Resolute

We enjoyed having the Exiles round this afternoon for a festive cup of tea. The grown ups played several games of non-competitive Round Up, while the kids trashed the house - all good.

This evening the Man and I delivered our daughter to her second-in-a-row sleepover. After only about six hours sleep the night before I dread to think what state she'll be starting the next decade in, but anyway. Hats off to the fearless parent who is celebrating New Year's eve by letting her twins invite five friends each to stay the night.

Got any resolutions you care to share? I'm planning on completing my fair trade campaign with a Fair Trade Town declaration. I'm also aiming not to have to pay any more library fines (yeah, right, good luck with that).

Happy New Year everyone - all of us here wish you peace, health and happiness for 2010.

Open endings

Our automatic garage door stopped working just before Christmas, which was inconvenient timing. We've been getting in and out ok manually, still it was good to have a bloke come and fix it this afternoon.

The Man is feeling under the weather, and the Boy wanted very much to spend the day at home, so no great adventures or exciting outings today. The Girl was happy about this, too, as it freed her up to go off on a play date/sleepover - I guess we'll see her again tomorrow sometime.

The end of the year looms ever closer - how will you be celebrating, if at all?

Left cold

It has been a bitterly cold day. We decided to spend it at MASS MoCA - the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.


I have a rather uncomfortable relationship with a lot of modern art. I want it to inspire and satisfy, but so often it leaves me unmoved at best and at worst gets me quite riled up. That was the case with most of what we encountered today - though I did enjoy the scale of Sol LeWitt's vast wall paintings, and the joyousness of the artworks made from food and wrappers in the Kidspace gallery.

But a very excellent thing about contemporary art is the spaces it is displayed in - be they outdoors, custom-built or, as today, converted from an industrial building (a nineteenth century textile printing mill). That was definitely worth the journey.

Walking, in the air

The snow we'd been promised today didn't amount to anything much at all, which was quite disappointing. Still, it meant I was able to take two walks at Five Rivers - one with my parents and one with the Man. Everything was bright and crunchy. The wild turkey we've been seeing there since before Thanksgiving is still hanging out by the visitor centre and seems to have lost all sense of being wild at all.

This evening the Man and I abandoned the grandparents to their fate with our lovely children while we went to the movies (at the excellent Spectrum 8, a proper not-in-a-mall cinema). We saw Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. Though the plot didn't bear much close scrutiny, it was well directed and absorbing to watch. After the film, my own little Clooney look-a-bit-alike took me to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, so that was lovely too.

Just desserts

It's nearly half eleven, and we've just put the kids to bed. We've all been round at our friends' house eating dessert, drinking champagne and setting the world to rights. Very enjoyable it was, but now it's past my bedtime, never mind the children's, so that's it for now.

Tomorrow we're expecting snow...

Grudge match

We've been at a party tonight. Lots of good company and food, and a quality table football game. The Man and I found ourselves on opposing sides - always a risky scenario.

I was teamed with another female guest and my dear husband with the organiser of the local farmers' market. I tell you, when peacenik pinko commie types (Buy Fair, Buy Local! Let's make the world a nice cooperative place!) play competitive sports it can get pretty bloody.

We drew one game all, and would have played a decider but some small kids came along and took over. Probably a good thing - a marriage was in the balance for a moment there.

So, that was Christmas

We had a good one. The Boy joined us in bed at about 4:50am, but went back to sleep immediately so we didn't have to start opening presents until he woke up again and fetched his stocking at 7:30.

There was a goodly haul of gifts under the tree. Plenty of books to go round, a doll and some skating gear for the Girl, and a Playmobil dolphin pool for the Boy. Also a Meccano set, which the Man spent a long time tinkering with.

Of course, Grandma and Grandpa have been here to celebrate the day with us and make it extra special. Different combinations of us went for a walk in the snow, watched "Home Alone" and ate a Vietnamese fish curry. To end the day we all joined in a cooperative (i.e. non-competitive) board game called Round Up, where players work together to corral some horses (it sounds revoltingly worthy, but is actually a lot of fun).

And suddenly the day is over. Whatever you were doing today, we hope you also had a lovely time.

Seasons greetings

We've been looking in on NORAD tracking Santa all day - he's around the South Atlantic now and will no doubt soon be heading up to these United States. A certain member of the family is quite excited about this (though despite dire warnings not to shatter his illusions, the Girl and Boy have let on to Grandpa that the Man in Red might not be, you know, real).

Gifts have been wrapped, stockings hung up (just in case), and I plan on turning in early as the night could be a short one.

To readers near and far, be you friends, family or passing strangers, this blogger wishes you a Merry Christmas - or just a nice day if you'd rather.

Sugar brush

Another day of secret, Santa-ish behaviour. The kids were part of it too - well, for some of the time, when they weren't just acting crazy. There's something about this time of year...

Snow fell for several hours, but it was light and gentle and didn't do much more than whiten the grubby stuff left over from two weeks ago. I went out to clear the drive in the afternoon, started shovelling but realised I'd do better with a brush. It was like sweeping up sugar (and I know what that is like because I have baked with children).

How is our homeland coping with the latest snow? If you are over there, is there much near you, and are you enjoying it?

Mulled whine

It's not that I haven't done anything today - in fact I've been quite busy with one thing and another. But various people read this blog, including several who share a house with me and might be in line for some Christmas presents quite soon, so a little discretion is called for.

Are any of you out there ready for Christmas yet (assuming you celebrate?). Or is 365 days' notice never really quite enough?

Home front

Today, another cold one, we've mostly been at home. The kids watched a Pokemon video which then inspired them to rearrange all the cushions in the house and speak to each other strangely in squeaky voices - I am no closer to understanding (or wanting to understand) anything about Pokemon.

Grandma and the Girl did some cooking in the afternoon - there's a Christmas cake still slowly baking in the oven.

And this evening at dinner we played guessing games and the kids reduced their Grandpa to tears (of laughter).

Giraffe excluder

It was cold and rather beautiful down at Five Rivers today. The kids, as usual, had a dreadful time there - running through the crunchy snow, spotting deer tracks, admiring the amazing ice-formations in the streams and waterfalls, skidding pinecones across the frozen pond etc etc. Just dreadful. I can't imagine why we keep going there.

Most of us spent some time at the YMCA this evening watching a figure skating show. All the performers were local kids, aged between five and eighteen. Some were beginner skaters, some were pretty advanced and impressive. I was full of admiration for them all.

Tonight at dinner we were playing a word game and someone in the family thought his grandma used the phrase in today's title. Points for anyone who knows what she really said, and also for anyone who can describe what a giraffe excluder might look like.

A turn-up for the bookies

The Girl is so eager to skate these days that she had me take her down to the rink just after seven this morning to join in a freestyle skating session. When she had her lesson later in the day the extra practice showed and she did very well. We're all really happy that she has found something she so much enjoys doing.

Though it's perishing cold here at the moment, we haven't had fresh snow lately -unlike the UK, I gather. Could it be that Linton will be having a white Christmas and not us?

Peace and choirs

We've all just got in from a New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI) performance of King Island Christmas. It's a musical based on the true story of a remote Alaskan island community in the 1950s and is all about fearlessness and pulling together in the face of adversity. The positivity was a wee bit relentless, but it was still very enjoyable, with some great performances - and who could fail to admire a production that featured a lead singing role for a walrus-skin boat?

It wasn't our first music of the day. This morning we attended the school's annual, scrupulously secular, Peace Assembly. This year it was kind of a homage to the Beatles (the new music teacher plays in a Paul McCartney tribute band): All You Need is Love, Revolution, and Merry Christmas (War is Over) - the latter cunningly edited to remove any references to Christmas.

Downsizing

Lean times. We've opted for a slightly smaller tree this year...








Nah, not really.

















I took Mum and Dad out this morning to buy snowboots - by the sounds of it they'll be needing them for when they return to the UK.

Long haul

The Man left the house before 7 to set out on a marathon road trip to Montreal and back. All I know about his day is that he was allowed back into the USA on the return leg - he called from just over the border. As I write he's probably somewhere just south of the Adirondacks.

I made a much shorter trip this morning, up to school to watch the Girl's class giving power point presentations of Native American-style legends they'd written. I didn't catch them all, but those I saw were excellent. And the Girl herself proved to be quite the accomplished storyteller, reading her legend loudly and clearly and with lots of expression - I was impressed.

This afternoon it was my turn to do a presentation, on fair trade, to a group of teenagers at the local high school. I think it went OK. Whatever they made of my talk, I expect they will remember me fondly anyway as I brought them chocolate.

And this evening, one last cleaning offensive on the house before my parents arrived, looking in good shape after their long flight from Heathrow followed by a three hour drive from Boston. They went to bed about an hour ago and I'm sure they are sleeping soundly.

Over the edge

There's been much-tidying-in-the-house today, in honour of special visitors arriving tomorrow. (Not that it necessarily looks like we've tidied up, but everything is relative - and relatives are, we hope, not inclined to be too critical.)

I also managed a quick session at the rink and confirmed to myself that I've nailed those pesky edges. Learning to skate is so cool!

The Man's off on an international adventure tomorrow - just for the day, and he won't be flying. He's taking his French dictionary. Where can he be going, and will he get stuck in a snowdrift? Watch this space...

Bloody kids

Even without any Chanukah/Christmas celebrations in school, all the kids there seem to be winding themselves up into a state of pre-holiday giddiness. I'd meant to take a photo of my sewing class wearing the masks they finished today, but the lesson was so chaotic it slipped my mind. Most of the children in the group were already hopelessly over-excited before they'd even sat down, so the fact that any of them managed to finish at all was pretty miraculous.

Then when I got home with my own two little poppets they immediately fell into play-fighting, until there was an ominous silence followed by a mighty wail and I found my son curled up on the carpet with a tooth beside him. The Girl had kicked it out.

It was, thank goodness, one that had already been wobbly for a while. But still, there was blood everywhere and it was all quite a spectacle. At least the Girl was sincerely penitent, and happily brother and sister soon made their peace.

Gifted

I spent several chunks of this morning at the local Catholic School, which was holding a Fair Trade sale between Masses at the nearby church. As ever, I was there with my table of FT leaflets.

The sale was happening in the cafeteria, while in the main hall tables were set up and laden with Christmas gifts being donated by the congregation to various charities. It was an impressive quantity of gifts. Do you think people with religion tend to be more generous than those of us without? Discuss.

This afternoon the Girl had a skate date with a school friend, and the friend's mother and I also took to the ice. Ninety minutes hard skating takes it toll, and this evening I've been asleep on the couch.

Holding the front page

It was the Girl's turn for a lesson at the ice-rink today. Last year she was somewhat diffident about her skating class, but this season she is bursting with enthusiasm. Today she was the only one of her group of four to turn up, so she had half an hour of personal tuition and really enjoyed it. She was gliding about on one leg much of the time, looking very happy.

Later in the day the Man shifted the very last of our removal boxes into the house to make more space in the garage. They mainly contain books that are waiting for us to get them a bookcase. It was good to find some old favourites again, and particularly good to find a very special edition of (Not) the Linton News, which I've spent the last two years searching for, hidden right at the bottom of the final box. It made us laugh just as much as when it was first presented to us way back in the summer of 2007, shortly before moving out here.

Ice cold

My legs are aching this evening after an hour and a half at the rink earlier in the day. It has taken me a few weeks to really get back into the skating, but I'm hooked on it all over again now.

In today's lesson I was put to work learning "edges" - gliding one-footed in a curving line, on either the inner or outer edge of the blade. As ever with a new manoeuvre, to begin with I was convinced it was completely impossible. But towards the end of the session I had made some progress, and I think with more practice I might get the hang of it.

It has been considerably colder today, below freezing in fact - temperatures in the 20sF, and a chill wind making it feel even colder than that. Anyone who might be planning to visit from the UK in a few days time would do well to pack their warmest clothes...

Present danger

No new snow today, but, remembering what happened exactly a year ago, we're on the alert for more bad weather.

I visited the DIY store in the morning then came home and re-covered a chair seat, and mended a broken bed frame on which there will be No More Bouncing.

I also called in on Marshalls, which in the UK we would call TK Max. Of course it is jam-packed with "gift items" this time of year - motorized golf ball washers, snowball machine guns and such-like.

Have you spotted anything particularly giftworthy for your loved ones this season?

Inching higher

The local online forecast last night promised us up to one inch of snow for this morning. Here's our wheelie bin down by the road first thing, about half an hour after the garbage truck had emptied it, and about an hour before a snow plough came by and up-ended it into a snow mound.

And here's our patio table - as you can see, "one inch" turned out to be a bit of an under- estimate.



Schools closed and the kids were home for the day in one of the few weeks this term that didn't have a scheduled day off. Ah well. The Girl's friend came round and they had fun sledding, while the Boy spent about six hours listening to stories on audiobook.

Meanwhile I shovelled the drive - the ultimate winter workout.

Sally forth

While waiting for the car to be serviced today I called in on the Salvation Army Thrift Store. I like shopping in second-hand and charity shops because you never know what you'll find, and with "reduce, reuse, recycle" being the mantra of the modern age, buying other people's discarded stuff even feels a little virtuous.

This being America, where everything is bigger, the thrift store was more like a charity warehouse - a huge floorspace covered by shelves full of household goods and racks and racks of colour-coordinated second-hand clothing - everything from bras to bridal gowns. Not that I was particularly tempted by either of those items, though I did succumb to a brand new 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for 49c.

I eventually left with a carrier bag of goodies for the princely sum of $2.22. Alas, my next purchase - a full service and two new tyres for the car - set me back a touch more than that.

Even more sew

We were making masks in sewing class today. I didn't know what the kids would make of this project, but it seemed to capture their imaginations and they all came up with original decorative designs. Maybe I'll be able to share some of them with you next week when they're all finished.

Fast tracking

The Man writes...like last year and the year before, we attended the "Great Train Extravaganza" in the huge exhibition hall deep below Empire State Plaza. It was a quicker visit than before - to allow us to get away to meet friends for ten pin bowling - but we had time to select some fiendishly difficult model kits for the Boy to assemble with the help of any unsuspecting grandparents that may be passing by this way.

Meanwhile the Girl was also downtown with her scout group at the historic Palace Theatre enjoying a concert from the Albany Symphony Orchestra called "The Magic of Christmas".

What does the magic of Christmas mean to you?

White on cue

I'm sure the weather forecast this morning suggested there might be a light dusting of snow, nothing really worth mentioning...


In the end it snowed steadily from midday until after 9pm. There are two or three inches of the stuff out in the yard - not much by local standards, maybe, but in a normal year that would be a whole UK winter's-worth.

Just a taste of things to come, I'm sure.

The Girl in particular has had a jam-packed day: morning play date followed by skating lesson followed by another play date culminating in dinner and a movie at her friend's house. The rest of us went out to the cinema and saw Planet 51 which, despite rubbish reviews and the fact that the Man doesn't generally like animations, we all enjoyed a lot.

Quick march

Well, whatever next? Tonight I've been out marching in a parade!

It was the same local Holiday parade we went to watch a couple of years ago. The Girl and I were joined by our friends, carrying our Fair Trade banner and handing out chocolates. We were behind a vast crowd of Girl Scouts and just ahead of the fife and drum band bringing up the rear of the procession. There was no hanging around - we marched apace but were still nearly overtaken by the musicians several times.

At the end of the parade, while Santa disembarked from his fire truck and lit the tree lights we beat a retreat to a nearby church hall where homemade cookies, popcorn and Fair Trade hot chocolate were being served. Yum.

Energized by these refreshments, the kids then insisted on going to the YMCA for a swim. They should sleep well tonight - I'm pretty sure I will, too.

Saratoga strollin'

Tonight we've been up in Saratoga Springs experiencing the annual Victorian Stroll. And very fine it was too.

On this night of the year the whole of the main street is closed to traffic, buildings are lit up with twinkly lights and groups of Victorian-clad glee singers carol on every corner. Stores and busineses stay open late and lay on special events - book readings, singing acts, more carollers. Cheerful crowds meander up and down.

We enjoyed the festive atmosphere and Santa playing the saxophone in the street. Only the pair of reindeer in a pen didn't look like they were having much of a party - everyone else seemed to be in holiday mood.

Nightmare on Broadway

Another place we visited in Times Square at the weekend was the flagship Toys R Us store. It has its own Ferris wheel, an animatronic dinosaur and a giant Barbie house. The whole building heaves with people. It's a vision of Hell if ever I saw one (though actually, as my friend remarked, "Hell would be a relief after this".)

People were shuffling around, shoulder-to-shoulder in a kind of zombified daze - probably, like me, they were suffering from total sensory overload and beyond being able to remember their own names or why they'd come in, let alone recognize what any of the piled-high plastic was supposed to be. However, before my brain completely seized up I did manage to pick out a mountain of Geoffrey the Giraffe mascots sporting "Reduce Reuse Recycle" t-shirts. Toys R Us doing their bit for the environment, then - that's nice.

We beat a retreat as fast as the younger members of our party would allow, pleading lack of time. The girls were then able to spend the rest of the day accurately complaining that we'd spent longer in the toilet than in the toy store.

Utterly Charmin

Lest any of you were supposing that our recent trip to the City was all quality shopping and high culture, I should mention that it did also feature the Charmin bathroom experience.

We were accosted on the sidewalk in Times Square by a man dressed as a toilet, who urged us to step inside and make use of the free facilities. He promised it would be something of a party. There was a lively video being played on a loop backing up his claim.

An escalator took us up to a floor space celebrating all things toilet. A long queue of people snaked through barriers such you find at airport security. At the end of this an enthusiastic fellow pointed you to whichever cubicle had just been vacated, while simultaneously applauding whoever had just left it.

Business done, ahem, there were then opportunities to dance with pompoms, pose on a giant 'throne', or go online and Twitter about what a fun time you'd just had. Then you could buy a pair of souvenir underpants on your way out.

It was all quite strange.

But as an advertising strategy clearly quite successful, as I'm sure I'm not the only person who has blogged about it.

Dam fine day

So. Yesterday we went to explore the Lisha Kill Preserve, about 40 minutes from home. We drove in convoy with the Boy's buddy's family. At first we overshot the Preserve (it has a tiny, subtle sign marking the entrance - not for nothing have I heard it described as "Niskayuna's best kept secret") and we ended up on a rather bleak mudflat beside the Mohawk River instead. The kids all loved this and got stuck into building dams in a little stream.

When we did eventually persuade them to come in search of our target destination it was already nearing dusk. Still, it was well worth seeking out the Preserve, which boasts ancient woodlands and a beautiful gorge. The trails offered a few challenges, with some steep parts and a lot of rootiness underfoot. Though the children began to get tired towards the end of the two-mile hike it was definitely a great outing.

City Break

The Girl and I got back from the City after midnight. We'd had a good trip - some retail therapy (for the Girl and her friend) tempered by some culture (museums) and a bit of hoofing it through the amazing Manahattan canyons.

Yesterday evening my friend J and I left our daughters in the borrowed apartment playing wih their new American Doll accessories while we crossed Central Park to visit the Guggenheim. It was my first visit - awesome place! The main exhibition was a Kandinsky retrospective, and the chronological progression of the paintings really lent itself to the spiral gallery. Though the artwork was interesting, to be honest I was much more impressed by the building itself. It's a truly amazing space. My efforts to capture it on camera failed dismally, alas.

Back in the Capital District, after a lazy morning we headed out to a new destination in the afternoon - but more of that tomorrow, I think.

Getting on the treadmill

The Man writes...currently we are borrowing a library DVD called "The Family Man", about a single man who wakes up one day to find himself in an alternative life with a wife and two kids. With Albaniana and the Girl in New York, and the Boy at his best buddy's house all afternoon, my experience today was roughly the opposite.

I took the opportunity to catch up with a couple of temporary exhibitions at the New York State Museum - one on "Photographs of the Great Depression" and one entitled "1609" about the Dutch who first sailed up the Hudson to this part of the world, and the Native Americans whom they met here. Both exhibitions were small but carefully put together.

After wandering around the bleak, lonely and windswept Empire State Plaza, I then made my way to the YMCA where for the first time I checked out the extremely well appointed fitness room. It's so long since I've been on a running machine, I hadn't seen one before boasting a TV with 77 channels. Despite all that entertainment, it was still one of the longest fifteen minutes of my life. And of course I had only burnt off the calorie equivalent of about 1oz of chocolate.

Albaniana AWOL

The Man writes...currently Albaniana and the Girl are out of town - or rather "On The Town", enjoying 24 hours leave in New York city.

None of us had the energy for the Black Friday sales, which were apparently predicted to draw 134 million people this year, many of them queueing from very early morning - in fact we all went ice skating instead.

Turkey trot

We've mostly been at home for our third Thanksgiving here, spending time together and separately as the mood has taken us. We've diverted ourselves variously with card games, computer, jigsaws, books and snoozing.

In the afternoon, with the weather better than forecast, we headed out to Five Rivers for a bit of a hike. As we drove along I remarked on the general lack of Thanksgiving lawn ornaments - normally such an integral part of a US celebration, at the very least I expected to see an inflatable turkey. But no, nothing...

...unless you count this - and yes, it is, it is! An inflatable Pilgrim turkey!

Once at Five Rivers we met the same real live wild turkey I'd seen last time I was there, smugly stalking around the parking lot making known that it had survived the day. We saw several deer too, and a whole family of Exiles.

I served up dinner this evening. It wasn't anything particularly special - the kids still won't eat anything but their usual fare, and I managed to char a piece of salmon almost beyond edibility. And yet it was one of the jolliest meals we've had together in a while - raucously sociable. It was easy to feel thankful for being a family.

Space missions

The kids are on their Thanksgiving break already, and since the Man had the car today I got to enjoy their company at home all day lo-o-o-ong.

No, it was pretty good in fact. The Girl is on a mission to make her bedroom into a cool and trendy hangout, so we spent quite a bit of time in there rearranging things to make exciting spaces.

The Boy, meanwhile, mainly busied himself with some Space-related projects of his own.

Many American friends have asked me over the last few days if our family will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Clearly it doesn't have the same resonances for us as it does for those brought up with the tradition, but even so it's a holiday I'm happy to embrace. I have a thousand and one reasons to be thankful, and time spent reflecting on that fact is time well spent indeed.

Strictly Come Line Dancing

It was Special Friends' Day at school today. Our neighbour from across the street came as our guest and demonstrated just how special she is by nobly sitting through a whole programme of songs with barely comprehensible lyrics being sung by kids she doesn't know. But I suspect even she was impressed by the Girl's class performing the Cotton Eye Joe dance routine.

And I was pretty astonished to watch my daughter enthusiastically leaping about on stage, hair flying and grinning from ear to ear. Was this really the same Girl who on previous occasions has had to be practically dragged on stage?

For your delectation and delight, here's a very brief reprise (in our sitting room) of that show-stopping performance:

Just sew story

Monday again, school sewing day. It was bedlam as usual, but most of the kids somehow or other managed to make a bird decoration.

Putting it on ice

The Man writes...I have spent several frigid hours this weekend at the local ice rink. Yesterday I took the Girl for her weekly lesson, where she practised her backward swizzles, crossovers, and bunny hops.

This evening I returned to watch an ice hockey game involving a work colleague. The speed of the play is very impressive at close quarters. I had joked beforehand of wanting to have a go, but if I had been allowed I think I would have been crushed. Even my friend (#27)'s stick was several inches taller than me.

The Girl enjoyed what may fairly be called a "hundred mile sleepover" last night. During the long trip to drop her off I turned in desperation to a local FM channel which has started running non-stop holiday music. However, since in a total of little over an hour's listening I heard "All I want for Christmas is you" three times, I don't think I will be tuning in all the way up to December 25th.

No Hessitation

I've just got in from an evening in Troy. The Capital District Local First organisation has been holding a 'bash' there - lots of local businesses selling their wares and advertising their services. I was there promoting fair trade, as usual.

It was quite fun. As I hoped, I had some interesting conversations and made a few potentially good contacts. I was surprised at how many people from my side of Albany had made it out to Troy on a November night, possibly just for this event. There was live music, and an improvised fashion show incorporating clothing and jewellery from various stalls.

A friend had driven me to the venue, but the Man and Boy picked me up (the Girl, as usual, is off on a sleepover elsewhere). We planned on having a quick glance round the stalls together, but right by the entrance the very first thing the Boy laid eyes on was the Hess collection of his dreams, being sold by a salvage merchant at rather keen prices. He has had his heart set on the Hess helicopter for many a month since seeing it on a collectibles website. There it was! Lucky Boy - thanks to a kind-hearted Daddy, now it's his!

Hard spun

The teacher had me trying all sorts of new things in today's skating lesson. Backwards one-foot glides. Bunny hops (more like a little pony gallop). And my first go at a spin.

Think of the London Eye, revolving almost imperceptibly: that's about how fast I was spinning, and yet it left me feeling completely dizzy and sick. In fact I still felt slightly queasy a whole two hours later. It was worse even than sitting on a kids' roundabout at the playpark. I guess that blows my chances of dazzling the crowds at the next Winter Olympics - shucks.

Egged on

The Man came home from the supermarket the other day with some Sandwich Pockets - wholegrain pita bread pockets, pre-opened for ease of filling.

Well, I don't know about needing my pita bread pre-cut, but it seemed to be made with healthy ingredients at least. The Man and I were both struck, however, by one of the serving suggestions on the back of the packet: 'Fill with scrambled egg for your ride to work'. A scrambled egg sandwich? That's just not right! And the thought of trying to eat one while driving to work...

Any ideas for other food-on-the-go no-nos?

Well eeled

I've been out this evening at the Friends of Five Rivers AGM. There was an interesting speaker from the Nature Conservancy, talking about the Hudson. I hadn't realised before that much of the mighty Hudson River is actually an estuary - it is tidal for 150 miles, from the Atlantic all the way to a dam at Troy, just beyond Albany.

Also, great lengths of the river look nothing like they used to, having been extensively altered by man over the centuries to accomodate shipping. Though there are efforts afoot to try to re-naturalise the Hudson, if it completely reverted to its original state it would soon be difficult to navigate again - so there's a tension (as there nearly always is) between doing right by nature, and giving up a human benefit.

We also learnt about the mysterious 200 foot deep sink holes that exist in some parts of the river, and (another mystery) the migratory habits of eels. They live in the Hudson for thirty years, then head off to the Sargasso Sea - and though no-one has ever seen them do it, presumably they spawn there for thousands of semi-translucent baby eels come swimming back.

One heck of a sparrow

I spend a lot of my time these days slaving over a hot computer writing up fair trade-related stuff, and so it was this morning. But after lunch I was determined to enjoy the sunny day that was going on outside, so I fixed up to meet Exile #2 at Five Rivers for a little hike.

We saw deer and birds and a frog, and even a little troll guarding a bridge. But the most remarkable sight was spotted round the back of the visitor centre. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like this on a British bird table.

Leaf it out

The Man and I were raking leaves in the backyard yesterday until it was too dark to see. Today I finished up, loading the remaining leaves onto a tarpaulin and dragging them round to the collection point on the front lawn. There's a mighty heap out there now, and the job is pretty much done for this year.

Most of my sewing class managed to finish their little bears from last week, though some of them got so distracted arguing over who got to use which colour of glass-headed pin to stab their creations with that I'm amazed they managed to get any stitching done at all.

Launch-ready?

Another day, another Fair Trade Fair. Again it went well - a whole different range of lovely crafts on sale, plenty of visitors and more signatures and useful contacts for me.

I wasn't involved in the planning of either of this weekend's events - they were arranged independently by two different local churches. This community just seems so ready to become a Fair Trade Town!

The Boy, meanwhile, had an exciting few hours launching rockets - he has found a new passion!

Fair Trading post

I spent most of the day with leaflets and petition at a Fair Trade market held in a church hall (and don't be thinking pokey little English church hall - this was b-i-i-g). There were loads of traders representing craftspeople from many corners of the developing world - Malawi, Vietnam, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, to name just a few. The event was well attended, some stalls virtually sold out of wares, and I had some good conversations and added four more pages of signatures to our growing petition. Everyone agreed that it was a great success.

Tomorrow I'll be doing the same again, but in a different church hall with different vendors.

The rest of the family has also been busy. The Boy joined his buddy in a rocket-building excercise (the launch will take place tomorrow, weather permitting). The Girl started her new session of skating lessons and apparently enjoyed it, and has since been having a giggly time with friends. And the Man has been chauffering us all around, visiting Price Chopper and such-like excitements.

(Swim)suited and (ice-)booted

Skating lessons resumed today, so I was back at the rink trying to remember how to do crossovers and turns and the like. Being on the ice also gave me a little preview of winter coldness - before the hour-long session ended I had lost all feeling in the toes of one foot.

Otherwise, apart from a dining assignation with a Man (yes, that Man) in town at lunchtime, I've mainly been preparing a display to take to two fair trade markets happening locally this weekend. I'm hoping both will be opportunities to collect petition signatures and rally support for our Fair Trade Town campaign.

The Man has gone out swimming this evening, though it took us so long to track down his trunks that we wondered if he'd ever make it. But why is it that things always seem to turn up (after half an hour of searching) right there in the first place you looked?

Hold the front page!

I've had a busy day, to-ing and fro-ing, attending meetings and running errands and so forth. I bought a copy of the local paper because I'm in it this week! I'm quoted verbatim, which makes me sound almost sort of inarticulate I would say, but no matter. This evening I baked rosemary bread, which is quite unusual of me, so the house smells very nice.

What are you all up to?

Mail order

The children were off school for Veteran's Day today. It was sunny out, so in the morning I had them leaflet the area with flyers for a couple of fair trade events. There were predictable mutterings about this idea when I announced it, but of course once we were out on the street racing from mailbox to mailbox it all turned out to be quite fun.

Mostly, though, we stayed at home. The Girl had a friend round. My sewing student came over and sewed a doll's apron - a satisfying project, completed in a single session.

This evening I've been reading Jeremy Strong's My Brother's Famous Bottom to the Boy. (NB If you are secretly reading this at work with the sound on, sorry if you followed that link...) Much chortling. It's the sort of daft humour that just hits the mark with seven year-olds. He's hoping to persuade his teacher to read it to the class and share the joy.

Far flung field trip

The Girl's class is studying the Iroquois, and today they had a field trip to the Iroquois Museum, about an hour away from school. I got to go along too as a driver/chaperone.






The Museum building is reminiscent of a traditional longhouse and contains a great assortment of Native American artefacts and artworks. As part of our school trip we had two presentations from a history professor of Mohawk ancestory.

The native people's story is long and complex, especially following the Europeans' arrival on the scene, so that part of the presentation was hard to follow (though fascinating, and definitely something I plan to revisit). More accessible was the display of tools - "Not weapons" - spears, arrows etc which the professor had crafted himself using traditional skills and materials. The undoubted highlight of the trip was when, asked how far he could throw a spear, he led us all outside and showed us. Far! He used what he called a throw-stick, like a hooked extension of his arm, to propel the spear about a hundred feet further than anyone expected. 50,000 year-old technology, still highly effective.

Ready, teddy...

...no, hang on. Not ready yet. The kids, in between eruptions of great silliness, managed to get about halfway through making these little bears in sewing class today. Most left their works-in-progress with me, nicely labelled, for completion next week. A couple, including my youngest student (who is only five but has about the best concentration of any in the class) insisted on taking theirs home to finish.

The Girl, meanwhile, was at Computer Club, learning to programme games. She declares the process to be "Not as exciting as the alpine slide at Jiminy Peak, yet not as boring as...being bored". Computer programmers out there, feel free to comment.

Get behind him

The annual Halloween-party-with-panto scheduled for last weekend was postponed, due to flu, and took place this afternoon. A fun time was had by all, oh yes it was. To be honest, though, I'm not convinced that our hostess has yet brought America with her when it comes to pantos, and neither is she - even after three years of trying.

The Girl and Boy, meanwhile, feel keenly that they are being deprived of their British birthright because they no longer get to see panto in a theatre come the holiday season. The Man has been looking into the possibilities, but alas, it looks like the nearest one is in Vancouver.

Tomorrow (Monday) I hope you will all be downloading this cheesy little number. You can do for Children in Need, or just for the lead singer: believe it or not he's our friend Maths Expert's nephew - oh, yes he is!

Horsing around

The Boy made other arrangements, but the Man and I accompanied the Girl to a horse-riding experience with her Girl Scout friends. They were there to earn their 'Horse Lover' and 'Horseback Rider' badges.

To qualify as a Horse Lover you have to know something about horses and how to look after them, and a thorough instruction programme was laid on by the 4Ms Farm in Castleton. First, an introduction to equine vocabulary (mares, geldings, withers, girths, measuring in hands etc). The girls were taught the basic anatomy of a horse (did you know horses have very small stomachs but their intestine is 75 feet long?), and learnt about horse welfare. They tried their hands at grooming, and then at last the horses were tacked up ready for the Horseback Rider part of the action.

Most of the girls hadn't much, if any, riding experience (our Girl had none at all), but the horses were all very used to kids and novices and were reassuringly placid. The riders all did several circuits, led round by stable assistants, and those that wanted had a go at trotting. There was some sort of horseback frisbee-throwing contest, which the Girl won!

Everyone agreed that they'd had a great time. It was, however, perishing cold out, and by the end of the session I for one was happy to move on to a cafe for a warming cup of hot chocolate.

Official colours

We had to pick the Man up from work this evening, and the Boy siezed the chance to take a quick spin round his Dad's office on a wheely chair. I took to musing on the colour grey.

What does grey evoke for you?

An overcast day.
The concrete of a multi-storey carpark.
Old once-white underwear.
Dullness.
Depression.

Office furnishings.

Why are office furnishings so frequently grey? Is it a deliberate effort to create an unstimulating environment? Is there an unspoken rule that work is meant to be dull, therefore your surroundings should epitomise all that's dreary? Or is it simply that grey doesn't show the dirt? All I know is that my heart sinks whenever I enter a grey office, and I'm so glad I don't have to try and work in one.

Having said all that, I have to be honest and tell you that the Man's office isn't 100% grey. There's a daring splash of beige here and there, for 'accent'.

Holey moley

I looked out on the backyard this morning, and saw some of these:

It's not the first time we've had moles. They seem to come and go, and since we're not too fussy about our lawn we tend not to mind them. But out of interest, does anyone have any mole eviction tips? For such tiny critters they do seem able to make a disproportionate amount of mess - hmm, not unlike a couple of smallish inhabitants of my house, come to think of it.

Dolled up for winter

Meet Eliza. She was sewn together (by the Girl) a week or more ago, then was left sitting around bald and naked. Tonight we added her hair and got her dressed - in borrowed clothes for the moment, hence the air of rummage sale chic. She's well wrapped up because we're into another cold spell, with even a slight chance of some snow tomorrow.

Election day

The Man writes...of course the famous Revolutionary phrase "no taxation without representation" doesn't apply to us, but for American citizens today was election day. (Is it really a year since that day?) The public schools were closed and a huge range of posts, from Town Supervisor and Town Clerk to County Coroner, were up for grabs. I wonder what is the difference between a Democrat coroner and a Republican one?

Yesterday evening I went to a public talk about Nanomedicine, which turns out to be a huge and potentially exciting field that is growing particularly quickly over here. I'm sure we will hear a lot more about it.

On our trip to the Fields Sculpture Park, the camera battery suddenly ran out. But I think even with a very basic camera phone and relatively few pixels you can get an idea of how striking this scene was.

Lady of the rake

Among other things I managed to rake the front yard this morning, moments before the municipal Noo-noo arrived to schlurp up all the leaves. That's pretty much it for the front, as there are almost no more leaves left to fall in it. Just the backyard to deal with, then bring on winter.

This afternoon my sewing class was up and running once more, and the children were in energetic form again after all that poorliness last week. We made mice. Quite nice.

Fields trip

A new adventure today - a visit to the very wonderful Omi Fields Sculpture Park.

The Exile took his family there a few weeks ago. What a cool place! At first the kids (our own, plus a remnant from last night's sleepover) just wanted to run between exhibits, so we spent some time doing that. Then we returned to the visitor centre and they refuelled with Kettle Chips before doing another circuit of the grounds, taking in a whole different set of sculptures and installations we'd missed the first time round.

Recent wild winds have blown down most of the autumn leaves already so the trees in the park were bare, but this lent them a sculptural quality which made the man-made exhibits look very much at home amongst them. Today's weather was calm and mild, the sky was blue and our spirits were high. There were hardly any other visitors at this excellent (and free) venue - I can't understand why.

Rain dance kid

We accompanied a motley crew of witches, zombies and a sumo wrestler on a trick-or-treating expedition tonight. The Girl and most of her classmates hunted in a pack, and managed to drag home a goodly haul of candy treasure. Their spirits were not dampened by a torrential downpour, though their outfits were, and the three girls from the party that we eventually brought back to the house for a sleepover were keen to change straight into their pyjamas even though it was still only 7:30pm. Since then they have enjoyed a candy feeding-frenzy and giggle-fest. The night ahead might be a long one.

The Boy, meanwhile, was out with a different group and had a less successful evening having not managed to set out before the rain. He mournfully asked me why there can't be a back-up Halloween for years when there's bad weather.

We haven't had too many visitors to our own house, though the ones that came soon got through our assorted lollies. Probably the most memorable were the nun-and-gorilla duo.

Has anybody out there seen any particularly original costumes this year?

Rooms with a view

The Man took the day off work today and we decided to visit Olana.

Olana was the home of Frederic Church, a 19th Century landscape artist who enjoyed great fame and fortune in his day. He bought land overlooking the Hudson River, and decided to build a Persian style house inspired by his travels in the Middle East. The result is something quite impressive and unique. Although 'Persian theme' today may suggest TV home-makeover-show-style gimmickry, in fact inside and out the design works and makes for an attractive and comfortable-looking home.

Being an artist Church appreciated light, so the house has many large windows. And as a landscape artist he appreciated his surroundings, too, and he planted trees and built a lake to enhance the spectacular views from the large verandahs. Today's weather was grey and cloudy and we weren't seeing the place at its best, but we could imagine how magnificent it would be to look out on a fine day across the river to the Catskill Mountains.

We had a little time left before hurrying home to meet the school bus, so we dropped in on the historic town of Hudson. It has, we've been told, pulled itself up from hard times, and its attractive main street is now lined with art galleries, antique shops and restaurants. There was also this shop, which might be my Dad's Shangri-la.

On the fence?

I spent most of the day sewing, though as it's a Christmas surprise for someone I can't say any more about that.

Our clocks haven't gone back yet so these days it's pretty dark when we first get up. This morning I peered out across the backyard and thought I saw an ENORMOUS squirrel creeping along the fence. But when I looked again, I realised it was just a deer (and no, it wasn't actually on the fence, it was wandering across the yard beyond ours).

Deer are something of a nuisance here to be honest, eating shrubs and spreading ticks (though who lived round here first? Not humans with decorative garden borders, I think), yet I still feel excited when I see them around the place. There's something magical about such large wild animals sharing 'our' habitat.

Potluck

We've been up at school this evening for a potluck dinner - for the Boy's class and younger years. It was not as well attended as usual due to all the recent illness (though many kids are back at school now, so presumably most have not actually had flu). Still it was a good chance to catch up with a couple of people I haven't talked to for a while.

I was raving on to one of them about TED Talks, a favourite diversion at the moment. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before in this blog, but anyway, if you have an empty twenty minute slot in your day sometime - perhaps when you've just poured yourself a cup of coffee - you could do worse than spend the time watching a short lecture about something amazing or amusing or inspiring - sometimes all three. Have fun picking at random from this intellectually stimulating potluck spread.

Back to the school gathering. I sensed I was not alone in being wary in my food choices. With so many germs around there was a risk that anything homemade might not do a person much good. But you only had to look at the luridly colourful store-bought cookies to know that they were never going to do anyone any good. In the end I took my chances with a couple of salad items (one of which I'd prepared myself). Will I be poorly by morning- who knows? I'll just have to take potluck.

Disarming experience

This evening I had a choice of staying at home with my family or going to a talk on the necessity of nuclear arms abolition. I chose the nuclear option.

Now the Cold War is over we tend to forget that the risk of nuclear annihilation is just as horrifically present as it ever was - possibly more so. As humans I think we probably can't cope with contemplating more than, say, a couple of causes of potential total destruction at a time, so while we get our heads round pandemics and global warming, the nuclear issue sits on the back-burner. Dr Lawrence Wittner, tonight's speaker, suggests we come out of denial and take it a bit more seriously, and gave a convincing (to my mind) argument for nuclear abolition - though of course, he was preaching to the choir.

Not literally the choir, though we were sitting in a church. The lecture had been organised by local Catholics, including my neighbour who had invited me. There's a popular misconception in Britain that American Christianity is all extremely conservative and obsessed with banning Harry Potter and opposing gay rights. But there are also plenty of Christians here with a broader (and more broad-minded) agenda, and although I'm no believer I felt quite comfortable in their environment tonight.

'Tis the season to be poorly

For the last few days I've been feeling throaty and under the weather, so today I took myself off to the doctor's. It turns out it's just a viral infection, and not my annual bout of strep throat/tonsillitis. Which is good news I suppose, except that it means I can't take anything that will make it go away more quickly, and if this is a normal year the strep throat proper is still to come.

In any case, with regret I cancelled my after-school sewing class - but as it turned out more than half my group were off sick themselves anyway. In fact fully two thirds of the Boy's class were absent today with a range of coughs, colds and fevers. I guess the 'flu - H1N1 or otherwise - may have arrived in our corner of the northeast.

I could put in a word here about my own kids' current rude good health, but any parent knows that's just asking for trouble.

Patch of sunlight

After yesterday's torrential rain today has been much milder, and we even saw the sun for a while this afternoon (we've been short on sun this Fall). We made another apple-picking trip to Indian Ladder Farms - still teaming with happily appley customers - and lugged home a bagload. The man in the orchard booth also invited us to help ourselves to a souvenir from amongst the remaining stray pumpkins in the patch. Here I am, stalking one:

Grave error

The Man writes...we've had nearly two inches of rain today. Respect to the four or five stall holders who turned up for the local Famers' Market and stood in heavy rain all morning with undampened spirits. When I went down there were no other discernible customers but plenty of cheerful stoicism on display along with the fudge, cheeses and leafy greens.

In the afternoon I took the ninja Boy and zombie cow-Girl to a fancy dress Halloween party. Having been misinformed, we turned up - rather unfashionably - all of an hour early, so we beat a hasty retreat to the nearest "Stewarts" where the kids warmed-up for the party candy-fest with ice-creams that were (as usual) bigger than their heads.

The party was relatively ghoul free for the time of year. However, there was a large grey tombstone in the living room which read "RIP" and below that, "Your Name Here", which seemed a bit er... near the knuckle.

I was frequently asked if we do Halloween in England. I can't really remember anymore. Do we?

Japanese Boy?

I was running around doing Fair Trade-related errands this morning, then in town investigating curtain fabric at lunchtime for a soft-furnishing project.

I realised I was feeling hungry, and suddenly had a yen (geddit?) for Japanese food, so took myself out to lunch. Pretty good. There are many Japanese restaurants in this part of the world, all entirely staffed by Chinese people as far as I can tell. I do like the presentation of a Japanese lunch, everything arranged in a compartmentalised serving box so that each kind of food is distinct and doesn't interfere with another.

The Boy prefers this style of eating, too, and does not care to mix foodstuffs willy-nilly on a single plate if he has anything to do with it. Perhaps he has some throwback Japanese ancestory - though off the top of my head I can't think of a single item of Japanese cuisine he would ever eat. Well, rice, I suppose - but do Rice Krispies count in this context?

The Invisible Woman

I was waiting outside the local High School this afternoon. It's not a place where I usually loiter, but I was supposed to meet a young Fair Trade friend there. It was turning out time, so I was surrounded by teenagers in their prime. There's nothing like being around teenagers to make you feel really old - much worse than being with smaller kids.

I felt, like, soooooo geriatric?

I might also have felt awkward and conspicuous, but luckily being over forty years old rendered me completely invisible to them all.

As I've mentioned before in this blog, I was never really a teenager myself - too square. I tell you, turning forty was such a relief, like reaching a place that deep down I'd always known I belonged.

My High School associate never materialized (though we don't know each other well - perhaps she just didn't see me) so I waited in vain for half an hour, before finally creaking away.

Garden room, deceptively spacious, fully furnished

Hands up if you've ever seen a woodpecker in Britain. I bet you haven't (even if you live there). I've heard them in the woods there often enough, but the British woodpecker is (in my experience) a shy bird and rarely shows itself.

Not so the American woodpecker. They show up all over the place. There were loads of them in the garden this morning, pecking their way up and down our pine tree. Maybe the rise in temperature over the last couple of days had tempted some tasty insects out.

One small woodpecker even spent quite a long time investigating the bird box that the Boy and I made and put up over the summer - only the second bird I've ever seen go near it. The woodpecker spent a long time peeping in the entrance hole, and even popped inside for a bit. I like to think it was admiring the walls, on which (before we nailed the lid down) the Boy had drawn assorted furniture and pictures in frames for the comfort and enjoyment of prospective tenants.