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.
There is something about the first Monday of the month that fills you with such excitement for the rest of the month, even if is the beginning of the Holiday rush.
The calendar is fairly empty, the new month beckons and I'm already whooped.
I looked out the windows at work and saw the dusk at 440 pm and by the time I left it was pitch black. I broke out my new long down jacket to walk the dog and I'm wearing slippers in the house. After our hot and relentless summer, you would think I would rejoice in this weather, but honestly - I can do without Winter this year. Let's skip it and go right to Spring.
My dream in life is to chase Spring around the world - go from zone to zone and let bring me hope and joy - new life and all the opportunities that come with sowing seeds, cleaning house and the lightness of April mornings and May dusks.
I was lucky enough to hit Spring in four different locations in 2015. I'm going for five in 2016.
How dare October end so suddenly? I needed another week.
Happy November. It is time to get the content filled and some ideas down on the keyboard. I've missed writing and I'm not sure you have missed reading my rants.
I've been here, there and everywhere for the last six weeks. None of it too exciting but I was happy to be grounded for eight long days. It gave me a chance to figure out what the rest of the year should look like and be ready to accept what it is going to look like.
I've been to New Mexico, Nashville and South East Tennessee, California, Portland, Yakima!, Chicago and back and forth across the city.
It is also NaPoBloMo. I will post daily (even if it kills me) and hopefully some of you will follow along.
Today's weather was a gift. I was indoors for most of it - but I did manage to look out the window where I was working in search of eagles. As the days grow shorter and then evenings slightly oppressive, I'll take any chance to be outside and bask in the not so warm, yet still bright sun.
I'm trying to come up with a list of things to do to make my 2015 Fall and 2016 Winter evenings feel less than jail time and more like yard time. I'm not a big lover of nesting and making stews and ragouts. I hate coming home from work and staying indoors unless the dog needs a walk. I'm going to make the effort to get out more. I have class once a week and god knows, I'll likely be gone one day a week traveling, but it is the other five nights I would like to fill. Watching TV is not an option, I try and limit my weekday watching to the gym.
What are your coping mechanisms for the onset of the long nights?
Espresso with a twist is definitely a nice thing and I have 78888 espresso cups that I could be using to make my own. Taken in January 2012 - New Orleans.
I'm not talking about the usual response to things going wrong or getting broken that seems to elicit this response from the sarcastic me. I'm trying to turn it around and think of it this way - "Why do we have nice things and why don't we use them" or better yet - "Is it possible to be gracious and accept a nice thing as a gift without getting all defensive and embarrassed and then dismissive because you can't just okay, thanks, bye."
Yup. That kind of nice thing.
I look around at the things I have left to shrivel and die in corners because they are too nice and I'm afraid that our lifestyle is too casual or I'm not pretty or special enough to carry something off. I let a beautiful silk nightdress sit for twenty years before I wore it. Today, I looked longingly at a soup tureen TH gave me a million years ago that sits in a cabinet neglected instead of serving a lovely soup to my friends and family because I'm afraid to use it because something may happen to it.
Who uses a soup tureen? I'm going to starting now.
Who wears beautiful silk to bed? Other than Rita Hayworth, I suppose I could/should.
Who should stop coveting and start using? All of us. Things other than some wines don't really get better with time. I'm not getting all Kon-Mari on you and tell you to release your stuff, but maybe we should all release some of the fear and self-doubt that makes often makes it hard for us to enjoy what we have.
If you see me walking around in a beautiful silk robe carrying around a soup tureen, just smile and nod.
I either have allergies or am coming down with the summer cold. This happened to me during Snowdrop Mania in February and I was not amused, but for the most part I soldiered on. I'm going to do the best I can tomorrow to get to Giverny . I have some ibuprofen and what I believe to be an antihistamine, so down the hatch they go.
My goal this trip is to see four things I've never seen before (not in a particular order):
I try and plan and make sure I do things in the most efficient routing possible. I hate retracing my steps, so I make mental maps and then validate them on paper or on-line maps. I still get lost and sometimes things don't work out - delays happen, new and interesting things are discovered or you fall ill and decide that a day in bed is better than four hours on a bus.
I've got a few good decades left in me - most of these places have been around for a long time and are likely to be there next year and the year after.
Are you happy doing the same thing trip after trip or are you always looking for new things to do when you travel?
