On the road again...

We've been on the road, traveling to some of our favorite places... (As far as posting goes, I think I'm going to be in intermission from the Four Corners posts for a while; I'm still figuring out how to process some of that trip!) (And for the robbers out there: a) there's not much in our house worth stealing, and b) we have house-sitters.)

Things we love about Minnesota and Minneapolis

Two of our favorite bookstores in the world live in Minneapolis--Birchbark Books and Wild Rumpus. We visited both this year. If you're there, you should go! Birchbark has a great selection, and it's a bookstore run by writers. Plus there's a cafe next door. Wild Rumpus has a great selection of books for kids and young adults, plus there are CHICKENS and other animals in the store as well as the traditional bookstore cats. For real.

Here's Dexter at the door to Wild Rumpus:

(There are two doors there--the grown-ups' one and the purple kids' door inside it...)

Would you believe, when we first started going there, that he fit through the little door? I always duck through it even though I'm too big, but this year the difference was that it embarrassed him. :( I think I redeemed myself, though, when I picked up one of the chickens and held her long enough for him to pet her.

We usually stay at an inexpensive hotel (relatively speaking) near the Mall of America; my favorite thing about that place is the amusement park rides in the middle. And this year Dexter and Patrick declared this one to be the best:

(whee! In the middle you go through a cave where Paul Bunyan tells you something... but we could never make out what the heck he was saying.)

We went on it several times just to be sure.

Another great thing about Minneapolis? REAL public transportation!

(Another one rides the bus...)

The tricky thing on this particular bus ride was that there was a guy in the back very loudly telling some, um, very colorful adult-situation-laced stories.... but hey, on the bright side, Dexter gained a little worldly knowledge, right? And what better place than public transportation to experience that, right? Right? (sigh)

In addition to hitting our usual favorite places, on this trip we explored a bit and went over to St. Paul, a great place for writers, like these two:

(Don't they look great together? Like they've just come back from lunch or something?)

And we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota, which we enjoyed thoroughly. On one of the decks outside, we were able to see the Mississippi River...



... and enjoy the view. This was one of my favorite pieces in the museum:

(Dang--I can't find where I wrote down the artist's name; I'll add it here later if I can find it!)

It's a mechanical creation where, as you push the button and make the gears go, the tiger types, the top of his head opens to reveal a fish swimming round inside, and the piece of paper emerges from his typewriter with the word "fish" repeated on it. I thought it expressed something true about writing...

As we drove toward South Dakota, we stopped and had a picnic lunch; look who joined us!

(Sadly, we did not have any peas or corn.)

And we stopped overnight in one of my favorite places on the planet, Pipestone National Monument.

(Prairie + creek + sacred stone = happy me)

We were able to walk on most of the trail the day we arrived, which turned out to be good because that night there was a thunderstorm with enough rain to flood the bridges and trails the next day.


It was hot as heck, and humid, and there were plenty of mosquitoes, so we didn't linger in any one place very long, but it was a really good evening walk.


Later that evening one of our party found something right near our hotel, on the courthouse square, that made him quite happy...

(That is one happy boy!)

He has been studying WWII and could tell us lots of things about this particular tank. It's a machine of war, so I was wary (as always), but it was nice to find something along the way that Dexter was so engaged in.

Well, the library is about to close, which means my wi-fi access is going bye-bye for the day. (There's no wi-fi at Grandma's house; heck, there's no microwave there, and there IS a rotary wall phone. It's like stepping back into 1972!) I'll post more soon about South Dakota and our continuing adventures on the plains.

Hope you are enjoying a good summer!
Karen

Intermission II: in which we learn I might be a security threat...

Hello! We are just back from a quicker-than-we'd-have-liked trip to the east coast to see some sights and visit some relatives. (Mostly I wanted the boy to see some of his kin--and for them to see him and how fast he's growing!)

Anyhow, one of the highlights of the trip was spending two days with my brother, who took us to see cool stuff, one day in D.C. and one day in Harper's Ferry.

In D.C., before we went to the NMAI (I wanted to see an exhibit there and relished the chance to share with my loved ones what I love about that place), we decided to tour the Capitol visitor's center. It didn't exist when I was a kid; if you wanted to see the capitol, you just walked in; maybe you opted for a tour, but you could just wander about and look at stuff if you wanted to. Of course, in a post-9/11 world, that is right out the window. The new (opened in 2008) visitor's center is a resplendent underground building filled with statues, artifacts, and exhibits on the history of the capitol.

But before you can go in, you have to go through security.

I had something on my person that was apparently a threat:

(cotton washcloth in progress... sorry for the blurriness)

Yup, that's my knitting. Yup, right there on the security sign it said that pointy objects, like knitting needles, were not allowed in. Pencils and pens were okay, but NO knitting needles.

I was annoyed. I refrained from pointing out to the guard that pencils are just as dangerous as knitting needles. Instead, I asked if there was a locker or someplace I could store it while we toured the building. The younger guard suggested I put it in the trash. (I am not kidding. I wanted to smack him. I think the fact that I did not shows great restraint on my part.)

I looked around, and there was definitely no place to put it. I decided to stash it behind a wall--not exactly hidden, but sort of. I thought to myself: okay, I'm leaving it to the gods (and the kindness of strangers); if it's still here when we get back, that's great, but if not, I won't be upset.

(Here is my knitting project in its "hiding" place...)

So we went back in, and this time went through the security gate. And I was denied entrance, this time for something buried in a pocket of my purse:

(offending item #2)

Here's a photo of it in my hand, unfolded, for scale:

(national security threat = I might snip someone?)

I carry this tool around in my purse because it's handy, not because I want to hurt anyone. I was quickly going from "annoyed" to "incensed" to "pissy," especially given the fact that I've been through airport security a bunch of times with knitting, and even once with these scissors (I forgot they were in my bag until after the trip!). But my brother pointed out, rightly, that the guards at the capitol have been assaulted and hurt in the past, so they're being extra careful nowadays. I grumbled and moaned, but got myself back to civil with a super-quick walk to the car and back to stow my threatening items.

After which I was sweating like a horse. (Ask someone who knows D.C. to tell you about the humidity... The place was built on a swamp!)

But then when we got in the statuary hall, I saw an old friend and that did wonders for my mood.

(I love how this statue suggests movement! You can also see how my hair & eyes suggest humidity... erg.)

This is Sarah Winnemucca, native activist and writer of My Life Among the Piutes. As Patrick took my photo, another family paused to wonder who this person was, and I went into "professor" mode, telling them a little about her life and writing. Patrick said you could really see how excited I was about seeing this statue, and about teaching others about her.

So probably my FBI file is a little thicker from this adventure, but I had a good time. Here are some other pictures from that day:

(King Kamehameha of Hawai'i)

(replica of Freedom, the statue atop the Capitol dome...)

(Here she is full-length.)

(Better keep an eye on this group of suspicious-looking characters...)

(One of my favorite things about the NMAI: it's a giant building that, in some ways, is very unobtrusive!)

(There was a group doing Polish dancing! We only watched them for a minute or two--in a hurry to get to dinner--but it was kind of cool.)

(Mr. Pointy Head; or maybe he's doing his impression of a unicorn?)

I hope you avoid doing anything that makes your FBI file thicker today...

Cheers,
Karen

(Intermission) Blogging: U R doin it wrong...*

I have conflicting goals in my head for this here blog... One is to post more often. The other is to post beautifully rendered, fully conceived essays that hold together from beginning to end and say something Profound and Meaningful. Oy.

I think I'd like to work on goal one and ignore goal two for a while. So here's something short and sweet for today.

On Facebook this morning I announced that it's International Karen Does Nothing Day today, and that my plan was to be lazy.

(a sign I ran across recently)

For the first time in weeks, today my calendar lists NO appointments. And I decided on Monday that the to-do list was making me feel overwhelmed and a bit glum, so I'm trying to hold it at arm's length for a while--you know, only getting stuff done that really could not be put off, keeping those appointments that I had already made weeks ago, and generally doing as little as possible otherwise, taking things a bit more slowly.

I had some advice recently that really hit me as True and Useful: instead of doing stuff from a place of "should," start paying attention to what brings me joy and do that instead. I'm trying that, and I must say, I feel a lot less glum and overwhelmed.

(Baby sock in progress, for a colleague who's preggers. The yarn is keeping me entertained--such interesting colors!)

The to-do list is still there, but it can wait. Just for a little while, I'm trying this new way of moving through my day, and taking note of those little things that make me happy... like knitting pretty things, eating blueberries, reading in my pjs. And writing on the blog! Well, whadaya know.

I haven't decided yet whether it's funny or pitiful that I had to schedule a day to be lazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. (Or maybe some other day...)

Ciao,
Karen

* The title means a) that I'm taking an intermission from describing my four corners trip, and b) I'm making a reference to LOLcats, who r doin it wrong sometimes.

Adventures in the corners (part one)

I have just returned from a trip to the Four Corners region of the U.S.; I was on a research/scouting trip to a) figure out what's out there for our students to see next year (those who will be taking the Four Corners Course Connection), and b) learn about the region. I can say I did both. A lot!

I've been hesitating to post this entry because I'm not sure yet quite how to sum up this adventure. All I have is my words and my photographs from my little camera to try to convey the awe these places inspired. Okay, here goes.

(Rather than showing you place by place where we went in this post, I'll share some themes. But here's a list of the featured stops: Albuquerque, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Mesa Verde, Anasazi Heritage Center, Hovenweep National Monument, Natural Bridges National Monument and Cedar Mesa, Edge of the Cedars, Monument Valley, Navajo National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Acoma Pueblo, and back on around to Albuquerque again. It was a whirlwind adventure!)

Theme one: out the window.
I think I took several hundred photos of the view out the window of the car. (My colleague Barbara and I drove from Ohio to Missouri the first day, then Missouri to Albuquerque, then all around the Four Corners; by the time I flew home that added up to about 2700 miles. Barbara did 99 percent of the driving. She is intrepid!)

I know that "out the window of the car" is not an ideal situation for photography, but I kind of feel like when you're out there, you just can't help it. Or at least I can't--I grew up on the east coast, and the topography of the Four Corners looks like another planet to me.

Here are a few of my photos out the window:

(On our way through Missouri, we passed a famous landmark... it was shiny!)

(Driving from New Mexico to Colorado, we saw the first of many interesting land formations...)

(Near Durango we passed by the southern tip of the Rockies. Wow!)

(At Mesa Verde you can see evidence of a forest fire some years ago. It's kind of eerie to come around a corner and be in a patch of dead trees.)

(This is near Mesa Verde. The landscape out there is just breath-taking. I love how you can see for miles and miles...)

(This is in southern Utah, where the rocks are red and the canyons are many.)

(Utah again, following Jim's truck to Bluff, where we ate dinner... More about Jim and his truck soon...)

Theme two: made by hand
On this trip I learned a lot about the Ancestral Puebloans and their culture. Twenty years ago, when my brother and I came through this region on our way out to California (that's a whole 'nother adventure), the story was that the people who lived at Mesa Verde and other cliff dwellings throughout the region were the Anasazi (a Navajo word that means "foreign ancient ones"), and that they had disappeared for mysterious reasons and left no descendants.

Today the park rangers tell a different story: that the cliff dwellers left because of drought and resource decimation (for example, wood--it takes a lot of wood to build kilns and fire pottery!), and that they spread out and mingled with the people who would later become the various Pueblo cultures throughout the region. I think this is a better story--one that emphasizes survival and continuance rather than a kind of romantic vanishing--so I'll be passing it along to my students next year.

We saw everywhere we went the evidence of their living: their houses...

(This is a series of doorways at Aztec Ruins (which has nothing to do with the Aztecs, by the way).)

(At Mesa Verde. You see T-shaped doorways at a lot of dwellings...)

(At Aztec Ruins. That is a 900-year-old ceiling, my friends, still intact.)

(Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde. What an amazing place!)

(This is at Hovenweep, one of my favorite dwelling sites...)

... and the things they made for everyday use that are beautiful as well as functional.

(On display at Mesa Verde.)

(I enjoyed seeing the ladles and pots and mugs...)

(I can't even tell you how much I love this seed jar...)

(This portion of the Edge of the Cedars museum includes an original ladder--foreground--and a display of pottery that has been seized from looters/collectors; sadly, it's a huge collection, and not even a fraction of what people have taken from dwelling sites.)

(This is a bag of woven cotton on display at Aztec Ruins. They had cotton! They were spinners and weavers!!!)

Check out some photos of a sandal here, and some mugs here. They made lots of mugs!

And, like us, they liked to adorn themselves with beautiful things.


I was inspired by these beautiful things. Even though the people worked very hard to survive, spending most of their time doing the work of procuring and preparing and storing food, they took time to make the things they used beautiful and meaningful.

Theme three: Karen finds yarn (fiber) everywhere she goes
When I became a knitter a few years ago, my family started joking that if you plop me down in any city/town in the U.S., I will find the yarn shop there. Now that I'm a spinner (and learning how to weave as well), this has meant that on my recent adventures I find evidence of spinning and weaving--humans using plant and animal fibers--everywhere I go.

In their spinning and rope-making and weaving, the Ancestral Puebloans made use of yucca, cattail, cotton, and other (more unusual) fibers...

(Hey, I have a nearly endless supply of hair... I wonder if I could learn to spin it??)

They even made blankets of yucca and turkey feathers (can you imagine how soft and warm that would be?). (I thought I had a photo of one, but I can't find it in my file--?)

... and they wove using MACAW feathers!

(The museum tag for this piece reads: "Object: Macaw Feather Sash. Date: A.D. 1150. Location: Canyonlands National Park. Materials: Abert's squirrel, macaw feathers on yucca cord, leather ties." The maker must have been a very valued and important person in the village!)

Of course, when we were in the Navajo nation, there was LOTS of yarn in evidence, as the Navajo are famous weavers, spinners, and dyers. Here are a few photos along the way:

(Yes, that would be a WALL OF YARN at the gift shop at Canyon de Chelly. I am proud to say I controlled myself--but only because I realized the brand of yarn is one I can get online.)

In Albuquerque I was really excited to see this in a restaurant where we had breakfast:

(Sorry the labels are not readable!)

It's a kind of chart of how the colors in the weaving are derived from natural sources--mostly plant parts--with a tiny loom in the middle.

(Here's another one, this time at the museum at the Anasazi Heritage Center. You can also buy one of these at the gift shop at Monument Valley.)

There was a full-size loom displayed at Mesa Verde, just around the corner from beautiful rugs for sale:

(Also at Mesa Verde: loom and...

... yarn and spindle!)

And and the Anasazi Heritage Center, there was a hands-on loom with directions about how to weave the Navajo way:

(This was meant for children, I think, but OF COURSE I gave it a try...)

The upright loom is very different "machinery" from the rigid heddle loom I'm learning to weave on, but the concepts are the same. I loved the feel of the well-worn beater--it seemed like lots of hands had polished it. The Center had lots of interactive displays and ways to learn, so I would recommend it highly if you're out that way...

This is a long post, dear readers; I'd like to continue describing my adventures in another post--one where I tell you about how I did stuff I was scared of doing, and about the rock art I saw in various places, about seeing iconic western landscapes, about the privilege of visiting sacred places, about being in another nation... For now, here's one more photo out the window:

(These are the mountains on the edges of Albuquerque, over the wing of the airplane home!)

May you enjoy some beauty in your adventures today!

Cheers,
Karen

Milestone

I'm in the middle of end-of-semester craziness, but couldn't let this day pass without noting it.

Today's milestone has been sneaking up on me--more quickly this year (at least it felt that way), and especially quickly in the last couple of weeks.

This is me and my son reflected in the bathroom mirror; we're both standing in our stocking feet:


The photography is not so great (well, I was on my way out the door to a faculty meeting and in a hurry), but the thing to notice is that he is as tall as me. At 12 years old! I didn't expect that to happen for a few years yet!

I'm glad he's healthy and happy and growing well. And, of course, this is also a bittersweet moment.

Hope you feel tall today!
Karen