Visitors from another world

One very underslept Girl was returned to us this morning, so I guess that rates as a successful "no-sleepover".  She didn't manage to muster any visible energy for the rest of the day.  I hope she catches up with herself tonight because she has a New Year's Eve sleepover tomorrow.

We had visitors in the afternoon.  Yesterday at the dentist, her son interpreting for her, my refugee friend offered to come and clean my house.  When I told her no, no she didn't need to do that, she admitted that really she just wanted to come and see where I lived.  Fair enough.

So this afternoon I collected her - and several other members of the family - and brought them over for a visit.  It was fun, even though the dog - still on loan from next door - scared the toddler (simply by virtue of being a dog - he didn't do anything scary and he's scarcely bigger than a guinea pig).  We looked through some photos and books about Burma, while the kids played with toys (including the dolls' house and the singing Christmas penguin).  Then we piled back into the car and I drove them home again. 

What people who have spent most of their lives in a refugee camp in Thailand make of an average American suburban home, I can't really imagine.

Dog days of winter

It has been a funny old day, with different combinations of us to-ing and fro-ing, and the Man slightly feeling that he's running an exceedingly cheap taxi service.

The kids were up early - the Boy's buddy had stayed overnight and was spending the day with us. I took the Girl for a skating practice first thing.  Then later in the morning I was called out to take my refugee friend and her son to the dentist.  After lunch the Girl needed a ride across the river to visit a friend, and the Man went on from there to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles for an eye-test to renew his licence ("Would you like to try reading the chart first without your glasses? Go back to the third blue floor tile and no cheating now!").

Soon after getting home from that he went out again to fetch the Girl and get her to her evening skating lesson, and himself to the YMCA for a run.  Then we all scarfed down some dinner before I set off to deliver the Girl to a sleepover (her first teenager's birthday party. Yikes.), calling in on the library on the way home to pay off my final fines of 2011.  And now the Man has gone back to the Y to take the Boy swimming...

The most restful presence in the house today has to be next-door's dog, who is with us again for another overnight stay.  He can hardly be bothered to go out, never mind take a ride in the car.

No-show snow woe

It has been much colder today, with a biting wind.  Not at all nice to be out in.  It even tried to snow a bit this afternoon, but nothing has stuck.  I'm pining for white scenery - compared to our other winters here this one is freakishly unsnowy.  This time last year, for example, we were up to our knees in the stuff.  This was the scene at Five Rivers on Christmas Day this year.  

A this-and-that day for us, then - the children seeing friends and the adults odding about.  The Man tried to take the Boy and his buddy to play glow-in-the-dark minigolf, but discovered it was closed for the winter this year, which about limits indoor diversions to museums, skating and ten-pin bowling until further notice.  As for outdoor pursuits, well, if it doesn't start snowing soon skiing isn't going to be much fun...

Could be a long, long winter.

Out of the closet

In our bedroom the Man and I have a spacious walk-in closet (what in other cultures might be a called a "room").  Inevitably, because it's behind a door that closes, all sorts of junk ends up in there.

Today I emptied it out and sorted through everything.  It was very satisfying.

There are things that do rightfully belong in a closet - the sort of things that are useful occasionally, like sleeping bags and extra quilts, suitcases and wind-up gramophones.  Also a small stash of emergency gifts in case of unexpected birthdays.  I've now made space for some of my fair trade campaign materials (posterboards and such-like) which until now had just been propped against a wall.  I haven't quite managed to part with the unpacked box of books, or the stack of pictures which we clearly don't love all that much or we'd have hung them up by now.  But I have made the space cleaner and tidier and altogether less appalling, and that's a good thing.  Also, I found a favourite sock that has been missing for months.

Now just the rest of the house to deal with...

Going cold tofurky

You will of course be wondering what a tofurky really looks like (we were).

Voila! 

And as for the flavour?  Well, let's just say that it tastes as it looks - not very much like a turkey.  The Man thought it was OK.   I wasn't too convinced - though surprisingly it's not bad cold.  Just a couple more days of torfurky sandwiches ahead of us now...

Happy Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas - we hope you did too.  Thank you to those who sent gifts, they are all much appreciated.

A while ago we suggested to the kids that they might like, ooh I dunno, a cruise in the Bahamas for Christmas?  But they weren't interested.  What they really, really wanted was to stay at home in their pyjamas all day, and...

..a singing penguin.

Result!

Seasons greetings

The house is tidy, the presents are wrapped and the tofurky is plucked and in the fridge.  The children aren't quite in bed, but at least they are in their pyjamas.  I think we may actually be ready for Christmas.

The Girl declared today that she has a new favourite seasonal song - we share it here as our novelty festive gift to you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa to all!

Special delivery

The kids still had school, but the Man had the day off today.  That gave us the chance to make a joint shopping expedition, and also to have lunch out.  We went to "Sushi X", where the Man and colleagues had dined yesterday, and enjoyed munching our way through some tofu dishes, spring rolls, edamame and veggie sushi.

When we got home and looked in the mailbox we were surprised to find a Christmas card from some neighbours.  Not that we don't have a Christmas-card exchanging sort of relationship with them (they are a friendly family, good company, and they've often been kind enough to help us out in various ways these past four years).  No, what surprised us was that they'd sent their card via the mail: stamp, postmark, US Postal Service delivery-van and all.  And though it's true suburban American houses are generally more widely-spaced than British ones, even so - these are our next-door neighbours. Our mailbox is actually only eighteen paces from theirs. 

We were promised snow last night, but it didn't happen, just drizzly rain.  We haven't seen any of the white stuff since that freak snowfall at the end of October.  It hasn't even been especially cold most of the time - the kids have yet to wear their winter coats.  Dream as I may, I'm not convinced the children will be listening for sleigh bells in the snow this Christmas.

It must be nearly Christmas...

... the school bus drivers are wearing Santa hats.  As was the venerable Director of Five Rivers Environmental Education Center when I called in there this morning on an errand. 'Tis the season to be silly.

The Girl got to eat buche de Noel (log-cake) in French class, in an event billed as a "cultural tasting", which was really a Holiday party.  The Boy brought home a little bag of goodies from his teacher - a candy cane and a sachet of "snowman soup" (aka hot chocolate).  You'd think it was the last day of term, but no - they have one more full day of school tomorrow.

I was in town doing last minute shopping.  Jo-Ann's, the big box craft store, has a 70%-off sale going on all its Christmas goods.  And of course in the next aisle along, the Valentine's Day stuff is already on the shelves...

When Life gives you lemons...

Could there be a better example of American positivity?  I found it in the long letter from the school nurse advising of an outbreak of nits in the Boy's grade.  In amongst the detailed descriptions of critical ten-day treatment schedules and directions to boilwash all our belongings was this cheery sub-heading:

Park and pray

The Man writes...soon after arriving in the States I remarked to a local work colleague about the number of Drive-thru ATMs here. "Yes," he agreed, "it's one of those things, once you have them you wonder how you ever managed without." Which wasn't where I was going at all.

Of course, should you wish you can cash cheques (banks often have Drive-thru tellers as well), pick up fast food, collect prescriptions or watch a big screen movie without leaving the driver's seat. And the historic First Church in Albany even offers another service:

  

Sayonara

You've probably been wondering how my dentist is getting on.  Well, very nicely thank you, especially having had yet another extensive (& expensive) go at my teeth this morning.  I've had so many crowns by now I'm practically royal, and I feel almost relaxed lying back in that reclining chair.  Almost.

This afternoon I said goodbye to my Japanese friend.  She and her family are returning to live in Japan, flying tomorrow.  I think she's happy about moving home - although they'll be settling in a new city, so it might not seem exactly like home for a while.  It might be tough for her sons who have come to enjoy being here and have made many friends. 

In other news...bowing to cultural pressure (and at the insistence of the Boy, who even included this on his Christmas list) we have finally put up outdoor "holiday" lights.  Before you get too excited, no, not an inflatable Santa.  Just this restrained but twinkly acknowledgement of the season.

Wild tofurky hunt

Bagged us some Christmas dinner today...

Hide and sleep

I'm blogging rather late tonight - we've just got in from a party a friend's house.

It was fun, a chance to catch up with friends we don't see often, and to meet some new people too.  While the adults ate, drank and chatted, numerous kids (including our own) first watched a movie, then played out in the backyard for way too long considering tonight's sub-freezing conditions (half of them came in looking slightly blue), then played an endless game of hide-and-seek around the house.

As the adults started to flag and think about heading home, the children seemed to reach their peak of energy - fueled no doubt by a generous intake of caffeinated fizzy drinks.  We did eventually persuade ours to leave, and the Boy will just have to try out his "perfect hiding place" another time.  And now - to bed!

Great rep

The Man and I loaned out the children and went to the theatre tonight.

We'd been given tickets for Man of La Mancha at the Capital Repertory Theater, better known as Capital Rep.  From the outside it's the least attractive theatre I've ever seen - it looks like a multi-storey carpark.  In fact, the theatre is kind of tucked within a parking lot (which ironically you aren't allowed to park in at night when you might conceivably be going to, I dunno, the theatre?). 

Anyway, once inside, Capital Rep is a wonderful theatre space.  It's small, what they call "an intimate setting", so everyone in the audience is pretty close to the stage and almost in amongst the action.  Tonight's sold-out performance was excellent, with a talented and versatile cast.  The Man and I will no doubt be whistling To Dream the Impossible Dream for weeks to come.

More furtive than festive?

Although I'm generally pretty busy with things going on here, I do still like to keep up with the hot topics of conversation back in our UK hometown.  So I check in on the forum page of linton.info from time to time (ok, daily), to find out what's goin' down on the mean streets of our favourite South Cambridgeshire village.

Reassuringly, not too terribly much it seems.  There's still occasional sniping about the infant school field being designated a village green; someone recently got very hot under the collar about the signage for this year's Guy Fawkes Night fireworks display; there's been a verbal punch-up going on for weeks about whether or not a junction out of the village onto the A1307 is badly designed or not; and there's endless comparison of the three village pubs (seems like the Wagon and Horses is currently on the ascendant, while the Dog and Duck may have lost its way...).  Well, you get the drift. 

Most of the people who comment do so anonymously.  I do actually know who a couple of them are, and can take a guess at a couple more.  But most of them I can't identify.  They may or may not be people I'd recognise if I ran into them on the High Street.  Anyway, one of them has just suggested online that they all meet up for "festive drinkies". 

It's quite a funny concept, and I'm interested to know how it all works out.  Some of the forum regulars are enthusiastic, but others are more wary - perhaps not wanting to shrug off their anonymity cloaks.  But the latest comment I've read on the thread, which picks up on an earlier comment, suggests a solution (and a potential West End-quality modern farce):

I like Numbnut's idea of loitering in order to check out the suspects before making yourself known. What if most people say they can't make it, but are actually there?

BTW, if there's anyone out there still reading this blog, do feel free to use the Albaniana comment section to organise your own seasonal get-together (and then let me know if you choose to ignore each other or not).

Fun with Friends

A long session at Five Rivers this evening - the monthly Board meeting, preceded by an extra meeting to discuss plans for celebrating the 40th anniversary next year of both the Environmental Education Center and the Friends of Five Rivers. 

There's to be an event for each season: a fundraising gala in the spring, a family fun day in the summer, Fall Festival (of course) in the autumn, and rounding off with a winter carnival.  A lot of work, a lot of fun, it should all be good.  A much-needed new building for the Friends-sponsored "Guided Schools Program" (the scheme I sometimes teach on) is also scheduled to open sometime in 2012.

More immediately for me, I'm working on selecting some student photos of Five Rivers to display at the visitor centre, and putting together a sort of diorama to go on show at the local library next month. 

How did you/would you celebrate your fortieth?

Birthday blessings

The children and I were invited out to a birthday party tonight, hosted by my refugee friends. 

Although it was only the actual birthday of one child in the family, they were holding the celebration in honour of all four childen.  Not having been given much hint about what the party would entail, I was a bit surprised when it turned out to be a church service in their sitting room.  Less surprised that it was all in Karen (one of Burma's many ethnic languages).

Now, having done a six month stint in a convent in Burma (as I've mentioned before) I have quite a high threshold for religious services in languages I don't understand.  At the convent I always enjoyed the hymns - belted out in four-part harmony - and the crowd gathered in the small apartment tonight sang with similar gusto.  But the sermon was long, and the prayer was long and once it dawned on me that we were probably set for an hour-long session I did wonder how my own children (not much accustomed to church in any language) were going to hold out.

They did me proud - sat still, no complaining.  Although they have no religious leanings themselves, they appreciated that for the people gathered in the room this was a special occasion - and they rose to it.  After the final Amen, they fully deserved to tuck into birthday cake with the rest of the guests. 

Firther remarks

Until we started looking into it (where else but online?) we hadn't realised just how many varieties of Christmas tree there are to choose from. 

As I mentioned yesterday, we opted for a Douglas Fir, although the farmer did his best to steer us towards the Canaan Firs, commending their strong, well-spaced branches for hanging heavy ornaments, and superior Christmassy scent.  But we are swayed more by shape, and we just liked the look of the one we chose.

How do you select your tree?  Or do you spare yourself the bother, and just drag one out of the attic every December?  (Assuming you put up a tree at all.)

While we're on the subject of Christmas, I got started on some gift-shopping today.  Browsing in the very lovely Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza, someone suddenly thrust a TV camera in my face. "Don't take any notice of me," he said, improbably.  It was a local news network doing a piece about an Amazon app that's undermining sales in independent bookstores.  Blimey, though - it seems like there's no stepping out of the house these days without ending up on the telly...

Fir from the madding crowd

We collected up some friends today and set off in search of a Christmas tree.

At the first tree farm we came to, the guy said sorry but he was all out of trees.  We could, in fact, see trees - however he was saving them for next year.  But he directed us up the hill and along a bit to another farm: "Tell 'em Earl sent you."

There were, thank goodness, a few trees left for sale at the Pretty Penny Tree Farm.  We tramped off into the field and inspected them.  Happily for indecisive us, there were few enough to choose from that picking one wasn't very hard.  Not that you pick a tree, of course - you saw it down.  The Man did the honours, and then the children kid-handled our Douglas Fir back to the car.  The proprietor, who has lived there for forty four years, cracked open some black walnuts for us to try and showed us photos of the farm's friendly wild coyote.

The tree seemed rather small on top of the car, but became much bigger inside our house.  Even so, with a spot of teamwork we had it decorated in no time.

Bobbing along

We've had a cheerful but not particularly bloggable day (though the meal with a friend at the Hidden Cafe in Delmar was fun and we enjoyed visits with the kids to the last-but-one Farmers Market and a second hand book store).  So, since we haven't posted any pictures for a while, here's a caption comp:

or indeed:

Screening off the world

Waiting for the Girl to change after skating at the YMCA the other day I suddenly realised that everyone else sitting in the waiting area was looking at a screen.  Laptop, i-Pad, i-Phone, DS...  No books, no knitting, no passing the time of day with an acquaintance or stranger.  Just everyone locked in and interacting with a gadget.  It was...disturbing somehow.

Now obviously I'm interacting with a gadget as I write, and you are as you read this, so it's not that I'm completely averse to screens.  In fact far from it.   I love the fact that computers allow me to keep in touch with friends around the world, and catch up with people I'd lost touch with.  Email really does make planning events and whatever very much easier and...oh, so many things are more efficient and convenient because of technology. 

And yet...  As much as we're gaining, I think we're also losing skills.  I don't think this is an entirely good thing.

What are your thoughts? 

Here today and gone today

Great disappointment this morning - the merest dusting of snow on the ground, not enough to cause so much as a snow delay, and all gone by lunchtime.  Yet friends less than twenty miles away, the other side of the Hudson, were snowed in and had the whole day off.

The Girl was performing in a concert tonight (she's in the 6th Grade choir).  I read through the programme notes and registered the message from SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions, a school club where I guess the kids sit around not drinking and smoking) - they wanted to encourage parents not to drink and drive over the holiday season.  Can't argue with that.

I mention all this because, before the concert kicked off, a special announcement was made to draw the audience's attention to this message, with the added inducement that one lucky programme-holder would find a smiley face on the SADD page and therefore win a prize.

Well, I'd already looked at the page of course and hadn't noticed a smiley face...or had I? 

I looked again.  OMG!  It's me!  I'm the winner!  Look!  Look!  I've got the smiley face!  I murmured internally as I strolled up to the stage to receive my prize...

Since you ask:  two holiday mugs with complimentary sachets of drinking chocolate.  Will go very nicely with a hot toddy and a cigar between seasonal parties... 

I'm kidding, lovely SADD students, you know I am. Thank you for the nice prize.

Beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

It has been a nasty cold rainy day here, and according to the forecast it's going to turn into a nasty cold snowy night.  Since it is December now, that does at least sound about right - more right than temperatures in the 50s and even 60s that we've been having lately.

Anyone ready for Christmas yet?  Not us (ho ho ho), despite the kids' efforts to get us in the Holiday spirit by playing 95.5, "the official Holiday music station" at every possible opportunity.  It's like living at the mall - Santa Claus constantly coming to town, the little drummer boy paruppa-pum-pumming like there's no tomorrow, and Mariah-bloomin'-Carey yodelling her Christmas wish-list (all I want for Christmas is youuuuuuuuu).  Or (the kids' version) "all I want for Christmas is a Wii".

Silent Night?  I wish.

Margin notes

Involvement with refugees in Albany has introduced me to a whole different world. 

I've found myself in interesting neighbourhoods I'd had no reason to visit before.  I've had bemusing encounters with the Department of Social Security, and dealings with agencies I never knew existed.  In a few short weeks I've already learnt a lot (not least, how much more I've still got to learn) about life on the margins.

Most of all, I've been meeting good people facing bewildering and frustrating problems, and other good people willing to spend every day trying to address those problems.  I'm endlessly impressed by the resiliance of the former, and by the patience of the latter. 

The Empire skates back

It's a funny place, the Empire State Plaza.  Great location for watching fireworks, achingly bleak place to wait for them, or even just to take a walk.  It could be a lovely, liveable downtown area (I've been getting to know nearby neighbourhoods lately, and they either are or have potential to be very attractive) but instead they bulldozed all the houses and tried to make it iconic.

I suppose the Egg is iconic, sort of - but really only if you live round here.  Because who, honestly, mentions the Empire State Building, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge and...the Egg in the same breath? 

However, a little life will be breathed into the Plaza this winter with the return of the open air ice rink.  The rink has not been available the whole time we've lived here - since 2007 - due to state budget cuts.  But this year (we learnt last night) Lake Placid Regional Winter Sports Committee is sponsoring the rink operations.  From early January and throughout the rest of the winter there'll be free skating for all every afternoon and evening.  Yippee!  And how nice of them to hold off  a few years until we'd learnt to skate a bit, so we'll be able to enjoy it properly.

Plaza palooza

Every year since we moved here the Boy has attended the annual Train Show at the Empire State Plaza. This year was no exception.  The rest of us came with him, as well as his best buddy.


To be honest, he's not the train fanatic he used to be and today's visit was more about maintaining a tradition than feeding a passion.  However he came away with a bag of track and a piece of rolling stock to add to his basement collection, so evidently railways haven't been totally overtaken by Pokemon in his affections.

Controversially (in the view of some family members) we then stayed around for an hour or so after the show closed for the annual lighting of the Plaza's Christmas tree.  This was billed to happen at 5:15pm, but in fact we first had to wait a full quarter of an hour in the freezing cold listening to various dignitaries telling us how excited they were to be there.  A chill, brisk wind whipped across the Plaza, and the audience grew restive. As yet another speaker took the mic a disgruntled man near us spoke for everyone when he fumed "Just light the damn tree already!" 

In fact there was a real spirit of camaraderie building by the time - at last - the tree lit up.  Fireworks followed immediately, and I must say they were worth standing around getting cold for - especially the final explosive barrage.

Christmas comes but once (sometimes twice) a year

The Girl had a friend sleep over last night.  They decided they were celebrating Early Christmas, so spent the evening making and wrapping little gifts for each other.  This morning they woke up and opened them, and ate a lot of sweets, and that all seemed to be very enjoyable.  However I don't believe it lets the rest of us off celebrating the real thing when the time comes.

Then another schoolfriend rang and invited both girls to join her on a Christmas tree hunt.  The friend's dad gamely took the giggling three of them off on a long car journey to a distant Christmas tree farm to cut down a fresh tree.  By the time they all returned the same dad looked a little less game, and was thinking longingly of a reviving glass of wine.

Meanwhile the Boy was reunited with his best buddy.  He has been away visiting his 81-year-old grandma in California, who took him on a glider flight as her birthday treat!  That rather throws down the gauntlet to grandparents everywhere...

With both kids occupied, the Man and I had a wander at Five Rivers, where there was no need to go on a wild turkey hunt - they were out in force at the birdfeeding station.

Advent ritual

I met for lunch with my two fellow Fair Trade Market organisers, for a quiet celebration of our success.  We haven't quite counted every last penny, but we do know that total takings exceeded....$24,500.  A tidy sum.

Then some fun in the evening, with the annual Holiday Parade.  Previously the local FT supporter turnout at this event has been modest (and, let's face it, mostly related to me), but this year a whole lot of Middle Schoolers - plus their teacher, his wife and their two enormous dogs - came along with hand-drawn banners to wave (and before you ask, OD, no - the dogs weren't waving banners).  So we were actually a decent-sized team.  And halfway along the route we received cheers and applause from a group of people I didn't even recognise!  It occurs to me now that they may have been the parents of the schoolkids - but still, it was very gratifying.

Disappointingly, we were rather far behind the sewer truck and didn't get to take its picture.  But at least we got to see it in the distance.  For some people it might be snowflakes or tinsel, but to many folks around here it really is the sight of that sewer truck that tells us Christmas will soon be here.

The Science Fair

The Boy took part in his school's Science Fair tonight, trialing an experiment to do with smell recognition.

Elsewhere around the school kids were demonstrating tornadoes, displaying giant spider models and identifying unusual fruit;  explaining the science of cookie-baking, demonstrating static electricity by rubbing balloons on their hair, blowing bubbles, summing up nano-technology...you name it, really - it was there.

I learnt a few new things (pennies are no longer made from copper;  some rabbits eat bananas), but most of all was reminded that science is in everything.  My hypothesis is that that is the main point of the whole Science Fair exercise, so I believe tonight's event proved my theory to be correct.

Sublime to ridiculous to...I don't even know what you'd call the last thing

Bethlehem High School Art students recently did a photography project at Five Rivers.  The results of their work (some of them very lovely) are now posted on Facebook.  You don't have to be a FB member to visit the page and have a look for yourself.  And if you're given the option to "like" Friends of Five Rivers, I hope you will.

Another, much sillier, Friends of Five Rivers-related effort is currently underway.  I got together with a couple of fellow Board members this afternoon to start work on an adult-sized owl costume.  We're hoping it will become a big hit at events like the Fall Festival, or down at the Farmers' Market,  Unfortunately, although the rest of the Board was in favour of us making the thing, I've yet to hear any of them volunteer to wear it...

And in other news...  The Girl has found a way to capitalise on her still-rather-British accent.  Constantly bugged to "Say something!", today she put up a sign at lunchtime that read: Will speak for food. 

Astonishingly, it worked. In return for saying "tomahhhto" she received a handful of trail-mix, pretzels and a rice-krispie treat. 

She's angling for a chicken nugget tomorrow.

And they call it a pushbike because...

The Man had the car today, and I needed to get to Five Rivers to collect something.  It was chucking it down with rain, but I gamely pulled on all my waterproofs and jumped on my bike.

It could have been worse - the rain was warm at least (weirdly warm for the end of November, frankly).  So even though my glasses got fogged up, cycling wasn't so bad - until the last leg, when I got a puncture.  I had to push the bike the rest of the way there, and later (sigh) all the way home again.  But I did, meanwhile,  manage to fill my rucksack with a lot of furry creatures.  More on them another time.

Strange thing - although it really is unseasonably warm, every evening I start shivering and my hands turn ice-cold.  My feet, too - I have to sleep in socks.  What am I going to be like in January?

Smell check

The Boy and a friend are planning to take part in their school's annual Science Fair later this week.  After, reasonably enough, rejecting all my worthy (though Pokemon-related) suggestions, they came up with their own idea for a project.

It involves creating horrible smells.  Who'd have dreamt a couple of nine year-old boys would think of something like that?

They've done a bit of work towards it, but not nearly enough considering they'll have to give a presentation in three days time. So  I've suggested the friend (T) comes home to work on it with the Boy after school this week.  This will be fine, it seems, though the Boy points out that really they should be going to T's house - "Because he has mouthwash."

Sounds ominous - but I guess it could be worse.

Ice magic

This evening the Girl performed solo in her very first skating show.

Wow! 

Nervous?  I'd say so.  The Girl wasn't feeling too relaxed, either.  But when she skated out to take up her starting position, with all that empty ice around her, you'd have thought she'd performed a million times before. She wore a big smile and just looked the part. 

Her one-minute programme was relatively simple (though I couldn't have done it).  She says she made mistakes, but I can't say we noticed.  The Man and I have both watched her rehearse so we're familiar with her routine, and to us she looked pretty darned great tonight.

So, good job, Girl!  You've made your parents very proud.

Cultivating grassroots

Sorry to keep going on about it, but the Fair Trade Market has rather been dominating my life lately.  We were back in business again this morning.

Customers poured through the doors again, and many of them mentioned that they'd learnt about the event from the TV last night.  So despite my misgivings, it turns out to be true: all publicity is good publicity.

We were only supposed to be open until noon, but ended up extending that as people kept arriving. I kept a rough tally. By the time we finally did shut the doors, it showed that a thousand people had visited over the course of the two days - including another (more benign) TV reporter.  Vendors had another great day of sales - tables that were groaning with crafts at the start of the market were looking quite sparse by the end.  Meanwhile shoppers left happy, clutching bulging bags of goodies.  I've no idea yet how much money changed hands, but do know that it will be benefiting a whole lot of artisans and communities around the world.

In the midst of all this conscious consumerism I got to chat with a few people with their own FT projects in mind.  One person is promoting FT fundraisers at her church and at a couple of nearby schools; there's a woman who'd like to put on a FT market next year at her kids' school on the other side of Albany; and I met two members of a recently formed fair trade club at the local high school. 

It looks like we've got a pretty healthy grassroots movement growing round here...

Fairly controversial

We were steadily busy all day at the Black Friday Fair Trade Market.  I reckon about 600 visitors came through the doors.  Hardly anyone left empty-handed, and stallholders reported good sales.  Sitting by the entrance, the comment I heard most often as people entered the room was "Wow!" - everything looked so lovely.

We even had a visit from a local TV news station, interested to tell a different Black Friday story from the usual crowds-at-the-mall report. 

It could have been a wholly positive, good news piece about how sales of the fair trade products at our market are positively impacting the lives of some of the world's most disadvantaged people.  Instead the reporter chose to focus on an emerging controversy that mainly concerns fair trade coffee certification (and not FT crafts at all).  She was probably inspired by this article.  If you read the article carefully you'll appreciate that it's a very complex issue.  Alas, a one-minute TV report doesn't allow for too much complexity.  Still, I'm hoping enough viewers will see past an implied message that "you can't trust fair trade" and come to our market anyway.

Good life

Thanksgiving is the time when Americans try hardest to get together with extended family.  Well, that isn't an easy option for us, so we just got together with ourselves.  We had a good day.

Among our activities there was a visit to Five Rivers, and also the playpark where the Boy (intentionally) staged a re-enactment of the Man's infamous head-cracking incident.  I baked some gingerbread cupcakes as well as a stonking all-the-trimmings-but-none-of-the-turkey feast.  The Girl helped us make investments on a microloan website called Kiva, which she's been introduced to at school and seems like a Good Thing. 

And the Boy devised an intriguing and deeply frustrating 3D boardgame inspired by Pokemon.  Pinching the idea from another game we have, his homemade die only had numbers from 0-3, so progress was slow -  especially since every other square you landed on told you to miss a turn, two turns or even, go back 5 spaces and miss 2 turns.  We all had a good laugh (and vowed never to play it again). 

Thanksgiving eve

This afternoon we got the Fair Trade Market set up - well ahead of time because everyone will be busy tomorrow with Thanksgiving, and on Friday we open for business promptly at 9am. (This is comparatively late - at least one large retail outet opens at midnight on Thanksgiving for Black Friday, to the horror and dismay of its badly treated staff).

It's all looking very lovely, and I'm excited to see how the whole event unfolds.

The rest of the day I'd spent with my refugee friends - starting out on a simple errand, which became more complicated (thanks to some impenetrable bureaucracy) and ended up taking several hours.  They are a very nice family.  I do feel for them, trying to fit into their new and alien environment, and still struggling with the language.  It can be taxing to be surrounded by a language and culture you hardly understand.  You're never entirely sure what's going on.  It's like living inside a bubble - you don't quite feel part of the world around you.  Just being is tiring.

And the passing of any busy day is tiring, too, of course.  There's been a lot of falling asleep on couches going in our house this evening.  The first (among many) things I shall be feeling thankful for tomorrow will be a little lie-in.

Another flagon of your fair trade finest, if you please...

Today I was pulling together a display for the upcoming Fair Trade Market (this Friday, 9am-3pm & Saturday 9am-noon at Delmar Reformed Church - in case you're in the area).  I've decided I want to give people four suggestions for simple ways to support fair trade, and have some materials out to illustrate each point. 

So for "Think Fair Trade when you shop" I have some product labels and store information.  And for one about introducing FT fundraisers to your school, community group etc, there are examples of ways to do that.  For the one inviting people to sign a FT Towns petition there is, originally enough, a petition to sign.  But how to illustrate "Share Fair Trade with your friends and family"?

Then suddenly, inspiration!  Of course - a sanctimonious mini-diorama! 

Feel free to supply your own alternative speech bubbles or caption.  I'm not proud...

You cannot be...Siri-us?

No pet for us, then (apologies to all my pet-owning friends whom I have probably alienated forever with last night's post).

However, it seems that Siri is fast becoming a fifth member of our family.  She now gets included in most of our deliberations, and responds with varying degrees of usefulness, eg on a hike yesterday when we spotted a red squirrel:

Man:  What can you tell me about red squirrels?
Siri:  I'm sorry. I can find no information about red square rolls.

She can be waggish:

Girl:  When is Christmas Day?
Siri:  Christmas Day is Sunday, December 25, 2011.  I hope you get the day off.
Girl:  When is Valentine's Day?
Siri:  Valentine's Day is Tuesday, February 14, 2012.  I hope I get the day off.

And then there was this little exchange:

Man:  What gift should I get my wife for Christmas?
Siri:  Here is a list of nearby gift stores.
Man: Thank you!
Siri:  I'm just doing my job...

And this:

Girl: Why do we have to go on a hike?
Siri:  I don't know.  Frankly, I was wondering that myself.

Siri's delivery is deadpan, downbeat even, in a way that seems oddly familiar.  We keep expecting a reference to "Brain the size of a planet".  For it could just be possible, couldn't it...that the sort of folks who'd have ended up programming Siri might also have read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Dowsing for dogs

No, of course we haven't gone and got a dog.  You didn't really believe that, did you?  Seriously, how long have you known me?  What on earth would possess me, or indeed anyone, to want an animal living in the house?

What's that?  You've just got a dog?  And you've got a new cat?  And even you've got your eye on an adorable little puppy/kitten/hamster (delete as applicable)?

Why oh why oh why?

I mean, it's not that I don't like animals - in fact I like them so much I don't even eat them.  I just don't want to live with one and have it chew up my stuff, fart under the table at mealtimes and need its poop picking up whenever it goes for a walk.  And don't tell me it teaches kids nurturing skills.  I know exactly who'd end up doing the "nurturing".

Nope, not for me. 

And BTW if I did, in a moment of madness, get a dog, I wouldn't choose a long-haired variety.  It's not like there aren't enough hairy creatures in our household already, yelping at me whenever I try to comb the knots out.



So, no. We were just looking after next door's old pooch while its owners were away for the weekend.  He's a nice enough, if diffident, little fellow. Well-behaved and no trouble really.  Well, I say that.  He was wandering about in our backyard and managed to get himself stuck under the deck. 

It's a big deck, with only one way under, not humanly accessible.  We had trouble locating him at all at first.  We had to employ ancient technologies...

He eventually appeared, trapped behind the trellis, and gazed at us inscrutably...

To extricate him we tried going state-of-the-art (we asked Siri how to get a dog out from under a deck.  She said she didn't know of any dog breeders near here.  Gee, thanks, Siri).

After twenty minutes or so the Boy, with much coaxing, managed to lure the doggie out with half a biscuit. 

Back in the house he kept an eye out for his owners. When they came to collect him this evening he shot out of our front door without a backward glance.  As a house-guest he was so silent and capable of merging into the background that you could actually trip over him while looking for him, and yet now the Boy is going around sighing and claiming that "The house just feels too quiet without him!"

Market marketing

I spent the morning at the Farmers' Market promoting the Fair Trade event I'm involved with next week.  I'd collected together an assortment of items we'll be selling - bags and beads from Malawi and Uganda, textiles from Guatemala, pottery from Vietnam, a T-shirt from India, etc etc - and set them out in a rather nice arrangement.

The Market manager always lets me (and other not-for-profit groups) have an information table for free, as long as I don't sell anything.  So I just stood there shouting "Curm on, ladies and gents - luverly crafts! Don't get 'em 'ere, they're not for sale."  Next to a sign marked CRAFT'S.

I had a fun time, talking to lots of people and handing out flyers.  About a third of the people I spoke to had our Black Friday Fair Trade sale on their calendars already and were eagerly awaiting it.  Another third had vaguely heard about it and were happy to have more details.  A final third knew nothing about it, but most were pleased to be told.  So it all felt like a positive exercise.

And in other news: today we got ourselves a dog!

Space / the phonal front-ear

The Man accuses me of being a "lady who ice-creams".  True, in a way, though today I was accompanied by three 4th Grade boys and a Girl on a bike, and the object of the exercise (to my mind) was less about the frozen dessert and more about the half-mile trek to the creamery and back again.

No-one wants to talk to me on these ice-cream outings - the boys hang out together and have obscure Pokemon-related conversations, and the Girl sticks her nose in a book - but happily this afternoon that gave me the opportunity to read another chapter of Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, which is a very entertaining book about the prosaic practicalities of space travel.  If you like Bill Bryson at all you will probably like Roach. If you like Bryson but find he gets a wee bit irritating sometimes, you might like Roach more, because she's less so.  And if you can't read more than a page of any Bill Bryson book without wanting to hurl it across the room (I have met such people) - ok, you should probably leave Packing for Mars alone.

The rest of the family is currently squished on the couch watching YouTube videos of Mr Bean.  The Boy is laughing like a drain - but not quite as hard as he laughs at the Man's new work iPhone and Siri, a magical disembodied voice that apparently lives in the phone.  She's like an all-knowing fairy or something, except we're not convinced she really does know all that much. The kids love to torment her by asking her impossible questions then mocking her puzzled responses.  Eventually, though, she gets shirty.  When she repeatedly couldn't understand one of the Girl's questions and my charming daughter accused her of being "a hard-of-hearing piece of machinery" Siri (quite reasonably) told her to "Kindly keep your opinions to yourself!"

Holy cow!

I was at the Boy's school this evening, for something called the Turkey Shoot. 

This is not when they march a load of elementary school kids out onto the grounds and let them take potshots at turkeys.  It's more of a basketball-related event.  Kids pay a dollar to shoot ten hoops.  In days past, the kid who got the most baskets would win a turkey (it's Thanksgiving next week, of course).  These days, if you get ten baskets you win a ball.

The Boy didn't participate in the hoop shooting.  Being a bit vertically challenged, basketball isn't really his strong suit.  But he bobbed around with his mates, enjoyed some cheap snacks in the cafeteria (ice-cream and crisps - mm, all the food groups!) and bought a couple of items at a book fair.  The combination of food, basketball and books means that the event is sometimes billed as "Eat, shoot and read", which is quite a clever reference, but only if you've ever heard of  that panda joke or Lynne Truss's book.

Anyway, I was there flogging fair trade bracelets again.  I did reasonably well, considering I was competing for punters' cash with the world's absolutely most desirable raffle item:

Wednesday wonders

I've had a fun day. 

This morning I was visiting my refugee friends.  They cooked a late breakfast of rice and fish and vegetables and we sat on the floor around a low table and ate with our fingers, and it reminded me of other times and places in my life. 

This afternoon I was with the co-planners of an upcoming fair trade market - a reprise of our successful event last year.  We got the hall mapped out for the vendors' tables, and we also took inventory of three large cartons of crafts that we'll be selling.  So exciting, unpacking mystery boxes filled with pretty ornaments and instruments and cooking pots and baskets...

And finally, I spent this evening at Five Rivers, where the Friends were holding their Annual Meeting.  The invited speaker was Dr. Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals at the New York State Museum.  He gave us a lively presentation on camera-trapping - not how to trap errant cameras, but how to use fixed-position cameras with heat/motion sensors to capture images of creatures in the wild.  He had an infectious enthusiasm for the subject, and particularly for the potential of "citizen science" projects to study and collect information about mammals to be added to an international database.  Projects based at venues like...Five Rivers?  I hope so - it would be pretty cool.

Hairy happenings

So there I was at the hairdressers this afternoon, busily (well, not that busily. I was just sitting there) being transformed from this back to this, and at the very same time just along the road - only two doors down! - an actual armed robbery was going on.

Blimey! 

I came out of the salon and noticed rather a lot of police vehicles strewn about outside a bank.  But I was in a hurry to pick up something from the pharmacy across the road, and it was only while I was waiting in the (surprisingly long) queue in there that I heard the story from another customer.

It quite got everyone chatting, I can tell you. 

It seems that no-one was hurt, so that's good.  But I'm sure the bank employees were terrified, which isn't good.  And the gunman/robber got away and is still on the loose, so that's not good at all.  I shall keep you posted if I hear any more.

I have seen the future...

...and it's small.

Taking advantage of the continuing Nanovember season, I was back at CNSE this evening to hear the college's Senior Vice President, CEO and founder, Alain Kaloyeros, give a lecture.

It was a powerpointy thing, interspersed with humorous video clips - clearly he was pitching somewhat at the layman (that'd be me).  He made a good case for the importance and pervasiveness of nanotechnology now, never mind in our futures - it has multiple medical applications, as well as enabling smartphones and i-pads and all that computer stuff.  By the middle of this century, the average laptop will have more computational capacity than the whole of humankind (although laptops themselves will be old hat - before 2020 we'll all be carrying computer pens that will slot into a docking station and project an interactive screen onto the wall and a keyboard onto the desk). 

Kaloyeros implied that anyone who is anyone (or at least, who wants to earn any money) had better get themselves a degree and be part of the nano-revolution.  Geeks shall inherit the earth etc, fill our lives with unimaginably cool technology and incidentally cure all our diseases and possibly even death.

I'm impressed and, I'll admit, a bit put off by the vision of the future he laid before us.  I'm even a bit put off by the present, truth be told. 

A little bit Grand

The Man had found a website that described the Plotter Kill Preserve as "the Capital Region's Grand Canyon".  So we thought we'd better go back and take another look, and this time explore the main trail.

Not entirely to our surprise, it turns out Plotter Kill is the Capital Region's Grand Canyon in the same way that Cohoes Falls is the Capital Region's Niagara, or Five Rivers Environmental Center is the Capital Region's Yellowstone (there is wildlife there, and you might just happen to run into an old geezer).  But it provided us with an energetic hike, some waterfall views and a few adventures along the way, so that was all good.  Given our area's other, technological, claim to fame, I think it'd be fair to call it the "Nano Grand Canyon".

A step on the ladder

I spent the morning doing probably the single most useful thing I've done all year - helping my refugee mom get a library card.  There've been some administrative hoops to jump through which means the process has taken a while, but she is now at last a proud cardholder.  She was able to come home from the Main Library in Albany with an armload of books, audiobooks and DVDs for her whole family.  I'm sure they're all going to find it a great resource.

While I was out doing that, the Girl spent some time hanging out with the kids in the family.  Language challenges notwithstanding, they seem to have had fun and I hope they'll be able to get together again soon.

This afternoon Boy and Girl were ensconced at different friends' houses, so the Man and I took ourselves up to the Indian Ladder Trail for probably the last time this season - in a couple of days' time it closes for the winter, i.e. until May.  Although it was nearing dusk the trail was busy - with other last-chancers like us I suppose.  It's always a dramatic trail, but now that most of the leaves are gone it's getting a little bleak.  Brrr. Winter really is on its way.

Let's get quizzical

The Amnesiacs were back in action again this evening at the local quiz night.  It started with a "Classic Rock" round that was somewhat challenging.  Next, "Sports", which always counts out three members of our team (two of us not being remotely interested in sports, and one having an encyclopedic knowledge of cricket and soccer matches from the early '70s to the present but no clue about NFL and baseball).  At least we salvaged some points on the table round, matching slogans to products (not that the Man and I contributed anything useful there, either).

At half time we were slightly behind the leaders.  Astonishingly, my friend J and I earned bonus points on the "Physical Challenge", which this week involved performing a short dance routine(!) to the theme music from hit comedy The Big Bang Theory.  Then "Movies" - shocking awful, only one correct answer out of ten - and finally a random general knowledge round, in which we didn't completely disgrace ourselves.

Final placement?  Hm, well, we came second again.  By one point. We're thinking of changing our name - to "Always the bridesmaids", perhaps, or just simply "The Runners-up".

Morning exercises

So, as I'd anticipated, I was thoroughly trounced at Pokeopoly this morning before I'd even had breakfast.  I "had my clock cleaned" to use the Man's favourite new expression, which he has picked up from a local politician who was beaten badly in this week's elections.  The Boy declares it's a much better game than our other versions of Monopoly (well, he would, wouldn't he), but does concede that he should probably only have been allowed to use the strongest Pokemon card once in the battle scenarios. 

Don't even ask.

It's been difficult to get the kids to bed tonight as they have the day off tomorrow (Veterans' Day).  Still, since there's no school we won't have the usual first-thing agony of trying to get the Girl out of bed in time to catch the bus - hooray!  But then again, since there's no school she'll no doubt be up merrily at the crack of dawn all of her own accord - ain't that always the way?

Or maybe we could call it Monemon?

Spent the day doing volunteery good works of one kind and another.  But rather than blind you with the dazzling shininess of my halo, here's a photo of Pokeopoly, the debut match.

I'm (still) playing against the Boy, the game's inventor.  The game has familiar elements of Monopoly, cleverly integrated with baffling elements of Pokemon, and even though I've just acquired the most expensive set of Poke-properties I'm actually pretty confident that (*sigh*) someone else is going to win.

Getting fresh with a new squeeze

Well, we had that snow in October, and now we do indeed seem to be in the heatwave I'd been waiting for.  Up in the mid-to-high 60sF today - T-shirt weather again.  Leaf-raking in the yard in the warm sunshine was quite a pleasure.

The kids were off school because of local elections.  The Boy spent much of his day with a classmate designing a new board game: Pokeopoly.  The Girl and I made a trip to the mall.

I don't much care for Crossgates mega-mall, especially since Borders went bankrupt and shut down (not that I even liked Borders that much).  But it is good for some things, such as a pair of "soakers" - towelling guards for the Girl's skate blades.  Also, right next door to Dick's Sporting Goods where we bought the soakers, a new Fresh Healthy Cafe has opened.  As the name hints, it serves fresh and healthy food (including lots of veggie options), which is a nice change from the usual mall fare of hotdogs, fries, average Chinese food etc.  The Girl reckons it serves the best freshly squeezed orange juice EVER (at more than $5 per medium glass, so you'd hope).  I did sneak a sip, and yum, it was good.

Early night

Our clocks went back yesterday.  We arrived at the Breakneck Ridge trailhead mid-afternoon, and climbed up to a blue sky...

..but by 4 o'clock we were descending with the sun...

...and about an hour later, in the nearby town of Cold Spring, we watched as dusk darkened the Hudson.

A ridge too far?

It has been a beautiful day - perfect for a trip to Breakneck Ridge, which we first visited about eighteen months ago.

The journey took longer than I remembered.  It was also much busier there than the time before (though still hardly Piccadilly Circus).  We only climbed about halfway up, to the flagpole, but that was pretty tiring, and the trail down was challenging with the ground covered in slippery fallen leaves. 

It's a great shame that many of the rockfaces have been spoiled by grafitti.  I just can't get into the mind of someone who thinks it's a cool idea to climb to a place of stunning natural beauty and deface it with spraypaint. But the views were as wonderful as before - it really is a special trail.

Bridge to Nanowhere

Albany NY is an international hub for nanotechnology.  Billions of dollars have been spent on flagship buildings, state-of-the-art clean rooms, and on wooing nano-tech companies from around the world to set up in business here.  Locally most people seem to regard it as a Good Thing, for providing jobs and attracting kudos to the region.

Every November - or "Nanovember" as they have renamed it - CNSE (the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering) opens its doors and invites the public in to find out what it's all about.  There's a lecture series, and on the first Saturday of the month a "Family Day".  Our family went along today.

There were lots of vaguely nano-related fun things to do: creating "bucky balls", threading UV-sensitive beads that change colour in sunlight, making polymers, playing video-games (our kids were particularly drawn to classic Pacman).  We attended a presentation which explained how nanotechnology is a part of all our lives now, from our clothes and make-up to our hip-replacements and pace-makers, and how it is revolutionising computers in particular (hence those video games).  There were demonstrations of DNA testing and water-repellent sand.  Some of us took a guided tour.  And to top it all there was free popcorn - probably not very nano-related, but nevertheless appreciated.

CNSE is in the process of expanding, with a huge new building going up.  So that the scientists and students don't have to risk life and limb dodging the traffic on the busy Washington Ave Extension that runs between the old and new buildings, they're installing a bridge.  In fact they started putting it up today - we caught a glimpse.