July 7, 2023

Greetings! It has been nearly a year since I have written. I apologize for this, especially given the content of my last note. Let me start by saying that overall, the past year has been a very positive and productive one. I have been cancer free since March 2022, and the follow-up treatments (radiation last Spring and ongoing hormone suppressing drugs) are hopefully going to keep it from ever returning. So I am, more or less, myself again and continuing with life as usual. This, combined with the dwindling impacts of COVID, means things have ramped up with travel and research. Matt and I were able to go to Toronto in November (my first international trip since early 2020). I attended the annual meeting for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (we’re hosting this meeting in Cincinnati this Fall). We stayed near the lake in a ridiculous sky-rise condo and we were able to catch up with some friends. It was very interesting to see how much the city has morphed since 2018 (when I was last there). Some changes for the better; some for the worse. At least Mothers’ Dumplings, one of our favorite restaurants, is still there.

We took a road trip at the end of our Winter Break, visiting three cities that have been on our list for years: Asheville, NC; Savannah; GA; and Charleston, SC. The trip was fantastic. All of the cities were very interesting, and we got to catch up with several old friends. My mom joined us in Cincy for a couple of weeks in February, and we visited my Dad over Spring break in March.

I presented at the annual biological anthropology meeting in Reno in April, and Matt and I enjoyed catching up with friends and also exploring the city and surrounding region. The conference was in a ridiculous spa/casino/conference center called “Peppermill Resort” that, in itself, was an experience akin to an adult Disneyland. We rented a car for a day and drove up to Lake Tahoe and back through Virginia City with our friend Travis. It was a beautiful sunny day and the blue of the lake combined with the snowy hills was just stunning. We were able to take a quick tour of an old mine shaft that is in the back of a saloon, and we watched the sunset from the town cemetery. It definitely felt like we stepped back in time.

We have, of course, also continued to enjoy exploring Cincinnati as well (albeit being a bit more carefully than we used to now that we know how easy it is to impale one’s leg). We now have a very good understanding of the landscape within a five-mile radius of pretty much every direction from our house. Cincy hosted our third “Blink” event in October, which is a four-night event that involves light shows, murals, projections, and installations around much of downtown. We attended all four nights and enjoyed every minute of it. It surpassed all expectations. I do not know when the next “Blink” will be, but I promise it is something worth checking out.

Our semester ended at the end of April, and we headed up to Mackinac in mid-May. It has been really magical getting to experience the progression of the warm season up here. We have had waves of different vegetation, starting with early spring flowers, like trillium, transitioning through the forget-me-nots and lady slipper orchids, the buttercups, and now we’re into the black eyed Susan’s and evening primroses. I was very excited to get a bunch of ferns from neighbors and plant the around the house. For the most part, they are doing well, but they have been slug magnets. The internet states slugs don’t eat ferns; the internet is wrong. It has been a dry summer so far, which is great for hiking, but a little stressful for the plants. We have been creating a rather unorthodox irrigation system composed of y-splitters, drip hoses, and timers. They don’t reach everything (at least not yet), but they get the things that are baked during our >16 hours of daylight.

At the beginning of June, Matt and I decided to do a little overnight trip to a nearby island called Bois Blanc (pronounced Bob Lo). Despite being <10 miles from Mackinac, it takes hours to get to Bois Blanc because there are no direct ferries. We enjoyed the adventure. Bois Blanc is considerably larger, flatter and way more wild than Mackinac. They call themselves “untamed”, which seems very appropriate. One can drive on the island, but the roads are all gravel (and we learned that some are only safe for 4-wheel drive vehicles). There are no hiking trails, and the woods are very dense. The mosquitoes are also abundant and ferocious. We stayed in a sprawling amazing B&B called the Hideway that felt like a carpeted fun house, and we were the only guests there, so we essentially had the place to ourselves. Our trip happened to coincide with the beginning of the wildfire smoke from Canada, which made the experience extra surreal. The sun was bright red, and we also had a bright red full moon.

Next week we will be heading to Rome, where I will be attending an international conference focused on the Quaternary. The conference only happens every four years, and I have been excited about this meeting since first learning about it in 2019. We have been doing our best to plan ahead, bone up on Rome, and learn some Italian. I am sure I will have stories to share when we come back.

Fino a presto!