“Beware the pine tree’s withered branch! Beware the awful avalanche!” (-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

“You can live for years next to a big pine tree,

Honored to have so venerable a neighbor,

Even when it sheds needles all over your flowers or wakes you,

Dropping big cones onto your deck at still of night.”

(-Denise Levertov)

“If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.” (-Charles Lindbergh)

I’m still always fascinated with flying, even though the TSA and airport security have made traveling much more interesting, shall we say.

I’ve learned that if I arrive early enough, remove my shoes, sweater or jacket, empty my laptop into the designated bin, and then just remember to pick up my camera among my belongings sliding through the X-Ray machine, it’s relatively smooth sailing once I'm through.

I sometimes try to envision what exciting voyages people are embarking upon as I wander through gates at the airport and watch people bustling through the corridors. Have you ever listened to that list of connecting flights your fellow passengers are taking, so you know which gate to head to upon arrival at the first destination? It's always amazing to me. Sometimes, instead of listening for "Iowa" I'll imagine I'm heading to Istanbul instead.

I’m also fortunate that on a plane, I’m just like a baby who falls asleep in a moving vehicle. I can doze and cat-nap easily the minute those engines start up!

I do enjoy having a window seat, and love to look out to see what’s below, whether it’s fluffy cottonballs or snowy miniature vistas below.

It’s a good thing I like to fly, because this week alone, I’ll be on and off of about seven different flights.

“I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on.” (-Jean Kerr)

Happy Monday, all! San Francisco-bound today…

"To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat." (~Beverly Nichols)

I came home from my latest trip to a familiar sight: whenever I’ve been gone and return home, Joe has a sweet ritual he always goes through. He vacuums, cleans, and he puts flowers out virtually everywhere for me to enjoy.

My eyes dashed from surface to surface, and each spot held a little vignette he’d arranged, and he knew I'd appreciate them all.

Our knockout roses are still going strong, and the impatiens are up to my knees out in the yard, so Joe picked some to scatter around our place for me. It's nice to see what caught his eye in our garden.

He tucked a few zinnias into arrangements, and the blue salvias in our kidney bean bed are still amazingly blue and sending out color like crazy. Little miniature coral and yellow roses are still blooming as well.

Bright pink and yellow lantana are crowding out other flowers, enjoying the cooler temps we’ve had lately, and the Mexican sage and Mexican petunias are vibrant and happy now that fall’s made its presence clear in Cary, NC.

Joe’s very brave with his use of color, as you can see!

It was a joy not to have to head to a hotel room again, but it was even more pleasant to actually smell roses!

And while I certainly don’t expect flowers all over upon my return…it sure is nice!

"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world." ( ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844)

Have a most pleasant weekend, all—I’ll be on the west coast Monday and back in the saddle again.

• "Early in life, I was visited by the bluebird of anxiety." (-Woody Allen)

As might be expected of creatures so heavenly in color, the disposition of bluebirds is particularly angelic. Gentleness and amiability are expressed in their soft musical voice. Tru-al-ly, tru-al-ly, they sweetly assert when we can scarcely believe that spring is here; tru-wee, tur-wee they softly call in autumn when they go roaming through the countryside in flocks of azure.
- Neltje Blanchan, Birds Worth Knowing, 1917

(busy busy doing expense reports, mailing off information to hotels for the next trip, getting packets of information off to interested students, etc…back soon! Have a great Thursday, folks!) Good to be home for a few days...

"Sin on a Stick"

So who knew today was “National Chocolate Day?”

At least according to the folks at Valparaiso University in Indiana, today, it was! The building where I met with students had the aromatic smells of chocolate wafting through the halls when I arrived. A vendor was at hand, pouring out batter, making Belgian waffles, and generously ladling oozy chocolate sauces over what were prepared like corn dogs on a stick!

He dubbed these treats “Sin on a Stick,” and from the looks of the faces leaving the table, I think he was right.

Toppings included whipped cream, crushed oreos, chopped nuts and m&m’s. There were smiles all around, and throughout the day, as lines gathered, disappeared, and gathered again, I had lots of students suddenly expressing an interest in learning more about the environment today…

Who knew? Ahhhh, the powers of chocolate...Tomorrow, I head home after Trip#1...One trip down, 4 trips to go. Life is good.

"Chocolate is an antidepressant, which is especially useful as you start to gain weight." (~Jason Love)

The Titmouse (-Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Softly--but this way fate was pointing,
'Twas coming fast to such anointing,

When piped a tiny voice hard by,
Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,

Chic-chic-a-dee-dee! saucy note
Out of sound heart and merry throat,

As if it said, "Good day, good sir!
Fine afternoon, old passenger!

Happy to meet you in these places
Where January brings few faces."

(-from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The Titmouse”)

“It is never too late to have a happy childhood.” (-Tom Robbins)

I sometimes think about how different my childhood would seem to children today. Computers and electronic toys such as Wii, Xbox or Playstation didn’t exist when my siblings and I were small. How did we ever manage?(Claudia below with an enormous Patty Play-Pal doll.)

I remember we had lots of dolls…and a baby pram. My mom was pregnant with our little brother, so I suppose we were very conscious of "babies." She was home with us until my brother was in school, and then she worked as long as I can remember outside of the home, as a teacher. My younger sister Claudia had a “Patty Play-Pal” doll that was just her size and sometimes even wore her clothes. My father often used to mistake her for one of us. I remember I was sort of scared of her! (Sue with doll below)

Our Uncle Con gave us gifts we’d get excited about: I remember having a Cinderella watch I was thrilled with… (Sue and Mary Kate displaying our new watches from Uncle Con, before we even knew how to tell time)

And we had a toy piano and a work bench and pegboard that got lots of use. We loved our tricycles from him... (Sue and bike below)
and pedal cars… (Sue and pedal car below)

But more often than not, we invented things to do: we’d play dress-up, and devise our own imaginary games and activities. My mother told me once that she used to laugh that she’d hear us, all day long, saying to one another in excitement: “Let’s make-a-believe…” (Claudia as a fortune-telling gypsy, below) We loved to color and draw and paint. Our sidewalks always had hopscotch grids on them.

We were always stealing my dad and grandfather’s hats and gloves to wear… (Mary Kate and Sue in daddy and grandpa's hats with Claudia in crib below) I remember we organized a neighborhood "fair" and had all sorts of games and costumes involved. Our next-door neighbor had cap guns, which as a child, also scared me, and we loved to play with those and felt very daring doing that. I was a total wuss.

If it was raining outside, we’d sometimes play in the basement: I remember us draping bedspreads on an overturned card table, and we’d crawl inside the "tents" we created. (Claudia as Little Red Riding Hood below) We would pretend we were teachers, and my grandmother would pretend she was a student who wasn't too bright so we had to educate her about all sorts of things.

My son and his friends in the neighborhood sold lemonade and had great fun with an elaborate “stand” for customers to approach. We loved selling lemonade and cookies as little kids, too. We were happy just collecting chestnuts in a paper bag and shining them up. And we went to the park, where we played tether ball, rode swings, and made things like lanyards and baskets there.

We had lots of friends, but I was fortunate that I had my own built-in playmates in my three siblings, and I never felt bored. We weren't allowed to watch TV that often, unless we asked permission, and we were encouraged, as children, to read and ride bikes and find ways to entertain ourselves. We made macaroni-glued objects and strung buttons on strings for necklaces.

I suppose we didn't really have exciting toys, but we didn't know that--we had fun. I hope children today wind up with similar fond memories of their childhoods when they grow up.

"If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older." ( ~Tom Stoppard)

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

(-Albert Camus)

Oberlin College campus was beautiful again today, with folks basking in the sunlight on cooling grasses. It was a good day for a picnic.

Flowers are still evident in hanging baskets, but trees are starting to show signs of Fall encroaching: here in Ohio, there are red berries and leaves showing bits of rusts and yellows.

In the wee hours of the morning, in my hotel, we were awakened by a fire alarm that sent all of us outside as we were forced to evacuate the building, and the night air here in Oberlin was brisk indeed…

Some students were wearing sweaters, and scarves, signaling the onset of brisk days ahead.

I spent part of my day inside, thoroughly enjoying the beautiful art at the Allen Museum on Oberlin’s campus, where the credo is:

“The cause of art is the cause of the people.”

“Nature is my medicine.” (-Sara Moss-Wolfe)

Now that the hurricane winds have finally subsided, the weather is wonderfully calm and comfortable.

At Oberlin College in Ohio, today, the quad was verdant and lovely, and I spent some time relaxing on the lawns in the center of the town and campus.

Students were out making music in the grass, and boys and their dogs were bonding with Nature.

An albino squirrel stood, investigating the fallen limbs for nuts that might have been dislodged, and townspeople sat on benches relaxing in the sun and comfortable temps.

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” (~Rachel Carson)

“Life is either a great adventure or nothing.” (-Helen Keller)

Well, I am just now posting for the day because my travels have served up another adventure.

I had a weekend that consisted of a pitch-dark room and hallways at my hotel in Wooster, Ohio! The fierce 75 mph winds that were the residual remnants of Ike passing through the state came with a vengeance. No lights, no TV, no computer, but lots and lots of wind.

Trees were down today everywhere, and I had to detour several times on my trip through the state to my next destination.

It reminded me of the felled trees during Hurricane Fran in North Carolina some years ago.

Finally, tonight, I have power again, and I’m appreciating it all the moreso for having missed it this weekend! Onward…

On the road I passed an Amish family and my heart went out to them braving the elements as I drove on.

“We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.” (-Henry David Thoreau)