Some pictures from West Potomac's Homecoming... taking pictures is almost as big an event as the dance itself...

Some pictures from our trip to Sky Meadows State Park... the first time all four of us did something together this summer... Note the praying mantis on the left, above. He's hard to see.

We've been back in the States for nearly a year and a month; sad to say, we've hardly traveled, and so my blog has suffered. Not much to blog about when life is ordinary: work, driving the girls here and there, walking the dogs, and so forth. Still, in the summer of '08, we managed to get out and about some.

In late July, after an absence of 5 years, the girls and I returned to my old stomping grounds in the Narrows section of Lake Champlain in Ferrisburg, VT. Along the way we spent the night in Bennington at the Four Chimneys Inn, owned by the sister and brother-in-law of Eric L., a former colleague in R'dam. Did a little college-shopping as well, checking out both Bennington College and Williams, which was just down the road.

Then we headed up to the Lake, one of the girls' favorite places on earth. I had bad luck, or more accurately, no luck, getting outboard motors to run, but a neighbor offered take the girls water-skiing.

When in VT, we always stop and get maple candy and "Dakin bacon" at Dakin Farm.

After four nights on the Lake, we headed down to Middlebury where we met up with our friends from Seattle, Tim and KT-C. From there we drove over to Indian Lake in the heart of New York State's Adirondack Park. Even though I grew up just a couple of miles from the park's boundaries, I hardly ever visited the place, save for a skiing trip or two to Whiteface. It's an impressive wilderness (and indeed a wilderness... on the day we left, a black bear crossed the road in front of us).

Did a moderately strenuous 7 mile hike up Mt Snowy. The last 500' or so was the most taxing, as there were no switchbacks, you just went straight up. I've included pictures from the fire tower & summit.

Hope to return again next summer...

In late June, I traveled to Northern Arizona where I attended a week-long wilderness survival/primitive skills course taught by Tony Nester of Ancient Pathways. I've never done an Outward Bound program, but it's probably fair to say that this was quite similar to that. I did it because the Thoreau in me wanted to try a little bit of "living deliberately," i.e. I wanted to get off the grid - if only for a few days - and connect with the wilderness. I'm glad I did it and would highly recommend any of his programs. As I indicated, the course is a mix learning survival skills and primitive technologies, e.g. friction fire-making (something I have yet to master... word to the wise, bring several methods of fire-making with you when you venture into the woods, unless you're Al Cornell, who paid us a visit... he's a master of the craft and a scholar of primitive fire-making... have a look at this video).

I've included photographs of my reasonably comfortable lean-to (pine needle bedding... works for a couple of nights then needs to be refreshed as it starts to compress...), the Sycamore Canyon (much smaller than the GC, but still breath-taking, and devoid of people) and the view from Tony's property in the high desert outside of Flagstaff.

I first heard about Tony and AP in this NYT article. If any of this has piqued your interest, check out the sites for Rabbitstick and Winter Count. See also these sites for similar schools in Montana and Maine.

Spent the nights before and after the course at the Hotel Monte Vista in 7,000' Flagstaff, a neat little town.

Well reality arrived and the time for the fun things - like blog updates - just evaporated. Life is some sleep, dog-walking, full-time employment for L and I, traveling to and from swim practice & meets, trying to help with homework... lather, rinse repeat. I'm really not complaining... Hardly travel at all now that we're stateside, though we did make it to Sallie's over Christmas. On the left are the girls and Sallie standing on the Buffalo Soldier Monument on Ft. Leavenworth. And there was snow!

Linda went on a "field trip" to the Panama Canal. Here's a shot of what I think are the Miraflores Locks. I was there way back in the Fall of 88, I think it was... Not sure who the guy with the beer is. He is rather tall... In the Fall we drove up to Harper's Ferry, a gorgeous place. Hard to not take a great picture... in the near-background (right) is the Shenandoah River. A bit past the steeple, it joins with and becomes the Potomac which continues on its way to the Chesapeake.

An old friend, and sometime JetBlue pilot, Tim, was in town the other day. He has several sons, near in age to our two, hence the this picture... (note the State of the Union address going on in the background)

Not really a coherent narrative, but in the absence of a unifying theme, it's as good as it gets...

Reality is looming... school starts for the girls on Tuesday. In the meantime, we'll have Labor Day off... our first in 3 years. I've been working for the past 2 weeks... lots of new librarian/teacher orientation. FCPS is not so much a school district as it is a nation unto itself...
A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I flew up to visit L's folks and the girls' cousins in Boston. South Bay area actually... It had been awhile since I had been there. It's a very cool city with bit of a European feel. Visited Harvard, and the Harvard Co-op, possibly the best book store in the world. Walked some of the Freedom Trail, visited the N. England Aquarium, the Peabody and the Natural Hist. museums. Wandered along a the Charles. A good time... That's the Harvard Boathouse behind the girls... Mom rowed there some decades ago.

Been a long time, but we've been busy. Although I see no reason to change the name - and probably couldn't anyway - I'm no longer "musing by the Rotte," but rather thinking things over by the Potomac, not far from George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. In fact I sit on land that used to be one of his farms.

About mid-May, KHZ Movers - who I would highly recommend - packed us up. School ended on 9 June and that marked the beginning of our last look at Europe. Before we boarded planes on the 15 and 22 July, one or all of us had been to Germany (Bavaria), Austria, Poland, Hungary and France. Our first stop was in Garmisch where we reprised a trip we had made a the previous year. Just me, the girls, and their Finnish sister, R. A neat trip, even if it meant a long drive on the autobahn. And speaking of -bahns, we made it back to our favorite rodelbahn, just outside of Salzburg. On the right is Rosa nearing the end of her run... it's a 20 min. or so chairlift ride to the top...

We returned from Bavaria, and chilled for about a week. I began what was ultimately a successful search for a librarian position with FCPS. Took a short trip up the road to Madurodam with the V's. it's Holland in miniature, and a place one should go when newly arrived in the NL. Still, it was worthwhile & fun

The CG Activities Europe change of command was up next. Of course this was an opportunity for the girls to buy new outfits. It was a very moving ceremony, but bittersweet as were a number of things that we did in the closing weeks of our time in Europe. It was a odd departure for us... not only were we leaving, but a number of people we knew were also departing, meaning that the community we knew was slowly ceasing to exist. This is not to say that we do not have good friends who remained, it's just my observation that things were irrevocably changing. So it goes...

The day after the change of command, we flew to Krakow where we stayed for 4 nights. A neat city, probably one of my top three in Europe, the others being Edinburgh, and, of course, Helsinki. Has one of the best squares in Europe, along with some of the finest beer...



Not all the sights were as pleasant as those shown above. We took a day and visited one of history's searing reminders of man's capacity for evil, and what remains a great open sore upon the earth, Auschwitz. It's hard to know what to think about the place... the day we visited was a very pleasant one, with the birds singing, and no immediate sense of what the place was. After awhile, after seeing the vastness of Auschwitz II, seeing the human hair and the pictures of the victims, the evil begins to seep in. It's a good place to leave. It's not a place where you take pictures of your family, just shots like this one (you'll please forgive the jarring juxtaposition of images...).

From Krakow, we flew on to - via Warsaw - Budapest. A fun city, but hard to classify or categorize... With some notable exceptions, such as the '56 Revolution, it has remained on the fringes of history, even European history. Here are the girls above the Danube with the Chain Bridge and the Parliament in the background. And in the far, far distance, there is Slovakia. Alas, someday...

After 3 nights in Hungary we returned to Rotterdam. Moira was the first to say her goodbyes as she ventured off for 2 weeks of French language - and culture and cuisine, for better or worse - immersion. She and I walked the dogs together for the last time in Holland the night before she left. I'll leave you with the images she captured... Tot ziens...

Some recent events and milestones. On the same weekend that Aileen and I went to Luxembourg for a mini-track meet, Moi attended her first prom (dress by Jessica McClintock with many, many thanks to Mrs. W...). A week later she and I were in Paris with the high school French classes. I was along as a chaperone, and because I can say "Bonjour" with such an ironic tone. Gotta love Paris though... Have a great story about the 2 pickpockets and 3 undercover cops, and how I almost lost my iPod on the Metro, but I'll save that for later. Enjoy... By the way, Moi is 2nd from the right in the group picture at Versailles.