Happy About…
October 24, 2025
:: Happy that it’s the end of another growing season. Funny, isn’t it? It’s so wonderful to have a robust crop of tomatoes, squash, eqgplant, basil, strawberries, chard, rosemary, chives, lemons, figs… AND it’s nice when the season’s over, too. Raising food can be oddly stressful.
This guy is likely my final garden face for the season. Everything’s looking a little long in the tooth. I was not aware that we’d planted parsnips.. but I do believe that’s what the nose is. What a .. surprise.
:: Also happy that tonight is the first night of the World Series (starts in 11 mins, so I gotta hurry here). Go Dodgers… unless they are crushing the Blue Jays, in which case we’ll have to become Toronto fans to even things out. Go Blue in Game #7. We’ll see how all this plays out.
:: Happy to be going to see Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen tonight (after the baseball game). I really like that guy. Eager to see him in a non-moody chef role.
:: Happy about the conversation — long overdue — that we had with Peter yesterday afternoon. Holy cow I love that guy.
:: Happy that I finally cleared out all my unread emails and have only 700+ emails in my inbox (champ!) and only 300+ tabs open in my Chrome browser (double champ!). Been a productive couple of days in that regard.
I had intended to list many more HAPPY things, and to accompany the happy list with a NOT HAPPY list, but I don’t want to miss the first pitch.
In a Villa in Tuscany…
April 17, 2025
As I write this (10:30 on a Thursday night in California, 7:30 on a Friday morning in Italy) Peter’s probably just waking up. Not sure what he’ll be doing today, but it’ll probably involve math. And hopefully some great Italian food and camaraderie.
The photo above is a screen shot of the end of a short video Peter sent to Maya, footage courtesy of a drone that started with the shot below… (also a screen shot from the same video), and then soared high above the group and villa and countryside. I imagine the woman in front is operating the drone.
Surmising this is the entirety of the gathered scholars..14 doctoral students and 8-ish professors? Look forward to hearing whatever stories Peter is willing to share about this group and the work they did this week.
Until then… I’m so pleased he got this opportunity and relieved that passport came through in the nick of time!
Millionth Annual Picnic Day
April 12, 2025
Jim and I did our traditional thing: Jim set out early to procure a parade-side table at Crepeville, I arrived about 90 minutes later, and we watched the parade go by, peering over the heads of people we wished would sit on the curb instead of stand in the street. But it was fine. There are few surprises anymore.. mostly the same ol’ same ol’.
Here’s something new this year: the city showed off its new ladder fire truck! Jim’s been kvetching about this for awhile as an unnecessary expenditure. Here it is.. quite impressive (it was a few parade entries behind the University’s ladder truck, which is always in the parade).
Best of show right here… I took this picture because Welsh Corgis are Peter’s favorite dog. (Speaking of Peter, see note below!)
We returned home after the parade. A bit later I took a walk around campus to check things out. Rounding the corner at A and Russell, I saw this scene in front of the Sigma Nu fraternity:
Resting, sunning or passed out?
Campus was abuzz with picnickers, food trucks and a raucous rock band.. it was a nice vibe:
Battle of the Bands took place on the north side of Mrak Hall… lovely shady spot for gathering. It was dense with folks and numerous marching bands from universities all over the state. Also great energy.
All was not well in town, however. Literally minutes before I took the above photo, there’d been a shooting up at Community Park. Unbeknownst to Picnic Day revelers on campus, somebody opened fire at a band concert in the park, injuries were reported and police and ambulances — sirens blaring — were dispatched to the scene.. followed by a helicopter directing folks to evacuate immediately. Lots of hysteria ensued, a stampede formed, there was at least one injury from that… all the while, Picnic Day continued on a picture perfect afternoon, blissfully consuming folks on campus who were oblivious to the drama just a mile away.
I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming days what all happened up there.
For our part, we hunkered down, made a great dinner, Janet came over and we just talked politics and kids.
~~
Speaking of kids.
I’d texted the Corgi photo to Maya and Peter earlier in the day. Maya responded a bit later with the news that she’d just dropped Peter off at the Detroit airport for his flight to Italy. We were flabbergasted. Backing up: A few months back, Peter had been accepted to participate in a one-week program organized by a prominent fluids professor/researcher (from Zurich). It would be a week of collaborative problem solving among a small group of fluids doctoral candidates from around the world… a rare and fantastic opportunity to mix with some of the best in the field. We were flabbergasted because, one, we hadn’t realized the Italy trip was so soon.. we knew it was in April, but thought it was later in the month. Two, we were dubious that Peter’d actually be able to go as he’d run into a passport snag. His passport was due to expire within six months of his departure, requiring him to get a new one (weird rule). He’d applied for a replacement, albeit late, and the application was further delayed due to a missing signature (yikes). As of last week, he was still passportless. It was looking very dicey. Jim and I chose to keep our anxiety about this to ourselves and to let the cards fall where they may. Consequences, you know. If Peter was anxious about it, he didn’t share that with us. As a result, we were sweating it out on our own, keeping our parental handwringing to ourselves, and committing never to mention the not-to-be Italy trip ever again. So imagine our over the moon-ness! The passport arrived and Peter was on his way to a castle in Tuscany to rub elbows with 13 others scholars from around the world (Peter’s one of two from the US), learn new stuff, do math, cook, see the country side… I mean. We’d have hated for him to miss out on the experience. But now he won’t miss out. Super happy parents. I fully expect that no matter what happens, it’ll be a trip to remember. (And as of this writing, he’s arrived safely in Italy, so texted about an hour ago.)
Oh my goodness.
Snow Man
February 13, 2025
Our boy lives in snow country.
A Good Run!
January 6, 2025
Twenty twenty four was notable for a lot of things. But this one stands out:
After saying goodbye to Peter a year ago on January 5 (following a two-week visit over the holidays), we saw him in April (our annual spring visit to Ann Arbor); May (end of the same trip); July (John Muir Trail); August (Dolomites trip); September (end of the same trip, plus our annual fall visit to Ann Arbor); October (a Davis wedding); November (Thanksgiving); December (Christmas); January 2025 (end of the same trip). That’s a Peter sighting in 9 of 12 months. My kind of year!
This is a hard act to follow, but hoping twenty twenty five will give it a shot.
Took Peter to the airport today.. and he flew back to Ann Arbor, barely missing a massive storm that was paralyzing a significant swath of our country. Got word tonight that he made it home safely. I can relax now, but I’m still really down. It may be a few months before we’ll see him and Maya.
Here’re a couple photos I snuck in late last night.. it is soooo nice to share space with our boy.
2025 Baby!
January 1, 2025
I’m starting up daily blogging again! Yay New Year’s resolutions!
My intent, just so you know, is to not post publicly anymore. However, I haven’t figured out yet how to do that, so for now, you are still seeing this. I’ve lost track of who all gets my blogs.. some subscribe and I believe for them my blog shows up in an email, while some get my blogs in some other way… but honestly, I just don’t know how any of this happens. The truth is I’m feeling increasingly self-conscious about what I write and who sees it, so I’m planning to just make it all private. I’ve long said, I blog for me, and it embarrasses me to consider that lots of people, some of whom I don’t even know, are reading my daily musings. Like… who do I think I am to think these things have any kind of broad appeal? Well, I don’t. So as soon as I figure this out, it’s lights out. Thing is, blogs are, by nature, public. But don’t have to be. So… that’s where I am.
Anyway.
Long as I have you here (for now), I hope the dawn of 2025 finds you rested up after the holidays and recovering from all those sweets what was an exhausting year of body-shuddering politics. I’m deeply disgusted at the outcome of the November election and, as I write this, working mightily to find my way to a place of healthy resistance. That is, a recognition that it all sucks, and I will find a way to stay engaged, be smart about picking my battles and do what I can — when I can — to keep really bad things from happening. My goal is to be a useful cog in a large wheel. I trust the smart people who will be leading us in this fight and, importantly, building a foundation for victories down the road. I’m in.
It wasn’t all about politics though, of course. 2024 was full of all kinds of other things.. fantastic travel, exceptional family time, valued friend time, good health and fitness (minus two overworked knees)… lots of other stuff, too, from light to heavy: movies; puzzles; music; the amusements (and frustrations) of aging; life lessons; attitude adjustments; beautiful community; weathering the storms in friends’ lives.. and more.
This being the new year, I am in the middle of a 2024 reflection — a list, actually — of the year’s notable elements… always a satisfying look back and reminder of how wondrous life is. I’m addicted to list making and this is a fun one.
~~
With that… here are a couple of shots from the last day of 2024 and the first day of 2025.
Yesterday, Jim, Peter and I drove for the second time in three days down to Mountain View to take care of Marie’s kitty Tommy and then visit Marie in a hospital in Fremont where she ended up following a ghastly one-car accident on Christmas night driving home from our gathering at Monica and Dror’s. As of this moment, it seems as though she’ll not lose her left leg, though that is/was not certain after an accident that mangled her car beyond recognition and beat her up pretty badly (said leg, broken elbow, fractured cervical vertebrae, bruises overall).
As long as my blog’s still public, I won’t post a photo of Marie, but I will post some lovely photos from a walk we took at Baylands Park in Mountain View on the first sunny day in a long while! If photos were audible, you’d hear us mulling over Peter’s post PhD life and all the various paths before him. That conversation’s been happening a lot this past week and I imagine will continue for months. He’s still got a year to go..
Today was cold and dreary, perfect for hanging around the fire and watching the Rose Bowl.
(Yeah, no big screen TV in our living room… poor Peter has to watch pirated sporting event coverage on my laptop.. a bit pathetic.)
We had no real dog in the fight, but Peter was routing for the University of Oregon Ducks against the Ohio State team, because: Ohio (Michigan’s biggest rival). It was a blowout.. Ohio proved to be the far better team, much to Peter’s disappointment. Good to note: Ohio suffered two defeats this season, one to Oregon (who they beat handily today) and one to Michigan. So maybe there’s consolation there.
While the game was going on, Jim was fixing our garbage disposal which broke down (after 20 years) on Christmas Eve.
Not his favorite job.
And may I say, it’s great to be blogging again. Not documenting every little thing make me feel anxious. So.. glad to be back on the horse!
Life of Wry 