August 27, 2017

Well, my summer has proven to be quite full. It started on a decidedly sad note when we lost Matt’s mother after a very courageous battle with cancer. She was a wonderfully warm and generous woman who touched many, many souls during her life. Matt and I both felt inspired to make myself ourselves better people when we heard others speak about how much she changed their lives. I will miss you Drucie and will keep you in my heart always.

Other parts of our summer have proven to be more positive. Mostly, I have spent my time trying to get as much research done as possible. However, Matt and I have also spent some time with friends, including an old friend from grad school (Krish) who just moved to Cincinnati! We have also been able to take in some culture in Cincinnati, including watching a truly magical multi-media version of Mozart’s Magic Flute (a 1-minute preview is available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSThS0pE4Dw). And we saw an exceptionally intriguing visiting exhibit by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone featuring many life-size reclining fluorescent clowns. I deeply regret not taking my camera with me to the museum. We have also enjoyed a fair amount of travel. In early July, we traversed the lower peninsula of Michigan, with stops in Bay City, Mackinac Island, Harbor Springs, and Kalamazoo. We spent the 4th on Mackinac Island, endeavoring to avoid as much hoopla as possible. As usual, the island was beautiful. We explored a bit and spent some time observing the copious number of frogs living in a pond on a golf course. This probably doesn’t sound exciting, but I promise that if you had been there, you would have also been highly amused. I haven’t been to Harbor Springs in a number of years, and it was nice to see an old family friend and get an opportunity to take in some of the lovely old beach “cottages” along the water. Our stop in Kalamazoo was brief but I’m looking forward to returning in October to celebrate my Grandmother’s 100th Birthday.

More recently, Matt and I visited Maysville, Kentucky for their Oktoberfest. This is the earliest Oktoberfest in the area, and I must admit it was a little steamy. My troop danced in the sun, and then I retreated to the shade for the duration of our visit. The town, which is right on the Ohio River, is quaint and has not lost its historic charm. I anticipate that we’ll return next year, and hopefully we can go a little early so we can see their world famous museum of miniatures. On the way back, we happened to stop in the town of New Richmond, Ohio, which is a mere half hour from Cincinnati. Little did we know that New Richmond has been hosting a Cardboard Boat regatta for the past 25 years! Our visit did not coincide with the event, but we did get to learn a lot about the boats and see some of the more intriguing ones (including a cardboard bat-mobile, ambulance, swan, school bus, and steam boat). I’m impressed. The regatta sounds like a lot of fun; hopefully we’ll be able to attend next year.

And last but not least… we are just returning from two whirlwind trips out West. First we went to Colorado and Wyoming. In addition to catching up with my father, brother, and Sophie, a dear friend from middle school, we had the opportunity to witness a total solar eclipse. This is by far one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It made me feel both more connected with the universe and very, very small. I am so grateful to have been able to witness this in person. To begin, watching the world grow dimmer and then brighter, is truly surreal. And I have even more respect for the sun than I did before. Even when just a sliver was viewable the world was still surprisingly bright. And there were other factors beyond the changes in light that I was not expecting. For example, we heard and saw some confused crickets, and a lone dove flew erratically above us just before the sun disappeared. There was also a surprisingly cool wind that emerged as the sun disappeared. All in all, this was simply a capital adventure. Thank you to my father for making it possible.

Beyond watching the eclipse, I also had an opportunity to see parts of southeastern Wyoming that I have not visited since I was little. We covered many, many miles of absolutely stunning country on the way up and back. It is a geologist’s playground. In anticipation of traffic, we drove up to Wyoming a day early and stayed in Guernsey. I haven’t been to Guernsey in 25-30 years and it was quite interesting to revisit some of the same places I saw as a child. For example, we enjoyed some of the beautiful views from stone structures built by the CCC at Guernsey Reservoir. Fort Laramie has been nicely restored, and I very much appreciated being able to feel like I was stepping back in time when I entered each building. We also stopped by Register Cliff and some wagon ruts that were worn into soft rock along the south edge of Guernsey. These preserve a story of hardship and hope as settlers moved west. I don’t think I would have done very well trying to survive in the Wild West. Those pioneers were tough people! It seems like a long time ago, but really was just the blink of an eye (on the order of 100-200 years). Other than that, I enjoyed wandering around town and observing the throngs of excited eclipse folks that were camped in most of the town’s public parks and school grounds. Post eclipse, we avoided crowds by traveling on back roads, many of which are not paved. In addition to avoiding most traffic, our route took us through some absolutely gorgeous scenery.

We were back in Cincinnati for a day and then headed west again to Seattle for a wedding. We wound up staying above the oldest saloon and restaurant in Seattle (Merchant’s Café and Saloon) in what used to be a brothel. The apartment certainly felt historic, but it also felt decidedly less grungy than you might expect based on its history. It was surprisingly quiet and the lovely giant windows looked out on Pioneer Square and let in a delightful sea breeze. The weather was perfect and Matt and I enjoyed walking all over the city. Our visit reminded us of what we liked and missed about living in a city, as well as what we most definitely do not miss. It turns out we have a pretty good thing going in Cincinnati; it’s nice to confirm this from time to time. Seattle reminds me of an interesting cross-section between San Francisco and Toronto. It’s hilly, funky, and on the ocean, but also rather cosmopolitan (at least in some places). There’s also some really neat architecture. We spent a good chunk of time exploring the library, for example, which looks very much like it came from the future. I’m pretty sure that Gumby and Pokey originated in the Red Hall on the 4th floor. We also enjoyed catching up with a number of old friends, including one from my study abroad in Australia, and many from grad school. It means a lot to stay connected. I was so happy to see everyone and to meet their significant others; I feel like I am glowing. What a tremendously positive week this has been!

And now it is time to get back to business and embrace the fall term, which actually started last week. I learned that I have been granted tenure, which is not exactly surprising, but is certainly a relief. So I am now an Associate Professor! I am excited for the semester. I’m teaching one of my favorite classes (Zooarchaeology), and have a sabbatical coming up in the spring, which makes taking on the fall much more palatable. And Matt and I have an exciting Fall ahead of us. So all in all, life continues to treat me well. I hope that you are also well and I wish you a happy Fall.