had some ice cream. After we checked out of our hotel we drove out to Assateague Island. The beach was great, we saw the Assateague wild ponies and really had a good time on the drive through beach-side Maryland.

Ocean City, MD Boardwalk

Barec marveling at the Ferris Wheel

Daddy time

Barec trying to return the sand to the sea, with most of it ending up in his hair

Splash time

The boardwalk

Sunrise from Ocean City, MD

On the other side of that sunrise is Europe

chillin' on the boardwalk

The surrey ride

Assateague island ponies

An outing to the National Zoo

2011-07-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

Last week while Joanna was at girl's camp we took the kids to the National zoo. It was humid and hot, and the kids had as much fun playing in the sprinklers as they did seeing the pandas and elephants. By nap time they were worn out and slept in the car on the way home.

Dating in DC

2011-07-01T09:25:00.001-04:00

Juliana and I had a great day out in Washington DC today and as some of the best days go, it was nothing like what we planned it to be. We visited the mall and all the war memorials...

Lincoln Memorial

Juliana supporting the National monument and if you look close you can see that they are doing construction on the reflection pool.

Korean War Memorial

...we took a stroll through the Adams Morgan Neighborhood (which was frankly disappointing) but stumbled upon Embassy Row and had a great time looking at all the embassies.

The Colombian Embassy

My favorite part was our impromptu visit to the Society of the Cincinnati Museum near Dupont Circle. It was a beautiful house, an interesting piece of history I didn't know about and I even met a docent who has a degree in Spanish Literature from Harvard.

Orchid at the Botanical Gardens

We took the metro back down to the Mall and walked through the botanical gardens. Of course my favorite part was the orchid room, which was incredible. Orchids are so picky and hard to grow, it was truly a testament to their gardeners skill. We met up with some friends from Bloomington and had a nice raspberry lemon smoothie that really hit the spot after a hot and muggy day of walking around DC.

Totally cool gardening

2011-06-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

When Juliana and I went to Mt. Vernon we toured their gardens and were amazed by what we saw. One of the things that struck me the most is a type of gardening called Espalier. These fruit trees were really cool. Some day I will have to try it out.

This is the green house heated by a stove and pipes running under the floor tile during the winter. George Washington grew palms and bananas in this greenhouse.

These are espaliered apricot trees along the brick wall.

The herbs lined the garden sunken garden beds. The herbs like less water than the other plants, so when they are watered, the beans and squash get more water while the herbs get less water.

I don't remember what kind of tree this is, but again this is the espaliered style. All the trees (peach, apricot, apple, cherry) all produced fruit.

Juliana harvesting wild raspberries along the trail

A date to Mt. Vernon

2011-06-29T21:38:00.001-04:00

Today Juliana and I went on a date...yes, just the two of us...to Mt. Vernon, the estate of the George Washington. We spent the whole day walking the grounds, holding hands, chatting and actually having a great time spending time as a couple.

George Washington Family Tomb

Interns working at the Pioneer farm

Mt. Vernon from the Potomac River

Osprey on the Potomac

Me and Jules on the Potomac

George Washington's Sarcophagus

Mt. Vernon and us

The beautiful veggie gardens edged with thyme and rosemary

Threshing barn designed by GW. Horses trample the wheat on the top floor, then the grain falls through the cracks on the floor and then GW's slaves shovel up the grain from the floor underneath into barrels

Our DC No Reservations

2011-06-28T21:36:00.000-04:00

Juliana and I are big fans of Anthony Bourdain and his show No Reservations, so naturally when we came to Washington DC, we had to eat where he ate just to experience a little piece of what we were drooling over while watching the show. Last week we went to a Peruvian rotisserie chicken restaurant in Alexandria called El Pollo Rico. Not easy to find, but truly amazing, cooked to perfection, mouth watering bliss.

Last night we followed in his oh so witty footsteps and visited the Main Ave. Fish Market. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

We followed up our culinary adventures with wonderful sausage and duck cassoulet and roasted chicken with rosemary and fresh vegetables, all grown at George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate at the Mt. Vernon Inn. Then for dinner we had Spanish tapas at Jaleo. We had Lanzas de Don Quixote (skewers with chiles, pickles, onions, sardines and olives), piquillo peppers stuffed with goat cheese, and bowl of fresh steamed muscles topped with marinera. We ended a wonderful day with ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery in Crystal City.

I don't know if you can tell, but we really love food. While we were sitting at dinner tonight we reminisced about all the different places we have eaten and wonderful memories that we tie to the food we eat. We look forward to so many memories and meals to come.

Batchin' it

2011-05-29T12:37:00.001-04:00

Juliana and Barec went on a trip to Puerto Rico to visit her family and left me in Bloomington to work. I sure miss my little family, but it has been nice to be able to do things that I don't get to do very often, like sleep through the night, go camping, go see a movie on a whim, leave my watercolors out on the coffee table and not worry about little hands getting into them. It's been a nice treat even though I miss them.

This weekend I celebrated Juliana's birthday by going camping with a friend. We went to Hemlock Cliffs in southern Indiana. It's a beautiful little trail through gorgeous sandstone box canyons. It's the type of thing that you just don't expect to see in Indiana. Here are some pictures.

Descending to Messmore Cliffs Falls

Otter Creek

My campsite

There were quite a few downed trees from the storms lately, but still a beautiful hike

Hemlock Cliffs trail is only 1.2 miles long and is located just west of highway 37 south of English, IN

There is even a nice campsite right on top of the ledge of these falls

Messmore Cliffs Falls

Sunshine in the morning through the trees

My trusty pack. We've covered a lot of miles together

I saw at least 5 varieties of butterflies on the hike

This is a where's Waldo type picture. See if you can find me.

A Carolina Wren singing his little heart out

On the way out, the sun was shining and there was a fallen tree with 5 big snakes sunning themselves on it. They were all northern water snakes

The Bandit

2011-05-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

We have an intruder, albeit a cute one in the garden. I don't mind sharing my bulbs and plants as long as he leaves some for us to appreciate. He and his family are awfully cute and don't seem to mind us sitting at the porch doors and watching them scurry around the plants and over the rocks. I'm glad that my garden can provide a home for these little guys.

Tamias striatus - The Eastern Chipmunk

An Easter Walk

2011-04-24T15:35:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day I have had a chance to get out an practice with my new camera. I just took a little walk around the neighborhood to see what I could find.

Spring is in the Air and the trees are starting to leaf out and the little helicopter-see-pods are out...

...It said STOP, so I did, just long enough to take a picture.

Someone thought it was wise to add some goldfish to their pond...

Blow this picture up and see how many little orange bodies you can count.

One of our neighbors houses with a beautiful view...

...of this

A not so lucky deer...

Nature meets urbana

A friendly crawdad along the path finding his way between creek and pond

A big snapping turtle

Red-winged blackbirds

It was a nice walk to see all the wildlife. We are so lucky to live in an area where I can walk out my backdoor and see all these wonderful critters.

A day at the Park

2011-04-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

Shakespeare and Falconry

2011-03-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

Now that the hunting season is over, I am left perusing the shelves of the library for books on Falconry. I ran across this book in the library. It includes every reference to birds from all of Shakespeare's works organized by species; owls, hawks, eagles, buzzards, herons, ducks, swans, finches, swallows and so on. I knew, but I guess I didn't realize that Shakespeare was writing in the midst of the fad of falconry in Europe and so there are pages and pages of references to falconry in his works. I was particularly drawn towards the graphics in the book. Here are just a few.

An eagle on a rabbit

Peregrin after a duck

Cadger with falcons

On the hunt

Jesses and Bells

The hood

Little Man at Work

2011-03-21T15:45:00.000-04:00

B. really likes the children's museum in Indianapolis. I think his favorite part was the little John Deere tractor parked for the kids to play on.

Dates and Patterns

2011-03-19T21:25:00.001-04:00

Juls with her new camera

Juliana and I got to spend some time together on a date today. She got a new camera and wanted to practice a little with it. We walked around downtown Bloomington and Indiana University campus holding hands and snapping pictures. I used a friend's camera and and tinkered around learning how a Nikon DSLR works. Practice makes perfect you know. I also worked on some good old texture and pattern shots in black and white. Some of the best dates are free.

Sycamore pod on old brick path

Beech Tree Leaves

Patterns

Creepy Crow

Hanging Feather

Spring Mill

2011-03-19T10:17:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite places in the world is right here in Indiana. While my mom was visiting, we took her down to see the pioneer village and take some family pictures.

In just a few weeks the dogwood and redbud trees will be in full bloom and it will be even more amazing.

Indiana University and Hawks

2011-03-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of the IDS

Indiana University campus is crawling with squirrels and so there are also quite a few hawks there to feed at the buffet line. The hawks and the squirrels have become accustomed to people walking to a fro and every once in a while the hawks will nail a squirrel right in front of you. Here is just one example. Man I love where I live.

Falconry from the Archive

2011-03-11T10:08:00.001-05:00

La Chasse au Faucon

Yesterday I had some time at lunch to stop by the Lily Library and hunt around for some old literature on falconry. There wasn't a whole lot to be found after a quick perusal of the manuscripts collection, but there were a few books on hunting and a book of poetry that included some great stuff on Falconry.

There was a book called Les Animaux Savants (in French) published in 1813 that included a chapter on Falconry. Here is an image from that book. It's not very clear because I didn't have my camera on me so I had to hold my laptop over the book and try to capture it with the built-in.
I also found a book from 1649 about leisure activities for gentlemen that included a chapter in English on falconry. It's a pretty cool book. I snapped a picture of the title page and flipped through the pages some. It covered everything from catching and manning the bird, to building, feeding and dealing with medical issues. Pretty informative information really.

There was another really cool book of poetry called "La chasse et la pêche"with gold foil edges and wonderfully calligraphed verses by Le Comte L.M.J. de Chevingné from 1832. There is a poem titled Le Faucon. I wish I could translate better because I would post it in English, but since my French is really bad and I would probably slaughter the feeling of the poem, I will just post an excerpt here. Hopefully you are better at French than I. And if you feel like doing some translation, I would love to know what it says.

Le Faucon

Ducs et marquis peuplaient jadis leur cour

De damoiseaux, enfants de haut lignage,

Qui d’obéir faisaient l’apprentissage

Pour mériter de commander un jour.

Dans les combats, prés du seigneur, le page

N’avait qu’un maître; au château de retour

Ce serviteur, au cœur jeune et novice,

Passait les jours dans un doble service,

Pour second maître-là souvent à maint caprice,

Il est fantasque, impérieux, grondeur,

Mais de sa bouche un seul mot de douceur

Fait oublier l’humeur et l’injustice.

Oh! qu’il est doux cet âge du bonheur !

Je l’ai passé ce tems de l’esclavage :

Mais en lisant cette historie d’un page

Ainsi que moi peut-être mon lecteur

Se souviendra des jours de son jeune âge.

Avant d’entrer sur le sol champenois

Le voyageur, qui de Soissons chemine

Aux murs de Braîne, admire la colline

Qui porte encor au milieu de ses bois

D’un vieux château l’imposante ruine.

C’était toujours sur le sommet de monts

Que se nichaient ainsi que des aiglons

Ces fiers barons qui partageaient la France ;

Dans ce donjon que le tems a noirci

Un descendant de nos Montmorency

Sous Henri deux fixa sa résidence.

Jamais seigneur n’aima plus la dépense :

Tout s’y trouvait, chevaux, meutes, faucons,

Jeunes beautés et jeunes échansons,

Tous les plaisirs des champs et de la ville.

Notez encor qu’à ses désirs facile

L’hymen avait conduit dans ce séjour

Femme accomplie, et telle que l’amour

Soir et matin l’enviait à son frère.

Mais la duchesse, à tout amant contraire,

N’aimait personne, excepté son époux.

Ce n’était pas une tendresse extrême :

Chacun de nous sait comme en France on aime,

Après un an le mari le plus doux.

Le petit Dieu qui commande à Cythère

S’en courrouçait et brûlait de ses feux

Un jeune page aussi beau qu’amoureux,

Se déchargeant sur lui de sa colère.

My Patron Saint

2011-03-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

I was discussing the dissertation writing process with a colleague of mine today and he jested that at night, when he went to bed, he would leave an apple and some cookies on the keyboard and when he returned in the morning he would find two or three pages of his dissertation written for him. Some unknown, unseen force would zip in through the æther and eruditely write his paper for him. We decided that it was a bit Santa Claus-ish, so we gave a new name to his unknown visitor. San Gerónimo de la Tesis. Saint Jerome is the patron saint of libraries and knowledge, so it would only be fitting that he is the patron saint of those writing dissertations as well.

My Favorite Movies

2011-03-06T09:14:00.000-05:00

Day 30 of the 30 days of Blogging Challenge - Movies that you can watch again and again.

There are some really great movies out there that I absolutely love, but there are only a rare few that I can watch over and over and enjoy just as much as the first time I watched it. I just can't get that out of some really great action films, they lose their edge after the first go-round. And in an age where Netflix and Hulu offer thousands of unwatched titles, I think that the idea of the "family library of films" is going out of style. Anyhow there are really only two maybe three films that I can watch over and over and enjoy as much as the first time:

1. The 5th Element - I love the way this film is written, directed and edited. The transitions are smart and the music by Eric Serra is out of this world, refreshing and perfectly matched to the film. Every time I watch this I completely and utterly enjoy it.

2. Shakespeare in Love - A fantastically witty and charming cast, script and costume design. The life of William Shakespeare is colorfully portrayed in all of its tragic comedy beauty.

3. The Four Feathers - This is my all-time favorite film, and though it isn't quite as good watching it over and over as it was the first time, I still enjoy it and put it in to play occasionally. I love the story and the cinematography.

4. I have to give an honorable mention to Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. They are wonderful films, but it is such an investment of time to watch them. I spent many, many a day in High School watching Star Wars while doing my homework. I had the characters and lines memorized down to the stand-ins for the extras. I know, a bit over the top, but that's what you do when you're a teenager.

So, what are your favorite films? Can you watch them over and over? Or are they just one time experiences?

What's on TV

2011-03-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

Day 29 of the 30 days of Blogging Challenge: What are your favorite TV shows?

This one is a bit complicated. We don't have cable, DISH, or any other connection to watch TV, but we do spend quite a bit of time on HULU and Netflix watching back episodes of TV shows. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Sweat Equity: This is a great show from the the DYI network that shows how home improvements can raise the perceived value of your home. It's cool because it gives a do-it-yourself approach to projects. Not to mention that Amy Matthews is a pretty cute contractor/host. I have learned quite a bit about remodeling from this show and can't wait for the opportunity to do some "fixer-upper" type jobs on our next home. Minor one's of course, because I don't consider myself a handyman by any stretch of the imagination.

Although it is cancelled, I really enjoyed Firefly. A great Sci-fi story with the oh-so charismatic Nathan Fillion as the lead. And creative directing by Joss Whedon. It's really too bad it was cancelled.

Juliana and I watch Castle together every week and absolutely love the witty writing, humor and suspense the show offers. Not to mention it's another great show with Nathan Fillion.

I also really loved Battlestar Galactica. Though now it is cancelled, it was a sci-fi man-soap-opera of epic proportions. It put the old 1980's version to shame. Great story with complex characters, the the relationship stuff got a little old after season two.

The Beauty of Language

2011-03-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Day 28 of the 30 days of blogging Challenge - Cruise the thesaurus and pick out 10 words that you like the sound of.

I had to post this Star Wars themed Alphabet. Click to enlarge.

Today's blog topic reminds me that Pablo Neruda once said that the word "golondrina" was the most beautiful word in the Spanish language. Not for meaning, just for the way it sounds and visual affect. I want to add a few more than just the ten and jot down a word for each letter:

A- acroteleutic

B- butyric

C- cacoepey

D- dithyramb

E- epeirogeny

F- fringilline

G- gramicidin

H- halcyon

I - ignominious

J- jelutong

K- kelpie

L- lambrequin

M- mercurial

N- negligée

O- opaque

P- paragoge

Q- quixotic

R- requiem

S- senectitude

T- tintinnabulate

U- uxorial

V-vicissitude

W- wassail

X- xerarch

Y-yom

Z- zeugma

The Comic Me

2011-03-01T22:22:00.001-05:00

While browsing the web to see what kind of a web presence I have accumulated I ran across myself as a cartoon. That's right I am a character in a comic strip. I don't really get it, but hey, how can you be critical when you, or at least your name, has been immortalized on the page.

According to the bio on the characters in the comic titled "Clint Beastwood", my namesake is a "Happy-go-lucky and quite ditzy. Could be considered Clint's best friend but Clint wouldn't admit it because 'real men don't have male friends'."

My Passion and My Day Job

2011-02-28T20:27:00.001-05:00

Day 27 of the 30 days of Blogging Challenge - My day job versus my passion.

Ok, this one has had me hung up for about a week now. I was struggling with the idea that I might be convincing myself that I am passionate about my job when in fact I really just tolerate it. Well I have come to a conclusion that passion or job, there are facets of any activity, be it work or play, that I just don't enjoy. It all comes down to the give and take relationship between you and your work.

Late last week I heard a quote on the radio by Winston Churchill* that said, "You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give." While struggling through the theme for this post and listening to that quote on the radio, I was struck by the connection between the two. When you invest yourself in your work, heart, mind and soul, the possible return is quite valuable. If you don't put anything into it, then its just a day-to-day monotonous task.

So, while I really enjoy painting, falconry, and church, and I'm passionate about them, I can't ignore that I'm passionate about my day job too. I LOVE teaching, I find it extremely rewarding.

*NPR misquoted Churchill who was actually just quoting Arthur J. Balfour.

Hawking in Terre Haute

2011-02-26T21:13:00.001-05:00

Alan and his Harlan's hawk named Wyatt

Today I went to the Terre Haute field meet for the Indiana Falconry Association.

It's been an interesting season this year because early in the season there were lots of rabbits everywhere we hunted. In the 5 years that I have been involved in falconry, I have never seen so many rabbits in one season. But over the last few weeks, it appears that the numbers of rabbits has dropped off drastically. It may be disease, or just the extremely cold weather a few weeks ago or something else entirely. I don't know. Anyhow, today was a challenge, and the first time I have been out hunting that we got skunked. It wasn't for lack of rabbits, because we saw a few, but something just seemed off. The brush seemed thicker than usual, the rabbits quicker and smarter, the hawks less intent on the kill. Whatever it was, things didn't work out to get a kill. Having said that, we still had a great time, ate great food and got to see some absolutely beautiful flights by the birds...and that really what its all about.

Chuck and hen red-tail named Addie

Roger and his tiercel red-tail

As the Crow Flies

2011-02-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

Painting by Dave Bloomfield

I have a special loathing for Crows. I don't know where it originates or where it ends. They are black ugly, thieving creatures who must play some unmistakable role in nature's web, but I just can't put my finger on it. Today's National Geographic picture of the day shows a whole bunch of them in Northern California. Yeah, and guess what a big group of these monsters is called....

Photo by Jamie Zarza

...a Murder of Crows. That's right...it's a gaggle of geese, a covey of quail, a sedge of cranes, a cote of doves, an aerie of eagles, a charm of goldfinches, a hedge of herons, a descent of woodpeckers, even a colony of vultures. But a Murder of crows? Are you kidding me?

Thankful for the Little Things

2011-02-22T13:24:00.001-05:00

day 26 of the 30 days of blogging challenge - list 10 things that you are thankful for...

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-- Melody Beattie

1. Baby Tylenol
2. A loving wife
3. Noise blocking Headphones
4. My senses (all of them)
5. Prayer
6. Family
7. Netflix
8. Ice Cream
9. Wireless Printing
10. Clean Drinking Water

Our Sicky

2011-02-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

It has been a real party at our house for the last week. Barec went to Riley Hospital for some tests on his Kidneys and as a treat, Juls took him to the Children's Museum in Indy while they were up there. I have decided that places where mass amounts of snot-nosed children conglomerate during flu season is not a good place to visit. Wednesday night B-man started puking and got a pretty bad fever. The puking is gone, thank goodness, but the fever is still hanging around, along with a super congested little nose that has blown some bubbles that Double Bubble Bubble Gum Company would be jealous of. Baby Signing Time and grape juice have been the only things that seem to keep him content. Here he is sitting on the sofa watching his show with some of his bears.

What's in the Bag?

2011-02-20T11:01:00.000-05:00

day 25 of 30 days of blogging challenge - what I would find in your bag

Well, I try to keep my bag as cleaned out as I can. As you can see I don't even keep my laptop in it most of the time. The book I am teaching from, my dissertation notes pens, pencils, a pair of sunglasses, headphones, a thumb drive and yes you may be wondering what that little silver looking thingy is right above the sunglass case, well its a power adapter for outlets in the caribbean and South America. Yeah, I don't know why it was in there either. I guess I never took it out after our trip to Brazil a couple of years ago. Or maybe I'm just subconsciously optimistic that I will have an opportunity to use it again in the near future. Who knows!

Great Quotes

2011-02-18T18:56:00.001-05:00

day 24 of 30 days of blogging challenge - post your favorite quote or verse of scripture and why

I really have two quotes that I like a lot. I don't know that I would call them favorites, but they are for sure things that I look to frequently. Let's see if you can make the connection between the two.

1. “Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” - Gordon Hinckley

2. "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil." -Hannah Arendt

Ok, so for me these are both great quotes because they are a reminder to be actively engaged in the world around us. Productivity of mind and body helps me to be successful.

The Bloody Truth

2011-02-16T20:59:00.000-05:00

Day 23 of 30 days of blogging challenge - Something you crave a lot

There is only one food that I continually crave...MEAT any kind and any cut. Beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and occasionally fish. I love to grill it, broil it, smoke it, slow cook it, fry it, and any other way that makes it oh so tasty. As one culinary savant put it "Meat is the only thing worth eating, the rest is just wasted real estate".

Ok, maybe I don't agree wholeheartedly with that line...I wish I did, really I do, but I know better than to think that I could live off of flesh alone, or even as a major centerpiece of every meal.

The beauty of a craving is that your appetite for the thing is never fulfilled, and that is why you crave it. If I were to have a nice big steak every day, the T-bone would lose it's charm, the glory of a great set of ribs would tarnish, the crisp charred yumminess that is a rotisserie chicken would be lost, and I would be left with a fat belly, notedly content, but with no desire for more.

So I will continue to feed my craving and enjoy every moment of it...with moderation.

Different is good....right?

2011-02-14T07:36:00.000-05:00

Day 22 of the 30 days of Blogging Challenge - What makes you different from everyone else?

I'm still trying to decide what exactly it is that is meant by being different. Two things came to mind immediately; the first more serious and the second a little childish, but both teach the same lesson.

I thought of a talk I heard a few years ago by James E. Faust about Joan of Arc and what made her different. He spoke about her being a simple farm girl who saw a need and stepped up to help liberate her country from oppression. At the end of the talk he asks three interesting questions.

1. People laughed at Joan in the beginning. Why did they come to respect and follow her?
2. What are some ways in which you might need to be different from others in order to follow your conscience and obey the Lord?
3. Joan of Arc suffered death for following her beliefs. What are some things you fear you might suffer for following yours? How can you find courage to follow them anyway?

I would say faith, hope, determination, are all factors that played a role in making Joan who she was. Different? I don't know, but worthy of her call.

The second thought came while watching Veggie Tales with Barec tonight. We watch the Adventures of Minnesota Cuke and Noah's Umbrella. (Very witty to say the least) The lesson was that sometimes people will laugh at you for making the right decision, but the fact the its the right decision doesn't change. Just like Noah building the arc despite the ridicule he received from his peers. So is Noah any different than Joan of Arc? I think not. Faith, hope and determination made him great.

So, how do I fit in to this schema of being different by being the same? Some would say that I am different because I write like a girl or enjoy scrapbooking. Some would say that I'm a little quirky and reserved. I would say that I'm not trying to be different, I'm just trying to do what I believe is right. Through faith, hope and determination. If that makes me different, then so be it. If it makes me the same, that's fine too.

Indiana Falconry

2011-02-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

This has been a great hunting year for rabbits. I have always had a hard time explaining exactly what we do in falconry, but this week there was a special on the local PBS station highlighting falconry in the area. My hunting buddies Greg, Chuck and Alan all got to be stars along with their birds. So here is a short clip that explains really well what we do.

A.W.K.W.A.R.D

2011-02-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

Day 21 - Something that makes me smile.

Ok this makes me do a little more than smile. I laugh, chuckle, guffaw, wheeze, giggle, snort and almost pee myself at some of the content on this website. If you haven't looked through some of their pictures, just take a moment and enjoy the absurdity.

My life through shirts - a love letter to cotton

2011-02-10T20:51:00.003-05:00

Day 20 - Write a Letter to Someone

Alright, I dig the pour-out-your-soul-on-a page-for-posterity's-sake, and yes, part of the reason that I blog is to journal my day to day life, but today I'm just not feeling it. So you can forget about a traditional letter to someone I care about or someone I haven't seen in forever. I have been wanting to do this post for a while and I think its finally time. So here is my "love letter" to cotton and chronicling my life through my shirts.

Stage 1 - Early Childhood.

After looking through my baby book at pictures to see what kind of clothing I wore back then, I was surprised to see that in every picture I was either wearing a button down shirt with a collar like this one or nothing at all. So what does a button-down collared shirt mean for a three year old. Well, my parents have always told me that I was born 40 years old. We shall see here in a minute.

Stage 2 - The Tweens.

While in middle school, I am a little embarrassed to say, I had a hypercolor shirt much like this one, only pink, that I wore religiously to school. I think there is something that begins to misfire in a childs brain as puberty comes on. I don't know what i was thinking but there you have it.

Stage 3. As a Teenager.

Much older, wiser and more serious (of course said with as much sarcasm as I can fit into the press of a key) I had a collection of Fantasy Dragon T-shirts. This is where my wife would tell you I went horribly wrong. However, I embrace my nerdy faux-goth heritage with open arms. By this time I realized that my back was a walking billboard for marketing schemes and I wasn't about to cover it with symbols from shoe companies or clothing stores. Hah, the nerve companies have, and they don't even pay you to wear their shirts!

Stage 4. Missionary

For two years of my life, white was the color of choice. Except for preparation day's when an occasional dragon T-shirt would come out. It was suit and tie, to blend in with the other suits and ties.

Stage 5. Pre - college

I had to show off where I had been, right? So, after returning from my mission, the jersey came out quite often. Not because it was comfortable, because it really wasn't, but because I was voicing my patriotism for a country that I loved, and that I tolerated soccer (as a side note).

Stage 6. As an Undergraduate

Play it safe and nondescript. Keeping it under the radar, I went from print t-shirts with dragons, which I might add were quickly thrown out when I got married, to t-shirts without anything on them.

Stage 7. As a Master's Student

Instead of just sitting behind a desk, taking notes, tests and learning, as a Master's student I started teaching classes and wanted to dress up a little, but still wasn't willing to give up the comfort of a T-shirt. I think a polo is the bridge garment between casual and formal. Between casual and something more serious.

Stage 8. As a Doctoral Student

I've come full circle. Here I am back at typically wearing a button-down collared shirt on a regular basis. Let's hope that it's more than a childhood regression because I can promise you that current pictures are NOT of me in either a button down-shirt or nothing at all. It is interesting to think about clothing we tend to wear even if we aren't aware of fashion trends or why we like to wear a t-shirt over a collared shirt, or the meaning we attach to certain types of clothing. Why does a non-descript T-shirt scream informal while a collared shirt is acceptably formal? Does it have to do with the level of discomfort? I don't have the answer, but maybe you do. In any case, a shirt is there with us in good times and bad, we wear a shirt when we are married, when we graduate from school, a shirt when we play, sleep, eat, dream, cry and laugh. It is a constant in our lives from beginning to end.

Bittersweet Memory

2011-02-09T14:04:00.002-05:00

Day 19 - Write about a sweet memory -

No moment has changed my life quite like the birth of my son. It was a wonderful moment in which Barec came into our family. However, adoption adds a bitter oily film on the surface of a sea of happiness.

A memory always present in my mind and a moment I am eternally grateful for. Adoption is a witness to infertility. And a mother is making a huge sacrifice to place her dear child in our care. So the sweet memory is not just happiness for Barec becoming part of our family, but also admiration and sorrow for the one who gave him life.

Thank.you.Krissy

and

Thank.you.Barec

For Changing

My Life

Dreaming Big

2011-02-07T20:32:00.003-05:00

Do not lose hold of your dreams or asprirations.

For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.

- Thoreau

Day 18 - Hope, dreams and goals you have

Today's post is pretty simple for me. My hopes are found through faith, my dreams are found through imagination and my goals are found through progress. I want to be able to enjoy my family, live with them eternally, experience and have an awareness of as many facets of life as I possibly can. All other details are secondary and only help me to achieve these primary goals.

Picture citation

Freaky Friday: Only Not So Freaky...Or Friday Either

2011-02-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch live with and why...

You may have seen the movie Freaky Friday with the then not-so-drugged-up Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis in which mother and daughter switch bodies in a magical turn of events. Well, today's blogging theme deals with a similar topic and asks who I would like to switch places with for a day and why.

This has taken quite a bit of thinking, but for the moment, I think I would say that I'd like to switch places with Anthony Bourdain. Yeah, I know it's a slightly vague reference to the culinary and travel world of TV Land, and therefore possibly dabbling in the shallows of superficiality, BUT I think it would be great to travel the world, taste great food and write about it all. I know I've romanticized the heck out of the notion in which jet lag, editor's deadlines, food poisoning, and paying the bills don't exist. But hey, it's not like switching lives for a day is realistic either. Besides, who wouldn't want to say "I write, I eat, I travel and I'm hungry for more".

The Author

2011-02-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Day 16 - A picture of myself.

This is a picture of me with my favorite little man.

The Musical Shuffle

2011-02-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

Day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play: Well I don't have an iPod and I don't think I ever will, but I do have all my music in iTunes on my laptop to listen to while I'm working.

Ok, here we go:

Morning (from Peer Gynt): Edvard Grieg

Se Quiere...Se Mata: Shakira

Silver Wings: Merle Haggard

No Viniste: Natalia Lafourcade

I've Got Rhythm: Ella Fitzgerald

Any Way You Want It: Journey

No Water: Bob Marley

Que Le Den Candela: Celia Cruz

Seven Seas of Rye: Queen

Grains de Bauté: Cêu

My Family

2011-02-03T20:18:00.000-05:00

Day 14- A picture of me and my family

Confessions of a bibliophile

2011-02-02T14:15:00.003-05:00

Day 13 - My 5 favorite books of all time and why...

I must give a little background information on my bibliophilia before disclosing the inner sanctum of my library. When I was little, and I mean pre-school age, my mom used to take me to the public library once a week for story time. We'd all sit in a little circle and listen to one of the librarians read a book to us. Its something more than just the story, its the storytelling/storyreceiving process and experience that really thrills me. I still have fond memories of the squeaky floor and musty, dusty smell of the Nevada County Library.

When I was in grade school my fondness for books continued to be fueled by great teachers and a wonderful librarian named Mrs. Gates. She was a frail little woman, no taller than five feet with a mess of dark curls and a pair of big glasses that sat low on her nose as she read to us. It wasn't the story so much as the way she read, the mischievous smile she gave and the twinkle in her eye that transported her listeners to fantastical places.

Mrs. Gates

In 5th grade, Mrs. Truman had a read-a-thon and propelled by some inner battle that girls-aren't-always-the best-students-and-I'm-gonna-prove-it attitude, I flew through as many books as I could put my hands on. I got 2nd or 3rd place and was always a bit irked that my rival, Lindsay E. was a better reader than me.

Mrs. T

My first genre of choice was mystery. I read through the entire collection of Nancy Drew novels, and then moved on to a little meatier prose found in Agatha Christie novels. About that time, my grandfather Ivo offered to give me his collection of Louis L'Amoure books, which I heartily accepted. I plowed through many of his novels until I got to the point where they all became a blur. If you have read Louis L'Amoure, you know that they all start to sound the same after a while.

By my freshman year in High School I was ready to make a switch to another genre. I dabbled in science-fiction (mainly Isaac Asimov), the classics, and some 20th century American fiction, but really didn't fall in love with any of them. That's when I picked up the first book to the Belgariad series by David Eddings. The fact that he lived just a few miles away from me and was a published author piqued my interest. By the end of the first book The Pawn of Prophecy, I was hooked. My voracious reading habit was set in stone and fantasy became my genre of choice.

My love for reading and the lack of funds to spend on my vice lead me to my first real job at a used bookstore called Grammy's Books. The beauty of the job was that I had first pick, and a discount on all the books that people brought in. I started to dabble in Anne Rice and Ayn Rand, but mostly stuck with reading fantasy novels. I read all of Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Piers Anthony, CJ. Cherryh, Raymond Feist, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, Mercedes Lackey, L.E. Modesitt Jr., Melanie Rawn, R.A. Salvatore, and who knows how many others that I have forgotten. My fascination with fantasy novels took me clear through High School and beyond. I think it was my way of escaping the violently unfair reality that is High School's social diaspora.

After spending time on a mission in South America, I was eager to continue studying Spanish, but not give up reading great literature either. In college, while getting my B.A., I was exposed to fantastic prose and poetry in English and Spanish. It opened my literary eyes to wonderfully complex stories and narrations. In a way, I had made reading literature my profession.

The next logical step seemed to be continuing on to graduate school where responding to what I was reading became a skill that I would develop (and am still developing for that matter). Reading novels, poetry, short stories and drama became a laborious every-day occurrence to the point where I felt like a small dog trying to drink out of a really big fire hose. Overload doesn't even begin to describe it. Nevertheless, there have been some real jewels that have stuck with me and really changed my perspective. So here I am today, working on a PhD in Hispanic Literature with many wonderful reads under my belt and yearning for the day when I can read for pleasure again.

And finally I can disclose my 5 favorite titles, not in any particular order:

1. David Edding's Belgariad Series: Not because it is a supreme work of fiction that will withstand the ages, in fact it follows the basic "coming of age and ruling the world" plot line that most fantasy novels do, but because of the sentimental value and influence that it had on my life as a young teenager.

2. Melanie Rawn's The Exiles Series: This is not the typical fantasy novel. Characters are complex individuals with strengths and weaknesses, they aren't iconic representations of heroes and villains. Rawn has no qualms about killing off main characters at any point and continuing the story in a new direction. For me, this is the epitome of what a fantasy novel should be. Alas, Rawn never finished the 3rd book and has left all of her fans crushed that the story may never end.

3. Louis L'Amoure's Education of a Wandering Man is a wonderful non-fiction autobiography about L'Amoure's travels, experiences and how he craved learning more than anything else in the world. When I read this book, it completely changed how I look at people and my surroundings. This is another book that doesn't make the list for it's literary merit, but for it's impact on my life.

4. Ricardo Piglia's Respiración Artificial: "Artificial Respiration"is a police/crime novel written as a political commentary on the 1976-1983 Argentine Dictatorship through a theoretical lens. No book blows my mind, and continues to do so like this one. It is a wonderfully fascinating novel that takes years to digest mentally. Even if you can't read Spanish, I recommend you find a copy in English and give it a try.

5. Julio Cortázar is one of my absolute favorite authors and his short stories are awe inspiring examples of master storytelling. Though I don't think that there is one book in particular that I would recommend, there is a compilation of many of his most beloved short-stories published in English titled Blow-up and Other Stories (1985). I recommend reading him in Spanish if you can, but if not, there are plenty of translations out there. Cortázar deftly blurs the line between reality and fantasy that reminds me quite a bit of the film Inception (2010).

6. Although I haven't finished it yet, and therefore doesn't count for my top 5, I am really enjoying The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Delectable descriptions and a gripping narration by Death himself move the story of a young Jewish girl's life in Nazi Germany. I don't know how it ends yet, but it definitely had me captivated from the first paragraph.

To My Love

2011-02-01T20:19:00.002-05:00

Day 12 - Write a poem to someone you love...
I am definitely not a poet, so I won't be writing a poem in my own words here. However, I think this Shakespeare sonnet speaks true to the enduring love I have for you. I love you Juliana.

Sonnet CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love,
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
Oh, no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests.. and is never shaken.
It is the star to every wandering bark
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love is not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out.. even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

- William Shakespeare

My Bucket List

2011-01-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

Day 11 - Write a bucket list of things you want to do before you die.

After looking a quite a few different iterations of a bucket list it appears that people that write these things tend to do things that can kill them in the process. My mother always said that I was born 40 years old, whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, it does mean that I have never been one for daredevil antics, or doing things that most people find "exciting". I can't stand the idea of getting on a motorcycle, I have no desire to parasail, bungee jump or skydive. Skiing...nope, snowmobiling...nope, I'm really not even into spinning donuts in the car in an empty parking lot. I know, I'm a bit of a bore. So, my bucket list is a bit more subtle and focuses on opening my senses to new and interesting things. I'll write down the first 10 I can think of.

Before I die, I would like to...

1. Enjoy a cup of tea (herbal of course) in Doha, Qatar while listening to the call to prayer from the nearest minaret.
2. Visit the Harbin Ice festival (See my previous post on this one here).
3. Swim in the dead sea
4. Take a steam bath in a sauna in Finland
5. Sleep under the stars in Yellowstone National Park
6. Swim in the Devil's Pool at the edge of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River
7. Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
8. Become a licensed falconer and have my own hawk
9. Publish a book
10. Learn to speak arabic

There are a lot more, but these are the first 10 that popped into my head.

Music to my ears

2011-01-30T20:05:00.004-05:00

Day 10 - Music that I listen to at different times in my life.

When I'm happy:

I love to listen to classic rock groups like Journey, The Cars, Kansas, Credence Clearwater Revival. I don't really like hip-hop in English but it just seems to work better in Spanish, so I listen to groups like Orishas, and bachata groups like Aventura and Xtreme and the occasional Calle 13 song. I can't help but listen to some Bob Marley on a sunny day headed to the pool or the beach and I really enjoy some good Vallenatos like Binomio de Oro or Los Diablitos.

When I'm tired:

After a long day when I'm worn out and my nerves are shot I love some good ol' folk blues stuff like Ceu, Ximena Sariñana or Nora Jones. I also really enjoy Stan Getz, great orchestral stuff (as long as it doesn't hit the horn section too much).

When I'm sad:

I usually don't listen to music when I'm sad, or at least I don't often pay attention to what I am listening to. Sitting here thinking about it though, I think that 80's ballads would probably fit the bill though.

When I'm angry:

I must say that Evanescence probably holds true along with AC/DC and Metallica for this emotion. What is kind of funny is that I start out listening to Evanescence but then I get mad because I'm listening to them and they sound the exact same song after song and then I turn them off. Then I realize how silly it is to be angry in the first place and it soon passes.

When I'm studying (which is a complex and profound emotion all on its own):

When I'm studying I have a hard time focusing on what I am doing if there are words in the song (in any language). There is one particular CD that has gotten me through many a term paper and study session. Vangelis' soundtrack to the movie "1492". It's absolutely fantastic. Now I have a station plugged in on my Pandora player for a couple of groups that are similar; Secret Garden and Gandalf. They both have the type of instrumentals that help my brain to work.

When I'm driving:

It really depends on where I am driving, but right now I am thinking about driving around backcountry roads here in Indiana on my way to or from hawking and listening to country music. I have a CD of old stuff which isn't really Country music, it's more Western. Names like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Chet Atkins and Ernest Tubbs, Merle Haggard, Tom Hall, Conway Twitty. This is good soulfood that speaks to my roots and floods me with memories of driving down dirt roads in a dusty pickup with my dad. I have added some great Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson to the playlist as well.

What I'm into right now:

I've been listening to this program on NPR called ALT.Latino that showcases different styles of Latino music, but specifically focusing on the alternative music scene. It has lead me to some real treasures and wonderful artists. I am particularly taken with Carla Morrison, a young singer from Baja California as well as Natalia Lafourcade. Both of these singer have a refreshing and creative style that my ears are just experiencing for the first time. I am more and more bored by the same manufactured sounds that come out in English language music (at least what is played on the radio) and have been finding wonderful jewels of music in artists speaking Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Something I'm proud of...

2011-01-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

Day 9 requires me to write about something that I am proud of that I have accomplished in the last few days. This one is a real struggle for me. I tend to be a perfectionist without ever getting anything perfect, so that puts me in a position to be fairly unhappy or at the very least not satisfied with things that I do. I could make a long list of things I wish I could do better, but I think the point of this post is to acknowledge that sometimes getting something done is good enough.

So in the the spirit of being positive about my accomplishments, I am proud of my class preparations over the last few days. This semester I am teaching an upper-division lecture course on the Civilization and Culture of the hispanic world starting with pre-history and working through the present day - All Spanish speaking countries included. Instead of a textbook, we are using Carlos Fuentes' book titled "The Buried Mirror". It's a daunting task to prepare a class from a textbook and try to include all the dates names and places, cultural influences and make it sound coherent. When you add an element of literary analysis and critical thinking on the part of the students (and myself for that matter) into the preparation, it complicates matters. I've spent a lot of time prepping activities, Powerpoint presentations, reading guides and handouts to help make the reading more clear and I can tell that it has paid off.

Sometimes when I walk into a classroom of undergrads, there is almost a feeling of animosity toward the instructor. It's almost a challenge like, "I dare you to do something that doesn't put me to sleep", or "How dare you come in here and think you can teach me". But the past couple of weeks my students have been all smiles, participating like they are getting a grade for it, (which they are) and the mechanics of the class are moving right along with a positive momentum. I think that my preparation has been time well spent and has paid off in developing a positive learning environment for my students. Now its just a matter of keeping that momentum going.

Setting Attainable Goals

2011-01-28T21:29:00.002-05:00

Day 8 of the 30 day challenge asks me to write a list of short-term goals and explain why these particular things merit some energy. Somehow, longterm goals seem so much easier to make because they are far off in the blurry future. Short term goals come with a crystal clear fear of choosing something important, taking the responsibility of following through and dealing with the possibility of not attaining it. When all is said and done, goals can be frustrating, infuriating, and downright miserable. However, like Frank Clark once said "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere". So somehow all that negative energy changes into something quite beautiful and worth while and one achieved goal leads to another and before you know it, you've come a long way from where you started.

Short Term Goals:
- Finish the 30 days of Blogging challenge
- Finish a chapter of my dissertation by the end of the semester
- Spend daily quality time with Barec
- Spend daily quality time with Juliana
- Do something I enjoy every day
- Smile at someone I don't know
- Listen to people around me
- Notice nature, even in odd places

These may be little things but its the little things that make us big people. The famous mountaineer Edmund Hillary said it best, "It's not the mountain we conquer but ourselves".

The Biggest Influence in my life

2011-01-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

Day 7 - Picture of someone that has made the biggest impact in my life.

Advocate, beloved, comforter, creator, deliverer, healer

judge, king, life, light, living water, master, mediator

messiah, minister, physician, redeemer, rock, savior

the way, wisdom, the word.

And my older brother.

My Favorite Superhero

2011-01-26T14:00:00.001-05:00

Day 6 of the blogging challenge dips into the more profound depths of my childhood. As a child of the 80's and 90's I lived on a steady diet of afternoon cartoons like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, He-Man and the Master of the Universe, Silverhawks, Batman, the X-Men and many others.. It wasn't until the early nineties that Marvel introduced Gambit to the X-Men, but there was something about this smooth-talking rogue that resounded with me. I never really related to Superman, Batman (Sorry Bryan, but Batman just doesn't cut if for me) or Spiderman, they were just too front and center and seemed without fault. But Gambit liked to sit on the sidelines and watch and make his move when nobody was looking. Maybe it was his donjuanesque demeanor or cool cajun accent but in my young teen mind, Gambit was the coolest thing around. What is funny is that when I see people walking around town with long trench coats carrying staves nowadays, I just think they represent a periphery of non-deodorant-wearing social rejects that want nothing more than to be accepted, but are going about it the wrong way. However, if said stinky citizen could through exploding playing cards, I think I would still want to sit down and chat with them over lunch.

I must add that I was severely annoyed, nay even mortified, by the recent portrayal of Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I don't know who did the casting, but Gambit from my imagination was exorbitantly cooler than what they showed on screen.

One of my favorite places - Medellin

2011-01-25T10:14:00.000-05:00

Day 5 of the 30 day blogging challenge. Today's topic is to post a picture of some place that I have been. This is a picture (which I didn't take) of Medellin, Colombia. I lived there as a missionary in 1999 for 6 months of my 2 years of service. Of all the cities I have been to in the world, this one holds a special place in my heart. I have wonderful memories of great people, early mornings waking up and eating arepas, buñuelos, with a cup of mango juice and often having a lunch of bandeja paisa at the hands of a very proud but humble woman who presented what little she had to me on a large cracked plate and asked me to include her and her family in my prayers.

I remember watching the fireworks glittering and small paper-bag hot air balloons gently floating up into the night sky over a city celebrating Christmas. There were colorfully painted busses speeding along narrow, winding streets and bustling people always proffering a warm greeting to a stranger. Music and dance in the streets on a Friday night. Motorcycle races up unbelievably steep streets bordered by innumerable steps stretching up into the poverty stricken heights of neighborhoods like Manrique Oriental and 12 de octubre. Yet there was a sombre shadow of sadness and fear that was present as well. Medellin was the stage of a tragi-comedia, a shining happiness and vivacity tainted ever so slightly by an undercurrent of violence and discontent. Medellin will always be a sweet memory to me.

Bad Habits Die Hard

2011-01-25T09:51:00.002-05:00

Habit is a man's sole comfort. We dislike doing without even unpleasant things to which we have become accustomed. ~Goethe

Day 4 - A habit I wish I didn't have...

Today's blog topic covers a wide range of things that I wish I didn't do. There are those deep soul-searching questions about little things I do that hold me back from being a better person, as well as the shallow annoying habits that just get in the way of everyday life. I think that Goethe had it right though, as soon as things become habit, they begin to govern us instead of us governing them. We find comfort in repetition and schedules, but ultimately it may be those repeated actions that keep us from actualizing our full potential, or at least being aware of the process. Since breaking bad habits is just as hard as starting good ones, I am going to start small with a habit that I wish I didn't have-- I pop my knuckles. I always have, at least as far back as I can remember. And now that I'm getting older, my joints ache in the cold and crack and moan like squeaky hinges or dusty floor boards in an old house. So, here I am setting a goal to quit popping my knuckles. We shall see how it goes.

Nostalgia

2011-01-25T09:37:00.000-05:00

Day 3 - A picture of me as a child

Hawking in Bedford and Evansville

2011-01-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today I had a great day of hawking with good folks in Evansville. I will spare the gory pictures of hawks ripping out juicy rabbit tidbits, but here are some pictures of our last two outings. Chuck and Greg have been most kind to let me tag along and hunt with them.

Ajax, Greg's tiercel Harris hawk on his third rabbit of the season

Chuck and Addie (the red-tail hawk)

Addie on #3 rabbit of the day

Way to go Addie!

The meaning of my blog title

2011-01-22T21:43:00.001-05:00

Day 2 of the "30 days of blogging" challenge-

About a year ago I changed my blog title to better reflect who I am. Now that I'm in my 30's I realize that I have limitations that I refused to believe in my 20's. I have been humbled quite a bit over the last few years and I thought the title reflected my not-so-steady "flight" through life. Here is a link to my original post about the blog: Flying on Wax Wings

Picture and 15 interesting facts

2011-01-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of me and b-man and my niece.

1. I have been a Gemini my whole life until the recent astronomical changes and now I'm a Taurus

2. I don't like green beens or mushrooms

3. Despite being a student of great Hispanic literature, I love to read fantasy novels

4. I speak English, Spanish and Portuguese

5. I've never been to Canada, Europe, Asia or Africa, but I'd like to remedy that in the future

6. I have great taste in women's shoes (don't worry I don't wear them)

7. I like to people-watch in public places

8. I love to paint, especially with watercolors

9. I had the chicken pox twice as a child

10. I learned to ride a horse before I learned to walk, though I'm not much of a fan of horses nowadays

11. I have an irrational fear of bigfoot

12. I hate speaking in public, though oddly I love teaching in front of a class

13. I have 3 university degrees and working on my 4th (2-B.A's, 1 M.A, and PhD in progress)

14. I played "Magic: the Gathering" in High School (shameful I know), and I still play on occasion with friends.

15. I don't like dogs.

30 Days of Blogging

2011-01-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

I have been particularly uninspired to blog lately, but today I ran across this list on a friends blog that may help prime the ol' blogging pump. So I am setting the goal now to try and fulfill all 30 days of blogging as suggested in the following list. I changed quite a few of the topics from the list I originally copied. So here we go!

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
day 2- the meaning behind your blog name
day 3- a picture of you as a child
day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have
day 5- a picture of somewhere you've been
day 6- favorite super hero and why
day 7- a picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on you
day 8- short term goals for this month and why
day 9- something you're proud of in the past few days
day 10- songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad
day 11- write a bucket list of things you want to do before you die
day 12- write a poem to someone you love
day 13- your 5 favorite books and why
day 14- a picture of you and your family
day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play
day 16- a picture of yourself
day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have
day 19- write about a sweet memory from your past
day 20- write a letter to someone
day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy
day 22- what makes you different from everyone else
day 23- something you crave a lot
day 24- post your favorite quote or verse of scripture and why
day 25- what I would find in your bag
day 26- list 10 things that you are thankful for
day 27- my day job verses my passion
day 28- cruise a thesaurus and pick out 10 words you like the sound of
day 29 - favorite tv shows and why you like them
day 30 - movies you can watch again and again.

What College Students know about Latin America

2011-01-11T12:35:00.001-05:00

This semester I am teaching 2 sections of an introduction to Spanish Civilization and Culture class (S324). At the beginning of the semester I like to give a quick (not for grade) map quiz to get an idea what my students know about Latin American geography. It's a simple blank map of the western hemisphere with numbers 1 through 20 written in to each of the Spanish speaking countries. In other words, Brazil, Belize, Haiti, Jamaica, etc. are not considered part of the test. The students are given 5-10 minutes to complete the quiz by labeling each of the 20 countries with the correct name. Here are the results combined for both sections:

Going into the quiz, there were quite a few groans and mumbling about how embarrassing this was going to be. And while turning them the quizes after the 10 minutes, quite a few comments about realizing how little they knew.

So what does the data tell us? First of all, I am amazed that everyone knew where Mexico was, but 8 of the students either mislabeled or left blank the answer for the US. I must admit that this could be due to the number sequencing on the map (number 1 started in Mexico and then the numbers increased heading south through Central America and Caribbean and then South America. The US was labeled number 20). So it is possible that the students had a hard time finding that number.

Secondly, I understand that US students would know where Mexico, Cuba and Panama are since the US has had interests in these countries for years and they are constantly in the news. However, I am surprised at how many students knew where Argentina and Chile are and really blown away that the Dominican Republic is ranked so high. I don't have an answer that explains why they would know where it is more than others, like Puerto Rico for example.

Finally, I think it is interesting that only 6 out of 42 students quizzed knew where Honduras is, 10 for Nicaragua and 11 for Bolivia. These countries are arguably the poorest countries (besides Haiti) in the Americas and probably the least visited, least talked about and least "interesting" for my student population.

I am going to have a discussion with my classes tomorrow and see what they think. For me, this is fascinating to say the least.

Visiting Annapolis

2010-12-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

Juliana and I visited the colonial town of Annapolis, Maryland today for some time away. After parking the car and getting out to walk about the town, we could smell the brine of the sea and savory scents emanating from the many oyster bars.

We visited a private home museum called the Hammond Harwood Home that was built in 1774 and boasted some beautiful colonial architecture.

We walked through the Maryland State capital building and toured the room where George Washington resigned as general.

We also visited the US Naval Academy and the Naval Museum. They have a whole floor dedicated to the display of model ships.

This last ship is made of bone. It was built by French prisoners in England who saved the bones from their rations and carved these ships from memory. They would sell them to the gentry in the street markets of London for extra cash to buy food and clothing.

We ended the evening by visiting the Zagat's rated Cantler's restaurant for fresh seafood. And let me tell you, it was amazing.

We had steamed oysters, muscles, shrimp, clams, Chesapeake Bay blue crab, scallops, rockfish, stuffed shrimp and crab cakes. We may have gone a little overboard (ha ha pun intended), but being landlocked in Indiana, we felt like it was worth it, and man was it worth it.

Turkey Quesadillas

2010-11-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

After Thanksgiving is over I am always looking for good recipes to use up the leftovers. This year I have been fairly uninspired by the typical soup and casserole recipes out there so I made my own creation. Turkey Quesadillas with Avocado Cranberry Salsa.

Turkey Quesadillas

1/2 cup shredded turkey
6 thin slices of cheddar cheese
2 flour tortillas
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 ripe avocado chopped
1 tsp lime juice
1/4 cup cranberry sauce
2 finely chopped jalapeños/or 1/4 cup chopped canned jalapeños sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Layer 1 tortilla with cheese, turkey and sprinkle with cumin. Top with other tortilla and heat in frying pan on medium heat until cheese begins to melt. Flip and cook until both sides of the quesadilla are golden brown.

2. While quesadilla is cooking, combine avocado, lime juice, cranberry sauce, jalapeños and salt and pepper. Carefully mix without pureeing the avocados.

3. Serve quesadilla on a plate sliced into 4 or 6 equal pieces and top with Avocado Cranberry Salsa. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Proclamation

2010-11-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is a great time of year, yet I am perplexed and frustrated that we continue to focus the holiday on Plymoth Rock, harvest festivals and the interaction between pilgrims and Indians as it was anything but a meeting of peoples on equal terms. However, a friend recently shared president Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation with me and I would like to share it here. I see it as pertinent today as it was in 1863 when he presented it.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. [...] No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed,

Done at the city of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The Hangtown Fry

2010-11-14T18:39:00.000-05:00

Today my dear wife made omlettes for dinner and while she was cooking I was doing some research into the origin of the omlette. While I was searching good old Wikipedia, I came across a very special Omlette from the area where I grew up called the "Hangtown Fry" which orignated in Placerville, CA. This meal epitomizes the 1850's Placer gold rush more than any other food, and some consider it the very first California cuisine. Go figure!

As the story goes, a miner struck it rich and headed straight to the nearest hotel restaurant and had them cook him up a meal with the most expensive ingredients they had. Eggs, bacon and oysters where some of the most expensive ingredients at the time. The result, the Hangtown Fry. Here is a video that modernizes the meal and adds a little extra. I think I will have to try it at some point.

Steampunked

2010-11-12T20:26:00.001-05:00

Enter a Victorian era world where gas lamps illuminate cobbled streets overrun with clockwork run buses and people move about on steam-powered penny-farthings. They are elegantly dressed in top hats and tails of all colors and carry mechanized whirring and buzzing umbrellas, canes and multi-lensed goggles. I've always enjoyed this genre of literature, film and culture, but never realized that it had a name. Here is a list of a few films that might fall into this category:

The First Men in the Moon (1919)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

The Prestige (2006)

Return to Oz (1985)

Sherlock Holmes (2010)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Van Helsing (2004)

Wild Wild West (1999)

9 (2009)

Treasure Planet (2002)

Granted, some of these films lack a storyline to drive the cool cultural setting, but you get the idea. Just a couple of weeks ago, the ABC show Castle had an episode called "Punked" which was a love-letter style homage to Steampunk culture. It was a fantastic episode and really intrigued me. At one point the protagonist sums up Steampunk culture, "It's a subculture that embraces the simplicity and romance of the past and at the same time couples it with the hope and promise and sheer super-coolness of futuristic design." Then, a few minutes farther into the episode, one of the characters self-identifies as part of the culture and says, "We're just romantics [...] we look at the world, don't like what we see so we recreate it [...] an oasis where human potential and ingenuity is limitless, where there is poetry and wonder and meaning [...]".

I think the cultural movement fits our time well. Much like Romanticism was to Neoclassicism, maybe Steampunk is the Romanticism of our time.

Here is a list of books that would be included in the genre:

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Leviathon by Scott Westerfeld and Keith Thompson

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

The Time Machine by HG Wells

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

And the list goes on and on. Today I started reading the Boneshaker. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

I will post again shortly with my review. Going into it, I can't think what would be better than Civil War era zombie infested Seattle with Tesla coils and Zepplins. We shall see.

Musgrave Orchards

2010-10-16T22:15:00.000-04:00

Today we had the opportunity to have some time together without the little one and it was nice. Rarely do we get time to ourselves and just a couple of hours was great. We drove out to Musgrave Orchards, walked the grounds, bought some apples and apple cider, and shared a caramel apple. We drove back home down the scenic old highway 37, which winds through the hilly farm country of northern Monroe County. The trees are aglow with fall colors, making it just perfect for a drive.

That's right, just the two of us.

Juls near the orchard

Apple crates

Yours truly

Afternoon sun

Trying not to make a mess with a caramel apple

Enjoying cider made in a 100 year old wooden cider mill

The Firetower

2010-10-16T22:01:00.000-04:00

Each fall we look forward the leaves changing, and a crisp bite to the air. Since there aren't many vantage points to look out over the landscape, we've made it a tradition to drive down to the firetower near Lake Monroe and look out at the season's change.

Fall is in the air in Indiana.

Keeping Perspective

2010-10-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

Since my last post, I can truthfully say that my school work has consumed much of my time, thoughts, energies, nightmares and worries. I have never had such a harrowing experience as I have had over the past two years. There aren't words capable of describing the utter and eternal stress one feels when faced with a dissertation. I am speaking from my own experience, I am sure there are those out there who coast through without a hitch, but for me, this point in my schooling has been a real challenge.

There are five things that I would like to share:

1- There is nothing like trying to explain your dissertation topic to someone to put a damper on small talk at a party. You may as well be speaking a foreign language.
2- No one really cares what you are writing on. Not even people in your own field.
3- Sometimes it makes me cringe when people ask how my dissertation is going. In the few scarce moments when I'm not thinking about it, I don't want to be reminded that it is waiting for me to come back and continue writing.
4- One step forward and two steps back really is "progress" when writing a dissertation.
5-I can honestly say that I have lost any concept of what it is like to work outside of the academic world. Which helps me to comprehend how professors lack social skills (yes, I know that is a huge generalization and I know a few who don't fit that bill.)

Trying to keep a perspective of why I am doing the day to day tasks helps to keep me grounded and not lose myself in worry. Keeping long terms goals and staying positive about my abilities and the overall outcome stave off panic attacks. A friend of mine posted this Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. at this website and I thought I would share it here.

The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

in Education | September 13th, 2010

Matthew Might, a computer science professor at the University of Utah, writes: “Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.” Here it goes. Matt’s Illustrated Guide:

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:

A master’s degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

IFA Picnic 2010

2010-08-28T22:11:00.000-04:00

Today was the annual Indiana Falconer's Association picnic at the Presnell Plantation in Morgantown, Indiana. It was a fantastic venue for our picnic and a wonderful showing of falconer's from across the state and region. There has been quite an increase in the association and the upswing in activity can only be credited to all the hard work of the presidency, who have put a lot of time into creating a great family environment as well as hours upon hours poured into Indiana State Falconry regulation. THANK YOU for all you do!

Today's event included workshops on bell-making, and hood building. We had an excellent pulled pork BBQ dinner and very well stocked raffle of falconry equipment and paraphernalia.

Here are some pictures of some of the birds that people brought this year. I can't wait for this hunting season!

Gyr-Saker Falcon Cross

Tiercel Gosshawk

Hen Gosshawk

African Lanner Falcon

Cooper's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

There was also a little Aplomado Falcon that I didn't get a chance to get a picture of.

Washington DC

2010-08-28T21:44:00.000-04:00

Part of our summer excitement this year was a visit to Washington DC. We saw some of the great historical sites and enjoyed a great visit with family. Barec did great on our drive and we were able to go clear through, Indiana to Washington DC in 12 hours. As we drove we listened to Hunger Games on audiobook all the way there and back. It made the drive go quick.

While we were in DC we were able to visit the Washington DC temple and eat out at Abol for my first experience with Ethiopian food. The injera was super tasty with a whole mix of great things to dip it in. If you are ever in Washington DC, I recommend giving it a try.

We also got to visit the National Zoo, which is under construction right now so there were quite a few empty animal pens. When it is finished it should have some very nice exhibits. We've been to quite a few zoos now, and I must say that the National has the best lion exhibit I have ever seen.

Overall we had a great time, Barec got to play with his cousin Bianca, we enjoyed being away from Bloomington for a bit of escape, but happy to be back home in our own bed now.

Thanks being great WADC hosts Joanna and Spencer!

Refinishing Furniture

2010-08-08T22:37:00.000-04:00

Before

This week we finally got around to refinishing our nightstands. We originally purchased two unfinished pine nightstands at Menards a few years ago and finally got around to giving them some character. I am not thrilled with how they turned out, but they are definitely better than they were.

The Great Northwest

2010-07-15T08:23:00.001-04:00

Living in Indiana has some great things about it, we really enjoy living here, but there are some definite perks to the Northwest which we absolutely LOVE; the fresh smell of sweet cedar and firs, clean clear water, brisk night air, open starry skies, mountains, fresh fish, waterfalls, and the list goes on and on. On Monday, Juliana and I were able to leave Barec with grandma and have some date time. We drove over the mountains to a little restaurant called the Coho Café in Issaquah for some fresh fish. The meal was fair, but their seafood bisque was delightful.

Snoqualmie Falls

Then we visited Snoqualmie Falls, Denny Creek and Franklin Falls on a nice hike. It was gorgeous! We both enjoyed our time out, but were missing Barec by the time we got back to the ranch. He is such a good baby he would have done fine on our adventure.

Now that we are back in Indiana, we are starting a new adventure trying to get Barec back on Eastern Time. This could be quite a challenge.

Barec's Blessing and Sealing

2010-07-15T08:11:00.000-04:00

Barec in his hand-made blessing outfit (courtesy of family in Puerto Rico)

We have been gone for a while and I haven't had a chance to blog, but it was for good reason. Last week we flew out to Washington State to be with my family and have Barec's baby blessing and sealing.Though I felt some trepidation about a long flight with an infant, Barec did really well on the plane for our nearly 12 hour trip. On Saturday July 10th, we were sealed at the Seattle Temple, and on Sunday I gave Barec his baby blessing with lots of family there to participate. We are very content to have the blessings of the temple and be an eternal family.

Short Stories: Memories, Memorials, Monologues

2010-06-28T12:09:00.001-04:00

For quite a few years I have been thinking about writing a book of short stories based on my experiences, memories and feelings while I lived in Colombia. This year I finally am getting around to putting the veritable pen to paper and writing some of them down. Here is the first called "La luna".

Después del trabajo, cojo el bus afuera del hotel Panamericano. Hace 10 años que trabajo en este hotel como portero. Es un trabajo cualquier, pero es un trabajito, gracias a Dios. Como está la situación hoy en día, es una bendición tener algo para ganar el pan de la mesa. Madrugo a las cinco y media de la mañana porque toma media hora para llegar al trabajo por colectivo. Solo tengo plata para el colectivo por la mañana, hay que tomar el bus de vuelta.

A las siete termino mi turno, dejando el traje negro colgado en el armario de los empleados. Salgo de la puerta de atrás y espero en la esquina de la avenida hasta que llegue el bus con el cartel en la ventana, pintado a mano, que dice “La Luna” en letras grandes. Los frenos del bus chillan y lamentan de un día largo de trabajo, muy parecido a mis pobres rodillas. Abruptamente se detiene en la parada enfrente del hotel y parece suspirar de cansancio cuando los frenos hidráulicos expiran con un fuerte “TSSSSSST”. Subo las escalas del bus, pagando mis quinientos cincuenta pesos con un medio saludo a Eliécer, él que maneja el bus y me responde con un perezoso inclinación de la cabeza. El bus está lleno, pero lleno, de gente yendo a casa después del trabajo. Meseros de los restaurantes del Chipichape, gente que vende ropa en las tiendas de la quinta, peladas que trabajan de servicio en las casotas de la vía hacia el mar, y por supuesto, un muchachito vendiendo chocolatinas y caramelos a los pasajeros por cien pesitos. Somos los piñones de estos barrios ricos. De día todo mueve por el sudor de la frente, pero de noche todos regresamos a casa hacia La Luna.

No es nada como piensa. La Luna es un hotel desbrotado al margen del barrio Santa Elena donde vivo. Imagínate si la luna fuera algo de esplendor, como la Panamericana, pero así no es, y nunca fue. Sin embargo, todos conocen donde queda La Luna porque siempre ha estado allí. Por lo menos, ha estado desde que llegue de la finca en el ochenta y tres. La luna ni tiene letrero ahora, hace ya un par de años que cayó de sus corchetes oxidados y aplastó a un pobrecito mendigo que dormía por allá. Desde entonces, la luna ha sido un edificio de revoque y graffiti donde nadie entra y nadie sale. Parece una calavera puesto en medio de la manzana.

Todos los días bajo del bus todo enfrente de La Luna y camino las dos cuadras a mi casa en la treinticuatro. Tomo un minutito de descanso en la tienda de la equina para una cervecita con Don Edgar y compro un arrocito y los frijolitos para la comida y un pan dulce para mi niña Yurani. A ella le fascina el pan dulce, y como ella es tan consentida siendo nuestra única hija, tengo que mimarla cuando pueda.

Mi rutina no es mucho pero es mío. A veces mi esposa me regaña que no he hecho nada con mi vida, pero así está muy bien conmigo. Veo la gente de algo todos los días; entra y sale, sale y entra, de prisa en los quehaceres de estos tipos. Es una vida que no me complacería para nada. A mi me gusta mi casita, mi trabajito, y mi familia. No necesito más.

Finding a Home on the Web

2010-06-24T07:46:00.000-04:00

Now that summer has officially hit and I find myself with a little more time, my fingers are itching for some creative projects. I've been watching HGTV's Curb Appeal and drooling over the ability to fix up a house and landscape a yard. I decided that I'm going to try and refinish our dressers to match the new motif, which should be a fun project. And finally, I stumbled across this website which allowed me to put together a space to view my photos and art that are a little more pleasing to the eye and much more fun than blogger or Flickr, plus it gave me a chance to get the creative juices flowing on some web design, which was a blast all by itself. So now I have a homepage on the web with connections to all my little corners of the digital universe.

Adoption Finalization

2010-06-09T09:22:00.000-04:00

On the steps of the Monroe County Courthouse

Yesterday we went to the courthouse and had our finalization hearing with Judge Galvin. We were running a little late and were stressed to be showing up at the courthouse just minutes before our hearing. Once we got into the courtroom and seated, the judge informed us that we were missing our criminal background checks and our home study paperwork. Note, this is after calling our adoption agency, our attorney AND the courthouse multiple times to make sure everyone had the paperwork they were supposed to have. Luckily, Juliana had her cell phone and was able to call LDSFS and get them fax the paperwork directly to the judges office. So, we were asked to go back out in the hall and wait while the judge conducted another hearing. We were both really stressed, hoping that we wouldn't have to reschedule the hearing and go back another day. Our dear friends the Figerts were kind enough to come and take pictures for us and helped us pass the time in the hall while we waited.

Juliana stressing about not having the papers filed.

Finally, after 20 minutes we went back to the courtroom, all the papers had arrived we answered a few questions on record, which took about 5 minutes, the judge announced that Barec is now legally our child and it was all over.

Our lawyers

The judge was very nice and congratulated us and allowed us a couple minutes to take pictures with him and our lawyers. So, a big thanks goes out to Judge Galvin, our attorneys Michael and Adebola, Barec's birth mom Krissy, and the Figerts for making it a positive experience. We are so happy that it is all finalized!

Posing with the Judge

Bedroom Decoration Continued

2010-06-09T09:03:00.000-04:00

We have been working on redecorating our bedroom, well I guess you could say decorating, since we never really tried to decorate it before. We picked out theme, and took a trip to Hobby Lobby to find some accents for our color desert/moroccan/mediterranean color palette. As always, the clearance isle proved fruitful and we were able to find some cool stuff that works perfect with our theme. Then with a little help from some birthday money, we found some really fabulous accent pillows and curtains. We are still planning on re-staining the furniture and finding cool wrought iron handles for them. I'd also like to find some better lamp shades at some point, but that's low on the totem pole for our budget (which is nothing).

We are still struggling to decide what to put over the bed. A headboard? A painting? A wrought iron geometric design? The headboard seems like a lot of work to make, the painting I am still struggling with, as you can see in the picture, and we haven't found a wrought iron design that we like. The stores tend to carry French/Italian filigree style designs and not so much eastern/middle eastern designs.

It's an ongoing project, but we are getting closer to what we like.

Islamic Inspired Decore

2010-06-02T14:42:00.001-04:00

Juliana and decided we were bored with the downstairs being decorated, but nothing upstairs except for Barec's room. So we started looking for a color palette and ideas for the master bedroom. We finally decided that we liked the geometric shapes of Islamic art and a desert based color palette with some rich red, orange and green accents. Yesterday I started looking around for some ideas for art to hang on the walls. I fiddled with an oil pastel piece, but just didn't like where it was going, so I decided to go with mosaic based pieces and this is what I came up with.

I found the mosaic at crayola.com, printed it out on photo paper, cut it out with a razor and then layed it across a piece of watercolor paper to be painted. After it dried, I put a regular piece of white paper behind it and stuck it in a frame. I like how it turned out, though it may be a little too pink for what we are going for. As a bonus, the watercolor paper that I put underneath the mosaic while I painted it kept a lot of the pattern, so I used it for a second piece that tied in some of the architectural elements that I was looking for.

I'm not sure if I will actually end up hanging these, but it was fun anyways. I'll post more pictures when we finish the room.

Our Birthiversary Trip

2010-05-30T22:44:00.000-04:00

My birthday, Juliana's birthday and our anniversary are so close together that we often lump them all together and just celebrate all three events in one weekend. This year, I surprised Juliana with a weekend getaway to Saint Louis, Missouri. Neither of us had been there before, and we both love to visit new places, so Friday morning we headed out to experience the gateway city to the west.

We stayed at the Crown Plaza Riverside at the Arch, enjoyed a little walking around the city with Barec and a stroll through Jefferson Memorial Park and a trip up the Arch. Just as a side note, we asked one of the park rangers how many visitors they have each day and she told us that about 6,000 people got up the arch daily during the summer months. So, you can figure at ten bucks a pop, they rake in about 5 million dollars in one summer. Not too shabby for a 4 minute ride up 650 feet in a capsule.

After enjoying the beautiful park grounds, we headed to dinner at a rustic, Napa Valley style restaurant called Eleven Eleven Mississippi. I had made a reservation the day before and when we entered the restaurant, the serving staff said, you must be Ryan and Juliana, and wished Juliana a happy birthday. Needless to say, I was impressed by their service. The food was unique, fresh and of course very tasty. I had a blue marlin steak with a three cheese risotto and Juliana had rabbit with polenta. We had a great salad with dried mango, strawberries, apples and slivered almonds, and Juliana got a complimentary slice of gooey butter cake for her birthday. The food was inspiring to a wannabe foodie like myself, the ambience was great and the service was excellent.

On Saturday, we went to the St. Louis zoo, the Art Museum and the Science Center, all of which are free. Forest Park is gigantic, larger than Central Park in New York, and houses all of these wonderful venues, along with an outdoor summer Shakespeare theatre and a beautiful lake and boathouse. It is also the location of the 1904 World's Fair. The zoo was great, and the museum had air conditioning, which was much appreciated after walking around in the 90 degree weather most of the day. The science center was fun, but Barec is still a little too young to enjoy the planetarium and science experiments, so we will have to go back when he is older for that one.

In the evening we drove to Carterville, Illinois to visit some friends and had a great time hanging out and relaxing. The driving was a little more than I would have liked, but it was well worth the trip! Happy birthday honey, I love you!

Capturing the Moment

2010-05-27T08:43:00.000-04:00

Photography and the theory that goes with capturing images is a fascinating subject. Because photography is really nothing like the real thing, a photographer should expand 'capture' and be more aware of the emotion, interest and story of the image and not so much the material content. I guess that is the difference between a photo journalist and a photographer in a nutshell. To me, the most interesting pictures are the ones that tell a story. Here is a clip by the editor of National Geographic giving a 15 minute presentation about photography. I think there is an important lesson here for me as an ametuer photographer.

I like what I like

2010-05-27T08:11:00.002-04:00

Pandora has become my new best friend as a stay at home dad. It enables me to listen to all sorts of music that I've never heard before, because that whole Music Genome Project thing is so cool, it can pick similar artists to the ones I like. Well after giving "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" to a couple of months worth of songs, I came to a realization last week that there is a type of voice and musical style that I am particularly drawn to. There are three artists that have taken the majority of places in my queue and they all sound alike.

The first is fairly well known, though there is something about her voice that really calms me. Nora Jones has got the jazzy bluesy folk-country thing down and I never get tired of listening to her.

The second is a Mexican actress/singer named Ximena Sariñana. She has a more poppy sound but still has that full strong voice that draws me to Norah.

The third singer is a Brazilian that goes by Céu. She has that same great voice but adds just a little bit of funk to the jazz beat that makes it so refreshing.

All three of these singers are very similar in style, representing three distinct languages, and all add a little of their own twist to things. I imagine at some point I will get tired of it, but for right now, funky, bluesy, jazzy vocals are filling my house.

The Lady Spies

2010-05-22T10:15:00.000-04:00

This morning I listened to a piece on NPR about 'heroes'. In this interview with author Conn Iggulden, he talked about a chapter of this book "The Dangerous Book of Heroes" dedicated to the British Special Operations Executives, many of whom were young women. So I had to do a little research and find our more about them. I read an article by David Allen who looks into the historical details of the women of the SOE and explains some of the super cool spy stuff that these young women did. SOE women often parachuted into enemy territory in the middle of the night, and if captured, were often tortured and killed. Of all the Hollywood films about World War II, and history classes on the subject, I had never previously heard about this elite group of spies. Some of their stories are absolutely fascinating.

Breakfast Innovations

2010-05-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

I took the picture before I added the grated Parmesan

Breakfast is a boring meal. I mean, typically a bowl of cereal and some milk is as colorful as it gets in our house. I am usually not a huge fan of eggs and toast, but today I tried a new creative way to eat them. Not bad!

Beautiful Moments

2010-05-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

A moment captured

There are fleeting moments that pass me by and often I am unaware of their beauty. Frequently, I fail to capture their brilliance in my memory. Yet occasionally, I grasp the wings of one of these special moments, crystallizing it in my mind and shelve it away on the labyrinthine rows of thought in a special glass case to admire it later. I am convinced that it is indeed our collection of these little treasures that define who we are and not fame, fortune or prestige.

At Whits End!

2010-05-11T15:19:00.000-04:00

I have had it! We have a very nice neighbor who smokes. Now, it wouldn't be that bad, except that he smokes in his house and unfortunately since we live in townhouses, the smoke goes up through the attic and down into our house. We have to leave our windows open or things start smelling like an old bar. It's bad enough that Juliana blew a 4 on a breathalyzer showing that she has been exposed to second hand smoke. Now that we have Barec, we are even more concerned with the problem as the crawl space to the attic is right in front of his room.

We have kindly gone to our neighbor and asked him to please consider stopping. Juliana even gave him a pamphlet on a smoking cessation class offered for free in town. He said he was trying to stop smoking, but we haven't seen any change. He was gone for 3 months and we had some reprieve, but now he's back and its worse than ever. We understand that it's his house and he can do what he wants, but he is effecting more than just him and his daughter that lives with him.

It is bad enough, my eyes are watering right now as I write this post. We can lay in bed and around 10:00pm we can tell when he lights up. What do we do?!!? What can we do?!

Building that perfect Cake

2010-05-04T16:49:00.000-04:00

It has become a tradition in our family that I always make a cake for Juliana's birthday (May 28th). She usually has a request, but this year, I haven't heard a peep yet about what she wants (hint, hint honey). Last year, she let me off easy with a simple blackberry pie. Here are a couple of the other cakes that I had sense enough to take pictures of before they were destroyed.

I am all for the challenge of a difficult cake, so any suggestions would be great!

Green things in the garden

2010-04-29T15:45:00.001-04:00

I have always wondered why they called it "having a green thumb", since the only color gardening turns your thumbs is brown. Well, no matter what color my thumbs are, I love gardening and this year, after 5 years living in our townhouse, I think I finally have the garden the way I like it. Two years ago, we made a switch from annuals to perennials to try and create a more permanent garden. Some of the plants turned out to be great, and others not so much. I have decided that I love the light blue of the the forget-me-nots, the buttery yellow of the columbine, the soft purple of the balloon flowers and (hopefully this year) wisteria, the pale pink of the evening primroses, the deep red of the anemonies, maltese crosses and double knock-out roses, the huge snowy white blooms on the dahlias, the smokey mauve of the peonies, and the brilliant greens of the hostas. This year I added a few more daylilies to add some texture and color to the top row of the garden. It was really hard to decide on the color options, but I finally came to a decision and selected the following:

In addition to the perrennials, I added a few annuals as well. This year I planted: Montego Red Snapdragons, Flashing Light Dianthus, Riviera Blue Splash Lobelia, Netja Dark Begonia, and Paradise New Red New Guinea Impatiens.

(click to see larger)

I got lucky the other day and caught the landscaping guys while they were mulching around the bushes in front of the buildings. I asked if I could pay for a few wheelbarrow fulls of mulch for my patio garden and they said, "heck, we lose that much out the back of the truck on a good day! No need to pay us, we can help you out." So I got a nice load of mulch, enough for both the side and back gardens for free! And the best part is, I didn't have to get the back of the car dirty hauling it from the store myself. So, a big thanks to the landscape guys!

(click to see larger)

This is the first year that my iris are blooming (see picture at the top). I got them from a friend of mine, Hollis Johnson, who just happens to be a famous astronomer, and planted them two years ago. They came up last year, but never bloomed. This year, they look beautiful!

You may think it odd that I go into so much detail about what I plant, but as every good gardener knows, keeping a garden journal helps one remember what works and what doesn't so that next year when I go to the greenhouse and am once again dazzled by the blue flax or Jacob's Ladder, I can look back at my blog posts and remember that, although very pretty, they just don't do well in my garden. Not to mention when we move and I have a clean slate to work with (a new garden) I can look back and see what did work and what I really liked.

Gardening

2010-04-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

Barec and I worked in the garden today. The forget-me-nots are starting to bloom, the iris are close, there are buds on the peonies and roses, columbine and foxglove and the balloon flowers are coming up. I spread mulch around everything today and now am just waiting for phase two of the garden to bloom. Spring is nice and all with the daffodils and tulips, but its the robust summer colors that really make me happy. Now I just have to find a half of a wine barrel to put my herbs in. Anybody know where I can get one?

We all have a doppelganger

2010-04-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

Barec helping out with the laundry

There is a theory that we all have someone that looks just like us that is the bringer of bad luck and usually is just plain up to no good. Read more about them here. Well I think we have spotted Barec's doppelganger...Watch out, these things are known to be the harbingers of death (heavy sarcasm intended). What do you think?

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T22:25:00.003-04:00