Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Oh ! La vache ! (part 2)

The project that included my book, Oh! La vache! was awarded first prize by La main à la pâte, an organization which was begun and is presided over by George Charpak (Nobel Prize, Physics, 1992) in order to promote the sciences in schools.

To receive the award, we took 16 of the children who had participated in the project to (the French Academy of Sciences, in) Paris for a day. It was exhausting, but exhilarating. And the experience has definitely given me the impetus I needed for a couple of other projects I've been working on.

In other words: Back to the drawing board!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Beginnings (Xmas 2007)

This blog post is so long in coming, so I'll keep the comments short and rely on the pictures to convey the happy times we spent back home with Gramma, Grampa, Auntie Ellen, Cousin Gretchen and a number of the members of our beloved extended family and friends. It was, indeed, a happy time all around, and a cold and snowy one, to boot. We arrived at O'Hare in the middle of a blizzard. The boys first saw the, "SNOW! (MOMMY! LOOK!)" and then their "GRAMMA! GRAMPA! (WE ARE HE-E-E-RE!)" and then they settled into sleep in the car as we adults bit our nails and blocked out as best we could the ever-increasing numbers of cars and semis in the ditches along I-80. But then, we were HOME! and the fun could begin...


Below: All but the sleeping boys participate in the Xmas decorating, each in their own way - heh! heh!

The Worm (Re)Turns!

Ellen and Gretchen and I had a lovely drive up to Chicago, where we spent the afternoon with hilarious little Henry and Betsy - and her ever-growing belly! Even got a moment or two with Papa Pete. We were sorry to leave the warmth and welcome of their household, and put it off as long as possible. But Jean-Philippe's lovin' arms were awaiting us at O'Hare...

...and the fog was awaiting us Out There. Another hairy ride towards home put us directly in harm's way, and found us holing up in a seedy motel for the night. Yikes!
The boys had spent several heartbroken days and nights, wondering if their daddy was ever going to join us again, so they were overjoyed when he not only walked through the door, but... he brought Teddy and Wormy with him! A joyful reunion, indeed!

Xmas Bells and Boots

We were happy that the hard weather couldn't discourage the family members who'd planned to join us for the festivities, as well as the turkey that my cousin Arnie had nourished all last year, in preparation for such a meeting. (Unfortunately, there were quite a few days when the camera didn't even come out, so I have no pictures of Uncle Dale's visit, for example. Or Jean and her boys. Or, or... Shucks. Well, I did manage to get a few good ones of the Hogan-Sveningsen visit, below. Whew!) There was much good cheer, to be sure!

The gang's all beered! (excepting the chillins, who were milk-and-cidered)

Left: Great-Gramma & ze boys ("She's GREAT!" "Yes, she is!" "YEAH! GREAT-GRAMMA IS I LIKE HER, BECAUSE SHE'S GREAT!")
Right: Buzz mesmerises the boys. Again. And again. And...

The boys were little angels all Xmas day, beginning with their unwitting help in making one of their Grandmother's oldest wishes come true: a morning-long opening of gifts, with little or no 'tacking and alot of appreciating. Opening the Spider-Man fun kits their great-aunt Kathy sent them first certainly helped the boys in this (albeit, as I mentioned, unwitting) endeavor to please Gramammy, of course...

Above: Tradition! on the night before and the morning of...

Below: Wishes coming true. And Barb being snea-eaky...

Xmas Day was one of the most beautiful I've seen in all my life. Perfect weather for a chilly, snowy scramble about the neighbourhood, followed by fortress-making, followed by warm things to eat and drink, followed by the longest hand - ever - of Zombie Fluxx, followed by a good winter night's deep sleep.

All is Calm, All is Bright

The post-Xmas days were just what we needed to end the year: calm and gorgeous. The stress of the year gone by melted away, even as we found ourselves in the midst of the political storm that is pre-causus season in Iowa. The boys were treated to everything they could be treated to by their lovin' grandparents, the big 'uns got to see some old friends, and we were all very sorry to know that this utopian state of things wasn't going to last forever.



Oh, and did I mention already that we not only saw 2.5 presidential candidates "in ze flesh", but that I also had something like an epiphany as I shook Obama's hand? No joke. At the risk of sounding apostolic (or drugged), it was a very moving experience. What was perhaps most incredible was that I actually had this long and utterly peaceful moment as I shook his hand, during which I was able to say everything that I meant to say, hear everything he said in response, turn around... and only then did my knees begin to buckle. I've shaken hands and/or spoken with many people I admire, for one reason or another, but never had this kind of experience.



A funny story: The boys are still trying to figure out what titles really mean, in family and otherwise. Even tonight (23 January, folks. Ugh) at supper, the boys were plying us with questions, and supplying their own, now well-rehersed answers (as in: their daddy is my daddy, we are their grandparents' parents, and so on). We do our best. But they're still so wee. Sometimes I lose sight of this for a moment or six.

So anyway: One day, I was making the bed (HA! It's TRUE!) in our room, when Tomi padded down the hall and sat on the top step, yelling, "MO-O-O-OM!" to which I turned and answered, "Yes, honey?" He looked over and up at me, cocked his head and said, "No, I mean the other Mom!" Me: "You mean Gramma?" Tomi: "..." Me: "See, bunny... your gramma's my mom, but she's your grandma." Tomi: (raises his shoulders, hesitates...) "GRANDMA-MOM!"

Adieu, 2007!


The last two days equalled more brilliant winter weather, more calm good times... A great way to start the newest year. But we couldn't just end it on that bright note, now, could we?

So I ended our trip with a horrendous, terrifying ear infection, compounded by severe angina and other problems, all of which started the night before we left, and which made the trip home so devastatingly painful that I really didn't know if I was going to make it. Actually, I'm not certain that I would have, had my dad's quick thinking not brought me to the able hands that hover over Mark Smith's Shiatsu table the next morning. Even with this help, though, the pain was unbearable. Having (at last! at last!) got home and got the luggage and the boys upstairs, I raced (read: moved as quickly as I could) down the street to the doctor, who was absolutely appalled at what he saw. While Jean-Philippe went to fill the prescriptions, I settled uneasily into bed, and didn't really wake up again for 72 hours, except to (very painfully) swallow medications and change positions. Didn't eat for four days, actually, aside from a tiny bun that I forced down for a half an hour one night, in order to be sure that my meds would stay down. Even now, the thought of all of that makes me shudder... Oh! And we almost got kicked off the plane, because I realised at the last second that my insulin case had fallen out of my bag as we were driving to Chicago. At the very last second, I found a bottle of Humulin that I thought I'd put in the baggage we'd checked in. Who knows if we'd've made it, had they kicked us off the plane? What a thought. Enough of that, though.

Most importantly: Many many many thanks and best wishes to all of our friends and family whose company we were able to enjoy over those couple of weeks. The truth is, that the lack of digital images of y'all attests very simply to the fact that we were so intent upon and happy being with you. It may sound corny, but I'm very serious. And the wonderful times we had were worth the lack of images, to be sure. Such beauty, such joy...

And special thanks to Mark Smith, and to my parents, without whom...

And to all of you, near and far: We wish you a very VERY wonderful newest of years, filled with family and friends, good times and great cheer.

And should hard times befall you, remember, and sing along with Tomi and Vic and me: "You are... never alone...!"