Farther over the river and through the woods…

Last month, I blogged the trip that my ordinary family made from our house to my in-laws’ house for  Thanksgiving.  Those random thoughts and observations from the road are the kind of things that I find interesting to read, even if no one else really cares.  And since I enjoy it, I decided to do the same thing today as my family drove to my parents’ house for Christmas.  We began our trip yesterday afternoon by driving to my in-laws’.  That cuts about three hours off the total time, and when the total time includes every daylight hour, it’s nice to start a ways down the road. This morning, the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., and I skipped my morning shave and shower – don’t need to be presentable to anyone today.  Thus began an amazingly efficient day…

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Oatmeal, juice, and coffee for breakfast.  Check the weather, and get a report from my father-in-law who brought in the newspaper.  Looks like we have some ice to deal with from last night’s freezing rain.

Get the older girls going, but let Youngest Daughter sleep.  She generally doesn’t eat much for breakfast anyway.

Amazingly, the family is packed and on the road by 7:40.  Not much traction on these residential streets, which isn’t a happy situation, but I’m optimistic that things will be fine once we get to the toll road.

My blogging machine is up and running.  Hoorah for Ordinary Spouse, who once again records my dictations (and adds snarky comments that I have to filter out).  At Thanksgiving, she was writing.  This time, she’s typing on our laptop.

The ice is pretty bad on the country roads, but we go slow and don’t use the brakes very much.  Youngest Daughter has a breakfast of cheese and zwieback (“feebuk”) in the van and the girls watch the pink beginnings of a sunrise over Amish farm fields.  We are all filled with anxious waiting for the “fast road” – some of us hope for traction and some want to watch a DVD (which doesn’t get turned on until then).

The toll road (I80/I90) is all that we hoped for – dry and vehicle free.  Cruise control is set at 70 mph and we’re moving right along.  Well – moving right along until…

We stop at the first rest area in order to deal with the breakfast coffee, which has wasted no time in working it’s way through our systems.

Excerpts from random conversations between the adult passengers in the front:

• What is a “turnpike”?  (One of us knows the answer and quizzes the other.)
• The amazing typing skills of Ordinary Spouse.  She never looks at the keyboard, but she never makes a mistake, either.
• How has Google become so large?  I realize that they seem to do everything I ever want to do on a computer, but I’ve never paid them a cent.  (i.e. I’ve never followed any of their advertising links.  I don’t even look at them.)

By 9:30 a.m., we’re twenty miles into Ohio.  The Little Mermaid prequel is playing on the DVD player in the back.  Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Party Doll and Other Favorites” is playing in the front.  We drive past an orchard and under clouds (yes, clouds) of birds that have been getting drunk on rotting fruit.  We run the windshield washers to clean the windshield…

Ordinary Spouse makes a phone call to my parents to let them know that there is a good chance that we’ll be there by supper time.  At milepost 77, she breaks out the snacks for the first time: aquatic animals (goldfish) or land animals (animal crackers)?

Shortly after 10:30, we’re back on the road after our second rest stop at milepost 100.  Curious George is now playing in the back; Rich Mullins in the front.  The adults are having more random conversations.  I don’t know if it’s the daylight, or the grim determination that comes with a long day of travel, but it would appear that all of our conversations are going to be somewhat random.  (Often, we have our deep conversations when we travel after dark between Illinois and Indiana.  The trip is short, and the girls all go to sleep.)

The traffic is getting a bit heavier now before  lunch.  We get the first hints of sunlight, and I also express my appreciation for a friendly driver aware of what was going on around her.   (She was going to pass me, but saw that I was also overtaking the vehicle in front of me.  Since we had three lanes, she pulled to the outside, even before I started signalling.  We need more drivers like that.)

Then I express my frustration that there are considerably more drivers in the passing lanes than in the right lane.  Look folks – most of you aren’t passing anyone.  Pull over and stop clogging the road.

Going around Cleveland, Curious George has ended, and we’re all getting restless and ready for lunch.  We stop at the rest area at milepost 197.  Three of us eat at Au Bon Pain (which is French for “it’s a good hurt”) and two of us eat at McDonald’s (which is English for “greasy”).  After getting gas from the rest area food, we also get gas for our van.  That and some Starbucks to stave off afternoon drowsiness and we’re ready to go again.

I request some music to keep me awake – a mix CD which leads off with Guns ‘n Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”.  Ordinary Spouse asks what the lead singer looks like, but then decides that she doesn’t really want to know…

It’s time for naps, but the girls don’t nap when Ordinary Spouse naps, so her nap only last for about fifteen minutes.  By about 2:30 p.m., we’re into Pennsylvania and going south past Pittsburgh on I-79.  Simon and Garfunkel are now in the CD player (such uplifting songs – “I Am A Rock” and “Cecelia”).

The road signs are typical for Pennsylvania roads, warning of weather that doesn’t exist and road work that isn’t happening.  The houses in this area were built in the first half of the last century and cling to the hillsides.  They’re crowded together, just like the lanes of the road that we’re on.

By 4:00 p.m., we’re around Morgantown, and on I-68.  The passengers are getting antsy, because the West Virginia welcome area didn’t welcome us (closed for the season).  Mary Poppins is playing in the back seat, and the parents are discussing health care and the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ack!  The Maryland welcome center is closed, too.  Things are getting desperate by the time we make it to Keyser’s Ridge at exit 14.  At a quarter ’til five, we get back on the road.  Next stop: Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Twenty-eight miles to go.  It’s time to be there.

The last bit of light is fading from the sky and the Indigo Girls are the last CD of the day as we descend the mountain into Cumberland.  At exit 43B, our time on the interstates has ended.  Twelve minutes later, my father is opening the garage door for us.  5:20 p.m.  Five hundred miles in under ten hours.  It’s probably a record for us, at least with children.

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As I type this, the cousins are all nestled all snug in their beds.  May the Peace of Christ be your most wonderful gift this Christmas.

Black Friday, Amish style

While the rest of the world was trampling over each other at Walmart this morning, my family went to the Amish bulk food store in Shipshewana.

As we neared the store, we saw a buggy cruising through an intersection a bit late, giving us this quote of the day: “Did that buggy just trot the red light?”

Once we got to the store it was surprisingly empty.  We stocked up on the usual items: flour, cocoa, spices, quinoa.

Some big guy with a NASCAR jacket took a big handful of cheese samples.  Just reached into the cup and grabbed them.  No toothpicks involved.  Youngest Daughter: “Can I have cheese?”  Me: “No.”

As we were leaving, we observed a lineup of around twenty buggies along the side of the building.  Gives new meaning to Black Friday.

Weekend in Iowa

I’m so grateful that we enjoy spending time with our families, no matter which side of the family we’re talking about.  Yesterday, we returned from a weekend in Iowa, spent with my wife’s extended family.  Some highlights:

• We stayed at Ordinary Spouse’s aunt and uncle’s place.  The girls got some quality time with their cousins.
• The house is in the country.  You can see the stars, unlike in the ‘burbs.  OS and Middle Daughter saw a meteor.
• Lots of farm cats.  It seemed like the daughters used every free moment to play with kittens.
• Saturday was gorgeous – over 70 deg F and sunny.
• They have a small piece of wooded land a short distance from their house.  We decided  to spend the morning there, travelling via hay ride.  How many times do you get to do that in November?
• The highlights of the morning included hunting for heffalumps, swinging on a tire swing that looked like a horse, and diving in leaf piles.
• For lunch, we had a picnic with food cooked over a camp fire.  OS’s uncle is a machinist for a university physics department.  He started the picnic cooking fire with magnesium shavings from the shop.  How cool is that!
• Speaking of picnics, it seems like everyone in that family knows how to make good food.  Kudos to OS’s aunt for an extravagant picnic.

OS’s uncle mentioned how he hoped the kids got to make some memories.  I really appreciated that – it’s such a great gift to give to your children.

An open letter to John Denlinger

(Executive Director at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center)

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Hi, John,

You know all those open letters that take people to task for one reason or another?

This isn’t one of them.

I only wanted to thank you (and all of the Laurelville staff) for a great Association weekend.  Ok – maybe I’ll blame you for the weather, but that’s it.

I know that during the past year or so, you’ve gotten to know my parents and in-laws (especially my dads) a bit.  However, I don’t know that I’ve shared my own Laurelville story.  And that got me to thinking – what is my Laurelville story?

My first memory is of the big rocks in front of the Lodge.  At the time, I was unaware that the place was “Laurelville”.  It was just a place with climbing rocks that were fun for a young child.

During the summer when I was eight or nine (I can’t remember any more), I came to summer camp for the first time.  I think I was scared early on, but things must have gone fine.  I came back every summer after that until I graduated from high school.  And the summer after high school, I was part of summer staff.  Also during those school years, I was at Laurelville quite a few times for Allegheny Mennonite Conference’s annual meeting.

In between my sophomore and junior years of college, I spent one year of voluntary service time at Laurelville.  For most of that year, I worked in the dining hall.  During the summer, I was a counselor again.  If anyone asks me, I tell them that this was the best year of my life.

Along the way, I met, proposed to, and married my wife – all at Laurelville.  Since then, we have usually managed to make it to Laurelville once or twice a year for a reunion or Association weekend, despite bouncing from Indiana to Michigan to New York and now to Illinois.

Now, reflecting back, I don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that almost everything that I believe or feel passionately about has been influenced by Laurelville.  My reflections began this past weekend with hospitality…  

• I learned about hospitality from working in the dining hall.  To this day, I judge the hospitality of everyone else in the world by the standard I learned there.  It is a high standard to maintain, but I encourage you to embrace it as a joyful challenge and not a burden.
• Along those lines, I learned that Jesus didn’t drive people away from his table or fellowship, and that Laurelville wasn’t going to do that either.  There are many times that the Church has done a less than perfect job of sharing Jesus’ love with everyone.  I encourage Laurelville to continue taking risks – practice radical hospitality in welcoming everyone to your tables.
• I learned about service, which frequently was synonymous with hospitality.  There were always people to serve, and they came in all ages.  It was amazing how meeting a small need, like delivering luggage on a golf cart or providing an extra pillow, would open up opportunities for larger needs to also be met.  I learned something profound by leading the song, “Teach me to see, in every face that I see, the face of Jesus”.  (And believe me – I led that song many times.)
• I learned about creation and about stewardship.  It’s hard not do that when you are surrounded by the Laurel Highlands.  I learned to listen for creation’s voice “eagerly longing for the revealing of the children of God.”  In learning to be a steward of creation, I learned a bit about taking care of other areas of my life, as well.
• I learned a little bit about why the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children.  I learned that it’s hard to love more purely than a four-year old who teaches you the sign language for “friend”.
• I learned a lot about family: my family and God’s family, traditions, respect, values, and legacy.
• I learned that all of these things are connected and can’t be compartmentalized; and that authentic belief, faith, and theology are more about living and doing than thinking.

So – that’s my Laurelville story.  It’s possible that there isn’t another place in this world more precious to me.

Thanks again for a fun weekend.  I’m excited by the things that I see happening, and I’m looking forward to getting back again.

Sincerely,
ordinary (mostly)

An evening along the Yarra

I had an evening to myself for a walk along the river, and Ordinary Spouse wanted some photos.  (Make sure you click on the panoramas so that you can see the full size.)

Gull

Art

A couple enjoying the river.  The Melbourne Aquarium in the background.

Sandridge Bridge with Flinders Street Station in the background

Eureka Skydeck (left) is the tallest building in Melbourne

Looking east from Sandridge Bridge

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Enjoying the South Bank at night

More from Australia

A few more tidbits from my time at the SRI ‘09 conference in Melbourne…

Government House reception

Last night, all of the conference delegates were invited to Government House, the residence of the Governor of Victoria.  Check out the invitation:

It was a very nice reception hosted by the Lieutenant Governor.  We were given the opportunity to tour the state rooms.  (Ordinary Spouse may wish to show some of the website pictures to the ordinary daughters.)

My fancy hotel

Since I’m not a fancy person (despite the efforts of my three princesses), some of the things in my hotel strike me as funny.  For instance, I have a pillow menu.  I can order my selection:

I don’t actually know which pillows I have right now.  Since they gave me six different ones to begin with, I figured that I could make do.

I also have three phones in my room.  Who needs three phones in a normal-sized hotel room?  There’s a phone by the bed, a phone by the desk, and a phone by the…  Well, let’s just say I won’t be making any phone calls with that last one.

Australia travels

Well – I’m writing from down under.  I left home on Thursday and arrived here in Melbourne* yesterday for a scientific conference on synchrotron radiation instrumentation.  I wish I could remember all of the stories that I wanted to tell.  Alas – jet lag has wiped half of them away.  But here are my random observations for anyone who cares.

* Note: as far as I can tell, Melbourne should be pronounced “Mel-burn”.  Of course, if you say it that way, no one in the States will understand you.  “Oh – you mean Mel-Born?”

(Welcome to O’Hare International Airport.  The journey starts here.)

Getting there on time

When it comes to air travel, I’m paranoid about missing my flight.  Even though I began with a domestic flight to Los Angeles, I still treated it as an international flight.  I figured that I should get to the airport two hours before the departure time.  And I asked the limo to pick me up early, just in case the traffic was bad.

This, of course, insured that there would be absolutely no problems whatsoever.  I was at the gate at 2:00 pm for a five o’clock flight.

Flying with children

I have a soft spot in my heart for parents who are flying with young children – especially when I’m not the parent and the children aren’t mine.  While waiting at the gate, I spotted a family of three – two parents and a one-year old girl with shoes that squeaked every time she took a step.  The girl didn’t appear to be too excited by her surroundings.  I thought to myself, “I hope that person who sits beside that family is not disturbed by fussing children.”  Guess who sat beside them?

I showed the girl pictures of my own girls, and we played peak-a-boo.  Soon into the flight, she was asleep and didn’t make a peep the rest of the way.  It turns out that I had a seat near them the whole way to Melbourne.

Full flights

Gone are the days when you could stretch out into an empty seat beside you.  There were none on my flights – they were all overbooked.

Oxygen masks

I realize that United Airlines wouldn’t want to alarm their passengers with the flight safety video, but it had one of the more bizarre moments that I’ve seen.  During the video in the part about oxygen masks, they show a nine seat block of passengers.  Everyone is just smiling and chatting away happily, when all of a sudden the oxygen masks fall.  Had none of them noticed that the cabin had just experienced a drop in pressure and that the captain had announced that they’d need an emergency landing?  But no – there is no surprise or panic on any of the faces when these masks suddenly appear from nowhere.  Everyone carries on their smiling conversations while calmly putting on the masks.  This was not a reality TV show.

Planning for jet lag

My trip had three legs: Chicago to Los Angeles to Sydney to Melbourne.  Once in Los Angeles, I started planning a way to deal with jet lag.  I figured that I need to try to stay awake until the middle of the flight, and then sleep as hard as I could.  An acquaintance from work also gave me a melatonin tablet with instructions to take it at the time when I hoped to be falling asleep (i.e. around the time that I’d be going to bed in Melbourne).  Supposedly, this will help re-adjust the body’s sleep cycle.

I didn’t do too badly in this regard.  I think I stayed awake until about 7 pm Melbourne time, which is 4 am Chicago time.  Of course, sleep was never very restful on the airplane, but I think that I managed to get about six hours.  It turns out that my biggest challenge was Star Trek.  The most recent film in the series (the one that is the prequel to all the others) came on right in the middle of what should have been the middle of my night.  Alas – I haven’t seen this one before, and of course I couldn’t sleep once I started watching.

As I type this after being here for 24 hours or so, it seems that I’ve adjust pretty rapidly to the change in time zones.  By getting out and walking during the afternoon and evening yesterday, I was able to avoid the dreaded early evening nap.  I actually stayed awake until about 10:30 pm and about five and a half hours of sleep before getting up at 4 am.  It should be enough to let me make it until a normal time tonight.

The day that wasn’t

When the history of my life is written, it won’t have Friday, September 25.  I’ll exaggerate for the sake of the story, but not by too much.  My flight left Los Angeles around 10 pm on Thursday.  We crossed the International Dateline at nearly midnight.  In other words, I went from 11:59 pm on September 24 to 12:00 am on September 26.  And so, no September 25 for me.

The flip side of this coin is that when I return to Los Angeles from Sydney, we’ll actually get there before we leave…

Is it Mars or is it Australia?

You may have heard about the dust storms that swept Australia recently.  There was an orange haze all around Sydney and we couldn’t see the ground until nearly the time to land.  Once on the ground, we could look at the sun directly without negative effects.  (This was at about 7 am.  However, as the sun got higher in the sky, it also got brighter.)  Happily, Melbourne didn’t experience the same dust storm.  Here, it’s just cold and rainy.

Fancy hotel

I think that this is the fanciest hotel that I’ve ever stayed in.  See the opaque glass on the left side in the picture below?  That’s the bathroom door.

Here it is a shot with the door open.

Here is the bathroom itself.  It’s all wood and stonework.

I have a bathtub and a walk-in shower.  That other door in the picture below is for the toilet room (for lack of a better name).

Last night, they turned down my bed and left three cinnamon sticks in the room.  The hallways have hard wood floors, and there is hardwood paneling throughout.  And here is the view from my room during the day…

And the night…

Those are views of the Melbourne Southbank river walk.  Really nice place.

Footy fans everywhere

The Grand Final of the AFL (this would be the superbowl of Australian Rules Football) was contested yesterday in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.  The Geelong Cats defeated the St. Kilda Saints by a score of 80 (12.8) to 68 (9.14).  It turns out that this stadium (which holds 100,000 people) is just about one mile east of my hotel.  When I arrived, I didn’t notice any crowds, because everyone was already at the stadium.  My supervisor and I were ready for some lunch, and we enjoyed watching the first quarter in a pub with some of the locals.  I watched the rest of the match in my room, and I think I actually learned quite a bit about the game before the end.

Afterwards, I was ready to get outside for some supper, and that’s when I met the swarms of people.  Everyone was wonderfully civilized, even though there were plenty of folks from both sides.

Back to the room for cricket

Elsewhere in the Australian sporting world, the national cricket team has travelled to South Africa for the Champions Trophy tournament.  Here is yet another sport that I didn’t really know much about.  However, after watching Australia and the West Indies play last night after I got back to my room (as well as seeing India vs. Pakistan this morning), I have a bit of an idea of what’s going on.  By the way, the boys from Australia (275-8, 50 ovs) beat the West Indies (225-9, 46.5 overs) by 50 runs.

This must not be the time of the year for seafarers

I wanted to go to a church this morning, and I thought I’d visit the Mission for Seafarers, an Anglican meeting place very close to the hotel.  Supposedly, mass was to be at 9:30 am.  Unfortunately, when I got there this morning, the doors were locked and nobody was around.  Maybe there just aren’t enough people boating on the Yarra River at this time of the year.  After all, winter just ended.

So close, yet so far

I have found a bubble tea store.  (I say ‘a store’, rather than ‘the store’, because I know that there are more.)  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the bubbles ready yet when I stopped by this morning.  Despite this, I had a very enjoyable walk this morning, and found my first Australian geocache – a virtual cache highlighting an art installation.

And that concludes this blog entry.  It’s 3 pm local time, and it’s time for conference registration.  Later tonight, I’ll have the opening conference reception.  Then the fun (i.e. the scientific sessions) start tomorrow.