End of a very short trip

I am at the Sheridan (international) airport, waiting for a flight back to Minnesota.   The airline's plane (yes, you read that right) is in the hanger being fixed--on an earlier flight, it started down the runway and one of those pesky propellors just stopped.  Now, Bud or Hank or whoever from the local Shell station is trying to fix it for my flight.  I am sitting in the, er, reception area listening to stories of people who have been waiting from a few hours to a day and a half to get out here by plane.  The airline, Great Lake Air, is interesting.  It is also called "Great Mistakes Air" and "Amateur Air" by local frequent fliers.  I am not optimistic at this point.

 I was here interviewing and I had a great time.  People were nice, the Colleges were good and absolutely beautiful, and the position would be challenging and definitely would push and help me grow professionally.  Plus this place, like so many places in the West, has that extra paycheck of being in an absolutely beautiful part of the world.  I am hopefully, wishfully,  optimistic at this point.

Before I left Minnesota I bought a little point and shoot camera for my travels--of course you can never have too many cameras and at this point in time I did not have a smaller camera.  So I needed one, he rationalized to himself and others.  If nothing else, it shows that all you need is a good camera.  Whatever.  Here are a few of the early results.  The scenic shots are within 10 minutes of Sheridan, and the signs are from the

Wy...

It was a beautiful day--it started very snowy but by this afternoon it was just a stunning day.

Snow, again and still...

We have been blessed with more evidence that winter is still here, and are we lucky!  Yeah, that's the word, lucky.  Since it was warm yesterday and very cold today, it really is a winter wonderland/skating rink.  Even the main roads are slick.  I made it out, albeit with a helpful parking lot push.

Yesterday was pretty, if you like this kind of weather and scenery.  I took my camera out and found a few photos.  I have taken pictures of some of these trees before in the fog.  It was a lot different look with this much snow.

A new contest

I woke today to another day with sub-zero temperatures, the 47th day since November that this has happened.  It seems to be some record, though only one a Minnesotan might be proud or happy about.  Actually, I think that 1959 was colder, and the 1980-81 winter close but it has been a while since winter has been so bitter.  Local schools will be going until the second week of June for sure to make up for snow and cold days, I am sure the "old-timers" like me will tell you young whipper-snappers about the "real" cold winter of 2013-14!

Since enjoying this kind of winter seems to require indoor activities, I have been reading as much as I can and expanding my little brain.  I am a bit focused on the East, as in Japan, right now and have read widely on this topic.  The internet is an amazing thing, isn't it?  I was thinking about Japanese poetry and its various forms.  I have seen poems in the "Tanka" format and I appreciate their depth beyond the more common haiku format.  Of course in the hands of a true master,these 31 syllables can tell a whole story.  The form usually is 5 7 5 7 7, or just 31 syllables.  Often the poem is done as part of a competition, for either the whole poem or the poet will complete the first 17 syllables and then a competitor will complete the last two lines or 14 syllables.  Basho, the 17th century master poet,  excelled at this and his haiku still inspire mora lines.

Below area two by a lowly, lowly imitator.  The contest is now open!  Enter by either submitting a whole poem in this format or as the first hokku to be followed by the 7-7 mora verse.  Prizes are yet to be determined but I am sure that they will be significant.  All entries will be published providing they aren't obscene.  My last poetry contest inspired someone in that direction and he was disappointed that I didn't publish it--thus the disclaimer.

The cold winter’s blast

Scouring land and man, too.

All shiver, the norm.

The sun weak, unsustaining,

unthawing, cold.  Blast winter.

Trees shatter, frozen

The sound sharp, the night too cold

Branches asunder

Sun shines with but faint warmth,

it failing as night begins

Good food, bad game, but nice light

I a watching a miserable football game and I am more than disinterested.  I am not a huge Peyton Manning fan but I do respect him and his team, and listening to them being shut out is disappointing.  It seems the best defense is perhaps better than the best offense.

I have to say that I ate well this weekend.  My house still smells of rosemary and mint from the very slow roasted beast that I made yesterday.  I would tell you what kind of beast but I would feel very "baaa-d" and couldn't tell ewe.  None-the-less, it was very good.  I browned it and then slow roasted it with lots and lots of rosemary and mint for 6 hours on low heat.  It fell apart and the richness of the roast was warm and filling, and the flavors and aromas  filled my house.  I served it with  fairly decent risotto that I made with woodland mushrooms, vegetables,  and even more rosemary and mint. It was complemented with a saucy yet deep box (hey, I am unemployed and on a budget!!!) of cab.    Plus I have lunch tomorrow!

Tonight I ramped up my vision of Superbowl food.  I had them slice some bacon very thin, so thin you could almost read through it.  I then wrapped figs, dates, prunes, and apricots with this bacon and roasted it.  With slim slices of real parmesan cheese and crunchy crusted bread, it was a treat.  I have heard that bacon is basically the duct tape of food, and this confirmed it.  The crunchy salty super thin bacon around the sweet fruit was a real treat. It wasn't perfect--I have some ideas for next time, but it very certainly was much better than a bag of Doritos and a can of cheese or "little smokies" in ketchup that you have to eat with tooth picks.

Lastly, there was nice light for photos.  I bought tulips just to remind me that spring will come sometime.  It will be awhile but it will come.  

In my continuing orgy of reading  I am re-reading James Clavell's Asian series.  They were written in the 1960s and 70s and the are a good, if unsubstantial read.   I have read more than 3,000 pages of his.    I think that I could be Japanese and treasure the simplicity that is sometimes revered.  I am a long ways from attaining any type of "wa" or approaching the religious goals of the Buddha or becoming Zen-like.  Still, tulips can provide a path towards simplicity and peace.  I hope.

Transitions, a repeat from August 3, 2008, my first blog post...

For those of you who have followed previous blogs of mine, this might be a bit different--those were blogs for a specific purpose--one was for a trip to London, the other for a trip to Prague.  This blog comes at a different time in my life, one with filled with new opportunities and adventures.  It also comes at a time when I need to do a better job and want to do a better job keeping in touch with people, people who are now 2,500 miles away.  The audience is very small, but I hope that it meets this goal.

As hinted at, I am in a transitional phase of my life--I sold most of my "stuff," loaded up my Honda, and moved to Beverly...whoops, it just looked like the Clampett's were moving in my car.  I had a new opportunity be a dean-type person at a community college in Bellingham, WA, so I am moving/moved to there from Findlay, OH.  There are a few places in California further away, but it is a long way from Findlay, as I am often reminded.  New job, new place to live, and a new blog space...there is a certain symmetry.

I am certain of only one thing about this blog--I want it to be, and need it to be interactive, and a tool for communication both ways.  Please comment and share, and do so often.  I recognize that the procedure for doing so is awkward, so feel free to use my email to respond.  It is henry919@mac.com.  Share with me, and this will be a lot more fun for everyone.

500th post, and Ireland

I was somewhat surprised to see that this is my 500th post since I started this blog five and a half years ago.  I am not sure that this is a lot of posts or too few.  I know that if you have read them then  you know far more about me than either I know about you or than would if you hadn't read them.  Is that a gift or a burden?  I am not sure.

What is interesting is that 499 posts ago I was facing significant changes in my life, moving from  one end of the country to another for a new job, absorbing the impact of being jobless, the loss of friends and countless other big and little changes.  How odd life is.  I find myself at the time of this 500th post going through many the same things--I don't know where I will be, what I will be doing, etc.  The only thing the same is the uncertainty, or more accurately, the uncertainties.

As I told myself in my blog before, I am if not well prepared more prepared than some who face their uncertainties.  I am reasonably skilled and educated, I am able to survive until summer even if nothing comes my way, and if needed I suppose I could stretch that out.  There are things I could do   other than what I have done before.  If I could avoid wearing a hair net in a new job, I think I would be ok.  Anyone need a ronin historian?  A photo for their wall or garage?  A wedding photographer?  A tutor?  A substitute?  A clown?  I am available.

In the meantime, I am establishing a routine, albeit a somewhat solitary one.  I am at a coffee shop by 8AM or so, looking and working on my career.  I go to the gym.  And, as I told one friend, I rinse and repeat all this the next day.  There are jobs out there which is a change from a few months or years ago and I do have an interview or two.  Who knows?

One thing that I have had the chance to do is to read, and read a lot.  Since December I have read some 45 books--I am not sure if that is a lot, but it is more than I have had a chance to read in a long time.  I am trying to balance out my list as my siren call is to read mostly drivel.  As in the books about the spy who did that but was caught by the clever British detective who lived a post-apocalyptic world or something like that.  At least I am avoiding books about vampires!  I have managed to read a few other books--I am about half-way through the Booker Prize-winners and National Book Award winners  since 1990, for example,  and have caught up with a few other classics that I have missed over the years.  One is The Little Prince. How fun is that?  I am skipping the French though I bet it is even more of a gem in its original language.  Still, it is a remarkable book, and it is a book that I know I will read again and again.

As the prince says, "I must endure a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies."

I do believe that, though I wish there weren't so damn many of them right now.

On to the 501st post...

Prague, Part 2

I am not sure when all of these were taken…as I reassemble my files, some of the dates became jumbled.  I think a lot of these were taken in 2004 or 2006, a few years before the advent of this blog.  What is interesting is that I have several versions of most of these photos, from raw photos to finished photos.  I find that as I edit these photos now, I tweak/adjust these photos very differently now than I did 7-8 years ago.  The technology has changed but not all that much but my aesthetic taste, if it actually exists, has changed.  I crop tighter and want simpler lines and less complicated colors.

Of course all these are for sale!  $125 for a 16x20-ish canvas print.  More for larger sizes.  And as always, comments are welcome

Next up are photos from Ireland…

Prague, Part 1

I am not in Prague nor do I have any immediate plans to go there.  That doesn't mean that I don't want to go again, and in fact looking at these photos which predate this blog make me want to go even more.   Since I don't really have much to say (or do, for that matter) I am going to do something that I have said/threatened/promised to do for a long time--go through at least some of my 60,000 or so photographs.  These were taken my last trip to Prague, but somewhere I have photographic evidence of several other trips.  They may not be the best photos but they are ones that mean something to me.  Watch for future installments, and I do take requests.

Gopher Tales

One of the things that I have been doing on my "sabbatical" besides applying for jobs has been going to auctions.  I have always enjoyed auctions for fun and for profit.   It is fun to people watch and it is fun to see unusual things and what these old things sell for.  And  I have made a bit of money, at least enough to support my camera and other habits and sometimes I have made enough to help pay rent which is not an inconsequential consideration these days.

This past weekend I bought a box of books mainly for one book which is pictured above.  Gopher Tales is by Antoinette Elizabeth Ford and was in print from 1932 to the 1950s and was one of the three books by Ford which served as the foundation of teaching Minnesota history to fourth through sixth graders  for most of four decades.While even I feel that  we can be too politically correct, this book is so politically incorrect that it shocks me.  Of course it is not challenging to women or blacks, because there is not a single mention of any minority group other than Native Americans and women are only mentioned as the people who cook and maintain the crops.  Well, Native American women worked hard because the men were lazy and only hunted, but that is about the only real mention of specific women.

In this state that has so much rich and important Native American history and culture  and that still has a very vital and important Native American population, it is pretty shocking to see how they were portrayed in such an important book.  It is the same sad tale that you might imagine with noble whites and savage Redskins who, if they only listened to the whites, would be saved, etc.  In this book, treaties were always fair and fairly negotiated, and Native Americans, child-like as they were, were happy just because of the benevolent feasting that heralded negotiations.

Very certainly this book mirrored the times in which it was used as a text.  Minnesota's progressive image was not always progressive--Jim Crow Minnesota, where Indians were not allowed to vote or fully participate in the economy or schools or government was not that long ago and some say it is still around.  But this isn't a story book--this was a widely used text book!  Ford published an outline guide so teachers would know how to teach from this and her other books, and I found it reprinted into the late 1960s, eve after her death in 1955.

What this really is a research project for me--I alreadyfound and  ordered her other books, found a picture of her, and will find out even more.  Minnesota does not have an Act 31 like Wisconsin, but Minnesota and Native American history is to be taught in state schools.  But what is (or isn't) being taught?  Is it better today than it was for most of the 20th century?  Click on and then take a look at the photos posted above--I hope that it all wasn't this bad.

My demise is somewhat over-reported...

   
Despite only three or four posts in the last three or four months, I am not dead nor have I stopped taking any photos or thinking deep or shallow thoughts.  I have just been a bit busy and more than a little preoccupied with that life that goes on around me.

I like to say I am transitioning, but I think that implies that I have somewhere to transition to, and that isn't exactly the case.  My job in St Cloud ended, with all the challenges that entailed, at the end of the year.  It was a long good bye by any standard.  I knew that the College was reorganizing and "going a different direction" that didn't include me since July--I fulfilled the terms of my contract and then some and worked through the end of the year. That was not without challenges but as I have said before, how you leave the room is sometimes as important as how you got into the room.  All in all it worked and it was made mostly bearable by some of the great people that I worked with.

So right now, I am not sure where I might be transitioning to.  In many many ways it is wonderful to say that I could go anywhere in the country or world for an adventure, and that not many people can say that.  I can, and that makes this job search easier--I don't exactly have to stay in the greater (?) St Cloud area, and trust me, my search is pretty broad and spans continents.  But there is some cost to be able to say that, too. 

As I transition to wherever/whatever, I will try to include others more than I have these past few months.