This is a test to see if we can now post to the site. If it works, thanks Momma!

It’s been a year since our page was updated, and so instead of waiting for Jef to post something (like I normally do), I opted to be pro-active for once and post something myself. I suspect my postings will not be as detailed as Jef’s, but it will feel good to say something about life with Jef and Sara after such a great year. So many things have happened!

En Garde!

In case you had not heard, poor Sara has been traveling tirelessly throughout the country on interviews at various colleges and universities. It has been stressful for Sara to have to travel so much (and for me and the dogs to be stuck at home without her!), but it is a testament to Sara’s excellence in her field that so many schools are interested in her joining their faculty. And, of course, it is exciting for us to plan a major life-change in moving to a new city and taking on new academic positions. As the process is winding down I have joined Sara on a couple of visits, and one included a stop in Boston this past weekend. It was a very pleasant and informative trip, and as a great bonus we got to stay with our dear friends, Wendy and Erik Nelson. They were exceedingly gracious to lodge us at their beautiful home in Wellesley — especially so close to the holidays! Definitely the highlight of our trip was sheltering ourselves in their cozy home from the blizzard that dumped a foot of snow on Boston while we were there. Wendy treated us to a lovely dinner including a spectacular homemade challah – which can be seen in the lower-right corner of the picture of Sara. (FYI, challah is a special braided bread eaten on Jewish holidays and the Sabbath. This was my first time eating it, and it was fantastic!)
The Nelson children – Rachel and Lauren – also entertained us with an impromptu concert of flute (Rachel) and violin (Lauren). Both played wonderfully before dissembling into a fencing demonstration using their instruments (shown above). This led into a full evening battle for intellectual and stochastic superiority in the ever-popular game of ‘UNO’. Of course the adults were hapless when facing off against the prowess of the younger generation. Eventually, we just had to send the kids to bed so that the grown-ups could win a hand or two! And if all of this were not enough, Erik introduced us to the sublime (and intensely addictive) joy of “cup flipping”. Haven’t heard of it? Well, clearly you are behind the times, as this is all the rage in the most elite social circles! Check out the excitement in the following video…

Happy Holidays! -j

The holiday season has definitely coming upon us. Another piece of evidence is the arrival of the annual holiday mask made by Sara’s talented grandmother, Lindsay. (Well, at least the arrival of a picture of the mask.) Each year, Lindsay creates a holiday mask and donates it to a local charity auction in Fort Collins, CO. This year’s mask, pictured above, is quite wonderful… and rather appropriate for this time of year. Centered on the theme of transportation, the mask seemingly vibrates with the hustle and bustle of people coming and going, with footprints (and paw-prints!) zig-zagging across the piece… perhaps much like holiday shoppers out looking for that special gift for a loved-one. Striking on our society’s concern over energy, the mask also emphasizes more energy-conscious modes of transportation, including public transportation such as buses and trolleys, and personal perambulation accomplished by bicycles, roller skates, and the good-ol’ fashioned “shoe leather express”. Consistent with this theme, the mask is coiffured with a lush garden of ivy and foliage. Perhaps I am reading a bit much into this piece, but I was most tickled by one of the details of the mask… specifically, rather “devilish” nature of the sole depiction of the most polluting form of personal transportation – the automobile. (A small car is located in the greenery just above the trolley on the left side of the photo.) The mask is certainly beautiful and illustrative of the artistic talent that runs throughout Sara’s family! More holiday postings to come soon…

We were blessed this year with a full Thanksgiving table… full of food, family, and friends! Sara’s side of the family – the Morgans – was especially well represented. Aunt Nancy came up from Murrell’s Inlet, and cousins Lee and Lindy made the trip from Fayetteville and Savannah, respectively. It felt really nice to provide Lee with a family getaway from the grind he is going through in his Marine infantry training. We also had a great time getting to know Lindy’s fiance, Kenny, who was charming and full of fun. We were also joined by our friends Barry, Craig, and of course our buddy Blaine (with whom it has been suggested that Jef shares a brain). Sara cooked all day to provide a wonderful holiday turkey dinner, and Nancy made lots of yummy sides. Everyone else brought along a dish to fill out the table, so in the end we had much more food than we could even handle! It was a great day and a lovely first visit from cousin Lee and Lindy. Aunt Nancy was wonderfully generous in making potatoes and dressing, two cakes, and a luscious salmon dip appetizer. She snuck off early Friday morning, but we hope to see her again very soon! Below is a fun picture of Lee, Lindy, & Kenny during a tour of Sara’s animal laboratory. We hope that everyone had a safe and joyous holiday!

With all of my focus on cleaning up the leaves in the yard, everything else seems to be suffering a bit. This became brutally obvious when I found the pictured spore sitting right on my desk! A poor comment on the state of my office tidiness, perhaps, but I found it to be a rather pretty ornament and a whimsical distraction to the day’s work.

Otherwise… the fall continues to unravel much the same, with Sara traveling to interview after interview and me holding down the fort with the pups while trying to get my applications in. (Guess I should have started on these a bit earlier!) We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with family and friends, and hopefully carving out some time to visit more family over the winter holidays.

Hoping this finds you all well… Jef

Have I lost my mind? Am I so incredibly excited by the pile of leaves that we made last week that I am reposting about the same foliage again this week? You might think so, but actually this is not the case. After a scant one week since we cleared our back and front yards of leaves, we had an even larger haul this week. We again filled both of our yard waste barrels as well as an additional seven 30 pound biodegradable bags. Sadly, there were still a ton of leaves clinging to most of the trees — taunting us — a harbinger of the continued weekend work yet to be done over the next several weeks! At least this week Jethro and Ellie Mae got to play in the pile!

We live on a wooded lot with about 40 trees of various sizes. This makes for an absolutely wonderful, serene home and the yard is simply delightful… until the leaves start falling! We have begun our battle to keep the leaves from smothering and killing our lawn, plants, and flowers on the ground. Sara and I spent all day on Sunday raking and blowing leaves, filling our two yard waste recycling containers plus nine heavy-duty biodegradable bags. We really can’t complain about the leaves, though, given the raw splendor of natural color we have been treated to over the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I did not think to get out my camera until about a week past its peak, but it was still breathtaking. I suppose my brethren in Vermont will argue that our foliage pales in comparison to theirs, and for the sake of peaceful coexistence, I will acquiesce. Here is one picture of our neighborhood and another with Sara hard at work.

If you would like to see more pics of our neighborhood and backyard, you can check out our Snapfish album by clicking on this link.

Sara’s sister, Misia, recently had a brush with fame! While preparing for graduate school, Misia is currently working at the La Brea Tar Pits, which are a famous cluster of tar pits located in Hancock Park in the urban heart of Los Angeles, CA. Asphalt (colloquially termed tar) has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years, forming hundreds of sticky pools that trapped animals and plants which happened to enter. Over time, the asphalt fossilized the remains, resulting in an incredibly rich collection of fossils dating from the last ice age. The research that Misia is doing is thus fascinating; but like most research endeavors, the day-to-day activities have a down-side. Specifically, for Misia it involves working in the pits themselves, which can be sticky & gunky, smelly, and… well, not too unlike Jef’s laundry.

A recent upshot to Misia’s work is that she was on-site for the filming of an episode of “Dirty Jobs” featuring Mike Rowe. This show, presented on the Discovery Channel, features jobs that involve people… well, getting dirty! The pic above shows Misia with the show’s host.

For more info about La Brea, follow this link.
For more info about “Dirty Jobs”, see this page.

Jef’s brother, Tony, and his wife, Kelli, are working on construction of their new house in scenic Jericho, VT. The cellar is complete, along with most of the framing and the roof. The family is very excited about the new house and it’s lovely view… and probably also ready to move out of the space they are sharing with Kelli’s parents!
The picture above shows the house in its current, under-construction state.

The “Green Mountains” from the construction site. What a view!