Cycling, History and Cats

Recipes for a Medieval Feast

2011-10-22T09:40:00.001-05:00

Tonight a group of friends are getting together for a medieval dinner. Here are the recipes.

COMPOST [1]. C.

Take rote of parsel. pasternak of rasenns [2]. scrape hem waisthe hem clene. take rapes & caboches ypared and icorne [3]. take an erthen panne with clene water & set it on the fire. cast all þise þerinne. whan þey buth boiled cast þerto peeres & parboile hem wel. take þise thynges up & lat it kele on a fair cloth, do þerto salt whan it is colde in a vessel take vineger & powdour & safroun & do þerto. & lat alle þise thinges lye þerin al nyzt oþer al day, take wyne greke and hony clarified togider lumbarde mustard & raisouns corance al hool. & grynde powdour of canel powdour douce. & aneys hole. & fenell seed. take alle þise thynges & cast togyder in a pot of erthe. and take þerof whan þou wilt & serue forth.

[1] Compost. A composition to be always ready at hand. Holme, III. p. 78. Lel. Coll. VI. p. 5. [2] Pasternak of rasenns. Qu. [3] ypared and icorne. The first relates to the Rapes, the second to the Caboches, and means carved or cut in pieces.

PEERES [1] IN CONFYT. XX.VI. XII.

Take peeres and pare hem clene. take gode rede wyne & mulberes [2] oþer saundres and seeþ þe peeres þerin & whan þei buth ysode, take hem up, make a syryp of wyne greke. oþer vernage [3] with blaunche powdour oþer white sugur and powdour gyngur & do the peres þerin. seeþ it a lytel & messe it forth.

[1] Peeres. pears. [2] mulberes. mulberries, for colouring. [3] Vernage. Vernaccia, a sort of Italian white wine. V. Gloss.

EGURDOUCE [1] OF FYSSHE. XX.VI. XIII.

Take Loches oþer Tenches oþer Solys smyte hem on pecys. fry hem in oyle. take half wyne half vynegur and sugur & make a siryp. do þerto oynouns icorue [2] raisouns coraunce. and grete raysouns. do þerto hole spices. gode powdours and salt. messe þe fyssh & lay þe sewe aboue and serue forth.

[1] Egurdouce. Vide Gloss. [2] icorue, icorven. cut. V. Gloss.

COTAGRES [1]. XX.VIII. XV.

Take and make þe self fars [2]. but do þerto pynes and sugur. take an hole rowsted cok, pulle hym [3] & hylde [4] hym al togyder saue þe legges. take a pigg and hilde [5] hym fro þe myddes dounward, fylle him ful of þe fars & sowe hym fast togider. do hym in a panne & seeþ hym wel. and whan þei bene isode: do hem on a spyt & rost it wele. colour it with zolkes of ayren and safroun, lay þeron foyles [6] of gold and of siluer. and serue hit forth.

[1] Cotagres. This is a sumptuous dish. Perhaps we should read Cokagres, from the cock and grees, or wild pig, therein used. V. vyne grace in Gloss. [2] self fars. Same as preceding Recipe. [3] pulle hym, i.e. in pieces. [4] hylde. cast. [5] hilde. skin. [6] foyles. leaves; of Laurel or Bay, suppose; gilt and silvered for ornament.

Rapeye.—Take almaundys, an draw a gode mylke fer-of, and take Datys an mynce hem smal, an put f er-on y-now; take Raw Appelys, an pare hem and stampe hem, an drawe hem vppe with wyne, or with draf of Almaundys, or bofe; fan caste pouder of Gyngere, Canel, Maces, Clowes, & caste f er-on Sugre y-now ; fan take a quantyte. of flowre of Rys, an frowe fer-on, & make it chargeaunt, an coloure it wyth Safroun, an with Saunderys, an serue forth; an strawe Canel a-boue.

RYSE [1] OF FLESH. IX.

Take Ryse and waishe hem clene. and do hem in erthen pot with gode
broth and lat hem seeþ wel. afterward take Almaund mylke [2] and do þer to. and colour it wiþ safroun an salt, an messe forth.

[1] Ryse. Rice. V. Gloss. [2] Almand mylke. V. Gloss.

FUNGES [1]. X.

Take Funges and pare hem clere and dyce hem [2]. take leke and shred hym small and do hym to seeþ in gode broth. colour it with safron and do þer inne powdour fort [3].

[1] Funges. Mushrooms. [2] dyce hem. Cut them in squares. Vide quare in Gloss. [3] Powdour fort. Vide Preface.

AQUAPATYS [1]. XX.III. XV.

Pill garlec and cast it in a pot with water and oile. and seeþ it, do þerto safroun, salt, and powdour fort and dresse it forth hool.

[1] Aquapatys. Aquapates, Contents. Perhaps named from the water used in it.

SALAT. XX.III. XVI.

Take persel, sawge, garlec, chibolles, oynouns, leek, borage, myntes, porrectes [1], fenel and ton tressis [2], rew, rosemarye, purslarye [3], laue and waische hem clene, pike hem, pluk hem small wiþ þyn [4] honde and myng hem wel with rawe oile. lay on vynegur and salt, and serue it forth.

[1] Porrectes. Fr. Porrette. [2] Ton tressis. Cresses. V. Gloss. [3] Purslarye. Purslain. [4] þyn. thine.

FENKEL IN SOPPES. XX.III. XVII.

Take blades of Fenkel. shrede hem not to smale, do hem to seeþ in water and oile and oynouns mynced þerwith. do þerto safroun and salt and powdour douce, serue it forth, take brede ytosted and lay the sewe onoward.

TOSTEE [1]. XX.IIII. XIII.

Take wyne and hony and found it [2] togyder and skym it clene. and seeþ it long, do þerto powdour of gyngur. peper and salt, tost brede and lay the sew þerto. kerue pecys of gyngur and flour it þerwith and messe it forth.

[1] Tostee. So called from the toasted bread. [2] found it. mix it.

VYANND RYAL. XX.IIII. XIX.

Take wyne greke, oþer rynysshe wyne and hony clarified þerwith. take flour of rys powdour of Gyngur oþ of peper & canel. oþer flour of canel. powdour of clowes, safroun. sugur cypre. mylberyes, oþer saundres. & medle alle þise togider. boile it and salt it. and loke þat it be stondyng.

95. Crustless "Sienese" Tart

Sienese tart

Take twenty almonds and blanch them thoroughly, and pound them as fine as possible. Then take half a libra of sugar, twelve eggs, and a fogletta [about a cup] of milk, two quatani of cinnamon, and the proper amount of salt, and half a quarto of fresh probatura cheese, pounded until it need be pounded no more. Then spread a mold with butter, and then flour it, and put the mixture on top. And set the mold or pan far from the fire, covered, with a moderate fire. And note that you can put into the mixture a ladleful of lasagne cooked in good broth. And when it is cooked, put sugar and rose water on top.

Watching the Tour de France

2011-07-21T17:16:00.001-05:00

Cycling can be the hardest sport in the world. The most beautiful. The most brutal. The most technical. The most exciting. The most tactical. Almost any superlatives will work when describing a bike race. The viewer is in awe at the triumphs and aghast at the mishaps. The flat stages may seem boring but as much team planning goes into riding a flat stage as it does in riding a mountain stage.

Watching the teams with sprinters take control at the end of a race, jostling for position for their lead-out trains is a lesson in management. Marveling at a breakaway and hoping against hope ( as do the riders) that the break will stay away until the end while watching the pelaton gobble up the kilometers, making the catch just before the finish is a lesson in elation and despair. Seeing Thor Hushovd beat out Jeremy Roy at the finish of stage 13 was heartbreaking both for Roy and for the spectators. Even Hushovd's fans must have sensed both the glory and the tragedy of the occasion. Roy did get the King of the Mountains jersey, but to lose the stage win was devastating. I don't ever remember seeing a cyclist in tears coming over the line. I'm sure it's not uncommon, but it struck me all the same.

Today's stage to the top of the Galibier in the Alps was one that could leave you breathless, in awe of riders who take that sort of punishment as just part of the job. Cyclists know what it's like to go on a long ride, climb hills, manage downhills, but most of us aren't racers. We don't do a grueling three-week race once in a lifetime where a professional will ride one-day, one-week, and three-week races routinely throughout the season. Few of the stars try to win more than one grand tour, as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a Espana are known. Perhaps part of Alberto Contador's problem in this Tour de France stems from his emphatic win in the Giro. He's tired, he's had some bad crashes, and his knee is bothering him. All this affects his climbing ability when he should be shining in the mountains.

But to get back to the Galibier ... What could have been more stupendous than seeing Andy Schleck powering away from the pelaton on the Col d'Izouard? More courageous than Thomas Voeckler's dogged fight to keep the maillot jaune? More exciting than seeing Cadel Evans tenaciously dragging the pelaton up the Galibier to limit Schleck's time gain? Yes, a bicycle race can be beautiful, brutal and all the rest. But, at it's best, cycling can be inspirational, showing, as Browning said in Andrea del Sarto, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp/Or what's a heaven for?"

Sharon Peter Bilbao

2011-07-21T15:13:00.001-05:00

Travel is a funny thing, at least for me. The actual to and from trips form a parenthesis around the whole journey, walling it off from my regular life. This has it's good and bad points. On the one hand, I get back into my daily life pretty easily. On the other hand, I look back on the details of the trip as if through a glass where the detail is never as sharp and clear as I would like it to be. Our time in the Basque country is definitely like that. I can see details but things are more disconnected than I would have expected after a few weeks at home.

When I think of the high points of the trip, one was probably the chance to walk on the Camino de Santiago da Compostella. I was excited to be in St. Jean Pied de Port and I eagerly found the pilgrim office so I could register and get my "passport" and shell. I can't claim any great insights while walking on the pilgrimage road. It was windy and sunny and gravelly and rather up and down. I think I suspected that traversing the whole route was not something I would be able to accomplish. But it gave a connection, however slight, with medieval pilgrims.

Other memorable events were sparse. I didn't have a lot of "wow" moments as Rick Steves calls them. I did love eating more foie gras than I have ever had in my life. Sorry to all my vegetarian friends.

Probably the other "wow" moment was seeing Frank Gehry's Guggenheim. I'm not a huge fan of modern art, but the building is phenomenal. I did like some of the art, but it was the building that really impressed.

The major downside was trying to accommodate my wheat allergy. I did discover where to buy gluten-free foods, but having to supply some of my own breakfast, always worrying about what I could and couldn't eat, were aspects I didn't enjoy. The other downside is the shower problem. It's not that showers weren't possible. As usual, it was obvious that many European hotels just don't understand the mechanics of showering. Why else have a shower and no shower curtain? The variations on the ways to flood a bathroom floor are too numerous to enumerate.

I enjoyed the Basque country, but I didn't love it. If I go back to Spain, to see the south, I may love it more, or I may not. Only time will tell.

In Le Pays Basque

2011-06-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

I am sitting in the breakfast room of the Grand Hotel in Bayonne eating corn flakes. The hotel has a very nice buffet so I can appreciate the breads, croissant, and pastries while I "improve" my cereal with yogurt, dried apricots, prunes, yogurt, and applesauce. I am also enjoying cheese and sausage. Last night we ate in Au Bistrot, next to the hotel, where I had entrecôte en point and frites and Peter had a salad with tuna (not the same as a tuna salad). So am I now writing a food blog? Not exactly, but when you have food allergies, eating becomes a disproportionately
large part of your consciousness, mostly in terms of what you can and cannot eat. Travel only exacerbates this, but I don't intend to give up traveling because of food issues.

Today, walking around Bayonne, we found a natural food store that had a selection of GF food. I am now set with croissants and bread for several breakfasts to come. We had lunch in a natural foods restaurant where I was able able to get a complete meal with no problem. When we came out, some sort of festival was going on and there seemed to be all kinds of food. A group of chefs were singing Basque songs with accompaniment on guitar, accordion, tuba, harmonica and maracas.

We have met about half of our tour group. Some had been on other Rick Steves' tours, others had not. Somehow American travelers seem to find each other, probably because we are all speaking English or obviously non-native French.

This brings me to some observations on language or at least on my use of language. French is the only language that I studied for a sustained period of time. So I actually know enough for simple sentences and reading. But, while I find that I can consciously think in French in a kind of simultaneous translation sort of way, that doesn't mean that I can actually get those French sentences out. Instead of boldly trying to speak with errors, Franglais, etc., I can only manage to coax out a few disjointed words, in a practically inaudible voice.

The hotel has a computer, so we were able to check email, etc. I think I might be able to connect to the wireless system if the hotel could give me the settings, IP number, etc. but the receptionist doesn't know how to find them. So I am writing but not, for the moment, posting.

Tonight we had a group get-together including dinner at La Grange--fois gras, duck, sorbet--an excellent meal. French rather than Basque cuisine, buyer will have plenty of opportunities in the next week to sample Basque food. Tomorrow we start the actual tour.

Up in the Air, Junior Birdpeople

2011-06-20T12:07:00.001-05:00

DATELINE: Air France flight, somewhere over the Atlantic

Another trip has begun, another voyage of adventure. And like so many trips, this one began with the prosaic. Up at an ungodly hour because I get nervous before a big trip, so I spent lots of time trying to remember to get everything done and packed. That was moderately successful. I think I remembered to pack everything, but I did forget to do a few things.

Lugged our luggage to the bus stop. Took the bus to campus and then the shuttle to O'Hare. Got there early because we didn't want to be rushed. Ate a mostly unhealthy lunch (hot dog and fries). Tried to get some walking in but mostly looked at Facebook on the iPhone and played a game on the iPad. Had several unsuccessful starts on toe up socks and read more of Jasper fforde's One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.

Even boarding the plane didn't give an air of excitement. More the hassle of shoving your luggage around and hoping there is still space in the overhead compartment by the time you board.

And dinner, what can I say? You might imagine a gourmet meal but Air France food is no better than any other airline and their GF meal was pretty poor. I don't understand why GF meals can't be better. You get margarine rather than butter. The vegetables were burned! The regular meal includes cheese so why doesn't the GF meal? There are plenty of GF cheeses. And part of the regular meal dessert was tapioca, which I happen to like and has no ingredients that would cause problems. Unfortunately GF is conflated with no dairy so the choices are even more limited. I'm sure a person who can eat bread but not dairy would be similarly dismayed. The regular meal had an orzo salad but my substitute salad was iceberg lettuce. Couldn't they have used more interesting greens? Anyway, enough whining about the meal.

So now we are a mere two hours from Paris. Then the adrenaline will start to flow as we negotiate our way from Charles DeGaulle to Orly. We won't relax until we are safely transferred. Then it is on to Biarritz and Bayonne, and the adventure really will begin.

Treasures ... Treasured?

2011-05-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

I frequently wish that I could be a poster child for the simplicity movement. Sometimes I long for a house that has a few bits of comfortable furniture, some books in a bookcase, and not much else. My clothes would be carefully edited--a couple of pairs of slacks, a dress or two, a jacket--all meant to work together. I would only need two pairs of shoes and very little jewelry. The reality is far different because I am really a collector, always have been and probably will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Our house is full of furniture, our walls covered with pictures, our shelves overflowing with books and collectibles. Yarn and unfinished knitting projects are stashed in various rooms. I collect bags, jewelry scarves, and cats. No, I am not the mad cat lady was dozens of felines dozing all over the house. Only two live cats live among the cat pictures, glass, ceramic and other representations. CDs and DVDs vie for space. We only have one car, but I have three bicycles, many pairs or cycling shoes, jerseys and other cycling paraphernalia.

I obsess about the things I want to possess and Moroccan jewelry became one of those obsessions for me. I bought a necklace and earrings when visiting Morocco in 2008 but after we returned I realized that what I really wanted was a fibula, a sort of pin that Berber women use to fasten their cloaks. Since then I have spent inordinate amounts of time looking for the perfect one, and not being able to afford the ones I most wanted. Then, this spring, in the space of a few weeks, I found two that called out to me. Perhaps now this collection obsession will dissipate, but I know that some other, as yet unknown obsession will replace it. In the meantime I will dream about vast uncluttered spaces--just waiting for new collections.

Journeys

2011-05-19T17:04:00.001-05:00

When I am home, I long to be traveling. At a certain point in my travels, I always long to go home. Home is comfort, familiarity, friends and the cats. Travel is the unknown becoming known but sometimes the hotels, the restaurant meals, the long travel days become too much. Then I want my own bed; simple, familiar foods; routine. The funny stories of mishaps are better recollected than lived through.

Lately I have been restless, thinking about the trips of the past, wishing Venice and another trip to England were on the docket this year, thinking that a second visit to Fez would be nice, and that three weeks abroad is laughably short. Not that I don't want to go on the trip planned for this year. The Basque country, Alsace and Burgundy, should all be interesting new experiences. But now I am obsessing about the best way to travel to O'Hare and back after some bad shuttle experiences. Worrying about getting from Charles de Gaulle airport to Orly without missing our connection to Biarritz. The parts of travel that used to be romantic and are now disagreeable--flying and layovers--overshadow the gustatory pleasures, gorgeous scenery, historic locations that are sure to delight. I look forward to hiking on the camino de Compostella, seeing the Isenheim altarpiece in Colmar, visiting vineyards.

Last year we spent spring in Venice and Istanbul, summer in Leeds and London, early winter in Germany. This year we only have three weeks of European travel, a couple of trips to Chicago, and a weekend in Greensboro. Hard to think of yourself as a cosmopolitan globetrotter on that itinerary.

When I was young, my travel was confined to a narrow geographical area made up of Wisconsin, Michigan and parts of Illinois. I got to stay a week with each set of grandparents in Chicago, spend time at a lake in Michigan and later one in Wisconsin, and visit relatives in Sterling. My more adventurous travel in time and space came from books. I spent a lot of time in Agatha Christie's England, colonial America, and medieval Europe. I couldn't wait for my own real travel adventures to begin. Somehow Phoenix, Sault St. Marie, even Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia didn't seem as desirable as St. Mary Mead.

My first trip to Europe, to England, at the ripe old age of 29, was only 10 days including travel. For years we thought three weeks was plenty of time. Now less than a month seems ridiculously short. I could envision going away for a couple of months, although I would pine for my cats. Never having had the opportunity to study abroad, I keep trying to create a version of that experience for myself--five weeks in Paris in 2000 with a trip to Leeds and London tacked on to the end; five weeks in Venice in 2008 after a three-week trip to Morocco earlier that year and a Rhine cruise that Christmas. The years when we manage a lot of travel make the years where we have shorter trips seem somehow lacking. When we got married, the idea that we could take a trip more than once every few years seemed unlikely.

Now I have traveled more than I ever thought I would and still I want more--and yet less. I get tired traveling and by the end of a trip I am more than ready to come home. And yet, a few weeks after I return if you ask me whether I would go away again, I would tell you that my bags are packed, I'm ready to go ...

Crashing to Earth

2011-04-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Fiction can take us on journeys we might never experience any other way. As well as armchair travels to exotic and mundane locations, we might embark on philosophical journeys that can give us insights into problems and questions. Antoine St.-Exupery's The Little Prince is both a form of armchair travel and a philosophical discourse. Both of main characters, the prince and the pilot, are travelers who have crashed. The prince's crash is figurative while the pilot actually does crash in the Sahara. They also also crash into each other, arriving on converging trajectories. The knowledge that they gain from this collision allows each of them to reconfigure their relationships.

The Little Prince is one of my favorite books, so when we had the chance to see a staging of it at Parkland College, I jumped at the opportunity to go. I loved the way computer generation created images while the pilot was drawing. The acting was good for community theater and we had unexpectedly run into friends so we were all sitting together enjoying the performance.

At the end of the first act, disaster struck in the form of another crash. This time, though, it was all too real and immediate. Peter tripped at the end of the aisle, fell and dislocated his shoulder. The EMTs arrived, assessed his condition, and called an ambulance. For the theatergoers, a short intermission lengthened considerably. The plan to go out with our friends after the performance evaporated.

We spent hours in emergency while doctors tried to get Peter's shoulder back in place. After shots to numb his shoulder and to make him relax, the doctors tried various methods, including hanging a 20-pound weight from his arm, to reverse the dislocation. Eventually we were able to go home but it was late and we were both exhausted. This was a journey we would have gladly foregone. Unlike the dislocation of the pilot and the prince, the main lessons we took from the experience was to look carefully when exiting a row in a theater and it is hard to relax your muscles when a doctor is trying to push your shoulder back together. Perhaps another lesson is always carry your iPad since you never know when you will be stranded for hours and will need the emotional release provided by playing angry birds.

We didn't get to see the end of the play so we don't know how the fate of the rose was handled. We never saw the fox, who provides the wise insights and advice. But I do have the book, in French, so I can go back and reread it. Saint-Exupery disappeared on a flight over the Mediterranean the year after the book was published in 1943. After decades of searching, his plane was found a couple of years ago. He had sustained so many injuries from crashes over his career as a pilot that flying was becoming difficult. Actually, just getting around was becoming difficult. He might, it has been thought, have wanted die in just this way, while doing what he loved best. Crashing to Earth held no terrors for him. It had happened so often that it was interwoven into his life experiences.

As you get older, health issues can bring you crashing down. As well as seeing my mother decline, we have started to have our share of health problems. But we hope to manage not to crash for a long time because, unlike Saint-Exupery but like the pilot and perhaps the little prince, there is still a lot for us to see and learn. After all, we might have our own encounter with a wise, clever fox.

Dealing with Bad News

2011-04-14T06:27:00.001-05:00

While I'm not a bury-your-head-in-the-sand type, I don't go out of my way to find bad news. I tend to read the arts, food and tech sections of the New York Times along with the opinion columns, but I try not to read too many articles about how the government isn't working. I prefer culturally inclined international articles over political ones. And I listen to a classical music station that has limited news breaks. I do check the weather frequently, but that's the kind of bad news I handle pretty well.

So when the bad news hits close to home, or perhaps I should say, at home, I need stratagems to deal with it. The latest news on Peter's health unfolded over a seven-week period, but I was still unprepared for the result of the tests.

I guess the coping mechanism at the moment is to go on doing what we are doing and adopt the wait-and-see approach. Fingers crossed (don't we all do it as a reflexive action?) that the new round of meds will bring down Peter's PSA for an extended period. We can hope that some new treatments may be found, but right now that isn't looking too promising.

Keeping busy and planning travel seem to be the best way to keep anxiety as a reasonable level. Perhaps I'm kidding myself, but I don't see any viable alternatives. So ..... off to the gym, out on the bike, hit the books, and run off to places near and far ..... see you at the movies.

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Location:S Mckinley Ave,Champaign,United States

Getting Back to Writing

2011-04-12T08:57:00.003-05:00

It's been close to a year since I wrote a blog entry. I'm not sure why I stopped writing completely but even before that last post my writing had become quite sporadic. Why am I starting again? I feel the need to write and this is a good place to get back into the habit.

My life has degenerated into playing games on Facebook, some desultory reading, a bit of knitting. Yes, we still travel, although there won't be as much this year as there was last year. I am teaching and leading study groups at OLLI (our local Osher Lifelong Learning Institute). We go to plays and concerts. I usher at Krannert. I have even joined a church (Unitarian Universalist, which fits best with my lack of belief, disinterest in dogma, and my take on social issues). So life has not been all idleness. I go to the gym a few times a week and I should be able to start riding my bike again soon.

On the downside, I have put on a lot of weight, I am becoming less and less flexible, and I have piles of STUFF that I can hardly bring myself to deal with. I avoid reading the newspaper and I have been binging on book buying and other sorts of shopping, which means that THE STUFF continues to accumulate. So I need to put some order and discipline into my life.

Why has my life degenerated into a mixture of apathy, exhaustion, and the inability to concentrate on any task for more than a little while. I could say that health problems have made a difference. Perhaps it is part of the retirement process. I hope it isn't a signal of depression. In any case, I would like to turn over a new leaf.

My goal is to write a blog entry everyday, but it may take some time before I work up to that. Life intervenes, apathy beckons, but perhaps over time I can return to the more disciplined life I used to lead.

Getting Ready for GITAP Again

2010-06-12T05:35:00.002-05:00

This will be my second year at GITAP, the Grand Illinois Trails and Parks ride, which is sponsored by the League of Illinois Bicyclists. Last year I had to cope with long rides and camping, but this year I don't have to cope with the camping. Yes, I wimped out and I am doing the motel package. Especially since this is the challenging year where there are real hills and, believe it or not, you can get hills in Illinois, as you ride along the Mississippi River as we will do when we get to Galena.

Last year I felt unprepared and this year I feel even less prepared with around 350 miles of biking so far. Having been away for all of April and with bad weather and migraines keeping me off my bike for a lot of May and some of early June, I didn't get in as much riding as I would have liked. I do have more miles than the the mileage for GITAP, but I would have liked double the mileage and more than one long day of riding. I know I will find it hard going this year, but I am determined to make it through. At least I know I will have friends to cheer me on when I feel tired and a bit discouraged. The riders on GITAP are great.

This afternoon I leave for Rockford with Danda and Dennis, and tomorrow we will start out from Freeport with the rest of the 160 riders. Next Friday we will all finish the week-long ride, tired but happy to have accomplished our goal of riding the Grand Illinois Trail and Parks route this year.

Turkey 2010

2010-05-05T07:31:00.002-05:00

I took a lot of pictures when we were in Turkey. So I thought I would post them on Picasa. If you click on the title, you can view them.

Goodnight Istanbul, Good Morning Ankara

2010-04-25T13:28:00.004-05:00

After our sojourn in Istanbul, we finally left to see the western part of Turkey. Our adventure started with the night train from the train station on the Asian side to Ankara. We had a sleeping compartment where the seats turned into bunk beds, a refrigerator that didn’t refrigerate but held two juice boxes (cherry juice), two packages of crackers, two candy bars, and two containers of water--a veritable minibar, except it was free. We also had a small sink. There were two toilets, one at each end of the compartment. At one end it was a sit-down type and at the other, what Mine, our guide calls a “squatty potty.” Guess which one everyone chose.

Some of our group got a good night’s sleep, some not. We were in the latter group. I slept fitfully. Still, it was an experience and certainly better than the night train from Sochi to Tbilisi in 1988. Breakfast was cheese, bread, cucumbers, olives, tomato, and still hot hard-boiled eggs. Peter got up in time for the bread. Afterward arriving in Ankara we stopped at Starbucks (Turkey is their fastest growing market), for coffee and something else to eat.

Then it was on for a little culture. Our stop was the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The collection, much too big for the 15th century han (house, caravanserai) that houses it, is material from the Paleolithic period through the Romans but is particularly rich for the Hittites, who were the main settlers in the area. Peter is very interested in the tablets in Hittite and, unlike our first visit in 2005, my camera was good enough to take decent pictures of some of the tablets with writing in Hittite this time. There are some beautiful artifacts there as well and the building itself is very interesting.

Afterwards we went to see the mausoleum of Müștafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s national hero and the new War Museum, which open after our visit in 2005. The new museum is very interesting; the first part is devoted to Ataturk and the rest to the story of WWI, and the Turkish fight for independence. While some of the art seems to mirror the heroic style of an earlier era and there is certainly an overtly nationalistic message, the early parts of the museum leading up to independence are very effective. The later parts, describing Ataturk’s achievements, are presented in a less interesting style but the recreation of his library at the end is fascinating, at least to a former librarian.

Ataturk is hailed as a great reformer, and he undoubtedly was that. But his followers have tried to keep everything just the way he left the country when he died in 1938. I wonder whether he would have continued on a reforming track if he had lived. Would the country have moved on a different, more progressive secular course? Would the past eventually have been accepted in a different way so that it would not be roaring back now as almost glamorized “golden age”? I wonder what he would think about the struggle going on between the military and the religious party now.

Keep an eye on Turkey in the coming years as it tries to come to terms with its past and its efforts to work with both the east and the west. I certainly will.

Of Bells, Smells and Calls to Prayer

2010-04-16T22:37:00.005-05:00

I was lying in bed this morning at 5:20, listening to the call to prayer. It's different in the morning since the call tells you that praying is better than sleep. For the traveler, it is a constant reminder that you are in a different place, just as the church bells in Venice remind you of that difference. Auditory differences are just as important as the visual ones.

Istanbul is a colorful mixture for the senses. It can be noisy, especially in the bazaars and it is colorful everywhere. This time of year, when the tulips are in bloom, early just for us, and the flowers were in riotous profusion yesterday, the colors were even more pronounced. We had an exceptionally warm, sunny day, unlike the chilly days we had been experiencing up this point. And we made the most of it.

In the morning, the whole group went to the Archeological Museum in Gülhane Park, just next to Topkapi Palace. It is a wonderful museum, with many excellent exhibits, including a sarcophagus from Sidon, Lebanon, supposedly that of Alexander the Great but really that of a king of Sidon. It is still a fantastic piece, with some bits of paint left on it.

The one thing I really wanted to see was the piece of the chain that went across the Golden Horn, to keep out the Ottoman ships, when Constantinople was under siege in 1453. Unfortunately it is on exhibit in Paris at the moment. We did see it when we were here in 2006/07, but I was hoping to see it again on this trip. Here is a painting that shows it, but you can't see it too well in this photograph.

In the afternoon, we had doner for lunch, followed by really good Turkish ice cream from Mado. What makes ice cream Turkish? For one thing, they use goat's milk. Also, they put a little mastic into it, which changes the texture from the ice cream we are used to. It is a bit different, but still very nice. I had chocolate and almond. Peter had chocolate chip and walnut. Then we tried to go the the Museum of Calligraphy, but it is closed for restoration, as so much is right now. As the 2010 European City of Culture, Istanbul received a lot of funds to restore buildings and so a lot of restoration work is being carried out. Walking back, we found an interesting bookshop where Peter bought a textbook on Ottoman Turkish. Then we looked at "antique" prints. The sellers told me that the ones I was interested in were from the 17th and 18th centuries. But at another shop, the owner told me that the paper was old but the paintings were new and that most of the prints we would see were like that. I was happy to find out that information before spending any substantial amount of money of money for an "authentic" print.

In the end I bought a necklace and earrings in sterling silver. They were made in Istanbul and are an Ottoman pattern.

For a change I bought something different from my usual type of jewelry, very Turkish and very beautiful, at least I think so. Then we just continued walking and enjoying the sun.

And the smells? I love the food smells--the bread, the grilled meats, the chestnuts and roasted corn. But the flowers are making my allergies come out in full force. So, while they add color and beauty, I kind of wish they were scent-free.

Don't You Know We're Riding on the Istanbul Express

2010-04-12T13:11:00.005-05:00

We pulled into Istanbul yesterday after flying from Venice to Rome to the Istanbul airport, which is named after Turkey's favorite hero--you guessed it--or you should have anyway--Kemal Ataturk. If you come here, you will see his picture everywhere. On the money, on stamps, on signs, on pictures in restaurants. He is truly ubiquitous.

As I write this, sitting in our hotel. the Hotel Acra in Sultanahmet, right in the center of the historic district, I am listening to the call to prayer. It is very evocative, even though Turkey is a secular nation. You see everything here from women in the most modern clothes to women who are completely covered in black except for their eyes, although we were told that they are probably not Turkish but are usually visiting from Iran or other very strict Moslem countries. Still, hearing the call to prayer, even if many Turks don't go except on Fridays, does make the Turkish experience different from most of our other travels. Istanbul is also colorful, noisy, crowded, and the traffic is just as bad as we remembered it, especially when you are trying to cross the street or when, as often happens, you have to walk in the street.

We did a lot of walking today and the streets and sidewalks are uneven with lots of stone and brick. The steps in most places are uneven so you need to be very careful when you walk. There are also lots of cats around. That hasn't changed at all. I have refrained, so far, from taking too many cat pictures. But here are a couple.

We are enjoying the sights and sounds of a great city. I will have more about that in my next post. But I can say that the lokum (Turkish Delight) is great if you find the stuff that is made from honey instead of sugar--it doesn't come in the regular boxes--and the pomegranate tea is better than the apple tea that is usually pushed, although I really prefer regular tea either in a glass or in a cup. Just remember, if you come to Turkey, to use one third tea and two-thirds water or the tea will be too strong. But if, like me, you love eggplant and lamb, Turkey is a culinary paradise.

We're Here!

2010-04-07T14:32:00.003-05:00

Lots of traveling by van, plane, bus, and vaporetto, but now we are finally in Venice, ensconced in the Hotel Tivoli. This is a two-star hotel not far from the Campo San Toma, close to where we stayed last summer. I am sitting out in the garden, writing this using their free wireless connection.

No pictures tonight because I am tired and not very organized but I hope to have some tomorrow. I took a couple at the Rome airport, where they are trying desperately to remodel a very dated facility. Three hours was a long time to sit there and all we really did was try to recharge our phones. That seems to be a theme with us. And we aren't even using them for calling. Peter's phone at least shows the right time. Mine is still on Illinois time for some unknown reason.

This afternoon I picked up my conference materials but I still haven't really had time to go through them very well. In the morning I will try to catch sessions where friends are giving papers and then have lunch with Peter. I'm still not sure about the afternoon. Then I had my first gelato--dark chocolate with orange and hazelnut, yum. Afterwards I broke down and bought a new scarf, like I really needed another one. I got it at Pandora, a little shop on the Campo San Toma and I had a long chat with the owner. It was nice to have a conversation with a Venetian. Her English is much better than my now practically non-existant Italian.

For dinner we went to a very small trattoria, which is evidently very popular, just off the Campo San Polo. There was quite a line most of the time we were there. Unfortunately my gnocchi with salmon was quite salty but the texture was excellent. Everyone else was very happy with their pasta. Maybe I can get Peter to split risotto next time.

Time for bed. We are both exhausted.

The Day before the Day We Leave

2010-04-05T20:42:00.002-05:00

I am a natural procrastinator. Not that I am not organized, but somehow I just do things near the end. Not at the very end, you understand. I won't throw my clothes into the suitcase tomorrow morning, just before we walk out the door. But I haven't finished packing yet. Peter has pretty much finished his packing, from a list that he made some time ago. My list is pretty much in my head. My packing is kind of done, even though not much is actually in my suitcase. It is a notional packing. Some things are out, ready to go in the case. Pills are bagged in individual groups and then in a collective bag. The underwear, much of which is old and will be discarded as we travel, is in a stuff sack.

One trick to all this is to decide what my color scheme will be and make sure that everything I take will match with everything else. And then you also have to be the type of person who doesn't care if people see you in the same clothes over and over. I find a few things that I am comfortable wearing and I just wear them in various combinations. We will be gone for a month and I don't want to have to spend a lot of time thinking about what to wear. And I want my stuff to wash and dry easily.

Some things can't be packed until tomorrow and that is one reason that most things aren't really packed yet. If I want to make sure that everything is packed in the most efficient way, taking up the least amount of space, then I have to put it all in at once. So there is no real point to putting things in the suitcase now. I just take things out and put them near the suitcase, day bag, and CPAP case. Tomorrow, when everything can be packed, it will all get put into the available space in the best way that I can manage.

Then I have to hope that I can carry it all on the plane. This is especially tricky because I have three pieces and you are only allowed a carry on and a purse or briefcase. Since the cpap is medical equipment, they should allow that as an extra piece. It has never been an issue in the past. Except flying Ryan Air, but then everything is an issue with Ryan Air. If you have a purse, that is your carry on and you have to check everything else. I put my purse in my CPAP case and sent my suitcase through on that flight. One nice thing, although having a CPAP machine is not particularly nice and traveling with it isn't either, is that my MacBook Air actually fits in the same bag. Since I have no plans to get an iPad any time soon (maybe when the second generation comes out), this arrangement works out very well if I am to travel with a lot of electrical equipment.

Traveling with just carry-on luggage takes a little thought and planning, but even for a procrastinator like me, it can be done ... and without too much effort.

Saturday, It Rained Again, Blah Blah

2010-04-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

The cats, being cats, expected me to get up at 4:30 this morning. Why would that be? Well, since I do that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings so I can go to the gym for cycling classes, they just assume that I should do that every morning. I managed to hold out until 5, but then I gave in and got up. Of course, like every Saturday since I got my bike tuned up, we had rain. My last chance at a Saturday ride before the trip, and we had rain yet again. But whoever said life was fair. Not me.

I didn't really do anything about trip stuff today. I did take a look at the RSA website, but there isn't anything there that I need before we leave. I guess we really pick everything up when we get in. I will print stuff off tomorrow or Monday. And I still need to pack pills and figure out the rest of my clothes, the electronic books besides Wolf Hall, and all the rest of it. I have piles of books that have been sitting around and they will have to go down to the basement because there isn't shelf space anywhere else in the house.

I got a neck collar to wear on the plane and that arrived today. It feels weird to wear something like that, but I imagine that it will help since I get a lot of neck pain. I can't tell if I am like the imaginary invalid or if I am just a mass of ridiculous symptoms. In any case, I am not going to let a few health issues stop me.

This afternoon we went to the final DoCha concert. It was a little awkward at Jim Gould's since I had to sit with my back to the performers. But it was still fun. We just ordered an appetizer to share and that was more than enough. I'm still not hungry and I don't know that I will bother with dinner at all. Mostly I am just sleepy. So tomorrow, I hope the cats will let me sleep a bit longer. The alternative is to get up and feed them .... and then go back to bed, if I can.

Yikes, it's Friday already!

2010-04-02T16:46:00.003-05:00

Another warm, sunny, windy day. And the days just keep speeding past, giving me less and less time to get ready for the trip. So today was the day to figure out the day bag and shoes. I decided to wear slip-on walking shoes in brown, which are practical for taking on and off in mosques, and also packing a pair of mary janes that I can wear with my one skirt but are also good walking shoes. They actually have an outer sole that can be taken off to make the shoe look dressier. I just hope that they don't take up too much room in my bag. Right now they are resting in the frame area of the case, which is where I put shoes, slippers, etc. when I travel.

The day bag is a Timbuk2 cargo tote that is the perfect shape, wider than it is long, and fits my camera bag, has a waterproof liner, and an inner water bottle holder. It has only one drawback and that is the bright yellow color. The picture I found isn't the right color but it gives you an idea of the bag. I was too lazy to take my own picture.

My suitcase now contains shoes, 3 pairs of socks, and a skirt. So I have a few more things to pack before I am done. But I am starting to get there ... slowly. My color scheme will be in the brown and khaki range, at least that is my thinking at the moment, so the yellow won't be that awful.

This is also a music weekend for us, so we are busy. Last night was the Symphonic Band I and Wind Symphony concert at Krannert and tonight and tomorrow we are going to the DoCha Chamber Music Festival in Downtown Champaign. I also need to print out a lot of material for the trip and put everything together to take with us. So there is still quite a bit of stuff to do before we leave.

Today is also the second day of the "new" programming on WILL-FM. Getting used to having more news is a little difficult. I am so used to having news just at the hour means that I tend to look at the clock, thinking that I have mistaken the time. I also find that the time drags in the morning with three hours of news. Two hours would have been more than enough. But I suppose I will get used to it in time. After all, most people probably don't leave the radio on all day, as we do. And having classical music on Friday and Saturday nights will be great. So it is a trade off.

The LPs have gone off to Vintage Vinyl for the sale and many old magazines are now gone. Clutter is slowly disappearing. Progress is being made.

Counting Down to the Trip

2010-03-31T20:13:00.002-05:00

We went from cold to unseasonably warm in a flash. What a surprise ... not. It's central Illinois and we expect our weather to be like this. It was in the 70s and windy, really windy, gusts up to 30 mph and more, so I was kind of glad that it wasn't a biking day today. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today. A taste of summer before more seasonable weather returns.

Today I didn't do too much to get ready for the trip. The major thing was picking up prescriptions. Unfortunately Peter and I take a variety of medications and, since we will be gone for so long, we need "vacation prescriptions," which means more than a month's worth. So we have to call them in at the pharmacy and they have to get approval from our insurance. Unfortunately when Peter called everything in yesterday, the woman on the phone didn't take all the information down correctly. One of the pharmacists called and Peter had to gather all the pill bottles and go through everything again. Then we had to wait until today to pick them up because the approvals couldn't all be put through yesterday. There is a lot of red tape involved in all this. On the other hand, we are very grateful to have pretty good health insurance.

The other thing I did today was finish cutting and editing my paper for the conference. Then I read it to Peter and he timed me. The first time through, the paper had been just over 27 minutes and this time it was 22 minutes, which is close enough to work. So that is another thing done. I also picked up another card for the camera. I hope to take lots of pictures with my new camera. I really should practice a bit before we go since this camera is a little more complicated than my last one.

The rest of the day was spent doing more normal things. I went to the gym and cycled. I took a friend to catch the van to Chicago since she was leaving on a trip today. I took Peter to the Farm Bureau so he could go to a program on strategic planning for nonprofits. Then I went to the dentist for my regular checkup and also had a chipped tooth and a cracked tooth repaired. We also went to a lunchtime lecture at OLLI. Anne Heiles gave a fascinating talk on the golden age of string music in Hollywood. The players and composers were really interesting.

Tonight we watched a documentary on the staging of Wagner's "Ring" from the point of view of the stagehands. I'm not a Wagner fan, but it was interesting. Now I plan to read a little more of Stones into Schools and maybe get a little knitting done. Tomorrow I would like to work more on getting ready for the trip.

Getting Ready to Travel Again

2010-03-30T16:40:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that I haven't written a blog in so long. But now that we are getting ready for our next trip, I suddenly feel like writing again. In a week we will be on our way to Venice and Turkey. In fact, next Tuesday at this time we will be squirming in uncomfortable seats in O'Hare, waiting for our Alitalia flight to board. I can hardly wait ... but ... well ... I'm not exactly ready for this trip.

I know, I am an experienced traveler. So why wouldn't I be ready? How much is there to do? We have arranged for a cat sitter. We have put a hold on the newspaper. The travel plans are set. In fact, since the Turkish part of the trip is two Rick Steves' tours, back to back, there wasn't that much planning involved. So what's the problem?

I am still editing the paper I am giving at the Renaissance Society of America conference in Venice. I have cut out a chunk and tomorrow I will read the shortened paper to Peter and hope that it fits within the time limit. I've never had a paper run this long before. Especially one that I had so much trouble writing. One that I dislike. But at least I will have something to read. For a while I was really worried that I wouldn't have a completed paper. That's never happened to me before. And fortunately it won't happen this time either.

As usual I am also agonizing over clothes. When you take one 21" carry-on bag, you can't take very much. I need something nice to wear for the conference and comfortable things to wear for traipsing around Turkey. I can't bring extra shoes and everything has to go with everything else. So I need to decide on a color scheme and figure out exactly what to take and make sure that my bag isn't too heavy. If it is over 8 kg, the airline might not let me carry it on. You never know how strict they will be.

I'm sure that by next Monday, I will feel pretty prepared, but right now I don't feel as if I will be ready. What day bag, what shoes, what jacket! What next ....

(Not) Talking about Health

2009-09-13T14:49:00.002-05:00

Feeling sick. My shoulder still hurts. Can't exercise. Still dizzy and nauseated. Seeing the doctor again. These are not statuses that I have been posting on Facebook. Who wants to read stuff like this every day. Even I don't want to read it, and I'm the one going through it. So I haven't been writing about my health until today, and I promise not to write about again, at least for a while. The topic is just too depressing and there isn't all that much to say. Today I felt like whining and if you don't want to read any further, that's ok.

For the last six months or so I have been trying to get off one of my medications, as advised by one of my doctors. I had been doing pretty well on cutting back very slowly until I got to the final .5 mg. That's when the real trouble started. I started having attacks of dizziness, nausea, and muscle spasms. I had numbness and tingling in my fingers and toes. I wondered if I was having a heart attack or a stroke. I went to Convenient Care. I saw my rheumatologist. I was assured that I wasn't dying. That, at least, was a relief. On the other hand, I was having drug withdrawal in a very unpleasant way. So I gave up on the effort to stop the last dose of the medication. I still have some muscle problems, and some waves of nausea, and some dizziness. I'm not sure if the vision problems are my new glasses or remnants of the drug issues. And I still have the anxiety that the medication is supposed to control.

The upshot is that I may have to go back to the optometrist about my glasses. I may have to call my primary care physician about the anxiety. I will have to see the massage therapist again (I went yesterday) because of the continuing neck and shoulder issues. But I won't put any updates in my Facebook status. Maybe, if I start to feel really good, I will say so. But I certainly won't bother to say that I feel lousy. I wouldn't want to read it. And there's no reason why you should either.

Bike Counts, New Computers, and Not Writing

2009-09-09T20:41:00.002-05:00

Today I counted bikes. Actually, I counted cyclists. This was a part of a national effort to collect data on how many people commute by bicycle. The rule was to count cyclists on bikes if they came through the intersection that I was at. But they had to be on the bike, not pushing the bike. So I couldn't count one guy who never got on his bike, but I did count the guy who didn't get on his bike until he got to the intersection. And I counted the guy who got off his bike, crossed the intersection, and then got back on. I was also supposed to mark people on the sidewalk differently from people on the street, but what about people who started on the sidewalk and switched to the street or who started on the street but switched to the sidewalk? All in all it was interesting experience. The weather was nice and I did see a fair number of people cycling. So I consider the bike counting experience a success.

So that was one way that I kept myself from writing and still felt that I was doing something worthwhile. I also got two new computers in the last month. Setting up new computers is another way to procrastinate and feel as if you are doing something. The set up on the first computer took a lot of time since networking was difficult and time-consuming. We got Airport Express so that we could network a new printer as well as the new MacBook Pro. That ended up being a lot of extra trouble and I spent hours on the phone with various Apple technicians before we finally got everything to talk to everything else. Peter's Lenovo was a problem once we reconfigured the 2Wire modem but finally we got everything working. Then I got a MacBook Air for travel and that took some set up as well. I tried to copy everything myself over the wireless network but it was too slow and I ended up taking the two computers in and having the Apple technicians do the transfer for me. Then I needed to spend time taking stuff off the MacBook Air since I didn't need to have everything on it and the hard drive was full.

Now the main problem in terms of computers is that my PowerPoint presentations won't work. So I will have to spend time opening them as Keynote presentations and re-adding all of the video and audio and maybe making them PowerPoint presentations again. All of this takes time. Anything to do with PowerPoint presentations eats up massive amounts of time. This is a major pain for both the Parkland classes and the Richard III talk.

So the writing is not getting done. I have two academic papers and two books to work on and lots of reasons not to write. The papers both have to get done since I have to give them at conferences next year. But it is easy to put the books off since I don't have any deadlines and I keep finding reasons not to write. After all, I have volunteer obligations, classes to teach, papers to give, and I am sitting in on an architecture class this semester. We also have four trips coming up this fall. I have plenty to do. Writing, why would I worry about that?

Bathtubs, Baking Soda, and Vinegar

2009-08-21T15:26:00.003-05:00

Today we decided to unclog the bathtub, after getting advice from various friends. We were told that baking soda and vinegar was a good solution to a slow running drain, although bleach and Liquid Plumber were also suggested. Being environmentally conscious, at least I try to be, we went with the first suggestion.

No one told us that getting the baking soda down the drain, especially when you can't get the cover off, is not easy. Peter thought it would only take a few minutes so he started it and then went off to the gym, leaving the rest of the job to me when it became clear that it was going to take considerably longer than we thought. I did break my labors with a few doses of the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain playing at the Proms as recommended by my friend Kelly DeVries. That was fun, especially hearing Jerusalem, but not a total recompense for the trouble of being on my knees on the bathroom floor. After close to an hour of pushing baking soda into the drain and poking it down with my larding needle (brought home after a trip to England in the early '80s), I finally gave up in disgust, pushed the remainder of the soda aside, unfortunately a large quantity, and poured in the vinegar, closing the drain. A lot of the vinegar remained in the tub. But there was a satisfying fizz, so I hoped that meant that there was some kind of reaction going on between some portion of baking soda and some vinegar.

However, when I opened the drain and poured in hot water, things seemed even worse, so obviously this was not a good solution to whatever is clogging the drain (I suspect hair we can't get out because we can't the cover off). Besides the trouble we went to, we now have an even more clogged drain and baking soda in the bathtub. When Peter gets home from the gym I will have him get some drain opener and we will try that and hope that we don't have to call a real plumber!

Where Have I Been and What Have I Done

2009-08-16T08:03:00.002-05:00

I feel as if life has been nonstop, even though all I do is run around Champaign-Urbana. I have been cycling and having lunch and coffee with friends, working out, volunteering, and doing the usual errands. Not an exciting life, but that and getting a new computer, and trying to make all the networking in the house work again has been the challenge of the last couple of weeks. I still haven't added the pictures to the blogs of the trip.

Trip planning is sort of going on as well. Peter and I are both planning to go to our 40th high school reunions so there is some planning for a trip to Glenview in October and to Greensboro in November besides the trip to Las Vegas in October and the trip to Philadelphia in November. And, since I have to give a paper in Venice in April, we are now thinking about going to Turkey after that. I love traveling but I am really getting tired of trip planning.

The new Mac is great but taking it on trips is not going to work, so I am already thinking about a second computer. I had thought about getting netbook and the idea of a Mac tablet, if that happens, might still be on the table, but I am leaning toward a Macbook Air. I can't believe, having just bought a new laptop, that I am thinking about another one so soon. Two in a couple of months seems like an obscene luxure. But it will probably happen since I have saved up practically all the money for it. I do need to buy books but the computer will eat up the book budget and I will have to start saving all over again. I have no place for books anyway and the basement is proving to be a disaster for the books that are already there. Some of them got wet while we were gone and I am worried that they may not be salvageable. There weren't too many but they were expensive and I don't think I can replace them.

So now I need to think about my priorities, which need to be research and writing, not gaming, which has begun to take over my life. I want to spend time with friends, catch up on books and movies, and ride as much as possible. My shoulder has been bothering me so I need to be a bit careful about that. I blame the riding but I think it is probably too much time on the computer. I also need to spend a little time playing around with wheat-free baking, especially once the weather cools down again.

Hunting Instinct

2009-08-09T10:35:00.002-05:00

Our cats are indoor cats and with the exception of Sybil, none of them have ever lived outside. When we adopted Sybil we discovered that she had been an indoor/outdoor cat, whatever that means. In any case, because our cats have led sheltered lives, their hunting instincts have been somewhat muted. Sybil is, presumably because of her early experiences, is the exception.

Living in the house, Sybil has had limited opportunities to hunt and I had never really thought about it until last night. Lately I had noticed that some dead bugs were turning up on tables, but hadn't given it much thought. After all, bugs can die on tables. But last night Sybil did what hunting cats do. She presented me with her prey and her prey was still alive. In this case the prey was an ant. Not much but getting an ant in my lap was a bit of a surprise and not a welcome one. The fact that she was able to pick up such as small creature and deposit it, alive, on my lap, was testimony to her skill. My lack of appreciation was probably galling to her. My shock was genuine and perhaps out of proportion. Screaming and jumping up when seeing an ant in your lap is overreaction in the extreme. On the other hand, I do tend to overreact to insect life. Peter killed the ant, Sybil ran off. Peace was restored. I continued to watch Miss Marple.

Finally Posting from Home

2009-08-07T17:31:00.002-05:00

We've been home for almost two weeks and I haven't posted at all. This has been partly a function of lots of things to do, and has partly been procrastination on my part. I haven't been writing enough, reading enough, working on my pictures, doing research, or any of the worthwhile things I should be doing. Paperwork is piling up all over. Blogging has taken a backseat to gaming. Even cycling has not regained the prominence it should have.

Now I have a wonderful new computer and my networking problems are solved. I have the new printer hooked up to the network and I have actually used it. Unfortunately Peter still can't get it to work with his computer but he can print with the other one. I did spend a lot of time today on the phone with Apple support to make Airport Express work and to solve the mysterious password problem when I tried to add printers to my new laptop but all of that is behind me now. I just hope that I can add pictures to my blog posts from the trip. When I tried that last week, I wasn't able to do it. I haven't tried since last weekend.

Since we came home we have seen the rebroadcasts of "The Barber of Seville" and "The Magic Flute" and I have seen "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." I have also cycled about a 100 miles. There are boxes all over the living room as well as a pile of papers and magazines that need to be sorted. My e-mail box is starting to empty out but is still not completely under control. And I have a lot of projects that are not getting done.

So enough with the whining. I hope my next post will be more about progress and less about procrastination. The good thing is that I have been seeing lots of friends and I expect to continue to do that next week. And that has been the best part of the time since I got back.

Riding the Brenta Canal Route

2009-07-24T23:42:00.002-05:00

In 2007 we took the burchiello down the Brenta from Stra to Venice with students from the University of Illinois. You start by bus from Padova and you get a guided tour with four villas including Villa Pisani at Stra and lunch. We saw a lot of bridges, locks with mechanisms designed by Leonardo da Vinci and villas designed by Palladio and decorated in one case by Tiepolo. This trip was a bit different.

We started by vaporetto to Fusina from Venice, a nice ride of about 20 minutes from Giudecca. Then we got our bikes. Because Girolibero, the company that runs the bike tours, keeps bikes just for this route, we had different bikes and even the men had to ride what they called " girly bikes." Big deal. Anyway, we took off on a busy road but soon we were riding along the canal, which was beautiful. Until we got around Mira the traffic wasn't too bad. Then we had more traffic and there aren't nice bike paths or road markings. The roads are narrow and Italian drivers don't usually slow down for bikes. Still, it was a nice ride to Stra and we saw a lot of biking groups like ours as well as small groups of bicycle tourists.

The Villa Pisani is a seventeenth century villa and Napoleon stayed there so people like to go and see the bathroom he had installed for his one night stay. Hitler and Mussolini met there in 1934. The gardens are very big and, since I had to pay to go in to them since there was nowhere else to eat my lunch, I went through the maze, which is one of the oldest in Europe.

Then, in the heat of the afternoon, we rode a slightly shorter route back to Fusina. In all it was 51.5 km. Peter had bad blisters in his feet from walking in the hot sand in the beach at Alberoni the day before so he did not go. We were hot and tired when we reached Fusina at 4 pm so we allhad cool drinks and ice cream before the boat came back to get us. Then we returned to Guidecca and the Vita-Pugna where skewers of fresh fruit and iced ice were waiting.

Our final dinner was spaghetti carbonara and meatballs with whipped potatoes and salad. We have had very good meals and the crew has been able to make substitutions for my wheat allergy. Now we are going to have breakfast and then take our luggage to the train station so we don't have to carry it around Venice all day.

Chioggia to Venice

2009-07-23T23:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning started with fish. We visited the fish market in Chioggia after breakfast. The variety of fish was wonderful and made you want to buy some and start cooking. It was market day as well so you could get all of your other ingredients at the same time. We had plenty of time to take pictures but it was already hot so most of us got back to the boat fairly early.

We were underway by 10:15 for the short trip to Pellestrina, one of the Venetian barrier islands. The first part was a narrow coast road but nice riding. Then we turned off on to what our road book persists in calling dirt roads but is really heavy gravel, and in this case a narrow gravel road for about 5 kilometers. I hate roads like these and even with hybrid bikes and Schwalbe Marathon tires they are awful. You really need mountain bikes to ride them. I was in too high a gear when we had to go up a narrow incline and swerved out of contol. There was nothing major, just a slip and people could go around me while I restarted, but difficult all the same. Later we rode in sand and Peter's bike lost traction and he collided with a bush and fell.

After Pellestrina we took the ferry to Alberoni, where we had lunch on the beach. Peter went swimming but he burned his feet on the sand and has blisters so he won't ride our last ride today on the Brenta Canal, about 50 kilometers. Alberonu turns into Malamocco and then Lido and we didvthe circuit, ending at Alberoni where we left the bikes and rejoined Vita-Pugna for a slow ride down the island and then into the lagoon, finally docking on the backside of Guidecca. Our slip had been given away so the boat that was there had to be moved so we could dock properly. We then had a great dinner, risi e bisi and chicken and then most people went across to San Marco. We stayed onboard and eventually gave a short tour of the ship to a man and his grandson.

Albarella to Chioggia

2009-07-22T23:41:00.002-05:00

We started out after breakfast, going along a very busy and narrow road. I didn't have any lunch with me because they had run out of the gluten-free bread I have been eating, so I already knew it would be a difficult day, at least from the point of view of eating. What I didn't realize was that I had also forgotten my extra bottle of water. It was a hot day and we didn't have a lot of places to stop, so that wasn't good.

Once we turned into the protected wildlife area things were easier in terms of riding. We saw a large colony of flamingoes from a distance although you had to look through binoculars and even then they were difficult to identify because they were all clustered together.

We continued riding and looking around, eventually coming out onto other roads. We were able to stop for coffee after we crossed the Adige River, using a very narrow footpath on the bridge. You couldn't ride on the bridge because of the very heavy traffic. Then we had to ride in another busy highway and then another bridge over the Brenta before stopping for lunch in the area around Chioggia.

Most of the bars were closed but there was a grocery just getting to close where we could get a few things and a bar with a few choices. I got some porchetta and cheese but they didn't have any wheat-free bread or crackers. Then I had some gelato and a bottle of water to replace the one I forgot. But I should have had even more since it was such a hot day. Then we rode into Chioggia, where the traffic was very heavy and the roundabout not as effective as I would have liked.

We did ride the bike path around town, which was fun. Then we found the Vita-Pugna and had cold drinks. Peter and I walked into town and I got some cortisone, some gluten-free crackers (not a taste treat!) and a very nice Alviero Martini bag. I have wanted one for a long time since they are decorated with old maps. Then we had a great fish dinner with mussels and clams as a first course. And I got a lot of potatoes to make up my carb deficit. After dinner Alex took over my iPhone to check the Danish stock market.

My biggest disappointments on this trip are that while we are on a barge, it mostly sails while aren't on it and that we don't do more sightseeing when we bike. I don't want to ride fewer miles, but we ride pretty slowly most of the time and we see most things at a distance. We have a good written guide but we don't get the chance to ride up and see things close up and have people tell us about them. I guess this bothers me more because I won't get another chance. Peter will go on barge trips again, but not any that include biking.

Adria to Alberella

2009-07-21T23:46:00.002-05:00

The Po was very low and we had to start late. We had an hour and a half of sailing before we could start riding and before we could do that we needed to wait for the water to rise enough to be able to move away from the shore and out into the channel. When we finally got started, we were doing what Peter came on this trip for, enjoying barging on the river! It was wonderful to just sit and watch the river go by.

After an hour and a half we got to our destination and got the bikes off the Vita Pugna. Most of the ride was on pretty nice roads without too many cars and motorbikes but we had a few busy roads and one 2 km stretch of unpaved gravel road that was quite unpleasant. We had to ride it twice.

We stopped once for coffee and snacks and once for lunch. Most people also went to the beach but Peter, Birgit and I stayed at the bar and chatted instead. We got to Porto Levante at 4:45 and had to take a small boat over to the island with our bikes. It took two trips. We had trouble finding the guy and his boat and rode back and forth on the main road looking for him until Helmut finally called him. I took some puctues while we were waiting.

It was a hot day, especially since we didn't start riding until 10:30. I am having a lot of of pain from the saddle and there is nothing I can do about it. I may have to take some time off riding after we get home to heal. I always have some problems but since these saddles don't have a cut-out in front it got bad much more quickly. Not that I will give up riding on this trip. I just keep standing up as often as I can.

Peter was happy that there were no incidents or scary moments today, his measurements of a successful ride. For dinner we had some kind of chicken and green beans in a coconut milk sauce. I have enjoyed the Italian dishes more. Then we sat outside until the Mosquitos suddenly swooped down and drove us in.

Zelo to Adria

2009-07-20T23:45:00.002-05:00

Today we started in Zelo at 8:30 so we could be in Ferrara around 1 pm. Peter and I already knew that we would just go out for lunch rather than picnic since everything closes down in Ferrara from 1-3 or 3:30 or even 4 pm, when we were leaving. The ride was about 55 km or 33 miles again. At the end of the day we took a bus to Adria with a trailer to take the bikes because it would have taken too long to ride and by then it was very hot.

At the beginning of the ride we had cool, breezy weather. We were on reasonably nice roads but with a fair amount of traffic but they soon turned into main roads and we had to deal with some big trucks and some fast cars and no shoulders, just deep ditches in the side of the road. We also rode through one town that was having it's market! Kind of like trying to ride your bike through the farmers' market while everyone is shopping. It was an interesting experience. We also rode through several construction areas at tight quarters.

We had a morning coffee stop as usual and Peter took the opportunity to buy some soap since the barge doesn't supply it and replenish our supply of sunscreen. Most of the Germans and Danes don't like strong Italian coffee and have been trying variations of cafe latte, cafe americano, etc., not always successfully. I just stick with macchiato and I have no problems. Peter had succo d'arancia.

Then we were off again. We stopped to see a tower built by the Este family to block the Po River so that they could levy a toll on ships. Helmut said that in the spring the water had been high enough to reach the tower but there was no water when we were there. Then we continued on. The paths were very serpentine and we had to cross a lot of roads. We had some sharp turns and some really narrow spots that took real bike handling skills so it isn't surprising that Peter had some problems. He bumped his arm quite badly when we were threading our way through some construction and then scraped his hand when he collided with a wall as we went down a steep and narrow tunnel in Ferrara. He yelled really loudly even though he wasn't really hurt and scared everyone. But he got back on his bike and rode on to the castello.

We found a nice place for lunch and they gave him a bag of ice for his arm and more ice when that melted. He took it easy but was able to see the cathedral and ride back to the railway station with everyone else to get the bus. It was our third trip to Ferrara so we didn't have to run around the city.

We have had wonderful food on the barge and last night it was pasta as a first course, I had rotini and everyone else had lasagna and then we had pork with a porcini sauce and salad. Dessert was fresh fruit. Then most people sat around and talked. It is nice to get to know people from all over.

Our First Ride

2009-07-19T11:02:00.002-05:00

Today was our first day if riding. As usual I got up really early, which is even more of a problem on a small barge. But I managed to get ready without disturbing Peter too much and then read e-mail, Facebook, and posted a blog entry. By seven the Vita Pugna was underway and some of us were out taking pictures of Mantova receding into the distance. We went to Governolo where we got in the bikes and rode to meet out first guide. She showed us the lock that had controlled the mouth of the river Mincio. Since the river doesn't run there any more, it is now an open-air museum.

We then continued on riding through beautiful countryside, sometimes seeing the Po, until we reached Ostiglia, where we stopped for coffee, gelato, etc. as much of the town was doing. It was a nice break and we sat and chatted with Alex and Kirsten, who are from Denmark. They now know all about different kinds of Italian coffee and have decided that the prefer cafe latte.

Then we rode on to Bergantino, where we ate the lunches we had packed. I have been very lucky and all of my pasta and bread and dolci have been wheat-free. The town was said to have been founded by brigands and, as we sat in the square, we could see the church of San Giorgio from the 17th century. Then we finished our ride, meeting the barge at Zelo. We were welcomed with cold drinks cake for everyone else and chocolate cookies for me.

Peter did very well for his first day, especially since we rode about 33 miles. We had one stretch of totally unpaved, very bad gravel road and he managed fantastically. Since he has never ridden more than three miles, this is quite an a achievement. So we will see how he feels at the end of the week. I know he is enjoying the other people we are traveling with and the chance to speak German and I hope he will enjoy the cycling too.

Now everyone is relaxing before dinner at 7.

The "Vita Pugna"

2009-07-18T23:33:00.003-05:00

On our final night, at the end of our walk, as we sat outside the bar in Campo Santa Margherita, the weather changed. We had pouring rain, high winds, and hail, driving us inside. So our farewell drink turned into an extended good-bye.

Eventually the rain stopped, Peter finished his pasta, and we all said good-bye, taking off for our respective abodes or, in the case of Celeste, meeting her sister for dinner. The good thing about the rain is that the heat and humidity are gone for the moment and it is cool and fresh. We just hope the weather stays like this. It will be much nicer for bicycling.

We took a relatively early train from Venice to Mantova. We changed at Monselice, where I got a coffee since I didn't have time to make as much as usual at the apartment. I would have liked to have seen the studiolo of Isabella d'Este, which we missed when we were at the Palazzo Ducale last year. Unfortunately there isn't time for everything. We arrived in Mantova yesterday in the rain and walked from the train station to the river port, where we found our barge the "Vita Pugna," which means life is a struggle. The barge is very compact so it is a good thing that we don't have much stuff. We found our bikes, picked up helmets, and when it stopped raining went out to get some cash, have some lunch, and visit the Palazzo Te. As Peter says, if we hadn't seen it, we would have regretted it, but it was a disappointment compared to the Palazzo Ducale.

The other cyclists on our cruise are two Americans, four Danes, four Swiss, and six Germans. The guide is a German who has lived in Italy for 22 years and the crew are a Dutch capitan, his Chinese wife and an Italian cook. It is not luxurious, but it is comfortable.

Last Day in Venice

2009-07-17T10:09:00.002-05:00

July 17, 2009

I was going to do individual posts for the last couple of days but I decided to just do a post covering the last couple of days. It is not only faster but less trouble both to the reader and to the writer and takes less time when you are paying for your internet time.

The weather in Venice continues to be hot and humid. I should be used to this since normally it is hot and humid in Champaign in July although they are having cool and wet weather there at the moment as I hear every time I read my e-mail or log onto Facebook. I would probably complain like everyone else if I were there but since air conditioning isn't very common here, hot and humid is really bad so I am complaining about the weather here instead. The fan in our small apartment helps but getting our clothes dry when we wash them is difficult and my mold allergy is acting up.

I am also finding that being allergic to wheat is definitely not a good thing in Italy. For our last day of class, Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, who is the director of La Dante in Venice brought little pizzas and spumante. This was very nice except that of course I couldn't eat the pizza and I had to explain why I couldn't eat the pizza which meant I had listen to an explanation about wheat originating in the Mediterranean (in Italian), which I already knew, and commiseration about not being able to eat pizza, pasta, dolci, etc.

Class was ok except for more exercises on prepositions. I have decided I hate prepositions in Italian! Conversation is fine except for all the mistakes but you just get corrected and go on and hope you get better over time. You can only really internalize the language in conversation by using it in conversation so the more we talk, the more we learn.

We had a busy couple of days. On Wednesday afternoon we went to Palazzo Grimani in Campo Santa Maria Formosa. Since we didn't have time to go home for lunch, we ate at the snack bar there, which was a mistake. We should have known better, having been there last year. Peter's panino was ok but my salad, which they forgot for about half an hour, then brought the wrong one which had to go back for the right one, was unspeakably bad. I have never had grit in an insalata caprese before. Anyway, it was inedible. We went elsewhere for gelato since I refused to give them any more of our money. The palazzo has just been renovated and is very interesting. The Grimani family was particularly interested in Roman antiquities so there are a lot of copies of Roman statutues, etc. from the sixteenth century and some beautiful ceilings that are very like those in Mantova at the Palazzo Ducale. However, since there is no temperature and humidity control, you have to wonder how well the restorations will last.

In the evening it was very hot so we just had salads for dinner and went to bed early. I have been so tired that I have been very crabby and learning has been very difficult. In fact, staying upright has been difficult.

I did feel better on Thursday, partly because I slept better on Wednesday night. Going to bed earlier did make a difference. Class went better as well since we started doing more conversation by that time. On Wednesday it was still more grammar and exercises and less conversation but on Thursday the balance finally shifted in favor of conversation. However, it was so hot in the classrooms that we finally adjourned to the bar down the road and finished class there, having a cool drink while we talked. I had to convince Diego and Will that there were ten good reasons why they should visit Champaign. Will had to give ten reasons to visit Ireland and oddly he had as much trouble as I did. I also I had say why I wanted to visited Dublin.

In the afternoon Peter was too tired to do the cultural activity, which was visiting a private house. I couldn't go because I had made an appointment to have my hair cut. I did a bit of shopping first, buying a dress and a couple of scarves. I then told the hairdresser, who is my friend Susy's hairdresser, that I wanted my hair shorter but not too short. I don't know what he thought I meant but it is now what I consider pretty short. Peter likes it. I am not sure what I think. Anyway, I will have to decide whether or not to let it grow out again. It is cute, but it is really short. Afterwards we decided to have dinner out at the restaurant in Campo San Tomà. We split a salad and then we each had an order of gnocchi with salmon. It was very good. I really like gnocchi and fortunately it is made with potatoes so I can eat it. It was our really nice dinner out in Venice although I would guess that our dinner out the night before we leave will be nice too, just because we are staying at the Marriott at the airport.

Today we had the afternoon free so I decided to buy the other dress that I liked and a book on interesting stories about Venice by Shaul's coauthor on the Shakespeare in Venice book, Alberto Toso Fei. I walked a lot and didn't drink enough water so by the time I met Peter at the internet point, clutching my bottle of water from Billa, I was feeling a bit lightheaded.

At 6 pm we are meeting Paolo, Peter's instructor, for a walk around Cannereggio that ends in San Polo at Campo Santa Margherita for a final prosecco and a goodbye to the class. I think we will all be there except Will. He had to go to Torino to meet a colleague about writing a grant proposal. And then a week of barging and biking--a definite change from going to school!

Scuola San Giorgio degli Schiavoni

2009-07-15T10:02:00.002-05:00

July 14, 2009

C'est le quatorze juillet. Vive la France. Okay, it's not Italian and I'm not in France but it is a major holiday there so I though I shouold say something in French.

Today is the day for Carpaccio. He was the student of Gentile Bellini, one of my favorite artists. There is the possibility of going to a concert at 5 at Santi Giovane e Paolo but we are meeting friends at Campo San Polo at 7:30 for dinner so the timeing would be tight. We have decided to give the convert a miss and go to the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni instead since it was closed on Sunday.

Class was interesting. We had a substitute teacher for a day and she was very good, really making us have conversations the whole time. We wer learning the conditional but only by using it, not by writing anything down. I think if we were learning that way for the whole two weeks our conversational skills would probably be more advanced although we might be frustrated by not having any notes to refer to.

We had a mediocre lunch on the way to the scuola since Peter doesn't care about food, but the Carpaccio paintings more than made up for the meal. While this was one of theminor scuole, the San Giorgio cycle is excellent and there are some other paintings of interest in the the scuola as well. The scuola is a small, highly decorated building from the beginning of the 16th century that has been wonderfuly preserved. I especially liked the coffered ceiling. There aren't many of them left in Venice. Shaul had recommended last summer that I go see the paintings and I'm glad I had the opportunity.

Afterward we went back home via the Internet point. Peter continued home but I stopped to see if I could buy a dress. I was not successful although I plan a further shopping expedition before we leave Venice. I really would like to get another linen dress this year.

Then, after doing some reading, we met some of the NEH crowd, not participants but Shaul and Susy, Dana, Martina, and Frances, for dinner at Campo San Polo. Everyone had pizza except Peter and me. We both had salad, me because of my wheat allergy and Peter because he can't eat tomatoes. We all had a very nice evening. Dana and Frances are leaving for the US tomorrow. We probably won't get a chance to see anyone again before we leave on Saturday but Marina will be back for RSA in April and Frances will be back in Venice by then as well so we will see everyone then. I hope to see Susy on Thursday but it depends on her schedule.

Palazzo Labia

2009-07-14T08:41:00.003-05:00

July 13, 2009

Back to class.Today we learned the past tense, or at least the most common one, the passato prosima. It is definitely more useful than the future, which we learned last week but which you can avoid a lot of the time. You need the past a lot.

Our conversation for the first two hours was about sports, not one of my favorite subjects. When you are learning about Italian culture, you can't avoid dicussing calcio (soccer). Trying to explain that Americans follow different sports in different seasons and the importance of college sports in my limited Italian was hard but Will had even more trouble with the national sports of Iteland--Gaelic football and hurling. For the rest of class we talked about houses, rooms and things in rooms. That was a bit easier to cope with.

In the afternoon we viited the Palazzo Labia, which was built by a rich Venetian family that bought its way into the nobility. We were lucky to be able to see it since the building is owned by RAI, the raido and tv company and sala is only open by application. In the mid-18th century Tiepolo painted the Sala Grande in fresco for the marriage of the daughter of the house, who was painted as Cleopatra with fabulous pearls. There are a lot of architectural features and trompe l'oeil in the paintings. There is certainly a nod to Veronese as well, in the style of the composition.Because the Palazzo was built in different materials, keeping the painting stable is difficult because of movement in the wall so everything is wired up to monitors.

Afterwards we walked down past the Tre Archi bridge to the part of the university where the Department of Economics is housed. The buildings used to be slaughterhouse but the university hads remodeled them into very nice space. We also saw a charitable foundation started in the 15th centurey by Zuanne Contarini and still active today.

We walked back by way of the Internet point, Rialto, and our favorite, Billa. Then I went to a pasticceria in Campo San Tomà where I was able to buy cookies made from cornmeal. So I can have some dolci after all.

Now that dinner is over and I have done a little thinking about Italian, I am going to read. But I really miss having both convenient Internet access whenever I want it and a computer so I can wriet wasily whenever I want to. I will have to take all of that into consideration the next time we travel. I have been going back and forth on the idea of getting a netbook but I guess I will have to do some research when I get back. When you take as little luggage as I do, and you have to lug around a CPAP machine, you really don't want to bring another large piece of equipment with you and even a lighter laptop might be too big, even if it is not too heavy. A netbook might fit into my CPAP machine case.

San Rocco and Zanipolo

2009-07-13T10:02:00.002-05:00

July 12, 2009

Today was devoted to Tintoretto and Doges' tombs. We went to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Basilica di Santi Giovani e Paolo (called Zanipolo here). We had beautiful weather again today although the Venetians are calling it African heat. Obviously they haven't lived in central Illinois in the summer, although I hear it is unually cool there right now.

San Rocco was great. They have an audioguide so we were walked through all of the paintings and there are a lot of them. You start with a fairly long introduction and information about Tintoretto and then go up to the Albergo Hall, which is a small room room, work your way through the Great Upper Hall and finish up with the ground floor where there was also an exhibit on the restoration work being done on the painting and one of pottery and china. Some of the pottery and tiles from medieval Persia and Moorish Spain were really wonderful. There were also some interesting pieces of early majolica.

Afterwards we walked to the Internet pont and then had lunch nearby. We split a mixed salad and an order of gnochetti with frutti di mare that was very good. This was after one of the waiters knocked over a table breaking a full bottle of olive oil as well as some glasses. We seem to be at the scene of a lot of restaurant accidents lately. This one was much worse than the one yesterday with olive oil and glass everywhere. The waiters were upset. And then one of the patrons left his or her credit card and the waiter went running after but it was too late.

Having thoroughly enjoyed our meal, we went on to Santi Giovani e Paolo. There is a good gelateria in the campo so we had gelato first, then spent a long time in the church. Many of the doges are buried there. In terms of relics, of major importance is the reliquary with the feet of Saint Catherine of Siena. There is also another altar dedicated to her with St. Thomas Aquinas. They have several pictures by Veronese and a very dark Lorenzo Lotto that you can barely make out. There is a piece attributed to Giovanni Bellini that is now thought not to be by him. The portale is partly by Barolomeo Bon, a famous Venetian architect. It is just an amazing place to spend time in, especially in terms of the important political figures buried there as well as the art. The leaflet they five you doesn't begin to list all of the art and tombs inside the church.

Our one disappointment was that the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni is not open on Sunday so we could not see the Carpaccios. I am not sure whether we will have time to go on this trip. Our afternoon will be pretty full with the cultural program of the school.

We walked home by way of Piazza San Marco, Campo San Stefano, Accademia Bridge and Campo San Barnaba. We are getting pretty good at finding our way on different routes with minimal use of our maps. After we got back I took some more pictures and we did some reading. Dinner was pasta and salad for Peter and meat, vegetables and salad for me. The cooking is still minimal but I am trying for a little variety.

Ieri, siamo andati a San Giorgio. Oggi, siamo andati alla Scuola di San Rocco e al Basilico di Santi Giovane e Paul. Domani, ancora saremo dei studenti.

San Giorgio Maggiore

2009-07-12T04:48:00.002-05:00

July 11, 2009

This morning we walked to the Rialto, which as everyone knows is the place to buy everything. Peter was able to get a travel razor since he seems to have left the charger for his regular one at home. Then, since we had the luxury of time on a Saturday morning, we went on to the Internet point and spent more time than usual catching up before continuing on to the Ferrovia (train station) to get our ticket for Mantova for next Saturday morning.

Our tour provider contacted us and said that she would let the barge operator know that we would not have the voucher. Since they have everyone's name, it won't be a problem as long as they know. Standing in line at the station was interesting. We had lots of time, which is why we do these things in advance. The people behind us were trying to catch a train leaving subito so we said they could go ahead. Unfortunately the people in front of took so much time that it didn't matter. The people we gave our place to missed their train to Verona anyway. However the good thing in Italy is that there would be another one in an hour or two. On the other hand, the women working in the ticket office decided to close the office and take a break at that point. So we all just waited for them to come back. No one knew what was happening when they put up the sign saying chiuso but no one wanted to lose their place since it was only noon and the ticket office wasn't supposed to close until 1:30. The Italians were more upset than we were. One woman muttered mal educati, which means ill-mannered.

Tomorrow there is a train strike all over Italy, so lots of people are upset. Fortunately we aren't going anywhere tomorrow, at least not outside of Venice. The strike is expected to last until 9 pm so most people will be stranded wherever they are all day. Anyway, after our train station adventure we took the vaporetto home, had lunch and made our daily trek to Billa. We know it would be better to shop at the market, especially to practice our Italian, but with our limited cooking facilities and tiny refrigerator, it isn't worth it. Anyway, I am hoping that I got enough stuff to be able to skip shopping on Sunday.

In the afternoon we went to San Giorgio Maggiore to see Peter Greenaway's multimedia presention of Veronese's "Le Nozze di Cana." The original painting was done for the refectory of the church and is now in the Louvre, one of the many pieces of art that were taken from Venice as part of "war reparations," this in 1806. It has been recreated in the last few years as a faithful copy of the original and it is this copy that Greenaway brought to life with music, words and special effects. It is part of a series that began with Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" in Amsterdam in 2006. I wish we could have seen that. I saw "The Night Watch" last December for the first time and it was wonderful. Unfortunately these seem to be emphemeral pieces. You can only see them when they are performed, not later on tv or DVD. This is the only one so far that has taken place where the painting was originally meant to be seen. It was really worth the price of admission. We really liked the presentation, the music (Gabrielli), and the dialog (Venetian, but there is a second showing in English). Veronese, after all, meant the painting to represent a conversation. The effects were superb. It will probably be the only thing we see from the Biennale, but it is the one thing we really wanted to see.

We also, of course, saw Palladio's church, including Longhena's tomb and stopped on Guidecca, where we snuck into the Redentore just as it was closing. Then we took the vaporetto to Zattere and walked back. There was a band doing Beatles songs at Campo San Barnaba as part of a July music festival in Venice. Then we sat out in one of our local bars and I had aranciata and Peter had succo d'arancia and a pastry while we watched people go by, sparrows steal chips, and a bunch of pigeons knock over bowls, glasses, etc. to get chips and peanuts after some patrons left an adjoining table. There was broken glass, chips and peanuts everywhere. So we got quite a show. It was quite a while before either of us was hungry enough to want anything else to eat.

I finished both Wanting by Richard Flanagan and The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold today. You probably couldn't find two more different novels to read at one time but I enjoyed them both very much. Now I have gone back to one of my old favorites, Our Mutual Friend. I had planned to reread Anna Karenina but I decided on this instead. Perhaps it was reading Wanting that made me decide to read some Dickens instead. When I get home, I will probably want to read something about polar exploration too since that was one of the subjects of the novel, perhaps the newish biography of Crozier.

La Fine di Settimana

2009-07-11T03:51:00.002-05:00

June 10, 2009

Today was the end of the first week of class. It is nice to know that we have the weekend so we have a bit of time before the intensity of class starts up again for the second week, even though we will both have to work on Italian over the weekend. I feel as if I am slowly making progress although since I spent weks working on Italian before we came, I think I shouldl be doing better than I am. So much for Rosetta Stone.

This afternoon we ran into a friend at the Frari. She is in Italy doing research on her second book and we are having dinner next week with her and a group of friends before she leaves for Rome. Her son, who is in the US, is recovering from a mild case of swine flu but she says he is doing very well.

In the late afternoon we met friends from the university at Campo Santa Margherita for a drink and a close encounter with pigeons, a constant hazard in Venice. I had a more than close encounter last year at the Jewish cemetary on the Lido but this year both Laura and I manage to escape serious bombardment. It was really great to see both of the. We could talk about travel, politics, television, cooking, etc.--just the usual things you talk about with friends. That is one of the nice things about coming back to Venice. Most of the time when we are abroad we are just tourists, but here we feel that we have a little bit of community. We will see Shaul again on Tuesday, and if we are lucky, maybe again before we leave. And we will see both of them again in April when we come back for the RSA. So I guess Venice is in our past, present, and future, no matter what other travel plans we may make.

On the Lido

2009-07-11T03:33:00.002-05:00

July 9, 2009

Today we managed to have more or less real conversation in class. Using a free newspaper called "Leggo," we read and talked about Google's new broswer based on Chrome. We also talked about cares versus public transportation, Florence and Siena (especially the Palio), and holidays. Will and I both needed help with words and constructions but we were able to more or less have actual conversations that weren't confined to to names, ages, jobs and where we live. So that was some progress.

After class we went home for lunch and did some reading before going out again. We finally broke down and got The International Herald Tribune, so we have some news to read. Peter did some homework. He has homework every day. I kind of create some homework on my own by practicing some things.

Then we went off to check email, etc. That's when I found out the good and the bad news. The good news is that everything is ok at home except that I guess it has been very rainy again. The bad news is that evidently we are supposed to have vouchers for the barge and bike which either weren't sent or were sent after we left for Europe so we are now waiting to hear from the tour operator about what we are supposed to do. Also, the bike accident I had been hearing about on email from home turned out to be about a friend of mine who has had to have surgery and will need to have more surgery and a long recovery. Not that I can do anything from here. I will have to call when I get home and see if there is anything I can do like visit, etc.

We have noticed that the free internet service that Venetians are supposed to be able to use is not really available all over Venice. You can find it in some hot spots, but it there are a lot of places where it does not reach at all. My guess is that it will take a while for the city to be able to provide a widespread signal. Not that it matter for noncitizens like us but it is interesting to see how it develops.

The Lido was more interesting than I expected. Our only other experience there was visiting the Jewish cemetary last summer. This time we took a walking tour with someone who was born on the Lido, although he now lives in Mestre. He teaches at the Dante Società and at Ca' Foscari and his parents still live on the Lido but it is too expensive for younger people to live there. We saw an interesting Art Nouveau hotel that had been beautifully restored, some really fancy private beaches as well as the public beach, and sites that house the film festival. The cabanas on the private beaches can run €30 million for prime spots. Evidently families and friends will club together buy even the less expensive ones.

This is also where the first stage of the Giro d'Italia was held this year, which was the team time trial. We saw a lot of bikes since the Lido is the one place in Venice where you can ride a bike or drive a car or take a bus. You could see the MOSE project in the distance. When it is finished, the project is supposed to be a gate-like system that would keep Venice from having the most terrible aqua alta flooding. It would only work in the case of really serious high water, however, so it would not eliminate the phenomenon altogether. Unfortunately the definition of high water would still put Piazza San Marco under water in many cases since it is lowest spot in Venice.

At the end of our walk we stopped for a drink and conversation, looking out over the beach and water. Then we took the bus back to the pontile and the vaporetto back to San Tomà.

A Promising Start?

2009-07-09T08:58:00.002-05:00

July 8, 2009

Today I actually started thinking in Italian. Not all the time or great thoughts, but a sentence here and there. That's some progress over the constant thinking in English and French. Maybe it will take hold as we go along. I can hope anyway.

After class today we did our usual stuff and found out that a group of us from the NEH institute last year will all be in Venice and will get together for dinner next Tuesday. Just after that we actually ran into one of the people involved in the program. Then we went off for a tour of Ca' Foscari, which is the University of Venice and saw the main historic buildings which are near Ca' Rezzonico, a palazzo that is now a museum and also quite close to where we are living so we ended the tour proactically in Campo San Toma. We were also able get to a close-up view of "Sub-Tiziano," one of the auxiliary exhibitions of the Biennale. I have been looking at it every time we go by on the vaporetto so it was nice to see it close up. (there will be a picture here eventually)

It is still hot in the apartment even though it has cooled off outside but after our Bruges experience we are not leaving the windows open! So we are studying in front of the fan.

No other news today.

First Day of School

2009-07-08T10:01:00.002-05:00

July 6, 2009

This morning felt almost normal. I managed the intermittent hot water in the shower, lighting the stove, etc. And I am as ready as you ever are to start school. I have the usual feeling of excitement mixed with trepidation, even though there are no reali risks. After all, there are no greades, transcripts, dkplomas, honor, disgraces at the end. Just the hope that you know more Italian than when you started.

I am looking at some yogurt that I bought. It was made in Italy in the area called Alto Adige or Sud Tirol. What is interesting about this container is that it is primarily in German and secondarily in Italian, with an eagle crest that, while not double-headed, does remind you of Hapsburg symbolism. All of this illustrates the continuing cultural and linguistic divisions in that area of Italy.

While school is the most important agenda item, there area a few other things I would like to accomplish today. What we ended up with out of a long list were the grocery and the internet point, contacting Shaul and Laura or at least sending them email, and finding where Susy's hairdresser works, although they were closed. I was indeed placed in the beginner class. I can't speak at the level of most of the group so we have two classes, one with four people and one with two. Peter and I are the only Americans. The others are from France, Ireland, Guatemala, and South Africa.

Our first cultural experience for the class was to meet with an elderly Venetian woman at her apartment near the Accademia for conversation and drinks. Her apartment was wonderful with a lovely terrace and garden. I was not one of the conversationalists but it was interesting to be able to be in a private residence and see another side of Venice.

We came back fairly late but I had stuff I could put together for a quick dinner. Then we did some studying. Tomorrow's outing is the Marciana, which is a very important library in Venice, begun with the donation of the the books of Cardinal Bessarion in the fifteenth century.

A Stormy Day

2009-07-08T09:45:00.003-05:00

July 7, 2009

Today was our second class. Will and I are still working at verbs, reading dialogs, trying to answer questions, and generally feel as if we are making some progress. However, Diego, our instructor, is a very new teacher and speaks very quickly so he can be hard to understand. Peter's class is actually having conversations.

Since there was a transportation strike all over Italy today, that meant that the vaporetti were on strike part of the day. We had no trouble getting to Sant'Elena and we could walk to San Marco, where we were meeting for a tour of the Marciana library after lunch. As we walked, the sky got darker and darker. We had planned to have lunch near the Piazza San Marco, although not on the riva, but we found a relatively inexpensive restaurant and sat down since it looked as if it would start raining soon. However, the waiters started taking down the umbrellas and told us there would be a big storm soon. Since there were no free tables inside, we went to the next restaurant which was more expensive but was enclosed. Just after we ordered the skies opened. We had a huge storm and it rained hard for half an hour. Evidently on the mainland there was large hail but we just had thunder, lightning, and wind. Fortunately we stayed dry and had a nice lunch of salad with chicken and cheese and a pizza before going off for our tour and by then the rain had stopped. Unfortunately my suggestion of the pizza to save money meant that I itched for the rest of the day.

We had been on a tour of the Marciana in 2006 when we took the student to Padua but it was nice to go again, especially since there were only four of us. I was hoping we might get to see some less public areas but even just seeing the public rooms built by Sansovino and decorated by famous artists of the sixteenth century was very nice.

Then I made an appointment to have my hair cut by Susy's hairdresser next week, just before we leave Venice. He is in Spain at the moment but he will be back before we start our barge and bike trip. We also stopped at an internet point near Campo San Stefano. I didn't get much done before all their computers shut down but I did get an email from Laura so we are meeting on Friday afternoon for a drink.

We walked back via the Accademia and Campo San Barnabà and found another internet point between San Barnabà and San Tomà. It is really small and the computers look pretty old so we will probably go back to the one we usually use near the Campo SS Apostoli. It has lots of computers and we get a discount.

Tonight we just did some studying and I made pasta for Peter and a salad for me. It has been fairly warm and very humid so I haven't felt like eating much hot food. Tomorrow I will have to rethink dinner again. I have several more pasta dinners for Peter, but nothing for me.

Our activity is in the late afternoon again, so I am not sure exactly how we will schedule our time.

Our First Full Day in Venice

2009-07-06T08:26:00.002-05:00

July 5,2009

Today we began our latest residency in Venice. We are not Venitians or tourists, we are temporary residents. Our concerns so far have been mostly those of daily life--getting settled, grocery shopping, finding our way around our new sestiere, going out to Sant'Elena so we could find the language school and estimate how long the trip would take, going to the Internet point we know since we haven't found one close to where we live, going to the bancomat and back to the grocery, etc. We were lazy and took the vaporetto everywhere.

We were hoping to be able to use the new free wifi theat Venice has instituted but it is only for Venetian citizens. That seems fair. Eventually there is supposed to be a scheme so that visitors can pay to use the service too but that is not available now and who knows what it will cost. It may be that like the IMOB there will be schemes for more long-term visitors and different rates for short-term visitors. The service for Venetians has only been up for two days so most people aren't too familiar with it yet.

Now we are starting to feel comfortable. We sat in a bar and had a drink. Peter had water and was charged for using the glass as well as for the water. I had a Campari spritz, so Venetian, although un'ombra would have as well. We ate gelato and managed the whole thing in Italian, but we do that all the time.And we can find our way to some places without a mpa. I found the pasticceria where I got a macchiato and a brioche con cicciolata every morning last summer on my way to the institute and the shop where Peter bought me my wonderful linen dress.

We didn't feel rushed or stressed, just comfortable. My friend Susy, who may be rushing inand out of town between school obligations and curating an exhibition in Milan, emailed me about her hairdresser so that if she can't go with me, I can still get my hair cut while I am here. But I really hope I can see her anyway.

We found one bancomat with limited withdrawals and another with seemingly unlimited ones. Just the luck of the draw I guess. We also noticed that while there are a lot of tourists, as usual, there don't seem to be too many Americans. Most of the English is being spoken by Britons and Australians.

Tonight we just had salad and creme caramel for dinner. It is warm and we weren't that hungry. It is an easy meal. Having made soup for lunch, I wasn't eager to stand over a hot flame cooking dinner. The one thing left on my agenda is washing some clothes. And then waiting for tomorrow and the start of class. I expect that I will be in the beginners group in spite of the studying that I did before we came.

All in all our first has been a success. And we now have hot water.

The Challenges of Cooking in a Rental

2009-07-05T09:02:00.002-05:00

The kitchen in our apartment in San Tomà looks more impressive than the one last year in our apartment on the Piscina di Frezzaria. Instead of a cabinet, we have an actual space. But appearances can be deceiving. True we have a microwave. But we have a smaller refrigerator set in a cabiet in such a way that getting to it is very difficult. You have to get on your hands and knees and, because it is on the wrong side of the kitchen, it opens backwards so it is awkward to get into.

We hve a large selection of cooking pots but no sharp knives, scissors, etc. So I can't cut anything up, chop vegetables, or open difficult packages. Getting the coffee open this morning was one instance. I was very careful and manged without getting the coffee all over everything.

We have a mrcrowave but our freezer is practically nonexistent so it would mostly be useful hor heating up prepared food from a delicatessen rather than frozen meals or reheating things I had cooked and were left over. WE can't really store a lot of leaftovers so I am planning a lot of salad with already cut up ingredients and pasta dishes for Peter with tuna and things like that. I did see a frozen mussel dish at BILLA that might work in the microwave for me. I can Also cook meat now that I have started to learn to use the burners on the stove and I successfully made packaged soup for lunch and stored the leftovers.

Even though we have spent a lot shopping for food, eating out is a lot more expensive. With classes ending at 1 pm on Sant'Elena, however, I expect that we will eat lunch out with classmates. And I am sure there will be a dinner or two, at least with Shaul and I hope with Susy although she may be away much of the time.

Today I was able to find rice crackers so I bought cheese and salami as well as fresh fruit and more salad and some grilled vegetables so I could make salade niçoise. While I could buy a sharp knife, I am not brining it home (not feasilbe anyway with carry-on uggage) and I don't plan to help the apratment people equip their kitchen. There are more cleaning supplies here than anything else. Perhaps I should be happy they they, or previous tenant, were so converned about cleanliness, but I am more concerned right now about eating! It's bad enought that I am reduced to Cheerios and yogurt for breakfast. My consolation is that there is always gelato.

As far as garbage, and there is always garbage, we had planned to follow the city guidelines as we did last year. Our previous landlady had left us a schedule of what types of garbage went out on what days, paper bags for papers, stickers for other recyclables, and explanations. There was none of that here. We asked our agent. She didn't know and obviously doesn't follow the guidelines herself. We have no paper bags for papers, just plastic bags for general garbage and no chart for when to put things out so all the garbage will have to go out together. We can't be good citizens this year.

The bad thing about a small mokka pot is that you have to make coffee three times. The good thing is that the third time I lit the stove on the first try so practice does help. I get my coffee, I learn to use the stove--training and reward together. Now I just need to apply that to other parts of my life. I just hope that at my age it isn't too late.

Musings about Studios and Writing

2009-07-05T08:37:00.002-05:00

Last night did not go well. We were able to set up the CPAP machines once Peter remade the bed so that the head became the foot of the bed and we could both reach the outlet with our cords and manage the hoses. Traveling with medical equipment is no fun. We also don't have any hot water so I have sent a text to the agent. She is supposed to come at 7 pm to help us out, even though today is her day off.

Back to the bad night. Peter had a lot of trouble getting comfortable on the foldout couch so that affected both of us in terms of sleeping. There is nowhere to go in a studio apartment. Of ocurse now I am writing at the kitchen counter (well now I am retyping at the Internet point) because there is still nowhere to go. We always have this issue when we travel since I get up so early and he sleeps so much later. Fortunately while we are taking classes he will have to get up early too.

My latest adventure was with the gas stove. Because I have electric at home and I am used to gas stoves that turn on automatically, I had some difficulty with this one. First I had to figure out how to use the lighter. Not rocket science I know but not as easy as the one I use when the pilot light goes out on our fireplace at home. Then, once I hade that and had finally gotten a flame on the burner, I had to figure out how to turn the knob so it didn't go off immediately. Finally figured it out. At least I know how to use a Bialetti. This is the small size. I bought a packet of Lavazza yesterday so I am having my first goood cup of coffee on this trip. No, I did have a good cup of espresso at the Bruges train station when we got back from Ghent. But this is really good coffee and I look forward to more. I wish I could say I was having brioche con cicciolata with it but I will be having Cheerios and yogurt. I should get lots of practice lighting the sove since I will have to make several pots of coffee every morning.

I am starting to regret not having a computer with me, not for wireless service since at the moment I don't have that any way but for writing. The iPhone is great but it isn't really the best writing tool for a touch typish and I am of the age of touch typing alas. Typing on a computer, however, erodes your manual writing skills, and I am finding that making the effort to write legibly so I can transcribe this is taxing. While the transcription will inevitably mean revision on the spot, the initial writing is physically painful in a way that I barely remember from the days when I wrote out all my drafts by hand, revised, and then typed good copies since you couldn't use erasable bond and white-out and we didn't have IBM Selectrics to do our corrections in college and grad school.

I wouldn't want to have my MacBook on this trip since I needed to pack very lightly and there is the barge and bike at the end. David Pogue may prefer his Mac Air to any netbook on the market but I doubt that I will be in a financial position to own a new MacBook Pro and a Mac Air as my next two computers, nice as that might be. So I am starting to toy with the idea of of a netbook for travel. Right now I could be typing this, planning to upload it when a wirelss connect became available or using a flashdrive to transfer it if I had to go to an Internet point. I could put on the pictures from my camera so you coul dsee Bruges and Ghent and eventually Venice and the bike trip. And I could work on the ideas I have been jotting down in my note-taking program on my iPhone for my paper for the RSA (Renaissance Society of America) conference next April back in Venice and for the histrical nvel I am thinking about, based in Bruges, and my teaching and lecture plans, the mystery I want to write, and maybe a couple of other scholarly paper ideas. Deep down I still want to do something with my book on Giles Daubeney and perhaps with all that material I amassed on women's book collections when I was in Paris in 2000.

For the moment I am back to the traditional notebook and pen and that is bad. I wrote up journals of other trips that way before I started to blog and they are still in notebooks. Maybe no one will ever want to read my comments about Turkey in 2003, Padua in 2006 and 2007 and Istanbul in 2006-2007, but when friends asked about those trips, my responses were short. I sent some pictures. That was it. For Morocco I didn't keep a journal at all, which was a shame. The first trip I blogged was our Rhine cruise and the few friends who read it seemed to enjoy it. More important, it is a word and picture record for me that I can access easily. I don't have to decipher my illegible handwriting.

We have lots of pictures from earlier trips in nondigital format and I have asked Peter to go through and acan some of them. We have some great pictures from our two trips to the Soviet Union and pictures of Christo's wrapped Reichstag that I would like digitized.

The mokka pot cooled enough for a second pot and it took me somewhat fewer tries with the lighter and the burner. By the end of two weeks I might be an expert. And perhaps, by then, we will have hot water.

Bruges to Venice July 4, 2009

2009-07-05T07:55:00.004-05:00

While you have been parading, barbecuing, and watching fireworks as the US celebrates another Independence Day, Peter and I flew from Belgium to Italy to start the second part of our trip.

Today was a real comedy of errors. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. And yet, for all that, everything worked out in the end, as these things tend to do, no matter how much we obsess over them.

The first problem cropped up last night. For some reason I thought to look at my contacts for the rental agent in Venice and discovered that the telephone numbers had disappeared. The address, note on the vaparetto stop, email, were al there, but the telephone numbers she had sent me were gone. I sent some frantic emails. But it was 9 pm on Friday night. And I had no idea whether I woul d have internet access today. As it happened, I didn't. However, I had printed out the rental information, which a phone number that was different but might work, so I put that one in my phone and hoped it would be ok. This was a portent of things to come.

Today actually started out well considering that I hadn't been able to sleep and finally got up at 4:30 am. Since we left so early we weren't able to have breakfast but we figured we would have time at the airport after we checked in for our flight. As usual we were ready early and, to our surprise, the Bruges taxi was already waiting so we got to the train station early (the buses don't run that early in the morning). WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE EARLY TRAIN THAT CHANGED AT BRUSSELS SOUTH. Then we would have had more time to deal with the potential disaster that, unbeknowst to us, loomed ahead. But the ticket agent, when we arrived in Brussels, had told us that the train we were taking meant we didn't have to change at all. We could go straight through to the airport. Wrong. We found out that we changed at Brussels North, an easy change on the same platform but a change nevertheless. So that turned out ok, except that the train was running slightly late. We went up to departures and entered the melee of Brussels Airport. People pushing, shoving, yelling, running all over, and to our dismay, no sign of Ryan Air. Peter pushed his way to the Delta counter to ask where we could find Ryan Air. And that's when we discovered that Brussels Airport and Charleroi are not one and the same. Those of you who know that are probably laughing at this point. We weren't. The man at the information desk told us that if we got a taxi, wemight just make our flight. Taxis were, as the English say, thin on the ground, and they really just want to take people to hotels. But I persuaded a taxi driver to take us, mostly by saying Charleroi over and over in a pleading voice. It was an expensive trip.

An interesting aside here (at least to language buffs), Dutch speakers in Belgium usually speak Dutch, French and English and all of them well. French speakers speak French and not much else. So our driver's English was minimal and panic was not increasing our fluency in French. However, our driver obviously had had some ambitions to be a Grand Prix or Formula One driver at one time because he got us there in record time. We checked in and were ready to board on time as he told us when we ended our rather wild ride. I even had time to buy a croissant for Peter and coffee for me on my way to the gate. Then, of course, we baorded late and took off late. STill we were able to buy more or less edible stuff on the plane and we got in more or less on time, which a recording over the plane's intercom tells you with a flourish of trumpets.

We got our luggage, took the bus to Venice, bought our mnonthly passes or theIMOB cards that we had thoughtfully purchased when we lived in Venice for five weeks last summer (they are good for three years and we can ride the water buses unlimited times for 28 euros each), called the apartment agent, and met her at San Tomà after a ride on the very slow vaporetto no. 1. So life seemed good again.

Our apartment is small with a kitchen that is about as incovenient as the one last year without the redeeming feature of a big bedroom since the living room is the bedroom. Last year the living room was the kitchen or rather the kitchen and dining room were in the living room. However it is on the ground floor in a good location on the Campo San Tomà near the Frari church. Too bad I am not doing research at teh Archivio di Stato since I am practically on the doorstep.

We have had the usual problems of finding enough outlets and one of them doesn't work. We still have the challenge of figuring out how to set up the CPAP machines tonight. When we went grocery shopping at BILLA, Peter couldn't find his debit card, which caused some panic. I paid and eventually his card turned up. So no frantic calls to the Credit Union in our future with canceled cards. We asked the agent about where we could find the closest Bancomat and Internet point. She gave us some directions. We did find a Bancomat but not an Internet point although we found a Punto grocery that we may try. And we have mosquito bites from leaving our windows open in Bruges when it was hot. Europeans don't believe in screens. So we both have large welts and we itch. The pharmacies won't be open until Monday. These are all the usual travel things.

The final glitch, we thought, was that we coldn't figure out how to open up the sofa bed. In the end we had to have the agent back to show how to do it. Instead of pulling it out from the inside like most beds, you pull it over from the back of the couch. It is hard to explain and we would never have figured it out on our own. She also had to leave us her lighter. We have a gas stove and there were no matches and it does not have an automatic starter. Not being smokers, we didn't have a lighter and it was too late to get one.

The final disaster happened at the end of the evening when Peter discovered that we have no hot water. I have sent her a text message but I had to go outside to do it since the phones don't work inside the apartment. We can't usually get a signal there. I hope that we can get it fixed on a Sunday.

So far most of our problems seem to be working themselves out. With all this stress, all these potential disasters, all these lucky saves (and help along the way) have we learned to relax, let things go, assume that everything will work out? Probably not. I think worrying is in our genes, even when our hot water problem gets fixed.

Ghent or Is It Gand?

2009-07-03T13:13:00.002-05:00

Today we took the train from Bruges (Brugge in Dutch) to Ghent or Gent (Gand in Dutch). Confused yet? It doesn't really matter as long as you are consistent and not a native of Belgium. If you are Belgian, then the spelling maymtters, a lot. But I won't get into that in this post.

The main purpose of our trip was to see the Adoration of the Lamb altarpiece created by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. This is one of the landmarks in art history and is just spectacular. It is still in the Vyd Chapel in the Cathedral of Bavo, where the patron had it placed when it was completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432. We spent quite a lot of time looking at the painting and discussing the possible meaning of the iconography, although we needed to buy the guide to understand some of it. But you don't need a guide to appreciate the quality of the painting. Or maybe you do. I was surprised at the number of people who just looked into the chapel, or stayed a few minutes, or didn't know that they should close the side panels so that they could see the pairings on the back. Of course I showed that to people if they seemed at all interested.

There were a few other things in the cathedral that were interesting. There some nice manuscripts and early printed books but no incunabula. There was a Rubens if you like him (not my taste), and a good Justus of Bruges in the crypt as well as some medieval wall paintings. The historic center of Ghent has a beautiful belltower, an interesting town hall that is flamoyant gothic on one side and Renaissance on the other but we could not see the interior because there was a wedding scheduled. The streets were being torn up and the weather was overcast, cold and windy, so we were happy to get back to Bruges, alth the St. Nicholas Church was interesting and some unusual features like having the pulpit in the back.

One of my Bruges projects has been trying to see where the merchants actually had their warehouses. I didn't look at the German one but I did see all the Italian ones and the Porters' Lodge, where all the rich merchant hung out in a kind of club. All this is near where we are staying. So I am beginning to create a map of fifteenth-century Bruges in my mind that will help in my writing.

We also stopped at The Chocolate Linr, which is a famous chocolate place in Bruges. Dominique Personne, the owner, is known for his revolutionary approach to chocolate. I braved my chocolate allergy and had a piece of very dark chocolate with chocolate ganache and ginger filling. It was excellent, although not revolutionary. There were more exotic combinations, but I picked what I like. The we just hung out in the main square until dinnertime talking and watching people, had dinner and gelato and came back to finish writing and pack. We need to go to bed early since we have an early train to Brussels then take Ryan Air to Treviso and the bus to Venice so we can meet our landlord and get settled in our apartment. Classes start on Monday.

Bruges and Bikes and Museums

2009-07-02T00:15:00.004-05:00

Bikes are everywhere in Bruges. In fact, our bed and breakfast, Bruges at Night, offers free bicycles to get around the city just like the locals. If you come here, try it. If I wasn't with a non- cycling spouse, I would although here few people wear helmets, which is a drawback. I am a great believer in always wearing a helmet. But you are as likely to be hit by a bike as by a car in Bruges. They are everywhere. Belgium has a strong bike culture and I think it's great. We need to find ways to promote cycling the same way in the U.S. And the cyclists are on the road with everyone else, not just in special bike lanes, at least in Bruges. There is a lot of signage to help but not a lot of special lanes and I think that makes Bruges stand out from somevother European cities in that regard.

Because Bruges is mainly a tourist city, a lot of tours are offered by bicycle, both within the city and to surrounding areas. You can buy a guidebook that is a whole bicycle tour, just as you can get walking tour guidebooks. You can tour Bruges by Bike during the day or, in July and August by night. You can take Pink Bear Bicycle Tours to Damme and the Polders, which gives you a ride to a nearby medieval town, or the Green Bike Tour that covers essentially the same area with a little more commentary. Or just rent a bike, get a map, and go off in your own. The area is flat and the riding is easy.

Today we went to the Gruuthuse Museum. I was disappointed that they did not have the whole house open and most of the material was showcasing other city museums. However we did get to see some of the rooms and the wooden beam decorations were wonderful. The kitchen was very impressive and there was a very nice fifteenth century chest. But the most impressive thing was the private chapel. In 1474 Gruuthuse was given permission to build a room that opened directly (through a window) to a view of the Church of the Holy Virgin. I had never seen anything like it. He could watch the services from the privacy of his own house. It was amazing to look down on the tombs if Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy that we had just seen the day before.

Then we went to the Hospital of St. John, which also houses the Memling Museum. Unfortunately the attics were closed but we did get the audio tour of the hospital, which had some interesting medieval documents and manuscripts, some good paintings, some not-so-good art, and then the Memlings, which are wonderful.

After all that we were tired and hungry so we found a nice French place for a salad lunch, followed by gelato, and then went off to another part of Bruges to see the Jerusalem Church built in the fifteenth century by the Adorne family, who were merchants originally from Genoa. They had come to Bruges in the thirteenth century. This was a pilgrimage church begun in 1427 and finished in the 1470s. Although small, it is a wonderful church with some very nice stained glass windows and the tombs of Anselm Adorne and his wife Margarete de Banke. There is also a lace museum and lace school there.

When we had finished at the church we stopped at a cafe near a park and had something to drink before coming back to Bruges at Night. Once we were back, we spent some planning our trip to Ghent tomorrow. If course the main thing is to see the van Eyck altarpiece. Then we went out for dinner. I had carbonnade, salad, and frites and more dark Belgian beer although I think two in one day is probably one too many. On the way we passed the church where Nemling is buried and the square with his statute. If we get back early enough tomorrow, we will try to visit the church.

On the way I saw someone on a motorscooter riding next to someone on a bike and they were having a compaionable ride and conversation. I don't think I have ever seen that in Champaign-Urbana. Definitely a different cultral attitude toward bicycling in Belgium.

Charles the Bold

2009-07-01T00:53:00.004-05:00

This is the big day. We finally got to to see the Charles the Bold exhibit that I have wanted to come back for since I found out about it last December when we were on the Rhine cruise. And it was everything I hoped it would be and more.

I'm not sure I can begin to describe the exhibit, room after room of beautiful objects, paintings, remarkable tapestries, fantastic animations that explained tournaments, how tapestries were used in a castle, objects in the treasury in the Hofburg in Vienna. There were wonderful manuscripts and fabrics. The account books for the households, even just the small amount you could see, really show the enormous size of the court. And the curators were very good at pointing out Charles' influence in other courts, especially that of Maximilian, although there was nothing about the English connection, which was kind of surprising since there were various objects connected to Margaret of York. And this leads to a question. The portraits were very interesting but the one of Margaret shows her with a necklace of white and red roses and states that they were the Yorkist symbols. But red was the Lancastrian rose. So why did her necklace have both?

The historical background and quotes were helpful although I found at least one error, but that is just a quibble since it could so easily be a typo. And with so many magnificent things brought together, the viewer can only be thankful the exhibit came about. For example, it is hard to believe that beautiful manuscripts would be created just for military orders. Taking in all of that in one gulp is a lot. I am glad that I have the catalog. But being in Bruges gave us an extra advantage over Bern and Vienna because the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy are here inthe Church of Our Lady and are included in the exhibit so you walk over to the church at the end and see the tombs and various other materials that are also related to the exhibit.

I am really grateful that Peter was willing to come back to Bruges as part if our trip this summer so I could see this.

The other thing we did besides just walking around a lot was to take the canal boat cruise. It was nice although I would have liked something a bit slower and longer. The motorboats go rather quickly and taking pictures is difficult. But it was a pleasant half hour.

Tonight we went to a typical restaurant just on the Jan van Eyck Square by the Porters' Lodge and I had braised rabbit, a poached pear with cranberries, and a very good dark Belgian Abbey ale that was very spicy. A very good way to end a very good day.

The weather turned sunny and warm this afternoon. So we have been lucky in that regard.

Enroute to Bruges

2009-06-30T15:12:00.002-05:00

June 30, 2009

We are somewhere over the Atlantic on our way to Madrid. Our Iberia plane is comfortable enough, if economy class can ever be said to be comfortable. We were lucky to be given seats 9 A and C so we are together and not sharing with anyone. The meal was standard airline fare. We both had the chicken, which was in a salty, greasy gravy with ok mashed potatoes and some token vegetables. The salad was tuna salad and the dessert some kind of cherry cake. There was also bread. I couldn’t eat either of the latter two things because of the wheat allergy but Peter was not impressed with the dessert and declined mine. Not that avoiding wheat mattered since I am having a reaction to something on the plane and I have now taken two antihistamines to keep my nose from running so much. This is not a promising start.

Our Airbus is an older plane so the movies are on screens in the middle of the plane and the choices are uninteresting. Right now we can watch “Return to Witch Mountain” and later “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Mom would love that. I have seen it more than enough times.

I have done a little reading and studied a little Italian. I am really tired but I don’t know whether I can sleep. I almost left the CPAP machine and all of our travel documents at O’Hare, which would have been a disaster. I was boarding the plane and had to run back to the waiting area to pick up the case.

Every time we travel I find the actual trip harder and harder. Plane travel used to have a mystique, from the fear of flying that I had for so long through the excitement generated by the journey and anticipation of the destination. Now the cramped seat, pain from my legs being in one position for too long, which is not mitigated by frequent standing or ibuprofen, and the sheer length of the torture conspire to make me miserable. I long for the days of the transoceanic cruise ships although today’s huge ships are totally unappealing to me.

Breakfast was croissants, muffins, and yogurt. Peter ate all the pastry and I had the yogurt. It was not a very satisfactory breakfast for me but it is one if the hazards that I face in traveling these days. I will have to learn to ask for gluten-free meals on flights although it won’t matter on US flights since there is no food service any more anyway.

When we got to Madrid, we were running late and had to rush through customs and security to get to our flight, which was already in the process of final boarding. But we are now on our way to Brussels. I remember the first time we were in the Madrid airport and they actually held the plane for you. It is a much more modern operation now and it isn’t that many years later.

Once we found the train station at Brussels airport, getting to Bruges was fairly straightforward if not altogether comfortable. We got our tickets with an extremely early Saturday return and caught a train to Brussels Zuid. Then we took a very crowded train to Bruges. We stood in the aisle with our luggage until Gent. At that point we could sit down for the last 20 minutes or so.

Once in Bruges we took the bus to our hotel, Bruges at Night, a very nice B&B in a quiet area not too far from the center. We have a good-sized bedroom and a very large bathroom area. Then we ended up at a Turkish place for a snack since not much was open by 2:45 and we really needed to eat. We walked back to take a nap. Tonight we went out to the Market Square and had dinner. Peter had a salad and I had moules et frites. Then we came back, planned out our route to the museum for tomorrow and got ready for bed. The beginning of a trip tends to be exhausting but we are looking forward to the coming days.

On Our Way to Bruges

2009-06-29T06:19:00.002-05:00

This morning I got up early after a night where I didn't sleep very well. Not that I usually sleep well on the night before a big trip. When I have had to plan the trip myself, I am usually more nervous than when we go on a tour. And this trip took some fairly intricate planning so I am a bit more nervous. In my thirties I found all this was not so difficult. And that is odd because we didn't have the internet and I had to look everything up in books, write letters, get checks from banks, and do all sorts of complicated things. Now I can just go online, pay with my debit card, send email, print out maps, tickets, etc. And yet it all seems so complicated. Just age I expect, although in an age of European transit strikes, airlines that are not always on-time, and many restrictions on luggage, etc., you never know. The best-laid plans, as Robert Burns said.

On the other hand, I really have learned how to pack. I used to take a lot of stuff and this morning I am looking at a small suitcase and a small purse. If I didn't have to take the CPAP machine I would really have very little for a month-long trip that includes a week-long bike ride. Certainly there is much less than I took for the GITAP ride. Of course I am not camping but I am going for much longer. Being able to bring my books electronically helps. Knowing I don't need a lot of clothes helps. I have learned a lot about packing in the last 29 years since our first trip to England in 1980.

Today we will take the bus to the IT, then take the van to O'Hare. We fly Iberia to Madrid and then on to Brussels where we will take a train to Bruges. Our hotel is Bruges At Night and is close to the center. I am looking forward to exploring Bruges in warmer weather than last December and seeing the Charles the Bold exhibit as well as taking the canal boat cruise. If we have time, we may take a day trip to Ghent to see the Van Eyck altarpiece. I also want to be able to see the Adorne sites that we weren't able to see on the last trip. If I am going to do the Bruges novel, I will need to soak up as much atmosphere as possible in the time that I have. And while my paper in Venice in April is on cultural identity in Venice, I may be able to bring in the Adorno and Arnolfini families as brief examples as well.

For now the main thing is to finish getting ready and hope that I haven't forgotten anything. But, in our consumer society, I can probably buy anything I have forgotten!

The House of Niccolo Is a Long Series, But Dorothy Dunnett Makes It Worthwhile

2009-06-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

Niccolo Rising is the first in a series of eight novels, so this is really long. Persevere for a truly rewarding experience. You might be tempted to give up, but all the mysteries are unraveled in the final book, Gemini.

Nicholas de la Pole is an 18-year-old dyer's apprentice in 15th century Bruges. He seems, awkward, perhaps slightly slow, but certainly a hit with the ladies, and we find out smarter than he lets on. He has decided ambitions, a gift with languages and mathematics, and secret patrons and enemies. Nicholas and his friends, historical and fictional, turn out to be a group you want to spend time with. His travels around Europe, Africa and the Middle East are enthralling. By turns admirable, despicable, and admirable again, you learn a great deal about the late fifteenth century and enjoy it into the bargain since Dunnett has done all the research for you.

What a Week

2009-06-27T10:20:00.003-05:00

Have you ever felt as if your house was conspiring against you? As if everything that could go wrong would go wrong? When I read Michelle Slatalla's column in the Style section of The New York Times on Thursday, where she writes about this, I felt a sense of fellowship. After arriving, tired and aching, from GITAP last Saturday, I longed for a week of recovery, while I got ready for our trip to Europe, with perhaps a couple of nice bike rides.

That is not how my week has gone. I haven't had bike ride this week. Instead the week has been one of deal with crises. Fortunately some of her issues, like having the washing machine die, happened in April, so I didn't have to deal with it this week. We replaced the lawnmower then too. But we did have other things happen. First we had to retrieve one of our cats from the Humane Society. We had had a problem with one of our cats using the bed as a litter box. As it turned out, the wrong cat was returned to the Humane Society. So, we took the offender to the vet, he had tests (negative), a suggestion about what to do (feed him at night, which seems to have worked), and with some begging and paying the fee over again the nonoffending cat is now home. Interestingly the two cats are getting along as if nothing ever happened. Obviously these two were meant to live together.

We also had the hottest weather of the summer so far with day after day in the 90s. So of course we discovered our at least 30-year-old air conditioner was no longer functioning. Not surprisingly everyone wanted air conditioning work done. Fortunately we are having a new air conditioner put in today (Saturday) since originally we were told it would have to be done while we were away, which would have been unfortunate.

The big storm that hit Champaign on the Friday night that I was gone knocked out the local channel satellite so we had to have DirecTV out. They replaced the whole satellite system with a new one on Thursday but until then we did not have local channels, which meant that I missed Mystery on WILL. They told me they would not have to replace our DVR but unfortunately they did replace it, which meant I lost everything I had recorded but not watched. Oh well ...

We also had to have someone out to fix our front door, we will have to have the kitchen light replaced when we come back and probably the faucet in the upstairs bathroom as well as having one of the bedroom windows fixed, and a piece of guttering just fell off the house. I am trying to ignore these things at the moment. As long as the cats are ok while we are gone, the house sitter can get in and out, and nothing terrible happens, I will be happy.

The good news is that things seem to be coming together for the trip, although the boarding passes for Ryan Air are incorrect. I have stapled the correct information to them and I hope that will be ok. But the apartment stuff for Venice seems to all right. Unfortunately seeing friends is not working out so well but I hope we will get to see a few people. Ironically Claudio, who lives in Verona, will be in Champaign when we are in Venice. The only weekend we are free, John will be in Milano and Parma. I hope we will get to see Shaul and Susy and Laura.

This afternoon I am ushering for "The Mystery of Irma Vepp" at Krannert. On Thursday night I ushered for "Tuesdays with Morrie" and it seemed as if I knew half of the audience. Peter was able to get a ticket even though the play was supposedly sold out so he went with me. My packing list is pretty much complete and I just need to start putting things in my suitcase. Yesterday afternoon we saw "Easy Virtue." When we get back I will see the new Harry Potter movie and we hope that the new Woody Allen movie might still be around. If not, there is always Netflix. The play on Thursday and the movie yesterday, as well as time spent in the Champaign Public Library were ways of beating the heat while we waited for air conditioning.

I just hope our house is in a better mood when we get back.

GITAP Day Seven

2009-06-27T09:30:00.002-05:00

For some reason writing up the end of the GITAP experience has taken me a long time. I got home last Saturday and now it has been a whole week since the end of my experience. Well, almost a whole week since at this time last week I was still finishing the last 33 miles from Starved Rock State Park back the high school in Seneca. But we were near the end with a nice tail wind. I was riding with Sue while the others were probably finished at this point.

After the storm at Starved Rock, we had moved the tent to higher ground and I had gotten a longer extension cord from DNR so I was set for the night in my slight damp tent. Still, I was awake early and up by 4:45. Bob was up by then as well and we were getting dressed and packing up. In fact all of us were up early and ready for breakfast before 6 am, which was the official breakfast time. I think by then everyone was eager to get the day started. We had taken our stuff to the truck and were ready to get on our bikes and go that last 33 miles. I have to say that I was tired, my stomach hurt, and I wasn't sure I could make it after the 70 mile day we had done to Starved Rock. The heat, the inability to eat enough, the minor dehydration, the storm were all taking their toll. So I was prepared to have to flag down the sag car and ride in if I couldn't manage the whole ride.

I ate some breakfast, although I am sure it wasn't enough. Generally I was only able to eat small meals and the fact that I had to avoid wheat was a problem throughout the trip. I did feel better by the rest stop at a park in Ottawa at about 17 miles. That had been my goal. If I didn't feel better by then, I would call it quits. The big problem was that I was hungry and the only food was cookies. Fortunately Rich had a soy bar that I could eat since I had left all my bars in my duffle, assuming, wrongly, that there would be something I could eat at the rest stop.

By the time we got to the high school I actually felt pretty good and we got there in good time so we knew we would get home at a reasonable time as well. Even though Anne and I stopped in Bloomington at Steak 'n Shake and ate lunch, we still got to Champaign by 1:30. I didn't think I was hungry but I not only devoured a salad but drank a milkshake as well. Obviously I had no idea how hungry I actually was. I discovered that I lost about 3 pounds that week and I have lost a couple of pounds since then, which is rather surprising to me. I assumed that anything I lost was water and that I would have put most of the weight back on after my return.

So what have I learned from participating in GITAP? I have to say that for the most part I did enjoy the riding and I felt that the routes were good, the people were great, and in terms of the actual tour I had a good time. I improved my cycling skills, did a lot of climbing much better than I expected, rode at a level I was comfortable with, and managed on busy roads in towns. The fact that I could make left turns where there was a lot of traffic, keep my cool where there were lots of trucks, go downhill faster than usual without panicking, were all pluses for me. Not having to call sag and figuring out how to rest slightly so I could go on when I was exhausted were good things to learn.

What I really didn't like was the camping experience. This is not the fault of the organizers. I don't think I was cut out for camping and taking it up at almost 58 was probably not ideal. Especially now that I have special needs like using a CPAP machine. One of the problems with needing to be near an electrical outlet is that in many campgrounds that puts you next to the shower building. While that is convenient for the shower and bathrooms, it also means that you have lights and noise. Cars park there and turn the headlights on. You hear water running and dryers making huge amounts of noise. People stay up talking so you can't go to sleep until late and it gets dark and quiet. And yet you have to be up early to ride the next day. There is no real solution in campgrounds without areas that have electrical boxes easily available throughout the site but those are more expensive so tours like GITAP are less likely to use them since they need to keep the costs down.

Since being in a confined space, not knowing to bring a chair so I could sit comfortably, disliking bugs and various other aspects of camping that are not my cup of tea, I would probably only do something like this again if I stayed in more comfortable settings. The problems with that are twofold. One is that I really liked being with my friends and being around the other riders. The other was being able to participate in Velosophie and neither of those are possible unless you camp. I would have to think very carefully before I participated again. But I would certainly enthusiastically recommend GITAP to my friends who enjoy both riding and camping. And perhaps, knowing what I know now, I would be better prepared to equip myself for a more comfortable camping experience.

In any event, I did enjoy my week and the fears that I expressed in my getting ready post were, for the most part, groundless.

GITAP Day Six

2009-06-19T18:57:00.001-05:00

Today we rode from Johnson-Sauk Park to Starved Rock State Park, 70.41 miles. After the ride I was totally fried, dripping with sweat, ready for a shower. My tent is right behind the shower house and close to where we are having our meals.

Today’s ride was pretty good, especially in terms of the wind but the humidity was high and while we had overcast skies in the morning, it was sunny and hot in the afternoon. I used a lot of sunscreen but I may still have gotten some sunburn.

After an early breakfast, we started before 7 am with a bit of an uphill and had a good first 20 miles. Rich got ahead early on and Anne was behind so I rode with various people and by myself. At about 20 miles I stopped for a Clif Bar and called Peter to make sure he was okay since he had been so upset the night before and because I finally had decent cellphone reception. Of course every rider that passed me wanted to know whether or not I was ok. When I got started again, I started passing many of them since various riders stopped farther up the road and then I returned the favor of asking.

A little later I got to the first real town where I stopped at the one open place with a couple if other riders and had some really good oatmeal. Since Anne hadn’t caught up and I hadn’t seen Rich, I continued on toward Spring Grove. (I found out later that Anne was riding with someone else and they took a little detour so she was a bit behind me most of the way.) Just before the rest stop I heard a terrible noise as if I’d broken some spokes on my back wheel. I stopped and looked but the spokes seemed ok. Two riders pulled up and found the problem was that the bungee cord I keep on my rack for holding a jacket or other stuff when I am using my small bag rather than the big touring bag had gotten caught in the rear axle. They were able to release the cord and I was back on the road with no damage. If I hadn’t stopped I probably would have ended up with broken spokes and would have had a nasty fall as well. My finish would have been in the sag wagon so I really appreciate the help I got.

I met up with Rich at the rest stop, which was at a nice park about 11 miles outside Spring Valley. Sue was working there, wearing her pig ears and hauling large containers of water for people to drink. We went on from there to Spring Valley, where we had lunch. I had hot wings since I seemed to be craving protein and fat and we spent as much time as we could in air conditioning cooling off and drinking water. We shared a booth for a while with Billie, who is from the St. Louis area and at 84 was the oldest rider on GITAP. I really admired her. She has been riding weeklong rides for over 20 years and does more than one a year.

When we took off we had to ride on some highways, which always makes me a bit nervous, especially if there isn’t any shoulder or if the shoulder has a lot of holes and debris. Then we went through Peru, LaSalle, and Utica before ending up at Starved Rock. There were some stiff climbs but nothing where I had to get into my small chain ring. I did avoid the steep climb up to the lodge at the end and took the highway the whole way instead. It was actually steep climbing up the road, but evidently the hill to the lodge is even steeper.

Here are some beautiful images of Starved Rock. Unfortunately, since we were in the campground, I didn't actually see them! I'd like to go back some time and stay in the lodge and see the park.

Our dinner tonight was cut short by a violent thunderstorm with high winds and I definitely could feel water coming into the tent from various spots. It was kind of scary since I wondered if the wind would actually tear up the tent. I also realized that I didn’t take my computer off my bike or cover my bike seat although in the end neither of them were hurt by the rain. Digesting my dinner lying on my air mattress was uncomfortable and the tent was hot. This did not make camping any more palatable. After the storm the tent was in a pool of water and my friends had to help me empty the tent and move it to higher ground. Then I had to find the DNR guy and we drove over to the lodge where his car was parked so that I could get a longer extension cord to use with the CPAP machine. The walls of the tent were damp on the inside all night so the whole thing was less than comfortable.

Tomorrow we ride from Starved Rock back to Seneca, about 30 miles. Then we plan to change into regular clothes and go back to Champaign. I look forward to getting home and seeing Peter and Figaro.

Peter told me that the catalog for the Charles the Bold exhibit came today so I will be able to check out the exhibits before we leave for Bruges on the 29th. I imagine I will be busy getting ready for that trip as soon as I finish getting unpacked from this one.

GITAP Day Five

2009-06-18T21:56:00.001-05:00

Today is the rest day at Johnson-Sauk Park. We had a huge rainstorm last night with lots of fireworks and I ended up with a fair amount of water in my tent. Seeing my CPAP machine, three cellphones including my iPhone and the powerstrip in water was not a good sight but fortunately nothing bad happened.

A lot of riders are going the short distance into Kewanee or the longer distance to Bishop Hill and Cambridge but I have decided to stay in camp. I cleaned up my tent and hung up stuff to dry. It may rain again later so I hope to get as much stuff dry as possible before I have to take everything inside again. I just hope I don’t get water in the tent again. I ended up using a t-shirt and a roll of toilet paper to clean out the tent. I wish the list of things to bring had included paper towels instead of toilet paper. I haven’t actually needed toilet paper so far and paper towels would have been much more useful today. The t-shirt is a mess but I am sure that the dirt will wash out. I just put it into one of my many plastic bags.

My wet tent

This afternoon we had a tour of the Ryan Round Barn, which was interesting. It is the largest round barn ever built and has a silo in the middle. The barn has a collection of farm implements and much of the building is original. It has been well preserved by the state although it was originally part of a private farm.

The Ryan Round Barn

For the most part cellphone and internet connections are really bad here and it goes in and out. But Peter did get me this morning to tell me that Sybil will have to back to the Humane Society. This is very upsetting for both of us and probably will be difficult for Figaro too. Unfortunately Peter thinks she is the one that has developed some behaviors that we can’t seem to resolve and would be difficult for a cat sitter to handle while we are gone. Being apart while this is going on is quite hard. I didn’t know what to tell him to do and he has made the decision to take her back.

We had lunch at the park restaurant and got another downpour. Since my tent had water in it again, Glen moved it and dried it out. I am hoping that this drier spot, along with having the water out of the groundsheet will help since we expect more rain. I am on higher but rockier ground that is slightly uncomfortable. But it is only for one night. My mattress is also slightly damp and the humidity is very high. We may also get more rain. I am using my bike bag as a stand for the CPAP machine and the powerstrip so that even if water comes in they will not get wet again.

I am a little nervous about the 70 miles to Starved Rock. Sue is doing the rest stop tomorrow and not riding, so I hope I can keep up with everyone. Sue has been good about hanging with me when I need it. But there will be a lot of riders out there so I hope it will be ok. The wind should be in our favor so that is a plus. I feel so needy as I rider and I have to develop more consistent self-confidence. Especially since we will be on some very busy roads, there is another chance of rain, and we will be going through a bunch of towns so there will be a lot of traffic. Fortunately there are two ways to the campground, one through the park that means going up a very steep hill and another on the road that will mean climbing but is not quite so steep. Doing a steep climb at the end of a long ride is really hard.

Tonight after dinner we had our final Velosophie session and discussed James Salter’s Solo Faces. I don’t think most of us liked any of the characters much, including Rand, the protagonist. In some ways it didn’t fit that well with some of the other readings since the mountain climbing was more of a vehicle for the author to use in writing about certain male personality characteristics rather than being important in itself in terms of talking about the wild. But I think we were all interested in the climbing angle anyway.

Peter has been trying to get hold of me. I finally got through on the phone but this was after having no signal over and over and not being able to send text messages or make calls. He had bad news about his wind piece so all around it has been a very bad day for him and I am at least a hundred and fifty miles away with practically no way to communicate and sleeping in a damp tent with damp stuff all around me. Now I need to get organized for an early start.

GITAP Day Four

2009-06-17T21:54:00.003-05:00

Today we rode from White Pine Forest State Park to Johnson-Sauk State Park, which was 71.43 miles. We were really lucky with light winds, mostly tailwinds, rolling hills but not a lot of really steep grades, and not too much sun until the last part of the ride. We got in about 2 pm, which was pretty good. Partly it was because we didn’t stop very often on this particular ride.

I found my watch in one of my cycling gloves this morning. That was a relief. I felt a little silly since I had looked all over for it, asked if people had seen it, checked to see if it had been turned it in, and finally given up on finding it. Then, when I went to put on my gloves, there it was, right inside the cuff of one of them.

There wasn’t a sign at Sterling, which was a disappointment since I had hoped to take a picture as a reminder of staying there in the summer when I was a child. In fact I didn’t take any pictures today but I hope to take some in the park tomorrow. I always mean to take pictures and then I don’t get around to it. Since there isn’t a sign, I have a map instead.

There is a possibility of rain tonight so I have my wet laundry in my tent and my bike seat covered. My bike computer is in my bike bag, which is also in my tent. The tent is small but it holds a lot. Word has gotten out that I have a powerstrip for the CPAP machine so several cellphones are charging in here.

We didn’t really stop this morning until Tampico at 41 miles, which was a lot for me although I had a fruit and nut bar at Sterling. That only took about 2 minutes. Tampico only had a Casey’s open when we got there as well as the Ronald Reagan birthplace. Then we had a rest stop about 10 miles after Tampico at a Mennonite farm where they had hamburgers and strawberry shortcake (I didn’t have the hamburger bun or the shortcake, just the strawberries). It was all very good and they were very hospitable. Everyone really enjoyed it. I really started hurting around 62 miles. This was actually encouraging since it is usually so much sooner.

Getting settled took awhile, especially getting my tent set up near an outlet. Glen had to set me up more than once and I don’t think he was too happy about it but considering how much I am paying for tent service, moving my tent isn’t that big a deal. It is a small tent that is easy to move around. I realize that he has a lot of other things to do but getting power for the CPAP machine is really important for me. DNR was great about helping too and one of the DNR guys actually found the area of the campground that had the outlets. All the staff at GITAP has been very helpful and encouraging and I have enjoyed meeting other riders on the tour.

The park is more rustic than the last one and a bit smaller. Our tents seem much closer together. It is also hotter and more humid with more bugs and the showers are farther away although the meals are closer. Cellphone service is even worse. This whole part of the state seems really bad in terms of connections.

Dinner was good and I managed to eat more than I thought I would, even though I didn’t feel hungry. I am trying to make sure I have enough protein. They had mashed potatoes so I didn’t have to worry about the wheat issue.

Tonight we did poetry in Velosophie. I particularly enjoyed "The Naming of Trees" by Howard Nemerov and "Broken" by Mary Oliver. They both had interesting ideas about knowing, telling stories, understanding things, and the importance of observation. I wasn't as fond of "An Arbor" and I really dislike Gerard Manley Hopkins. Interestingly, while I like John Donne, Hopkins' sort of religiosity is very unappealing, perhaps because it is too stridently Christian. Tomorrow night we will discuss Solo Faces by James Salter, which should generate a lot of discussion.

GITAP Day Three

2009-06-16T21:11:00.004-05:00

Today we are at White Pines Forest State Park and since it is a rest day I decided to rest rather than ride. Sue and Anne decided to do the 38-mile loop but I had a good breakfast since I felt as if I could eat for a change (and there was oatmeal) and have worked on more prosaic things.

I have been getting my laundry dry, which has taken far longer than I would have expected. I started laundry on the first day and my Pearl Izumi Sugar Knickers are still drying! I have been writing and taking a few pictures, and I started reading The Apprentice Warrior on my iPhone. This book was on the recommendation of Diane and I am enjoying it so far. I haven’t read any fantasy or science fiction, not counting Harry Potter, for years.

The bad thing is that I have misplaced my watch and it hasn’t turned up yet. I am still hoping it is somewhere in my tent and I will find it by the time I pack up for tomorrow’s 70-mile ride. Even though the watch isn’t that valuable, it is one of those link charm watches and all the links are cats. I have had it for quite some time now and I would hate to lose it.

I am seeing a lot of spiders and other creatures that normally make me scream. So far I have been able, with difficulty, to restrain myself. I don’t want to totally freak out the rest of the people on the ride. Creepy crawlies have always upset me; even pictures make me shudder so having them all around is not a fun experience. Rich gave me good advice when he told me to keep my tent flap zipped up when I wasn’t going in and out of it. It is common sense, but somehow I didn’t think of it.

The good thing today was being able to pump up my tires without pulling the valve stems out of either tube. This may not sound like much of an achievement but I have ruined many tubes this way. I did bring four spares but I would rather not use them. I was happy to succeed, especially using a pump just like the one I have at home. The bike seems to be doing well so far without much attention from me. I really should wash it when I get home since I won’t ride it much until we get back from Europe in late July.

Rich, Bob, and I had lunch at the lodge, then walked around and I took some nice pictures but didn’t see any hawks. I was hoping some would be around so I could take pictures for Diane. Unfortunately there was a lot of burning of dead trees going on so we had smoke and ash drifting around during the day, especially later in the afternoon. We had a lot of people with watering eyes and coughing, including me. There was also a lot of ash on people’s tents.

After dinner there was an entertainer, not very good, who did mediocre impressions and some music. It appealed to an older audience. Not that I was unfamiliar with the material, just not nostalgic for Bob Hope, Red Skelton, etc.—especially if it wasn’t done really well. He was a better musician than comedian and the one impressive thing he did was to play two saxophones at the same time. I should have gone to the Velosophie discussion instead.

We have an early day tomorrow since we ride 70 miles to Johnson-Sauk State Park. I also need to buy a watch since mine hasn’t turned up and I totally repacked this afternoon. We go through Sterling where my Uncle Al and Aunt Rose lived. We used to stay with them when I was small. My first bike was a blue Schwinn that belonged to their daughter Karen. It was the only bike I had until I bought my Trek hybrid 7100 in 2006.

This is kind of what my bike looked like.

GITAP Day Two

2009-06-16T09:56:00.003-05:00

This was a ride from Shabbona State Park to White Pines Forest State Park. After breakfast we got a reasonably early start for the 54.5 mile day. We had a tail wind and a flat first part so we made good time to the rest stop at a Methodist Church about 20 miles into the ride. We averaged about 15.2 mph, which is good for me.

After the rest stop we continued on to Franklin Grove, where we holed to stop for coffee at the cafe. Unfortunately they were closed for their two-week annual vacation. But we did see a guy who had made a cart with bicycle wheels pulled by two huskies and a mixed breed dog that was primarily pit bull. We took some pictures, talked with other riders who had also stopped for coffee, and eventually took off for Oregon.

The road to Oregon got a bit steeper as we went along the Rock River for some of the way. When we got there we stopped for lunch at a family restaurant where we had a nice meal and got fortified for the last 10 miles of the ride, which was the hilliest part and, in the last five, had the most traffic. Because of the traffic it was had to keep up momentum between the hills and I was cooked just before the last little rise before the park entrance so I had to stop and catch my breath before I could get to the park. Still, my final average speed was 14.5, which was not bad at all.

We got settled in and I managed to get hooked up to one of the few electrical outlets for my CPAP machine although I had to borrow an extra extension cord from the bike mechanic. He and Jerry from Bloomington were very helpful and both were camped very close to me. Another thing was that we have had to watch out for poison ivy when we set up, which has been interesting. Everyone else is looking out for me too, which is nice.

I have been doing laundry but getting it to dry is a bit difficult. I can see why doing laundry in third world countries can take all of your time and reminds me of the descriptions in The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

I have now misplaced my watch, so I hope it will turn up. I feel funny without it. I keep looking at my wrist but of course nothing is there. I know I put it in my helmet but it isn’t there now. It may be on the floor of the tent but I can’t find it.

At the end of the day we had a Mexican dinner so there was more choice for me to eat since there were corn tortilla shells and rice as well as chicken and beef so I could avoid the flour tortillas. The Velosophie group discussed “The White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett and “The Shell Collector” by Anthony Doerr. I’m not sure that the choice of living in nature and walking away from the world is the ideal choice although the authors both seem to advocate that in terms of the main characters. At least that is the choice that both of the main characters make. I guess my experience on the trip so far has led me to want the comforts of the civilized world with some enjoyment of the outdoors. I would not choose to turn my back on society. Both raise interesting ethical issues although the choice made by a retired professor is certainly different in magnitude from that made by an eight-year-old girl and much less reversible. We walked the almost mile back to camp and got ready for bed. You sleep pretty well when you get that much exercise and fresh air.

GITAP Day One

2009-06-15T21:20:00.003-05:00

This is the first day of our ride. We started at the high school in Seneca and finished at Shabbona State Park. The total mileage was 51.43. I am really tired at this point and would really like to change into my regular clothes but my tent is not completely set up and can’t take a shower yet because I left one of my bags at Mary Chin’s house.

Last night was nice in terms of staying at Mary’s, seeing the kittens, having a nice dinner, and just relaxing. It wasn’t so nice when I thought I had lost the nose piece to my CPAP machine. With all the stress over the last few weeks I got really upset. I did find it in the end using my flashlight. It had blended into the white bedspread. But this was after two hysterical calls to Peter and a complete ransacking of my duffle bag.

The ride itself was ok but there was quite a bit of wind although the route was relatively flat. I chose to take the paved route into the park, which was much longer than I expected and more uphill. If I had realized that, I might have chosen the gravel. In any case we got settled in, had dinner and then Sue, Bob and I participated in the first Velosophie session, discussing essays by John Muir and Annie Dillard. Muir’s essay on the wind was really all social Darwinism and very much in the style of everything is always good, always progressing. I can appreciate his prose but I can’t really enjoy his sentiment. Dillard’s essay on seeing a full eclipse must have been written early in her career. It is all over the place in terms of the writing instead of being more tightly controlled as in her later works. She has some interesting ideas and imagery but the piece is unsatisfying in the end, at least for me.

I am rapidly discovering, if I didn’t already know it, that camping is not going to be one of my favorite things. I hate the bugs, the inconveniences of tents, cold showers, wet clothes, etc. I am meeting great people but I am definitely not an outdoors person.

When we got back to camp, I got ready for bed, which is a little difficult by flashlight in small tent when you have to set up a CPAP machine. And so to bed on the air mattress in the sleeping bag.

Getting Ready for GITAP

2009-06-12T16:54:00.004-05:00

It's Friday and I leave tomorrow for the first weeklong bike ride I have ever done. I am now in a mild state of panic. First, the words "weeklong bike ride" are panic-inducing enough. Add that I am almost 58 years old, started riding seriously at the age of 54, will be camping when I don't know that I will like camping any more than I did when I was a kid (I hated it then), and I am a wimp when it comes to riding in bad weather, and you can see why I might feel slightly panicky.

So am I frantically getting ready for this trip? Am I packed and ready to go? No, I am sitting at my computer writing this blog. Thinking about blogging my trip. Trying really hard not to feel completely sick to my stomach. Knowing that it is too late to call and cancel, giving my place to someone else. Wondering if I can ride 40-70 miles every day for days and not completely fall apart. Waiting for my cycling clothes to finish drying. Trying not to cry. And excited at the same time because even though I still have never found a bike seat that doesn't hurt after 10 miles or so, I love to ride. And I have a great bike. And I am going with friends who will be nice to me and will encourage me when I feel like I can't go another mile, especially uphill (and yes, there will be hills, even in flat Illinois).

Gattamelata, my bike

We are relying on Sue to keep it from raining but she can't work miracles and this has not been a great spring in Illinois. We have had much too much rain and many cold days. Not that we want a lot of heat either. The wind may not always favor us. I hate bugs. I am now allergic to the cyclist's favorite energy food, chocolate, and second favorite energy food, bananas, and the stuff in everything, wheat. So that's a challenge. So is bringing a CPAP machine when you are going to be living in a tent. I ask you, what 57-year-old woman who likes a modicum of comfort, wants to live in a tent for a week? So I try to look on the bright side. I have always wanted to see Starved Rock State Park and I get to do that. I can hope for great pictures, great stories, and great rides. I will try, against my usual pessimistic nature, to be an optimist. I need to start packing. I need to stop panicking. I need to get ready!

Oh, and my session for the Renaissance Society of America meeting in Venice in April 2010 was accepted, so I also need to start thinking about writing that paper. But I will put that piece of panic off until I get through this little adventure.

Riding with friends this spring

Cold and Fizzy Aranciata on Tap, Please

2009-06-12T16:23:00.001-05:00

While you could pipe in lots of things--good coffee, fine wine, endless Renaissance music, I would be happy with an Italian soft drink.

aranciata-sanpellegrino-500-ml0000

What is orangey, slighty fizzy, sweet and sour at the same time, very Italian, and utterly delizioso? Aranciata, that's what. You can get it in little bottles or in little cans, although I prefer the cans. It has 18 percent orange juice and just enough carbonation to be refreshing without being overpowering. And it has real sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, which tastes better, at least to me. I am not a fan of pop (as we call it in this part of the midwest). But I do like Aranciata, both alone and as a mixer with prosecco and campari as a kind of spritz. If someone could figure out how to pipe it into my house and keep the slight fizz (and lose the calories), I would be very happy. Cin-cin!

'About Face by Donna Leon' Would Be the Perfect Book If I Were Called For Jury Duty

2009-06-10T21:49:00.002-05:00

Picking the right book for the occasion is an art. And this would be the right book. After all, mysteries are a good choice for jury duty since they are all about the triumph of law (or at least we hope they are).

I am a great fan of Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti mysteries as well as a lover of Venice. This is her latest book. So it would be the perfect choice for me. A new mystery by a favorite author about a city I love. What a combination! And it would be a great way to pass the time since I could pretend I was in Venice, rather than in the Champaign County Courthouse, where I actually was called for jury duty last January. Too bad the book wasn't out then.

Edward Herrmann at the British Museum: Celebrities Can Like Culture Too

2009-06-09T07:18:00.003-05:00

London, museums, theater, famous actors--what more can you ask for? As Dr. Johnson said, "When a man gets tired of London, he gets tired of life."

Edward Herrmann
In 1985 Peter and I were in London went to see Edward Herrmann, one of my favorite actors, in Tom and Viv at the Royal Court Theatre. Foul, you cry. That is not a celebrity sighting. We all see celebrities in plays, movies, operas, etc. every day. True enough if that was my story. But that was not the sighting. The next day we went to the British Museum and there he was with a group of actors from the play, waiting patiently to enter, just as we were. There was no mistaking him since he is very tall (and I am very short so this is especially obvious to me) and distinctive in both looks and voice. London is not a place where you go up to celebrities and gush about their performances and ask for their autographs and I am not the type anyway, particularly in a place as august as the British Museum. So it has always been my secret thrill--until now anyway.

At Least I Wasn't Named Sydney!

2009-06-08T14:39:00.001-05:00

I have never liked my name. For some reason Sharon has never appealed to me. I was named for my grandfather's father, so changing it wasn't an option. While my parents always intended to call me Shari or Sher, they never did. Not that those versions would have been more appealing. And my mother's preference, Barbara, was never a possibility. Not that I wanted that one either. On the other hand, I could have been named Sydney like my two second cousins who were also named for my grandfather's father.

For years I thought I would like to be called Alexandra. The Russian part of me wanted a romantic Russian name. But I outgrew that. Then I gave up the name game for a while, knowing I wanted a different name, but not having any idea what it might be. Perhaps my middle name, Deborah, but definitely not Debbie.

Now I think that the perfect name would be Nicola. It still has a vaguely Russian air but it is also quite English. And yet it is indefinably hard to place. And even Nicki as a shortened version wouldn't bother me. If I could change my name, I think I have finally found the one that I would choose. Nicola, that's the name, my name, the name my parents should have known I should have.

This Summer, I'll Be Drinking Spritz and Eating Cicchetti

2009-06-06T16:42:00.001-05:00

Another summer in Italy, what could be better?

2008-0559

Ah, July, and we are sitting in a bar on the Canale Grande in Venezia. I am slowly sipping spritz, a mixture of prosecco and campari and nibbling on cicchetti and potato chips (yes, this is very Venetian). What could be better, enjoying the view, relaxing with the drink of the Veneto, eating Venetian snacks, and practicing what we learned in our intensive Italian class with our Venetian friends before heading out for a leisurely dinner and more good conversation. The vaporetti go by along with the gondolas, water taxis, speed boats and other water traffic. But things are quiet. Water traffic is peaceful compared to cars and we love watching the boats go by. Nothing says summer to me like spritz, even when I have to make it at home and pretend I am back in Venice.

Fun in Chicago

2009-06-01T15:53:00.002-05:00

This will probably be a short post. Yesterday I left Champaign at 6 am to meet a high-school friend in Chicago. She now lives in New Zealand and we hadn't seen each other for 40 years. Neither of us really knew what to expect. Since I don't like driving, especially by myself, I was glad that the weather was good and that it was already light. I also figured that, since it was Sunday, the traffic would be relatively light.

She and her husband were staying at the Palmer House so I knew that by leaving when I did, I could be there at the agreed-upon time of 8:30 am without too much trouble and I could park in the Monroe Street lot, all of which worked out just fine. Of course, by taking Congress instead of Lake Shore Drive, I ended up having to get on Lake Shore Drive and then get off at Randolph (the next exit) to go south to Monroe in order to go in the right direction to get into the underground lot. I should have remembered that, but it has been a while since I have made this particular trip.

We had breakfast at the Palmer House, nothing memorable but their buffet was fine and I could avoid both wheat and chocolate and still have a good breakfast. Just as well that I filled up because we walked a long route down to Navy Pier and then walked down the lakefront back to the Art Institute, hoping to eat a very late lunch there. Since it was after 3 pm, that wasn't going to work, so we ended up at Miller's Pub, where we ate an early dinner. At five she went to meet her husband and I went to find the car, which turned out to be harder than I thought it would be, and finally drove home.

I think we both enjoyed the day and found that we enjoyed each other's company. It was nice rediscovering an old friend and finding that we still had things in common and that we got along so well. She is still much more radical and more of a free spirit than I am. I am still much more risk-adverse than she is. But that was ok.

In the meantime I managed to get sunburned, although just red and not painful, and walked 10 miles. I got home exhausted but, even though I am still tired today, it was worth it. In the future, if I wanted to do a trip to Chicago I would probably take the train, assuming it is running on time, and I would probably spend the night, rather than trying to do the trip in one day. Peter could go along and we could spend time together, even if he would have not been welcome at our little reunion yesterday.

Working My Way Through My To-Do List

2009-05-30T16:58:00.005-05:00

Too many things, too little time. I wish it was just books but it isn't as pleasant as that. As usual I have managed to commit myself to too many things and all my deadlines are rushing upon me at once. Not that the things I am doing or planning to do aren't fun. Many of them are. But the planning isn't always the fun part, especially travel planning. So today has been spent trying to get organized and put things together. I have kind of succeeded, although I am not ready to rest on my laurels.

I was able to get in a bike ride this morning and that was actually one of the things I needed to do to get ready for GITAP. I don't have nearly enough miles on the bike for a week-long ride that starts in two weeks. There will be another ride tomorrow but I will be visiting an old school friend in Chicago, so I won't be on my bike. I will also miss the Monday night ride because I said I would go to the OLLI annual meeting. Tuesday night will be my next chance to ride again. Although looking at the forecast, it now looks as if it might rain on Monday night anyway.

One thing I haven't gotten back to today is Italian and that means it may not get done since I am hoping to watch "Charlie Wilson's War" tonight. On the other hand, we could watch it tomorrow night if I am not totally exhausted after driving home from Chicago. Blogging is on my list, but that is what I am doing right now. Paperwork is also on my list and I have started that and could work on it while watching a movie. That is one sort of multitasking I can do. Foreign language and anything else don't work together.

I have various sorts of reading to do. I have library books, although in the end they can go back unread. I also have some reading for a program called Velosophie, that is for the bike ride. That I have to do but I can do it over the next two weeks. But I do need to get started. I have begun contacting people about bike stuff and European trip stuff.

I am hoping to hear from my cat sitter since the phone number she gave me doesn't seem to work and she said she would come by Monday afternoon. If she doesn't, then I will start to seriously worry about what to do about the cats while we are away. I don't want to panic just yet but panic is being held in reserve.

There are still more bike rides to come and friends to see and volunteer opportunities to fulfill in the next couple of weeks plus packing. I have printed out some paperwork for the European trip and found out that there is bus service from the Treviso airport to the Piazzale Roma in Venice, something that Ryanair didn't have on its website. But now I know and I know the bus schedule and the cost. Now that I have that information I have e-mailed the apartment people about our travel arrangements.

I have preordered the Charles the Bold exhibit catalog from Amazon so I don't have to carry it around Europe. And I have contacted my friend Laura so we can try to get together for a drink while I am in Venice. I am determined to have a good time there, even if I don't end up learning much Italian. But I have e-mailed the school to confirm about the classes too.

The replacement clamp for the bike signaling system evidently is not going to come any time soon so the guy I ordered it from told me to just send the whole thing back and he will refund the money. It is too bad since it is a great idea, but in the end it is expensive if it isn't going to stay on the bike. So that is another thing I have to do this week--pack it up and mail it off.

So now I guess I need to put some new stuff on the list to replace the things I was able to delete ...

Learning a New Language Makes You Study a Lot

2009-05-29T21:56:00.001-05:00

Ciao amici. Oggi studio italiano perché noi andremmo a Italia quest'estate. Per me, imperare una lingua nuova è molto difficile. Ma lavoro diligente.

Frost/Nixon and Other Thoughts

2009-05-27T21:47:00.002-05:00

Last night we watched "Frost/Nixon," a film we had planned to see but had never gotten to. But, since we have NetFlix, that isn't really a problem. So last night we decided to watch it.

As a historian I understand that eventually part of my life becomes history. Not that my life is interesting but that the times I live in become historical. Still, as a person you don't think of things that way. So seeing a film that is about an earlier time in your life is an eerie experience. Seeing parts of the Watergate hearings, the newscasters looking so much younger, the Nixon resignation, footage from the bombing of Cambodia (and thinking about sitting in the dorm, watching in the lounge when the invasion was announced) makes you talk about these things again, examine them, remember them in different ways. But we also talked about how accurate the film was. So today I did a search on the internet and found an article that talked about that very thing. The film was kind of, sort of historically accurate and yet misleading. It is Frost/Nixon: A Dishonorable Distortion of History.

Yesterday I had my allergy tests. I am still slightly allergic to dust, mold and corn pollen. Not a big surprise since I was allergic to those things 20 years ago. However I am now also slightly allergic to bananas, chocolate and wheat. That is worse. I have to modify my eating habits even more than I already have. When you enjoy food and you enjoy cooking, I guess you can see that as a challenge or as an obstacle. Right now, it is an obstacle. Maybe, if I feel creative some day, I can rise to the challenge, but right now I don't want to feel challenged. I wish I could afford a personal chef. But I can't. So what else is new.

Otherwise, much of my day was spent working on Italian. I don't know that I am really getting any better but I am getting better at working with the program. I suppose that is progress of a sort. I wrote a short piece on Bruges in 1475. Otherwise, not much was going on. Maybe tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, will be more fun.

Artistically, Bruges in 1475 Was Still the Place to Be

2009-05-27T16:01:00.002-05:00

I would live in Bruges, where I would be able to see the Portinari altarpiece being painted by Hugo van der Goes for Tommaso Portinari, the Florentine banker long resident in Bruges. The altarpiece, a triptych which was sent to Florence in 1483, is a masterpiece that today is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. There were other artists such as Memling working there as well, and I would have been able to live surrounded by wonderful churches, libraries, and grand houses in a time before Bruges was overtaken by Antwerp as the trading capital of Burgundy.

Forget the Doping. Cycling Is a Beautiful, Exciting Sport

2009-05-25T11:49:00.001-05:00

The Tour de France. The Giro d'Italia. The Vuelta a Espagna. But not just the grand tours. The one-day classics like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders are wonderful. The one-week races like the Tour of Switzerland and the Dauphine Libéré and the Tour of California are fantastic spectacles. Anyone who has watched the peloton streaming by, the colorful jerseys, the liquid pedalling, the suffering in the mountains, the excitements of a dangerous sprint finish, the jolting pressures of the cobbles, knows that cycling is a fantastic sport. Yes, there have been problems but there are problems in all sports. You hear about them more because more has been done--more testing, more discovery, more punishment. Baseball, football, and other sports are only starting the policing that cycling has done for so long. Follow cycling. It is a beautiful, exciting, challenging, tactical, team-based sport that also gives the chance for individual glory. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be disappointed.

'Chariots of Fire' Is One of the Most Inspiring Films of All Time

2009-05-25T07:55:00.001-05:00

One of the most inspiring movies I've ever seen and I've seen it over and over and over.

Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration. When this movie came out, I saw it over and over, with friends and without. Watching the running, the struggles, the bonding, the sheer Englishness of it captivated me. Even though it was not totally accurate historically (I am an historian and I couldn't help looking things up), it was accurate enough. Ben Cross and Ian Charleton were wonderful. Ian Holm is one of my favorite actors. The cinematography was wonderful. The Gonville and Caius race was beautifully done. I used the scene about amateurism and professionalism in one of my classes to explain about Renaissance theories of education. And the almost casual expressions of English antisemitism in early 20th century England were so "spot on." I could go on and on with examples. This is just an amazing film. And the soundtrack is still one of my favorites, particularly the overture and the singing of "Jerusalem."

For the Holidays, Trade in "It's a Wonderful Life" for "Love Actually"

2009-05-25T07:40:00.001-05:00

When holiday time rolls around and you wonder why you bother, this is the movie to make you feel as if love and relationships, however painful, are worthwhile. So find a friend, curl up in front of a fire, and enjoy.

While there are lots of story lines, making it complicated, watching the varying types of love, the coming together, the breaking apart, the discoveries, the links between the various characters, and the hope that it inspires just makes you feel good. Besides, who doesn't want to see Hugh Grant make a fool of himself dancing and singing. Although watching now, after the death of Natasha Richardson, will make Liam Neeson's performance poignant in a whole new way, it remains my go-to holiday movie. And Bill Nighy as Billy Mack--priceless!

Thought I'd Write a Real Post, Boring but Not a Plinky

2009-05-21T14:04:00.003-05:00

I'm in the OLLI lounge while Peter meets with his study group on what to listen for in music. He is definitely a much more engaging teacher than I am. But I guess I can live with that. I spoke with the associate head of Educational Policy Studies today and there may be the possibility, some time in the future, of teaching the European educational history courses online. They would have to be interested and I would have to want to put in the work of development and teaching. I'm sure nothing will happen for a while, if ever, so I will just go on with things as they are.

In the meantime I have plenty to keep me occupied. I missed the Ride of Silence last night since I wasn't feeling all that well. And I still don't feel great. Last night was generally blah and this morning I was sneezing. Boring, boring details about health are not what I want to focus on. I want my health to just be something that I don't have to think about although that is hard to do when you are hooked up to a machine every night with a mask on your face.

Italian is going slowly and mostly I am frustrated. Yesterday actually went pretty well but I still don't feel as if I can put enough words together to actually make a sentence so I don't see how I could have a conversation. I might be able to read more now, but not necessarily anything pertinent if I wanted to say, read history.

I seem to spend a lot of time unsubscribing from lots of e-mail, which is another boring occupation. Considering how busy I am, most of my life seems rather boring at the moment. I certainly hope that traveling is more interesting than life seems to be right now. I just don't seem to be able to work up a lot of enthusiasm these days. I would love some enthusiasm. After all, I have ridden 212 miles this month, lost about 10 pounds, started reading again (thus allaying my fears of permanent depression) and even watched a few stages of the Giro. Even my to-do list is shorter. What more could I ask for? Why the doom and gloom? If I knew that, perhaps I could be enthusiastic.

So tonight I should go to the Champaign County Bikes meeting instead of sitting home. But I am still on the fence about that. Tomorrow I will go to the gym and spend some time Nordic walking with Cheri as well as running errands and trying to do lesson 4 in this unit of Italian. Saturday there will be a bike ride. I did a lot of riding this week--the usual Saturday ride in wind, cold and some mud, Sunday out in Monticello where it was cold but sunny and fun, Monday on the usual Monday ride that was fast but still too cold, and Tuesday on the Pedal for Pleasure ride that was slower but finally warmer weather. This Saturday we may have rain but I hope not. Our anniversary is on Monday, so I will try to recapture a bit of joie de vivre by then. I hope Peter has found somewhere nice for us to go for dinner!

Cloth Market Square in Krakow is a great people-watching spot

2009-05-19T12:20:00.001-05:00

Although Krakow is not as obscure a tourist destination these days as it was 15 years ago, it is still a great place to visit and the Cloth Market Square is a central place to hang out in the old town, close to the old Jagellonian University buildings and many interesting sights. It is also filled with outdoor cafes, perfect for watching the world go by.

Especially on a warm summer day, sit in a cafe, any cafe and just relax. Have some coffee and a pastry. Watch the world go by. There are the natives, the tourists, the vendors. You can see entertainers, Roma, fiacres or loitering fiacre drivers hoping for a fare. Students hang out. People go in and out of the Cloth Market, hoping for bargains at the shops inside or that perfect piece of amber. And every hour, from St. Mary's, you hear the trumpeter, his warning notes cut short, just as they were by the Mongol arrow all those centuries ago.

So whether you are there in the afternoon for lunch or a snack or the evening for coffee or an after-dinner drink, sitting in a cafe on the Cloth Market Square is a great place to watch the world, and its people, go by.

Any foodie would love my Pasta with garlic, olive oil, and scallops

2009-05-18T07:37:00.001-05:00

I'm not a big fan of Martha Stewart, but this meal would be great for any guests, no matter how exalted in the food world.

Pasta with garlic, olive oil, and scallops
Boil a pound of good Italian pasta, drain, return to pan and add a fruity, unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil (amount to taste), a generous amount, of freshly chopped garlic, a bunch of Italian parsley coarsely chopped, and one pound of lighltly sauteed bay sea scallops. Salt and pepper to taste.

Easy and delicious.

Baguette
Always have good bread to sop up the sauce.

Salad of fresh field greens
Salad of field greens and herbs lightly dressed with fresh oil and vinegar.

Gelato
The perfect end to an Italian meal.

Follow Your Heart Since You Never Know Where It Will Lead

2009-05-16T20:28:00.001-05:00

Love can be wonderful and love can be painful whether you ultimately lose the loved one or not. And since none of us are immortal, many of us, even in happy relationships, will lose loved ones. So it is better to follow your heart and learn to live with pain and joy because you will have them both anyway just by living.

Come Ride with Me and You'll Feel Great

2009-05-15T13:02:00.001-05:00

I didn't start riding until I was almost 55 years old. But one of the guys I ride with started at 65 and he's 78 now. Bike riding is a great way to have a good time and make friends of all kinds and all ages.

The best way to beat stress is to get together with my friends and go for a ride. Depending on whether I am riding with faster riders or slower riders I might go out on my hybrid Trek 7100 or on Gattamelata, my Trek Pilot 5.2 carbon fiber bike. Either way, riding out in the flat central Illinois countryside with a group of fellow enthusiasts, maybe stopping for some pancakes or coffee while we are out, and just generally enjoying the ride and the fellowship, is a great way to beat the stress of everyday life and relax. By the way, I'm the one in the green jacket on the right. It was a cold day!

When I'm Weary, When I'm Feeling Low, I Turn Up the Music and Let Go

2009-05-14T07:12:00.001-05:00

There are lots of songs that I might crank up, but these are three of my favorites. I might also crank up Run for Life or Lakeshore Drive or Marrakech Express or American Pie or Take It to the Limit. If I feel political, Randy Newman is the man, especially The Great Nations of Europe. They are all good for running on the treadmill or just lifting your spirits.

Natural Woman by Carole King

So you can sing along and dance too. Just think of Candace Bergen as Murphy Brown.

Summer of '69 by Brian Adams

Makes you feel like you are back in '69, even though the song wasn't written then. (bad art but only choice!)

Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen

Hey, who wouldn't turn up the Boss?

Go to Friso for Great Gelato

2009-05-13T10:23:00.001-05:00

For two summers, we stayed in Padua for a month at the Hotel Casa del Pellegrino, across from the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua. Friso was our local gelateria, just a few steps from the hotel. It is one of the best in Padua (and maybe in Italy or at least in the Veneto).

Most gelaterias in Italy have pretty good stuff, especially those that are "artiginale." But Friso is special. They make all their stuff on the premises and have video to show you how their gelato is made. The flavors are great and not only do they have the usual gelato but they also have wonderful granitas. My favorite is to have chocolate granita with panna (heavy cream). It is truly wonderful. If you are in Padua, definitely go to Friso. You won't be sorry.

Riding, Music, Breathing, and Other Stuff

2009-05-12T07:36:00.003-05:00

I should start with the upbeat. I got to do a lot of cycling in the last week. In fact, if I get to ride tonight, which should not be a problem, I should finally be over 200 miles for the year. It's not a lot, but I feel a lot better about my progress. On Sunday I plan to do the Sangamon River Ride with Anne and Nancy. We had a good time doing it last year. It is done by the Monticello Lions Club. I did a moonlight ride last Friday night and while I didn't do the usual Saturday ride, I did ride in the wind on Sunday and did the level two ride yesterday, which was very nice both in terms of the weather and the ride itself except for one short stretch of gravel. I do need to think about finding a better light for riding at night if I plan to ride more at night. On the other hand, I don't ride at night very often so I am not rushing out to buy a new light.

Also good was going to the opera on Saturday. We saw the Met broadcast of "La Cenerentola," which was excellent. We had a great time. It wasn't an opera we had seen before and Rossini had obviously borrowed from his own "Barber of Seville," but we didn't care. The performances were great and the Magritte conceptualization was fun.

The not-so-good was calling my mom on Sunday for mother's day. I had a hard time getting through, evidently because she is having a hard time figuring out her phone. I called and called, finally calling my brother and getting another number. At the end of a very short conversation I wasn't sure she knew she was talking to me. I had thought that I was prepared for this to start happening, but evidently I'm not. I will have to get used to it since it is the inevitable progression of Alzheimer's patients and it isn't all the time yet. Still, it was a difficult day.

We also had to buy a new lawnmower and a new washing machine. Since we have also ordered a new hot water heater, it seems, as usual, as if all of our appliances are breaking at once. This seems to be a pattern and one I get tired of dealing with. Once we are done with all of this, I think some landscape work will be the last of the house stuff for this year. Mostly we need a dead tree removed. Of course we really need to have everything re-landscaped but that isn't going to happen. Generally we prefer to spend our money on traveling rather than on the house.

The Italian is still not going very well and I haven't had as much time to work on it as I would like. Rosetta Stone and I don't always get along very well. I am also more used to learning dialogs so the method takes some getting used to. Unexpected things keep coming up--getting invited to people's houses, concerts I hadn't planned to attend, problems with my CPAP mask, just general stuff. I may decide to try another mask just because my nose is so sore that my current mask is painful to wear. Evidently my insurance will let me get masks as often as I want as long as I pay the copay. It is a very generous policy. Most companies say once every three months. So I just find my time slipping away, as usual.

Now I just have to keep the cats from fighting on the bed at 5 am. I know they only do it to try to get me up, but it is annoying, much as I love them. On the other hand, if that is the worst thing that happens in life, I really can't complain.

Let's Just Move Champaign to Kankakee and Make Chicago a Closer Place to Be

2009-05-09T20:56:00.001-05:00

I'd like to add a little urban spice to our university life.

I live in Champaign and I love being here. But there are times when I love to get to the big city and go to the Art Institute, visit the Field Museum, spend some time at Lincoln Park Zoo. They have great restaurants, the lake, and I can go to programs at the Newberry Library. The only drawback is that Chicago is three hours away. That may not seem like much, but six hours of driving is a lot in one day if you only want to spend the day. But if Chicago were closer, we could go more often. I would like to have the conveniences of living in Champaign with the little extras that Chicago can give me. So let's just get rid of Kankakee and move Champaign there.

Guess Who Wins (You Have to Read It to Find Out)

2009-05-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

I used to love the start of the school year and the ritual buying of new pens and notebooks. In fact, my house is filled with pens and notebooks from years of buying them, long after I finished going to school.

Serious Novels

I collect journals and fountain pens. For years I really preferred paper and pen. Perhaps it was coming from one of the last generations where you were graded on penmanship in school. Or it might have been the fact that writing first drafts on typewriters just meant cutting and pasting and retyping in the very literal sense so it was easier to draft on paper. Besides, there was an aesthetic feel about nice paper and good pens when you were writing something important and something comforting about cheap, unlined yellow paper for first drafts.

But if you think this is about preferring paper, you are dead wrong. Now that we are in the computer age, I am a complete convert to the keyboard. I can barely read my own handwriting anymore. Goodbye Palmer method. Hello Garamond. It is the keyboard hands down for me. I still have all those journals and nice pens and paper all over the house. They are looking for a good home. Know any interested scriptoria?

Working on Italian

2009-05-06T20:26:00.003-05:00

I just finished my third Italian lesson. I am not doing as well as I thought I would. I make stupid mistakes. I worry that I am not remembering things. And, during lesson three, the program made me go back and do parts of lessons one and two over again! I evidently don't pronounce everything as well as I should, although sometimes I think I am right and the program doesn't and sometimes I think I am wrong and the program thinks I am ok. So I am finding the whole process a bit difficult. Not surprising considering that I am a poor language learner anyway.

I really need to work on the Italian so that I can at least speak a little bit by the time we get to Venice. Presumably two weeks of intensive Italian there will help but I don't want to start at zero. Especially since I have actually taken a little Italian before. Not that I can say much besides hello, how are you, pleased to meet you, I am from Champaign, etc. Even some of that kind of conversation has been deserting me and the French tends to take over as I get nervous.

I am also still thinking about Ryan Air and our luggage. I think we will have to check our bags and carry on the CPAP machines. I really don't think we can put everything into our suitcases including the machines and still make the 10 kilo weight limit. I like think I pack lightly but I don't think I can do it. Especially if I have the catalog from the Charles the Bold exhibit with me.

We may have found someone to take care of the cats. It is not a sure thing, but a possibility. I hope to know soon so if it won't work out we can pursue other avenues. It gets harder and harder to find a housesitter when we go away.

I was hoping to get a little more cycling in this week but I am not sure at the moment. There is supposed to be a ride tomorrow night but the weather is looking less favorable than it was. We are also supposed to have a GITAP planning meeting afterwards. We may move that up if it rains. There is also supposed to be a moonlight ride Friday night but even if there is a full moon, it looks as if it will be mostly cloudy, which means too dark to ride, at least for me.

Tomorrow my study group meets and I have a feeling not many people are going to be there. I have already heard from several people who aren't coming. Still, we will see what happens. I do need to make sure I have a volunteer or two for the following week.

All things considered, I am starting to feel as if I am finally starting to get some things accomplished. I really do have to stop procrastinating, work on projects, and figure out what is really important and what is not so important. I am looking for a way to feel happy. Not in the sense of a crazy joyousness but just feeling at peace with myself. I need to get over the idea, which I have always had, that I have to keep making people pay attention to me as a scholar or teacher or whatever, so that I feel as if I get some respect. But now I sound like Henny Youngman, and who would want to do that!

Too Much Going On At Once

2009-05-05T15:32:00.002-05:00

I've gotten myself involved in too many things again. It's my own fault of course. These are mostly things I want to do. And a few that I have to do. And few that just happened. I never know exactly how those come about and I hope to see them slowly fade away, if I'm lucky.

Today I finally did my first Italian lesson. I made some stupid mistakes. The microphone didn't pick up some sounds. And I don't know how I will actually remember anything. I certainly don't need to know the verb for swimming. Using the verb forms in the present tense this way isn't necessarily going to make me learn them. So I don't know that this method will really help me learn to speak much. But ok, I will give it my best shot. I am not a very good language learner and the immersion method may or may not take with me. I don't know if using it and reviewing with Espresso would make it better or worse, or if I am willing to find the time. After all, I should have found time already.

I am suddenly in too many online social networks. I can just about keep up with some of them and I am not even trying with others. I will try to more or less extricate myself from the sleep problem group. No more twittering about my CPAP machine. The new one seems to be ok so far. My main problem right now is trying to cope with the side-effects of lowering the dose of clonazepam. It may take months to get off of it completely.

I am doing a lot of OLLI stuff, which I enjoy. That also takes up a lot of time. I really need to figure out how to manage my time better. Procrastination is so much easier now that I am retired. I keep putting off things that I need to get done, playing around on the computer.

That leads to Facebook, which eats up too much time. I am going to have to limit myself to a set amount of time every day. Otherwise it just takes over your life. it becomes a substitute and I can't have that in the long run. I don't want a online life instead of a real one.

Cycling is finally picking up, now that we are having a few decent days. I rode on Saturday and thought I would die! I rode yesterday and had a great time, although my arms really felt it. They actually felt like they were bells, ringing. I should be able to ride tonight with the Pedal for Pleasure group. No ride tomorrow--just as well since we are supposed to have rain. A ride Thursday night if it clears up. Friday's forecast keeps changing but Sue did propose a moonlight ride. I need to get in miles before GITAP.

Funny thing. When we got home from our Rhine cruise, we had our refrigerator replaced as part of a testing program that Whirlpool does for their appliances. Now the refrigerator they replaced (the first Maytag) has been recalled for possible electrical fires. So we might have gotten a new one either way. Interesting.

The cats have been very affectionate the last few days. The city is hacking away at our trees. I have a proposal to write. Busy, busy, so I need to stop writing this post and get back to other work. And maybe think about buying a better microphone for the Rosetta Stone program. Peter has had problems too, so maybe we do need to think about that. Not that I really have time to get to Best Buy. It would just be another thing on my list.

Shoes Can Say A Lot, Or Maybe Not, You Decide

2009-05-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

There are the shoes I like and the shoes I wear. There are the many pairs of shoes I own, the shoes I choose over and over, and the shoes I covet. So shoes can say a lot. I am wearing a pair of comfortable Keen Mary Janes in black that go with the rest of my carefully chosen casual outfit. They are flats, as are all of my shoes. I am practical at the age of 57. I don't want my feet to hurt.

I have fun flats, gym shoes, kind of dressy flats, hiking boots, shoes to keep my feet warm in midwestern winters. I have lots of shoes in shades of green and lots of black maryjanes in leather and in nubuck. I have some sandals but I don't have slides since I slide right out.

I have eight pairs of cycling shoes. I love to cycle. But I choose the Sidis most often because of their comfort and Italian style. If they would only come in green, I would never wear another pair. In fact, I would buy multiple pairs, even though they are very expensive, just because they would wear out eventually and I would want them forever.

The shoes I lust after and would never wear are the ones that Natalie Dessay wore in the opening act of La Sonnambula. They were bright green, strappy, high heeled, gorgeous. I blogged about them. I dream of Natalie Dessay's totally, for me, impractical shoes. What does that say about this middle-aged, practical woman in the black, flat Keens? You decide.

Cats Are Not Just Royal, Cats Are Gods

2009-05-04T20:20:00.001-05:00

As the ancient Egyptians knew, and of course as every cat knows, cats are gods. While dogs just want to please, cats expect to be pleased. So when they deign to sit on your lap, purr with pleasure when you pet them, play with the toys you give them, sleep with you, you know that they are conferring a special privilege on you. Most dogs will love anyone. If a cat chooses to love you, even fleetingly, you know you are special. So if you want to be special, find the cat that lets you know that you are special.

Tuna salad was my college summer school 'broke meal'

2009-05-03T11:43:00.001-05:00

You can do anything for eight weeks, even live on tuna salad.

Lebanese Tuna Tahini Salad

One summer as an undergrad I decided to go to summer school. My parents were not expecting this and told me that it wasn't in their budget. I could manage without a job (I was taking three classes which was a lot in 8 weeks) if I lived in a dorm but didn't get a meal plan. So I mostly lived on the cheapest canned tuna with packets of relish and mayonnaise that I picked up at the cafeteria in the Union. This was not an ideal diet and I never told my parents that I was doing this but I was determined not to let them think I couldn't manage on my own. Stupid, maybe, but it didn't kill me. Do I still eat tuna salad? Sometimes. But I can afford the relish and mayo now, and even have it on bread. The picture looks nicer than anything I fixed in my dorm room!

Six Flags Didn't Keep Us From Thinking About Our Problems

2009-05-01T09:20:00.001-05:00

Don't go to an amusement park when you know it won't distract you from your worries, especially if you don't like most of the rides anyway.

My husband had just finished his doctorate and knew he was not going to get an academic job. He was waiting to hear about a couple of job possibilities when we were invited by friends to spend the day at Six Flags in Gurnee. The weather was only so-so, we are not big on roller coasters and spinning rides, and the place was crowded so you had to wait in long lines. The food was terrible and expensive. We spent most of our time wondering about whether he would get phone calls about jobs. This was in the days before cell phones, so we wouldn't know anything until we got home. While we were happy to be with our friends, the anxiety, combined with the other factors made for a day that was less than enjoyable.

Still Rainy After All These Days

2009-04-28T20:55:00.002-05:00

Got up this morning and it was still raining so that took care of the morning ride. Still, I had hopes of clearing skies and drier conditions for an evening ride. Instead there was fog and misting. I could have gone but I made the choice to stay home. Wimped out again. Spring has been a wipe-out so far for bike riding.

So my day was spent getting library books, cleaning out my inbox, playing with Facebook (the addictive way to procrastinate but feel like maybe you are doing something), twittering, making plane reservations and discovering that Ryan Air charges you for checked baggage even if you don't check baggage, and seeing the dietician, who was happier than I expected with my food diary.

Since I was home this evening rather than out on my bike, we watched "Saving Grace," an enjoyable film about a widow who grows marijuana to try to pay off her late husband's debts and keep her house. Being an English film it has some typically English twists and gorgeous Cornish scenery. It made me want to go back to England. Actually, it made me want to live in England. Of course, like reading Agatha Christie, it isn't really what it would be like for me to live in England. Just the perpetual dream.

I also, guiltily, realized that I haven't given a thought to finishing the Calais series on my other blog so that I can move on to other historical topics of interest, at least to me. So I should spend a little time working on Arthur Lisle and get that done.

Tomorrow may actually be a nice day but rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday. Saturday looks like it may actually be a day for riding, at least I hope so. I really need to start getting some miles in. GITAP draws ever nearer and I haven't ridden nearly enough for a full week trip.

The plumber has ordered a new hot water heater for us and we are supposed to get an upgrade in the speed of our internet service, assuming it is available in this area. Tomorrow I see the sleep specialist again and I hope he has some ideas on how I can actually get a reasonable night's sleep. In fact tomorrow is a pretty busy day with a study group and two receptions and Thursday is even busier. As they say in the song, "time hurries on." You can tell that I grew up in the age of Simon and Garfunkle.

This VCR is just taking up space

2009-04-27T10:32:00.001-05:00

How do you define useless? We have lots of things that just sit around taking up space, doing nothing important. I could have written about any of them.

our broken ~ vcr part 1 ~ taped shut

Our VCR stopped working almost a year ago. The little green light that shines at me reproachfully reminds me that it is still there, unable to play any tapes. So why is it still here? Well, we did try to get rid of it once, but when we unhook it from the rest of the system--tv, dvd, satellite receiver/dvr--nothing works. So while it is useless for its primary purpose, it has made itself indispensable by making the rest of our entertainment system work. Someday we need to work out how to redo the cables and get rid of this useless piece of junk!

Unseen to Seen: the Constant, Never-Ending Journey

2009-04-26T13:56:00.001-05:00

First, what stage of life is this? Is this the middle-aged stage? the retirement stage? the what do I want to do with the rest of my life stage? Or are these all the same stage? I have more questions than answers at this point and when I was younger and wanted to be older, I would have thought that this was the stage of certainty. I thought that as I got older I would know what I wanted, who I was, where I should be, what I should be doing. So I am not sure how I got here, because I am not sure where here is.

I know where I have been. I have been a child, a student, a teacher, a researcher, a grasper after achievement, someone who has always searched for love, validation, appreciation. And no matter how much of it I get, I never think I get much. I never think I have done enough. I never think that anyone thinks that well of me.

So I am still at the stage where I wonder when people will find out that I am not. Not what? Not as smart as I would like to be, not as competent, not as anything. But then, I know they think that anyway. I know that they forget me if i don't remind them I am here.

So maybe my stage is invisible. Maybe that has always been my stage. But maybe, for the most part, we are mostly visible to ourselves because everyone else is concentrating on making themselves visible too.

In that case, we are all at the same stage. Maybe unlike Shakespeare's seven stages of man, which are for the most part physical, there really is only one stage, the stage of constantly striving to be visible, and that is a never-ending journey. Until, of course, the end, when the journey is over for good, and we are forever invisible.

The Y Eatery has good cheap eats

2009-04-26T11:29:00.001-05:00

If you are visiting the campus of the University of Illinois and want a cheap, filling, delicious meal, this is the place, right in the center of campus.

On Tuesdays they have great Beef and Basil for less than $5. There is always enough for me to take home for another meal. That's what I call a bargain. Anything that tastes that good and where the portions are that large definitely is worth a visit. Their pad thai, either chicken or vegetarian, is also very good, and you can get it every day.

Suddenly Warm, Really Windy

2009-04-25T19:11:00.002-05:00

Today was very warm and windy. Without the high winds it would have been a perfect day to ride and the fact that I was going to a presentation on the new season at our performing arts center would have made me ambivalent about missing a ride. But the high winds gave me a free pass. Some people are willing to ride when the wind speed is about 30 mph, but I am not. I'm a wimp.

Since my bike is still in the shop, I could argue I didn't have anything to ride although that wouldn't strictly be true. I'm not sure why my bike isn't ready (of course it is possible that they just haven't bothered to call and tell me that Nick has finished with it and I could pick it up). In any event, even though I can't ride the Dahon until they get the recall information straightened out and that bike fixed, I could have ridden the hybrid, which would have been more practical in this wind than the road bike anyway.

The new Krannert season has some interesting things including a Renaissance concert. I could have asked for more, but then we probably couldn't have afforded more than we picked out. Fortunately a lot of the things we want to go to have the choral balcony as an option, which makes the tickets much more affordable. With concerts from other groups like the Prairie Ensemble as well, we will have plenty of things to do. I just always wish there was more theater. And the opera choices aren't very good this year except for The Marriage of Figaro. Still, we will go to some of the Live Met broadcasts too.

I will be doing a set of four "workshops," they don't call them classes at Parkland continuing education, on the history of polar exploration this fall. I think I will do one on the last Franklin expedition, one on Peary and Cook, show 90 Degrees South about Scott, and do one on Shackleton's expedition. I am also supposed to do another study group, although this one will be different from the one I am doing now on the Wars of the Roses.

Today I went to see the Artists Against AIDS show. I liked some of the pieces but we really don't have any room in our house for more stuff. In fact, I want to get rid of stuff, not get more of it. That excludes certain kinds of books, of course. One of my projects is to start going through and clearing out stuff. Both Leslie and Peter broke things this week and while they were things I would like to have kept, it was one way of getting rid of stuff.

Things are still not as neat as I would like them to be, but better than they were. I suppose if I keep working at it, maybe I will get there eventually. I am not ruthless about throwing things away and I tend to procrastinate, which is a really bad habit in a wannabe writer. That's why my third installment on Calais still hasn't appeared on my other blog. Not that anyone is clamoring for a piece on Arthur Lisle.

I keep thinking I should have planned to go to Kalamazoo this year. Maybe next year I will. I miss seeing all my historian friends. When I was a kid and still celebrated Passover, we used to say "next year in Jerusalem" so maybe I should say "next year in Kalamazoo, or even in Leeds."

No Cycling on Another Rainy Day in East Central Illinois

2009-04-21T13:53:00.003-05:00

Since this was the official start of the cycling season for the Prairie Cycling Club, I was hoping to get in a lot of cycling this week. Saturday was great in the morning, which was all that counted, and we did a nice ride to Sidney so I got in 27 miles.

It rained on Sunday but we had already planned to see "The Audition," about the national Met auditions from 2007. It was a very interesting documentary. A lot of the audience were the same people who go to the live Met HD broadcasts, not surprisingly. So I wasn't planning to ride anyway. Yesterday it rained on and off and we had a couple periods of hail besides high winds. So I didn't go out last night. Not having a rear light on my road bike at the moment doesn't help. It was still raining this morning and windy too, so that took care of the Tuesday morning ride. I used the treadmill at the gym instead, although I had forgotten that the treadmill uses different muscles and I really hurt after only a few minutes. I still did three miles but I was in real pain. Stretching at the end was not optional!

The weather is still rainy and cold, so I won't go out tonight either. The ride leader has tickets to Krannert, so I am sure that he is just as happy that the weather is not conducive to a ride this evening. Since we have plans for next Saturday morning, I probably won't ride again until next Monday night. Not the best start to the cycling season. I just hope next week is better.

With not riding and just the gym workouts, my Moonwalk miles are kind of pathetic. I do now have a pedometer although I am not sure that I will get a lot of extra miles with that since I seem to sit and work at the computer rather than walking around. Still, I am making an effort. Once I get a chance to ride more I should get closer to the 100 mile minimum. I am about 1/3 of the way there. Last year I did about 260 miles altogether. I have a new heart rate monitor too, although I forgot to wear it to the gym this morning. I really need more of a routine. Retirement is great except for turning my brain to mush.

In the meantime I have been procrastinating with Facebook and not getting a lot of stuff done. I still need to finish up my Calais piece for my other blog and I need to write up something on Henry VI for my study group and come up with some discussion questions for the secondary source articles we are reading for Thursday. I haven't looked at anything on the carbon footprint either. I have read only part of the material from the New York Times Magazine from Sunday, which was relevant to our group.

I am spending more time thinking about what I am eating than I care to do. The doctor wants me to lose quite a bit of weight. Cutting down on carbs is quite difficult. I have to up the amount of milk and milk products and that means fewer other carbs like bread and crackers and hot cereal and potatoes and stuff. Desserts are a problem too. I would like to eat more fruit rather than drink more milk. The protein is ok although knowing I have to eat makes me less likely to want it. I did get a bunch of sushi today because I always like that and it gives me a balance of protein and carbs. The topamax is supposed to also help with weight loss and that definitely doesn't seem to be happening. The only good news is that even though my total cholesterol is still high, and I am sure that I will hear about it from the doctor next week, my HDL is really pretty high at 79. Not that Dr. Helfrich will let me off easy for that.

One project was to turn the living room into an office. Of course, even though I got more storage stuff so that things wouldn't pile up again, they are piling up again. And I am not reading, something I should be doing, along with actual writing, not just blogging.

At least today I wrote a real blog, not just a Plinky exercise. I just wish I had something more interesting to write about. Maybe I will be able to write about my experiences looking for flights from Brussels to Venice in the near future. Tomorrow we have someone coming to look at our basement windows. The more we can get done on the house for the amount that we have agreed to spend, the happier I will be about that part of our plans for spending for this year. Now if we could only find a cat sitter.

I seem to have stopped setting goals but I do need to work on Italian. Peter got me Rosetta Stone but he is the only one using it. I can't say that I don't have time. I just don't make the time. It is easy to procrastinate instead. Maybe once I get started it will be easier to keep going.

So here I sit with a few books about fifteenth-century England next to me and instead of reading or writing something insightful or at least educational I will probably look at Facebook when I finish writing this. How pathetic is that? Maybe my time would be better spent searching for Natalie Dessay's shoes. Oh that's right, I just got new Mizuno gym shoes instead. Probably better for my feet anyway. Too bad they are blue and silver and not that gorgeous green.

It's the Caffeine Buzz for Me

2009-04-19T17:16:00.001-05:00

Not everyone falls for the heady smell and rich taste of superstrong java but it is just the kickstart I need in the morning.

Love Coffee

When I was about three, various relatives started letting me taste their coffee and I took to it right away. I loved the smell and, since most of my relatives used cream and sugar I didn't taste the bitter edge that I have come to enjoy. (I took to martinis too but that is another story.) By the time I was a few years older, coffee, like chocolate, was a way to flavor milk in order to get me to drink it. By high school I was a confirmed breakfast coffee drinker, black, no sugar. In college I could indulge any time I liked. A few cups got me through breakfast and then I met friends for coffee later in the day. I wasn't picky in those days. We drank whatever was available and thought that freeze-dried was a great improvement over instant.

As I got older, my coffee tastes got more sophisticated. We went to Greek restaurants and I had Greek (Turkish) coffee. After a while I even had preferences in how much sugar to use in that. When we went to London in 1980, I started using cream for the first time because the coffee was so awful except when we went to Italian restaurants in the evening.

At one point, knowing that I was addicted, I tried stopping cold turkey and was very sick as payback for my folly. I haven't willing done that again although I no longer drink coffee after noon, except in Italy where a macchiato, even late in the day, doesn't seem to keep me up at night.

This is not a secret vice, but caffeine is a drug and I am an addict so it is a vice, even if is legal. I try to buy the best beans, use good equipment, and find good coffeehouses. I even try to travel in countries with good coffee rather than those with bad or mediocre coffee. Fortunately England has improved, even if the coffee isn't outstanding. The best Turkish coffee I ever had wasn't in Turkey, where I have had some pretty dismal coffee, but in Tbilisi, Georgia. Viennese coffees of all kinds are good and I have tried most styles but usually I will drink a grosser brauner or, if it a warm summer afternoon I will indulge in eiskaffe, even though that is more like dessert and not like American iced coffee. I am not a huge fan of cafe au lait so in France I prefer a grand creme. And in Italy, as I may have mentioned, the macchiato is my favorite although un caffe (espresso) is a good pick-me-up).

If the doctor ever tells me I have to give it up, I suppose I will slowly switch to decaf, but only the best. I would miss the caffeine buzz and only the most dire health warning would make me change my ways.

So don't take my Peet's, my Bialetti coffeemaker, or my Capresso Coffee Team, or I may just have to kill you.

Leave a party when a masked man enters.

2009-04-19T12:35:00.001-05:00

I am not really the party type. I tend to stand near the food and hope someone talks to me, especially if my husband has wandered off to talk to other people.

When a masked man enters.
Probably one of the superheroes has arrived presaging imminent disaster. Or it could be a highway man who had lost his way but still wants your valuables. Of course if it is Carnevale in Venice, just party on.

When the dancing starts.
The music will be too loud and most of the dancers will be really bad, at least the ones who want to dance with you. On the other hand, if you are in the Assembly Rooms in Bath with Jane Austen, you might want to stay and see if Mr. Darcy asks you to dance, assuming you pass muster.

Your ex walks in with his hot new girlfriend.
How embarassing if you are alone. But if you are there with Clive Owen and Matthew Macfayden dancing attendance on you, your ex will probably slink out instead, no matter how hot his new love happens to be, unless she is Angelina Jolie. But Brad might object to that.

Your boss walks in.
If this isn't an office party you will feel uncomfortable, especially if you have had a lot to drink and tend to speak your mind. You might stay if you and your boss are friendly socially but I haven't had that experience very often.