There is something about the first day you realize that 5 pm has passed and it is still light out. That day where you decide at 4 pm that you'll go outside and rake and weed for a bit before you start making dinner.
Then there comes a time when you can barely stand being inside to make dinner let alone eat it. It is that time when all you do is look around the garden and see a hundred things that need to be taken care of NOW.
Today was one of those days. The bulbs are going crazy in the lawn, perennials all need be cut back and every leaf needs to be carefully removed from the beds. It is a slow process bringing the garden back to life in the Spring.
There are a lot of big projects that need tending to in the garden, just like with life, but I'm taking it slowly and savoring the stolen moments with my secateurs, the trowel and the millions of dog tooth violets emerging from the ground.
We skipped our usual November trip to Paris in 2015. We ended up eating in the Bastille - very near where the horrific events at the Bataclan and the cafes happened. It was heartbreaking to walk by the cafe and see the flowers and cards piled up in front of the barricades.
I remember the terrorist attacks of the 80s that resulted in lots of the measures that are just part of today's Paris - the gendarmes policing the streets, the clear garbage bags in public places and the tacit understanding that everyone needs to be vigilant in crowds. I also remember queuing up in the French embassy in London to get a visa in order to visit France. I was traveling by myself from London to Germany via Paris. The hassle of having my bag searched everywhere I went along with the humidity and heat of August made it a no-brainer for me - I was going to Germany sooner than I had anticipated.
Paris in December felt different. It was quieter than usual. The shops were emptier. The streets were not as hectic. The shopkeepers we talked to said that the bombings scared Parisians from going out. Acts of violence have a long tail. It is not just the sharp shock of the event, but how it plays out - in the media and in our psyches.
Do we feel safe? Can things be the same? Is this the new normal?
The new normal is not something I ever expected to have to experience.
I miss Rome. I miss it a lot. My friend Jennifer, who lived there for many years calls it Romesick. We had plans to go this winter, but it hasn't panned out.
There are few places on my list for this year that I've never visited that are on my list for 2016.
In no particular order:
Louisville
Cincinnati
St. Louis
Omaha
Durham
Charlottesville
Little Rock
They are all in the U.S.
Why? Some of these places are important in terms of development of the U.S., others because they are just intriguing to me.
Places I'm likely to visit this year that I go to on a regular basis (heavy rotation):
Philadelphia
Santa Fe/Albuquerque
Salt Lake City
Redlands
Washington D.C.
Kona
I'm not even going to stray from the familiar when it comes to international travel - it is a well worn path these days for various and sundry reasons. I'm okay with that too.
For now, I'll live vicariously through friends and acquaintances gorgeous images and make plans for another day.
Chelsea Physic Garden - a great place to see urban snowdrops.
I'm in the midst of planning my next attack on the snowdrops of England. I had such a blast last time that I convinced TH to come along with me. Like last time, I'm going to be depending on the fine UK transport system - trains mixed with a few regional buses and some long walks.
So far it looks like I'm hitting the ground early on a Saturday and going north to Stevenage. The following day I'm heading back up north to Retford and the following day I'm going towards Crawley and then to Brighton.
That is a lot of moving around. I wish I had a week.
I'm tweeting to the various gardens in hopes of getting some snowdrop updates and grateful when each place updates their websites and Facebook status with snowdrop reports. It was bonkers last year and I want it to be the same awesome experience this year, especially since I've gushed about my trip and don't want to let TH down.
Somedays I wish I could just not plan and let the chips fall where they may, but I feel like there are so many places and gardens I want to see and not enough time to enjoy them all.
Here's to a colder few weeks in England to keep those snowdrops from blooming early and to fine weather to experience their beauty.
This happened at the salon I frequent, 7 Salon in downtown Seattle. It was uber convenient when I worked a block away, now not so much. It was also getting really expensive for just a haircut. My stylist rates had gone up nearly 20 bucks in one year, so I started to space my cuts out a little further apart because I just couldn't justify that much money every six weeks.
There is a Facebook page to link up stylists with their clients and that is a great use of social networking - connecting people. I'm not sure if I'll end up doing using it, but I'm delighted to see so many stylists connecting with their clients and to see the offers of jobs come in via Facebook and Reddit.
Getting laid off sucks, getting laid off by phone is hard (trust me), but getting laid off by text is not only tacky, its illegal.
What really saddens me is that the owner of the salon is no slouch in this area. She comes from a family that has deep roots in the arts and business community. She should have known better.
Now, I'm in the market for a new salon and maybe a new haircut.
Happy New Year.
I seem to say this a lot, even now.
January was not the best of months. There was illness, there was drama, there were few naps and I'm happy to say that it is over.
February is my least favorite month. I'm not sure why. It is my birthday month, but I still don't like it. I do love the spring bulbs that are way too early this year. I love the fact it is light until 5 pm again. I love the fact that after 28 29 days the month is over.
I'm subbing February for January this year. Instead of making lists of all the things I wanted to accomplish in 2016, I'm focusing on finishing the relevant tasks of 2015 that are overdue and adding in a few things where I can fit them in.
I'm still thinking about how my workflow has changed now that I'm working from home again. I'm back to using my large monitor and sitting at a desk instead of plopping down anywhere and writing/surfing/working. I'm blocking sites that I find both time and attention sucking. If I find something that works, I'll pass that along.
I think 2016 will be a year, much like the rest with a few good things tempered with the bad and sad. I'm going to continue to say "no" more than "yes", but with a little more patience than before.
This is a crucial part of learning how to perform calculations and how to deal with life and all of its challenges. I'm starting to believe that the world and my fate is part of a large field calculation and that it is a good thing to step back and look at where things may go wrong and fix them.
I'm also a big believer these days in object oriented living. Taking things down to their component parts and reusing and referencing them, saving time and redundancy.
I wish the rest of the world felt the same way.
There is something to be said for flying from LA and going straight to the office. This followed by spending an hour in traffic to sit for another three hours in class and then to come home to stream a sitcom and eat mediocre soup dumplings.
Nothing changes on the return to Seattle except for the 40 lbs of fruit we hauled back. There are the same bills, bags to unpack and the same spreadsheet you were happy to close on Tuesday hasn't miraculously fixed itself. I sometimes wish this were not the case.
I am glad to be home for the next month to deal with all of this and more.
This year I have seen some spectacular things - Swaths of snowdrops in Lincolnshire, the back roads of Southeastern Tennessee, Monet's Giverny in full bloom, Great Dixter at a quiet time of year, the Columbia Gorge with its salmon heading home to spawn, the northern New Mexico landscape in the winter and fall and the view below the Golden Gate Bridge by boat. Today, I finally made it to Joshua Tree.
In one word, amazing.
We didn't hike or pull off the road to see every marker or scenic point, but the drive and views were spectacular at 35 miles an hour. The park is not too crowded this time of year and the weather was magnificently brisk, but manageable. It made me realize that there are so many things I have yet to experience. It has inspired me to start thinking and planning new travel itineraries.
I find myself in the Redlands today. I am not down here for anything special. TH is giving a talk at a meeting and I tagged along to get some sunshine. Please note that the picture above was taken when I landed. Ontario was 2 degrees F warmer than Seattle this afternoon.
It seems weird not to be going to this specific meeting this year. I presented two years in a row, but I'm sitting it out this year and I'll tell you why.
I sometimes think we have meetings for the sake of having meetings.
I've been working at building programs and meetings for the last ten years. I strategized over time tables and room sizes and what topics will draw a good crowd. I spent a goodly three years working with an amazing group of program managers, scientists, industry folks to develop a great conference highlighting emerging technologies in weather and climate.
Here's the rub - What is the use of talking to the same people year after year? Are the same folks who lead the plenary session, sit on panels and are considered the big draws the right people to be up on the stage? I understand inspiring a crowd and hitting key points in policy or new directions, but sometimes I wonder if we should change the way we approach conferences.
--I've been involved in lightning talks - that is one way to change things up.
-- I've been on panels and that is another way to do things - but the mix of panelists and an engaged moderator are key.
--I've stood in front of a research poster and prayed that someone would talk to me at the same time prayed that no one would talk to me.
--I've wondered if anyone would come to my talk - the last one of the day on the last day of the conference usually placed in a session that has nothing to do with my topic.
--I've questioned if parallel tracks are effective.
I think about ways to get people to come back at the end of the day and try and wrap up what happened.
As our attention spans get shorter and shorter and we spend more of our time disseminating information during the sessions via social channels, I wonder if we're really engaging in the conference. Sometimes I wish we could turn off the wireless (which we all begged and pleaded for in the past) in the conference rooms just to get people to pay attention to the speaker.
I know it sounds crazy, but I think it might be time that we rethink the conference/meeting framework and start thinking of new ways to engage with our peers.
