Okay, one more, the end.

It's been fun, I'm done!

I'm sure I'll see you on-line in another form and hopefully in person. All good thing to you and the ones you love.

New car in my life and other late summer adventures:

Goodbye 1997 Toyota Tacoma:


Hello 2009 Honda Fit:


Beth and I worked at our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm in Floyd County, Seven Springs Farm. My nephew from Germany is on his summer break and visiting in Maryland, so most of the immediate family made it to Maryland for a visit. And one more quick trip up north for my good friend Susan's baby shower:

Engaged and Western Trip Part 2

The second part of our western trip was amazing. Here are the photos from Boise, Hells Canyon, Glacier, and our trip home:

200906_West_Trip_Part2

A journal entry to share:
6/30/09
Hells Canyon was quite eventful. On our second day out, Thursday, Brian presented a beautiful white gold and opal ring and asked me to marry him. It was just after a lunch of flat bread, crackers, cheese, and packaged salmon. We stopped at a beautiful view of the canyon. He came up to me looking very loving, holding a ring box, and popped the question. I knew this was coming soon, but was surprised at that moment. I said yes and we are now engaged.

Brian is an amazing person and I love him so much. We will be very happy together and continue to learn and grow from each other.

Later that day, Thursday, we had a test of the strength of our relationship and personalities. This was a long 9 or so mile day. When we were getting close to where we thought we would camp, we came upon some obstacles. We had to scurry around two snow fields. It was very scary for me because I don't have good balance on rocks (scree fields), especially with a 40 pound pack on my back. I think I was on a hikers/newly engaged high, so I followed Brian. On the second scree field, I slipped, fell, and slid a few feet before Brian stopped me.

A rock made a clean gash just below my right knee. It probably needed stitches at the time, but we kept it clean, butterfly closures, and bandaged well and it is healing nicely. I will have two permanent things to remember this day by, my lovely ring and a scar. Brian came to the rescue, patched me up, and got us up the hill. Around the bend we encountered snow fields too large to cross. At this point we needed to find a campsite and water. This involved going down approximately 800 feet on a steep slope to a relatively flat spot near water. We were both nervous that night about returning to the trail, and getting around the two snow fields.

The next morning, Friday, we got an early start and it took us 40 minutes to climb back to the trail. We negotiated the snow fields without much problem. That evening we were relieved to make it a mere 4 miles from the truck to a beautiful campsite next to a small waterfall.

We encountered a few groups of hikers on our way back to the truck. They inquired whether we had done the loop. One hiker said it had been a cold, wet spring so that was probably why the trail was not passable. We had beautiful weather, spotted a black bear and mountain goat up close, awesome views, an eventful engagement, and a reminder that outdoor adventures can be dangerous and to always be prepared. Next time we will call the rangers station for their take on the conditions.

Western Trip Part 1

We made it to Brian's conference in Boise. I explored some of the outskirts of Boise yesterday, did laundry, and some shopping at the many outdoor stores here. We had a great dinner last night at Bittercreek Ale House. Boise is a very cool town. I'm headed out shortly to explore downtown more and maybe rent a bike. Miss you all!

Our journey west through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks was amazing. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words:"

200906_West_Trip_Part1

More to come. . .

CMI and Friends Go Canoeing

Last Sunday we went for a nice canoe trip on the New River with some coworkers and friends. I caught my first fish ever.
We're headed out bright and early tomorrow morning for western locales.

Congrats Dr. Perkins (click for more photos)

Middle of May

Time flies. Mom and Dad are here and we're getting ready to go out to brunch with Brian and family. Later we're having a cookout to celebrate Brian finishing his PhD. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us.

Brian's sister, Jenny, and her new husband, Tony, had a beautiful wedding at the end of April at their parent's rustic farm in WV. Just after that I left for Oklahoma to work on a species of concern, a small white flower, Oklahoma penstemon, at Tinker Air Force Base. While I was gone, Brian successfully defended his dissertation. Go Brian!

Before you know it we'll be heading west for our big trip.

14 years for me at VPI Cave-Club Picnic

Has it really been that long?

Well, we made it through the dark days of February and March, into April and fast approaching May. Brian got a nice job offer at Glenville State College in Glenville, WV. Things are going well at work. I finished the last of 4 final draft Natural Resource Assessments for the National Park Service (200+ pages each) with a lot of help from colleagues. Deliverables, data organization, and 4 more parks in Virginia to go.

Which brings us to VPI Cave-Club spring picnic. This is really a full weekend camp-out with some really unique and great people.

Katherine caught Brian and me in the middle of some mountain dancing, camping finery and all:


And let's not forget the cow pasture golf and tyrolean. Karen and I also survived the 51-mile bike-ride out there. Great time!


View Larger Map

Johns Hopkins and Whitehall Locker Plant

This is a round about story, but here goes. I was in Maryland last weekend visiting my family for Easter. Unfortunately just before leaving for Maryland, I found out my uncle had a heart attack. He's doing fine, but that put us at the main Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, visiting for a bit on Saturday. While visiting, Mom decided we should check out the dome which is part of the original hospital. New buildings have sprouted up all around this historic building:


The most obvious and first thing to admire as you walk into the main entrance way is an immense statue of the resurrected Jesus (fitting for the Easter weekend):


There was also a plaque that gave a concise bio of Johns Hopkins, who unknown to me was a Quaker, entrepreneur, and great philanthropist. One thing I did know was that he was born not far from where I grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Coincidentally my uncle who was then being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital recently moved just across the way from Johns Hopkins birthplace:


Talking about all of this brought back some memories for my Mom. Mom told me a story about stopping near Johns Hopkins birthplace as a child to pick up frozen foods they kept at the Whitehall Locker Plant. I found this interesting and didn't quite get the concept. Apparently back when she was a young child, home freezers to preserve food in did not exist or were very uncommon, so they rented space in a large walk-in freezer they called a locker plant. There were individual lockers they had a key to within a large freezer. Apparently they still exist, but not common. Probably due to folks not buying meat and other frozen things in large quantities as often and now you can easily have your own large freezer at home to keep food.

This was a very interesting story to me, which brings me to a talk we went to on Wednesday by Greg Mortenson. He is an inspirational and humble man who has done so much to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I recently read his book, Three Cups of Tea. One thing that really rang clear for me in his talk was how in this country we are missing out on stories from past generations. He asked how many in the audience had conversations with their parents and grandparents about how they lived and past world events. Usually 10% of hands within the U.S. go up. If he asks this same question of students in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 90% of hands go up. His point was, we're missing out on so much if we do not have respect for and learn from older generations. One thing my parents have always been good at is telling a story, or talking about relatives, and where we came from. I think this has been a great influence on my life.

This brings me full-circle, back to family and how important they are. Stay happy and healthy, exercise, eat well, and be good!

March around the Burg - click here for photos

Anita turns 60 - click here for photos

The ball winder is my Nana's (Dad's Mom's) old ball winder. My Dad made this swift from these plans I found:
SewUseful: Portable Tabletop Yarn Swift (for winding yarn) - More DIY How To Projects
They work very well together. Thanks!

From 200901_yarn&gibbous

Gibbous loves yarn!

Gibbous's new "friend"

Well hello. . . . . . What's this on my leg. . . . . . A new friend!

Christmas

Brian's photos

Winter at the Cascades

200812_Cascades

A nice trip to the Cascades with Liz, Katherine, and Caitlin.

The tree was decorated this week with help from Ginger, Ken, and Brian.
I finally made a Pumpkin-chocolate swirl cheesecake I've been wanting to try. . . yum!
(I used 1 regular cream cheese and left 1/4 cup of brown sugar out so not as sweet. Also had to transfer mixture to large bowl after adding second ingredients and finish with hand mixer since my food processor was not large enough to hold all ingredients. This is a tall cheese cake so make sure your springform pan is pretty deep.)
CHOCOLATE CRUST
* 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
CHEESECAKE
* 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
* 2 cups low fat cottage cheese
* 2 (8 ounce) packages neufchatel cheese, softened
* 2 cups light brown sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
MAKE CHOCOLATE CRUST: Coat 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.
MAKE CHEESECAKE FILLING: Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium power, stirring every 30 seconds to heat evenly. Set aside.
In food processor, blend cottage cheese until smooth (about 3 minutes). Add Neufchatel cheese, brown sugar, eggs, and flour. Process until smooth. Add pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Process 1 minute, or until smooth.
Whisk 1 cup of the cheese batter into the melted chocolate. Pour remaining batter into crust. Spoon dollops of chocolate mixture onto batter and swirl with a knife.
Bake the cheesecake for 1-1/2 hours, or until the top is firm and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Chill well before unmolding and serving.

Maryland visit

Brian and I made a trip up to Maryland to visit the parents this past weekend. We had a great trip, touristing around Annapolis, and a nice breakfast out with Nana, Mom, Dad, Aunt Jan, Uncle Warren, Aunt Elke, Uncle Joe, and cousin Mark (Jackie was working).
Just after we left, Joe made Dad get out all the John Deere's for a Kodak moment. Left to right are, a 1984 Model 1450, 1942 Model A, 1947 Model M, 1997 Model 855, and out front the 2008 XUV Gator. Yikes, we're considering sending Tom to John Deere Anonymous. ;)
Dad saved some historic newspapers (The Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital) for me from the week before. They have been securely archived. One more time. . . Go Obama!

Go Virginia!

We did it. This year even my home, Montgomery County, went blue. Thanks to all my friends and community members who tirelessly volunteered and did so much for this historic event.



We stayed up late last night at our friend's, Chris and Joanne's, with a bunch of like-minded, wonderful folks. We had a laptop going, people text messaging friends, and flipping through several stations. Joanne made some amazing food for us all and Ginger and Ken shared some champagne.

Can you believe it! An intelligent president that will represent us respectfully to the world. My dad said on his trip through Virginia that he hopes Obama lives up to all the hype, and I have faith that he will. Just the fact that we elected someone that truly represents us all has brought our standing in the international arena up immeasurably.

I am thrilled to have become such an important part of history, voting in the first African American president. It seems to me almost every other event my generation has witnessed first hand in this country has been negative. 9/11, Iraq war, and the close-to-home Virginia Tech tragedy have loomed over my world.

When I was in Ethiopia last year, I spoke with an Ethiopian man on the way to the office. He was one of the directors of the organization we were teaching for. This was December 2007 and he spoke of Hillary Clinton and asked if I thought she would be our next president. I slyly said no, I hope it will be Barack Obama. He had not yet heard much of this African American man that would become our 44th president. When I told of his powerful speeches and that I believed that even if not in 2008, he would one day be our president, this educated Ethiopian man was amazed. He then relented, that is what I like about America, anything is possible, and all people are equal. I went on to say that there is still a lot of injustice in the US and the world and so much more to be done.

"For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there. . . .

. . .What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation — as one people." - Obama victory speech (Nov 4, 2008)

With this kind of leadership, we can make it happen.