Winston-Salem: A New Hope

This is the first post for the new format. This is now a renovation blog. Here's the story:
     Baltimore is the devil's hemorrhoid. That needed to be said in order to explain how excited we are to leave it and begin the next adventure in our lives, in North Carolina. I found this amazing property by myself on the internet shortly after it was put on the market. Its a 40 acre lot with a pole barn, milking shed, and 1800 sf house with a full semi-finished basement. The land was owned by a family since the 1920's and it used to be a dairy, they sold many surrounding parcels and finally were down to 40. The house was built in 1960 and the owner passed away last winter and left the property to her children, who sold it to us. I won't go into the tedium of the purchase process here, but it was a long and complicated procedure to acquire all the necessary pieces of the puzzle, maybe not the best choice for first time homebuyers, but sooooooo worth it.
     Here are the pictures.

 This is the view from up the hill from the house (our "extended" front yard)

 The view from the top of the hill just past the barn. a stream crosses the property and connects to a creek that forms our northern border. We own all the meadow area back to the far tree line.

 This is where our stream flows into the creek

 This is the family room, that will eventually be the master bedroom

 The kitchen and dining room are nice sized and open, but could stand some upgrading.

 This is "the wood room" it is a country abomination, but it is the first project I will be tackling.

 Beautiful dogwood in the front yard, as seen from the wood room.

More of the wood room, and another fireplace, needs some updating. It was owned by a woman in her nineties and built in 1960, so everything screams "OLD LADY!"

     There are many more photos, but these give you an idea of what we are looking at. The plan is to renovate the house over the course of the first year. After that I go back to teaching, and we start to work more on the farm/property, including livestock! Check back soon, I will try to put up all the major  projects that I tackle. 

...so many things I meant to tell you.

I had this all planned out in my head: a gripping account of the transition from student to teacher-played out in several parts over the course of a semester.

Alas, as you may have noted I have been all silent-like since last fall.

I can't give that play-by-play I had intended. (unless you're my mother-who got it over the phone each week)

Suffice it to say that I learned a lot about teaching, and teachers, and students in the last several months. Today was my first day as a "non-student teacher" (It doesn't feel right to say "teacher" until the paperwork is in and I have a credential, but that still is a few weeks away). I got up at 5:45, took the dog running, and was out of the house by 6:40 headed back to school. I spent the morning finishing grading the finals from yesterday's classes, inputting grades, and finalizing conduct scores and comments for the semester report cards. I got done around 12:30, and said a brief "thank you" to my master teachers-who were busy teaching, and went to turn in my keys.

I did not wear a tie today, my students took note. I told them that I was off duty.

Last night I went out with a small group from my credentialling cohort, to catch up and decompress. I am a person who bristles at group interactions, but I sincerely love all five of them (even if one couldn't make it) and feel comfortable with our shared experiences and enjoy their company.

I think the overarching lesson I learned during student teaching was the importance of collaboration, and relationships, and opening yourself to the lives of others. I came in with a very militaristic view of education, and I still find value there, but I learned that teaching is an inherently social activity, and to ignore that and internalize yourself renders your lessons--however well crafted--ineffectual.

I HATE people. Groups of people are somehow half as intelligent as the sum of their individual IQ's. I love individuals. I want to connect with everybody on a one-to-one level, and there is some difficulty to that when dealing with a class of 35 kids. But it can be done. This is the area of growth that has most surprised me. I wanted to be the ring master and run my own little circus, but when I saw teachers who did that... let's just say they were not the teachers I want to emulate.

Metamorphosis: step 1

This has been quite a week. It began with the end of my career at starbucks, which was bittersweet. That was accompanied by the inevitable sense of doom associated with leaving the familiar and embarking on the unfamiliar.

I had not considered the psychological effects of my vocational change. In the space of a day I went from respected elder statesman in a world of 20 year olds, to neophyte in a world of 40-50 somethings. All of a sudden I was a grownup (or at least expected to be). For the last few semesters I had jokingly referred to my teaching/observing persona as "Mr. Bruce", and spoke of him as a separate entity. On Tuesday I had to wear "Mr. Bruce" most of the day, and then the rest of the week.

Mr. Bruce wears ties. In fact, he more than wears them, he loves them. He feels sorry for people who don't.

I remember one of my odd phases while I was in the military, at age 19/20 feeling very grown up and having a fixation with ties. I used to sit around the house watching tv on my days off, in clothes that my new coworkers would think are too "dressy" to wear to work. I was doing my best "grownup" impersonation. In a way I still am, but I have gotten better at it.

This past week has been an eye opener. I am hooked and I want more. This week wasn't work at all (which is good, because nobody is paying me). I took home papers to grade for the two classes I taught on Friday, and laughed and enjoyed the process of covering them with red pen. Some kids write/say the darndest things (others just sit there and stare at you) and you can make them do things (its amazing).

I am also adjusting to a new daily schedule. I have been getting up at 530/545 to run with the dog, and then I have to leave by 645 because of traffic to get there around 730. Then all day long I am figuring out which bell is what, and because the school uses block scheduling I only have each class every other day. And I have no 7th period, it is my prep, which means that I am done with students around 150 and am then at the mercy of my master teacher. With few exceptions I am not allowed to leave before her (this is not a serious problem, as she has 2 school age sons and is not particularly keen to hang around past 3pm). I have a weekly class for student teachers at CSULB on Wed. evenings, and a few miscellaneous extra curricular activities that I must observe, but otherwise I am usually home by 415-430. I have the evenings to myself and go to bed around 11. It is bizarrely normal when compared to what I have done for the past several years.

The science department head, who in the short time I have known him I have come to respect quite a bit, asked me on Friday, "So, you feel like a teacher yet?"

My response was, "A little more every day." which I followed up with "Hey Bob, where's your tie!"

P.S. Mr. Bruce uses capital letters.

The upcoming New World Order.

I am not what you would call a "nervous person". My response to stress tends toward the narcoleptic rather than the manic. And while I lack anxiety, i am chock full of anxiousness. I have a desire to get things going that makes me crazy waiting for a new adventure. The worst part of bungee jumping was walking up the stairs. So i find myself in this situation presently, running the clock out on my 5 year stint at starbucks, and waiting to start student teaching--exactly 2 weeks from today.

I feel ready to jump into it. I have no idea what to expect or have prepared, because I have no idea what is on the other side of that two week wall. I will learn quickly (i suspect) what is necessary, but at this point i have so little to go on that i have been watching movies and starting a new book--which i will undoubtedly not finish until after the semester is over. (Its a history of the papacy, so i kinda know how it ends--its a german guy who says questionably offensive things).

My preparations have included: packing an unpacking my briefcase, trying to break in said briefcase (thanks mom and dad, i will love it forever), polishing my shoes, buying some new "grown up" clothes, and occasionally looking at the teacher's edition of the textbook-which, to be honest i do not care for (i wish i had the student edition, too much extra crap in the margins). frankly i'm a little bored.

But i will come back here in two weeks and let you know how it went.

Gone to be with Jesus

For the third and (hopefully) final installment of my morbid summer: My grandmother passed away suddenly on Sunday morning. I have been at pains on how to address it here, or even whether or not to, but I felt this might give the appearance of a slight to my family, as i have rambled on about those unrelated to me and their recent passing.

If you want the story of her life-read the obituary.

If you want the story of how she passed-ask my mother.

If you want to know how amazing a woman she was-attend the service.

I am only going to tell you why her absence hurts (me).

She was the last of my grandparents to die. Which gives her death a false sense of importance over all the ones who went before. I miss her as a person, and Colleen, Clayton, Darlene, and Karl, as one conglomeration of generational sadness at the loss.

My grandparents died at large intervals, and my memories of them shift like shadows as my perception of them ages. My understanding of them as people, complex and interesting, developed with time. I regret that Colleen who passed when I was barely into high school, is the least colored in of all of them. She died when grandparents were only satellites that orbit around their grandchildren-or at least that is the view from the grandchild's perspective.

Grandma Lois lasted long enough for me to appreciate her on an adult level. There would always be some deference to the familial roles we represented to each other, and the vast disparity of our ages, but i could talk to her, and she to me. we lived at a distance that maintained the gravitational attraction of conversation and visits, and kept the desire to see each other from being crushed by the mundanity of constant contact. I knew how she felt about me, and she knew how I felt about her.

I will always wish I had more time with her, but that is a sign of love. If I could have been satisfied with our time together, i wouldn't miss her as i do. You don't really love someone if, when they die, you say "well, i'd had about enough of them anyway."

We had lately discovered dominos, and would play into the night after my parents went to bed. It was something we could share, and work at together. I will miss those hours.

She was a sweet and generous soul, who loved Jesus, babies and her family. It sounds trite, I know, that's what all little old ladies love, but it is the truth. And if I know anyone who has ever deserved to be with Jesus it is my Grandma Lois. And she'd want you and i to join her.

customer service

Today was the funeral service for one of my regular customers from starbucks. And while i will mention her name (Margot Harvey), this post is larger than her loss. I will be leaving starbucks to begin student teaching at the end of the summer, and have been reflecting on my 5 years with the company. Margot represents the best that the job had to offer. Over the four years at my first store in Tustin, I got to know a wonderful group of people who have all left a mark on my heart. Some of those people were coworkers, and some were customers who could have just come in for their morning cup of coffee, paid, and left. Some of those thousands of people who waited in my line did more than that.

As a job, starbucks was a steady predictable (if occasionally menial) part of my life. I was fairly compensated and treated well by all, and allowed to be my own peculiar self ({mostly}within dress code). What i will take away was the community i felt with my customers/neighbors, who i genuinely looked forward to seeing each day (and some of the ones i didn't).

Margot, the star of today's post (if there is such a thing), once caught me riding to/from work without a helmet, and gave me a hard time about it for a week, and then turned up one day with a brand new helmet she bought for me. (i did briefly wear it when i thought she might see me).

Harry loaned me his flatbed truck for a few days when we moved across town to our current apartment.

Sal got me a case of pig's feet on short notice so meg could teach a suturing workshop. And always remembered me around the holidays.

These are only a few prominent examples, and there are many more who offered me nothing more than a sympathetic ear, or pleasant conversation, but all of them generous in their own way. These are the people I will miss. The people who made my job pleasant.

I encourage you, dear reader (using a plural here just seems like hubris), to be one of those people to somebody insignificant in your life. make them more significant. it's always good to have one more person speak well of you when you are gone.

in passing

Today i attended a memorial service for meg's boss/mentor/friend. Her name was Dr. Marianne Cinat, and she was by all accounts an impressive woman. i knew her only socially, we had dinner a few times and sat at the same tables for hospital functions, and she was a humorous and kind person. the world is a little worse off for her departure.

While all of the above could certainly justify my attendance, i mostly went in support of meg. But i would be ignoring my curiosity, and selfish reasons if i did not disclose them: I wanted to see the future.

I have been to what i imagine are an average number of funerals/memorials for my age. I still prefer them to weddings--nobody goes to a funeral unless they want to, its not really a "can i bring a date" scene. But i have never been to such an enormous service. It filled two conference rooms in the doubletree hotel (across the street from the hospital). Multiple fire departments had firetrucks out front in an impressive show of force, many of the firemen in dress uniforms filled the hall. Police officers, city officials, hospital staff, friends, only her sister made the trip out from the family home in Michigan, where the funeral will be held. Many of her patients were actually in the audience, or had sent in emails and cards with their condolences, some got up to speak.

It was impressive to consider the impact of this one woman on all of the people in the room. I can only imagine that throughout a career in trauma and burn surgery (even a tragically short one in this case) you play an important role in the community as well as in individual's lives. Part of my going was to see what meg's funeral (eventual, i'm not planning anything untoward) would look like. If their friends and coworkers are to be believed meg and marianne were very similar, and i think an apt comparison can be made.

People respect doctors. some of them even deserve it. I had never been to a doctor's service before, and it was touching. particularly for hard working, no nonsense doctors who put their patients before their own family and social obligations at times, it was reassuring to see that people do appreciate their efforts, and they do affect people's lives.

Which is nice, because that's the kind of doctor i married.

The REAL catching up.

I am a bit adrift with thoughts about graduation, and finishing school, preparing (mostly mentally) for student teaching in the fall, and increasing my hours at starbucks. I finished school a little more than a week ago, and I took the week off to celebrate/prepare for graduation. So I have had a lot of free time to finish a novel I was reading, clear off my DVR, and watch some movies on netflix. I've also started a training program with my dog (so we'll see how that goes over the summer). What I have not been doing is thinking about the fact that I am done with school as we (I) know it, and what that feels like.

Apparently, I should have been because that is exactly the question that everyone has for me.

So here it is, my written reflection on graduating/tion:

It doesn't really feel like anything. Yet. The feeling is indeterminate from every other summer vacation of my college career. In fact I had to register for my last batch of classes (student teaching=18units=$3200) the other day. It places an odd significance on things when you realize that it is "the last time" you will do this or that. So finals week was punctuated with a series of these insignificant milestones. The last time I would trudge the 300 yards from/to my car from class, or buy a scantron, or clamor out of a silent lecture hall while struggling to collect my things after taking a test.

These are things I will forget to miss.

I have been doing this in one form or another for 7 years. I have learned mostly that there is not time to learn everything, or even everything you want to, there is only enough time to learn that which is on the test-and a little bit of what is interesting to you.

My graduation day started early. I got up before my alarm at 6:15, put on my flip flops and took the elevator down to the ground floor and jaywalked across six lanes (and a median) to the starbucks I work at. Not to work (i was still in my pj's) but to get some coffee beans for Joy and get my schedule for next week and my tips from last week. I went back home, got dressed, and finished cleaning the apartment. Meg and I went for breakfast at the pancake house, I had some wonderful pecan pancakes, and came home. Since it was Friday, we had to take the dog to the dog park. We had Joy and Mikayla meet us there. The dog and the goddaughter had a good time, and we came home. I changed shirts and grabbed my cap and gown and went to the school. Meg and Joy followed in Joy's car later. I had to coordinate two sets of parents traveling to my school from two different cities in opposite directions, so I got there a little earlier. Although both sets of parents had already arrived.

Other than "fill out this card" we were given no further instructions. I found my good friend Charlene, a fellow prospective biology teacher, nerd, and all around kind human being, and we got into a blob of biology students we kinda recognized from some of our classes. They started the processional and walked us into the "stadium". On the way in, for about 50 ft, the walkway was lined with people throwing armloads of confetti into the air above the graduates.

This was the most magical moment of the whole day. For a brief 50 feet I was filled with such childlike joy that I am at a loss to express. After that it was anticlimactic.

I won't bore you with the details of the ceremony. If you cared about the goings on you would have been there, but really, nobody cares what they say other than your/your loved one's name.

Highlights: During the address I received my results on the state testing from earlier in the semester-the timing was uncanny (I passed, by the way). The announcers were AMAZING, they made every name sound like they were participants in the largest WWF smackdown in history, sooooo awesome.

Then it was over.

My inlaws, my parents, my grandma Lois, Joy and Mikayla all came back to our place to meet all the birds and regroup after the ceremony and before heading back home. It was really fun, grandma Lois had never met Meg's parents, and she enjoyed playing with our bird squeaky. My parents had to go early to make the long drive back before getting stuck in traffic. We went out to dinner with the Kaisers, and then they left. And Miki and Joy stayed into the evening and wore out both me and Wren chasing Miki around.

It was a wonderful day. I was so tired I went to bed at 9:30.

10 years ago I went to Meg's graduation. 7 years ago was Mark's, and 5 years ago Cory graduated. It took a while but its finally my turn. I am catching up.

Catching up.

There have been a few exciting developments since I last posted. The abbreviated list is, new bird, state testing, finals/projects, and graduation.

The new bird in question is seen directly above, with my dad. His name is William. He's a hyacinth macaw, and he is the awesomest bird I have ever seen-and I've seen some birds.

We've had him for about 6 weeks. More on him later, I'm sure.

i wish there were more to say...

At first it was copious amounts of school work that kept me from updating the blog, then it was the holidays, now it is just laziness and disinterest. even on facebook, you may have noticed that while i have occasionally commented on your posts, i have had few interesting things to say of late.

working chronologically forward from my last post, as memory serves...there was a lot of schoolwork, then it was thanksgiving, which i spent a pleasant weekend before the holiday in hanford. Meg was on call the weekend of thanksgiving so i wanted to be home with her-and the dog. We had a nice time, it was supposed to rain but it held off until i got home, which was nice as i took my be-walkered mother (fresh off back surgery) and my grandmother to morro bay for the day. it couldn't have been more perfect weather, and the old gals did pretty good. though i couldn't talk either of them into a canoe ride across the bay. it was a great trip until i was pulled over for speeding in the middle of nowhere on a mostly empty highway, with my mom and grandma in the car (not cool CHP!) mom has photos of all of that on her blog (available on your left)

Then it was finals and school nonsense, interviews, exams, etc. I took it as a compliment when my professor said " you are going to rock those kids' world!" in regards to my future students.

After that my mother-in-law was in town for surgery (at meg's hospital, down the street) so i spent most of that week getting things done around the house, decorating, and visiting her. she did very well, and is fine. we had long talks about classroom management and how it varies from the australia of 40(?) (she may kill me) years ago and today's american methods.

Then it was christmastime! again, meg drew the short straw for the holiday, so i made a whirlwind tour of hanford on christmas eve and then spent christmas afternoon cleaning before meg's family showed up for christmas dinner. first family christmas in our new place, it went very well, much more space than the last time we tried hosting. The big gifts for me this year was a new LCD tv for the living room and an appletv with a netflix membership. I love it, the picture is amazing, and i have been averaging 2 movies a day and my muscles are starting to atrophy. I also got a new universal remote that blows my mind. I love, LOVE, programming remote controls. its such a small tangled little puzzle and when you get it just right it makes your life better. if you want me to come over and program your, just ask!

The dog is incredible (you literally cannot believe anything she tells you). I love her so much, and i can only dimly recall the horrific emptiness of the house between Dory and Wren. I spend a lot of time at home, the burden of being a trophy husband/student i suppose, but she is good company. having never had a puppy before i am fascinated by her development, and she is very clever and ornery, like me, so it gives me something to do. that and clean up after her, she's part tasmanian devil, i swear. we go on lots of walks, i recently gave her all her shots, so we have been taking her out to meet other dogs and get her socialized to them. we've been to the dog park and beach, and she had a great time.

i spent the last two days building a bird cage for our outside finch collection. taller and roomier than the store bought one we were using. plus nobody designs bird cages for ease of cleaning, changing bird papers is annoying, yet the solution is so simple. I thought i could do better, and i think that overall, as a trial run it went pretty smoothly. if i do it again, and i probably will (for different birds), i will use poplar and modify the design slightly, but it works. Also i got to use cordless circular saw, which i am still convinced will someday take my finger, but it was pretty cool to use.

please permit me to post a video, i don't generally like to, but this seems worth sharing. it was on a rainy day in the angel's stadium parking lot.

Our new bundle of joy!

As you may know at the end of September we (Finally) got our puppy from the breeder.
Her name is Ren (renny, renny monster, renata, puppy terrier, and any number of other things we call her).

As of today she is fully vaccinated and in a week or so we will finally unleash her (not literally) on the world and its dog-friendly locations.

The photos above are chronological, the first 2 were from the day we picked her out (she fooled us by being very sedate) the next one was around midnight when I finally got her home. The last two are from the last 2 weeks.

She is a maniac. but she is cute.

Meg and i have both been very busy the last few months, my credentialling courses are killing me with homework, observations, and other nonsense. So there really is very little else to report.

What i have not been telling you...

my posts have been as sparse as ever this summer, and i'd like to take the opportunity before the school bell rings to clean house. Things you may or may not have heard about this summer:

we (meg) got an 07 miata (her dream car) in june. it has been a great addition to our family, and we both love it more than we could have imagined.
i have been living without tv for the summer, subsisting only on a steady diet of movies. (up to 13 a week). i have been working my way through the american film institute's top 100 american movies, plus a smattering of foreigns and new releases. i have less than 25 to go on the top 100, so maybe next summer...

our dog, dory, became very sick in june, with the help of meg's father, a team of veterinary specialists, and a diligence to administering medications and 4x a day tube feeding, we kept her comfortable, scrambly, and alive until the end of July. At which time she started to get worse than before, so we euthanized her ourselves, at home. it was one of the hardest days i can remember. She was 14, and a great companion, and we miss her very much.

after much debate the decision was made to get another dog-our house seems a bit empty these days-and after a brief but fruitful search of breeders we found a litter in san diego, right next to where meg was a camp counselor. We are getting a cairn terrier (think "toto"), a female, and at the time of posting she is exactly 4 weeks old. we went down to see the litter at 1.5 weeks, and there were 3 girls, one is spoken for, so we'll have second choice, we don't get to bring her home for another month.

we are very anxious to get her home. i have never had a puppy before, and am slightly afraid of what awaits me. meg on the other hand has had numerous puppies in her family and teases me for being a nervous expectant puppy owner. believe me, i'll post a photo as soon as we get her.

we got away for the first weekend of august. We stayed in ventura, went to the ventura county fair, and wandered around town. we also went to santa barbara to wander around town, go to the zoo, and just generally hang out. it was a nice little "throw a bag in the trunk, put the top down and head toward the ocean" kinda trip.

school starts next week, and it will be good to get out of the empty house some. meg has a conference in boston in late september, and i will be joining her for 4-5 days it will be a nice last little vacation for the year. the plan is to get down to ny to see the brooklyn bruces for a day.

8 yrs.

i have been married a long time. or at least it seems so. maybe i'm just getting older, and my long term memory is dimming more rapidly. it just seems like we have been together forever. (in a good way!) my wife, Meg, is still a fascinating woman, and i am lucky to have found her. i love her in ways that i never could have imagined eight years ago, when marriage was only a curiosity that promised sex.

Let's face it, young people are stupid; and sex can be very expensive.

But we are still together, and the reason is love (or stubbornness-when is one not the other),
we are lucky.

The annual birthday post.

i have recently been coming to grips with the gradual realization that, well, this is it. Which is to say, "this is who i am." The promise and plasticity of adolescence is long gone, and yet i had a hard time grasping that. The hope that tomorrow i will be cool, have more friends, like all the things that "everybody else" likes, is gone. despite my iconoclastic attitude i have harbored a desire to "fit in", and the recognition that there is nothing to "fit into" was slow in arriving. you do what you like to do, and you will (probably) find others who share your interest, along the way you meet people who don't and you may like them anyway. such is life.

i have never been one to blindly follow. i am stubborn, and plagued by suspicions that other people (particularly those in large groups) lack the ability to think for themselves. I will never be a sports fan, or view politics as anything but theatre (where you only boo or applaud, but NEVER participate). and that is who i am. i don't want to wear red and paint my face, drink beer, shout or any of the other things people do at sporting events. i am never going to be that person, no matter how i secretly wish i could be "part of the crowd".

i am not Cory, i cannot wear whatever i want and be cool. i also cannot wear what everyone else is wearing and be cool. we lie to children and tell them that what they wear doesn't matter, its what's inside that counts. we should tell them not to stick out too much and maybe they won't get picked on. (if you are having the conversation at all, the child does not fit in already). no outfit will make me irresistible to women (my wife included), or the envy of my peers.

i understand that we want to give kids the idea that they should strive to be the best they can be, and that they can accomplish whatever they set their mind to-its the american way. what we should tell them is to find something they like doing and try hard to make a living at it (don't specify what "a living" is it will only depress the artists) "i am what i am, and that's all that i am"to quote the 20th century philosopher popeye. i can only do what i know to do. for me that is talking a lot-most likely in a classroom. and even that has taken large amounts of time, effort and money to get to a position where that is possible.

at 31 i have created a nice rut for myself. i am not in my profession yet, but soon. i can see the rest of my life from here, it looks nice and mostly peaceful.

spoiler alert: i never do become a cowboy or an astronaut, but i do find a really good restaurant in china, i don't want to tell you where or it will get too busy before i get there.

What measure a year.

There are many ways to measure a year, January first being only the tip of the iceberg. In our household the summer has always been very important. The medical education system, under which my dear wife labors, across the country uses July first as its official start date. So each year on 7/1 our lives change, sometimes more perceptibly than others. This year that is almost over, has been a good year. It was our 3Oth year on earth, and it was a year of research for my wife (instead of the usual chaos of residency). The chaos comes back in a week as she begins training med students and interns. It was a year that brought a surprising normalcy to our schedules that at times was a bit too normal. We ate dinner together a lot!
Meg also got her dream car, a miata. We moved into a "grown-up" apartment. We went to Hawaii, and had a pleasant little vacation. And with the exception of the loss of my grandfather, had a pretty good time all year.
I hope your year is going just a well, however you measure it.

"He has an inordinate fondness for beetles"

an apocryphal response by J.B.S. Haldane to the question of what studying nature has taught him about The Creator.

Today, as was well publicized by me, was the bug fair at the LA natural history museum. this year i went not by assignment, but for pleasure. its hard to describe the scene, lots of people, very full. Less strange than the reptile fairs, less expensive than the bird fairs. nice mixture of kids/families and enthusiasts. I watched a guy pay $70 for ONE dead insect-mind you a beautiful specimen. i bought 5 beetles for $18.

just before i went i spoke to my brother. he had in mind butterflies, and while they are beautiful, they are very delicate, and frankly, a pain to curate. I prefer beetles. most people think black and crawly, or june-bugs, but there are some incredible metallic and colorful ones around the world.

I asked how much this ornately designed collection of beautiful beetles would cost, and though it wasn't for sale, the owner said about $5000.

Maui! (or 'The benefits of being a trophy husband')

Back in Feb Meg went to Maui to present her research at 2 conferences, so in the week between them i flew out to have some fun. It is an amazing place. i wasn't all keen to see hawaii, there are far more interesting places on earth, but having gone, i would definitely go back. what we can't show you is the amazing snorkeling we did, so many fish. like swimming in the aquarium-which is the name of the spot we went to.

Here's some of the excitement.

MAUI IS COLD AT SUNRISE!
catching a lizard
Charles Lindberg is buried there
hunting for bugs

spelunking- maui underground
And Maui from the skies- meg goes zip lining

The passing of a good man.

My grandfather, Clayton Bruce, just passed from this world. He was a kind, funny, and worrisome man, who was never satisfied that i was driving slow enough. I am forever in his debt. I love you, Grandpa.

All the best stuff comes from china...

i have been meaning to post this for some time (like after christmas), but well i have been alternatingly busy and lazy. But now as i wait for the laundry to finish, with my wife back to being on call in the hospital, and little homework this weekend, i am finally going to do it.

Here's some new teas that i have accumulated in recent months:

Starting chronologically, the two holiday blends from Peete's were vastly different, Holiday Blend which incorporated orange rind, cloves, cinnamon and smelled like a potpourri sachet-to be fair it didn't taste as strongly as it smelled-was not my cup, 3 tries and i gave up.

But Holiday Breakfast Blend was very nice, a slightly malty and smokier version of Scottish Breakfast which finished cleanly, if a bit acidic. it was slightly too smokey for meg, but a far cry from straight lapsang souchong (which provided the piney-christmasy flavor of this tea)all told slightly better and more interesting, but not as smooth as scottish breakfast. I remember taking cups of it down to sit and chat with meg at the outdoor fireplace in our pajamas on mild december evenings-you wouldn't do that in new york.

Then as we went in to christmas there was a trip to san francisco and china town that provided everything a tea totaler dreams of. I went into a tea shop in the morning and asked for yunnan tea, but was given pu-erh, that was unsatisfactory. the woman was not particularly adept at english, which ensures her knowledge of tea, but increases the challenge of finding what you want. it was a tasting store anyway, so you were expected to pick several types and try them. I also had come prepared and researched the chinese name, and pronunciation, of my favorite variety. "d/tee-ann-hong". "Oh...tianhong cha, yes just a minute" then the woman briskly walked to a shelf and brought back a golden painted tea container roughly the size of a sparkletts water bottle, with a sign that said "golden monkey". She took it to a tasting table, and prepared it, inquiring when we had been to china. apparently this tea is not a common request of westerners, but I assured her we hadn't been, yet, and that it was my favorite.

a word about tea tastings in chinatown. i assume they are similar to wine tastings, but for two main points, 1. the tea is prepared for you right at the table, so unlike wine it is subject to the preparers skill, and the water's qualities. 2. you drink it plain, the same as wine, or coffee tasings, but really, who drinks their tea and coffee without "additives"? wine you drink plain, straight from the bottle, maybe decanted, but you don't put cream or sugar analogs in it. so a tea tasting really is less specific to how a tea will taste in your own home with all the fixins, its really just a ballpark.
it came in a bag, the bag ripped-its in a metal tin now.

The store was called Ten ren teas and unbeknownst to me at the time they are the taiwan based company that owns "cha for tea" the tea bar that meg and i frequent. and furthermore, they have a store a few miles away in anaheim-which i have yet to visit, but i'll let you know. Golden monkey is the best tea i have ever had. it tastes like warm honey, it is so mild and smooth. i prepare it in a french press, and resteep the leaves 3-4 times over the course of a couple days, and it gets milder and milder.

also on this trip we stopped in another tea store, and tasted quite a few teas with a big spender/regular at the store. he didn't like the type of teas i enjoy, he favored oolong and ti kwan yin, which aren't hearty enough for me. but it was interesting to taste the differences in a half dozen types of the same variety. one in particular was interesting, called "milk oolong" it tasted like butter. and that was fascinating. also pricey, but meg liked it so we bought an ounce for $12. when you sweeten it the taste is like buttered popcorn jelly bellies.

Then for christmas my brother and sister-in-law, in new york, sent 3 teas from a store called mcnulty's, which is supposed to be one of the largest tea stores in the us, and has a diversity that is shocking when you look on their website. they used my blog against me, and cobbled together a few types that they thought i would enjoy.
gunpowder on the left, normal whole leaf on the right

First up, was "golden gunpowder", it was the same type of tea as golden monkey, but "gunpowder" refers to a preparation where the leaves are rolled into loose clumps prior to oxidization. "pearls" refers to tightly rolled balls, and is common in green and occasional in black and oolong. "gunpowder"is also common among greens. the purpose of this preparation is that the tea brews stronger than regular whole leaf because of the damage done to the leaf tissues in the rolling process, it releases more tannins into the hot water faster. i like this tea a great deal, it has the same flavor as golden monkey, but at a strength that is almost that of a very smooth coffee. its a strong brew, but only good for 2 steepings as they tend to empty the leaves of flavor very quickly. it was an excellent choice for my christmas gift.

The other two were assams, which i have mentioned are probably my second favorite variety of straight black teas. and i am lumping them together because they give an interesting (at least to me, possibly you-if you made it this far) lesson in leaf quality/grading. I am sorry for any hurt feelings this may cause, and i assure you i enjoyed the adventure and anticipation of trying every new tea i have ever tasted, but one of the teas was not good.

Golden assam, is a whole leaf assam, malty and smooth not the best assam i have ever had, but certainly among the better, the counterpoint to this was Assam B.O.P. the difference was the grade.

There are many grading systems for teas, but the simplest is leaf condition. whole leaf is the highest, it brews smoother due to the relatively undisturbed nature of the leaf, less surface area is available to let out the tannins.
BOP on the left, whole leaf on the right

broken or parts is the middle grade and it is what it sounds like, broken leaves. more surface area, allows more and larger molecules out of the leaf and that makes it much less smooth but more flavorful.

dust or "fannings" again is what it sounds like, really tiny pieces of tea leaf. huge amounts of surface area, super bitter, and not much more flavorful than broken leaf. this is what most bagged teas are made of (filterbags, not sachets-more on that later) think Lipton.

Assam BOP, was rough! bitter as lipton, but better flavored. the kind of tea that makes you pucker. maybe it is better with milk to smooth it out, the british-and my wife and her kin seem to think so. but i tried understeeping this and it was almost as bad as drinking coffee.