Never Say Never!

Earlier this spring, the Head of School at The Independent School resigned, leaving the School in a quandary.  It was too late to find someone to take his place, so they looked to Jenifer Pence, the Head of the Upper School, to fill in, hoping to find a Head of Upper School over the summer.

Unfortunately, most people had already signed contracts and were not available.  So in early July, I was called to have a conversation about being Head of the Upper School.  Yikes!  That was like a fish out of water for me, so we discussed my going part-time with another person in the Lower School.  I could do that one.

I didn't hear anything for some time and thought the matter was dead.  Then toward the end of July, I received another call asking if I would consider being the Head of School for a year.  Because we had some travels planned, I had some hesitation, because some of those were command performances!  But we discussed several of the issues, and how could I say no?  My kids have always called the School my third child . . . and so, of course, I said yes!

I didn't receive the official word until August 4, and I started three days later.  And I discovered there is a lot to learn . . . and a lot that is just the same!

I have thoroughly enjoyed being back at school . . . and I hope I can do some good.

At the end of the year, we will see, but for now, it is awesome!!!

The Finishing Touches

I think we are finally through with the cabin - except for window treatments in the dining room.

We had to go to Albuquerque to pick up the last of the Vienna Works furniture.  Thankfully, with Bart's truck, we were able to haul it all in one trip.

Once we unloaded it all, it went into place . . . and voila!

The bench

The night table

The picnic table

We love, love, love our new addition.  If we could stay all dinner, we just might!

Puzzling Miro

When Don was helping at the cabin last year, he came across an old puzzle my mom had purchased.  It was one of Miro's paintings - one I still do not understand - and Don knew that Diana would love putting it together.

So one morning, while I was snoozing, Don and Di started putting the puzzle together.  The first thing they realized was that trying to put together a crazy puzzle on a crazy tablecloth was just not going to work.

A white towel rescued the operation.

We discovered that the pieces in this puzzle were very odd, sometimes just laying against each other rather than connecting.  And within a day or two, they had completed it!  Why I did not take a picture of it, I do not know, but I would bet the next time Di is at the cabin, she tries to put it together again!

Homegoing and Twelve Years a Slave

I had never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but after reading Homegoing for Book Club, I decided I needed to read it.  I appreciated the book for what it was intended to be – an honest expose of slavery.  The religiosity of the book was annoying, but I did appreciate Harriet Beecher Stowe’s belief that slavery was evil and not the way things should be.  I also appreciated that she presented various kinds of slave owners – kind, indifferent, cruel, horribly cruel – and she did not hold back on the kinds of torture the slaves received.

Then I read Twelve Years a Slave (also for Book Club), and it is an actual story of a slave who was a free man but then was kidnapped and forced into slavery until he could be found.  Solomon Northrop seemed to walk many of the same steps that Tom had walked, though Tom had never been free.  They both had kind masters; they both had cruel masters; they both were beaten, starved, and tortured; they both were very religious.

Both books underscored a few points for me:

Without religion, many more slaves would have died.  For them, the religion was the only hope they had;

People, both men and women, can be very cruel to those they perceive “less than they;”

Children learn cruelty (bullying, nastiness, etc.) from those around them; and

Even well-treated slaves would have preferred freedom to their “easier” life than some others on their plantations.

Reading books about slavery and its horrors sickens me, saddens me.  How people could treat other people that way is beyond me. But then we see such things happening still throughout the world, whether it is in trafficking, war, or other equally awful practices.  Continuing to talk about the horrors, continuing to expose them, and teaching children strong values is the only way I know to combat them.

The Food Explorer

I had heard a review on NPR of The Food Explorer, by Daniel Stone, and when the reviewer mentioned that the book revolved around the life and a Kansan and his contributions to the foods we eat, I decided to read it.  I didn’t realize then that the lead character, David Fairchild, was the son of a former President of KSU, and his eventual “adversary” was Charles Marlatt, for whom the dormitory at KSU was named (I think).  

If you have eaten avocadoes, mangoes, lemons, cashews, papaya, watermelon, grapes, mushrooms, pomegranates, even quinoa – and many other fruits and vegetables – you have David Fairchild to thenk.  If you have enjoyed the cherry trees in Washington DC – those that flower but bear no fruit – thank David Fairchild again.  The list of contributions the man who few have heard of is long and grand.

Interestingly, he was married to Alexander Graham Bell’s daughter, and they lived a happy and “fruitful” life.  Before he was married, he had many harrowing experiences, including riding a mule 150 miles through jungles and mountains while journeying from Chile to Argentina. He was nearly thrown off a 1000-foot abyss when his mule lost his footing on the ice.  

This was an easy-reading book, full of amazing stories and information.  Anyone who likes to eat should read this and appreciate the efforts of David Fairchild, who brought us the food, and equally of Charles Marlatt, who tried to keep dangerous bugs and bacteria under control.  

Glorious Rain in all the Right Places

It had rained the day we arrived, but not a whole lot.  But it wasn’t long before we began to receive the kinds of rains we have been expecting.  We were gleeful when the rain and hail came fast and furiously.

Amazingly, it seems as if the same intensity of rain yields more rain in Wichita than here. Several times we thought we had received at least an inch or more, and it was less than .75”.  But we will take it in whatever amounts it wants to come . . . and so far nearly every day, we have gotten at least .2”, which is not much by Wichita standards, but by New Mexico standards, it is a gold mine!

EVICTION!

Drought is an awful thing, whether one is a farmer, a city-dweller, or a cabin owner.  In Wichita, our last meaningful rain, until July, was last October.  We had very little rain or snow over the winter, and the farmers’ wheat crops, though in the end better than expected, suffered greatly.

We had been keeping up on the precipitation in New Mexico during our drought, and the mountains of New Mexico were equally dry.  Our area had fewer than 10” total for the year – where average is bout 100” in the higher elevations.  By the time we came to the cabin in April, the streams were already at levels normally not seen until September or October.  

We returned in mid-May, knowing that the Forest Service may close the forest at any time. After one fairly decent rain, we thought perhaps we would be allowed to stay, but Memorial Day campers sealed our fate.  When the rangers found nearly 100 unattended fires when there weren’t supposed to be any, the foresters decided they must close the forest to prevent another fire. And although we agreed, we wished that we could have stayed.  

So on June 1, we left the Canyon, not knowing how long the closure would last.  We were hoping for a July 1 opening, but that was not to be.  Ultimately, the Canyon opened on July 9, and we were here by the 12^th.  The rains have started, and although it is still dry, more rains are expected for the next few weeks, and we are temporarily all right.  We understand that it has been raining at home, too . . . which is  good thing..

The Potato Farmer

Every year we try to plant potatoes in our meager garden.  Since we are gone so much in the summer, potatoes are easy to plant and leave . . . and when it is time for harvest, we pretend it is Christmas.

This year we planted many more potatoes than normal.  We had allowed some from last year to sprout, so we planted those as well as new ones.  Most of the potatoes from last year were of the purple variety, so when it was time to harvest, we were inundated with purple potatoes.  For a K-Stater, that is not a bad thing, as they retain their purple color through the cooking.

We harvested after July 4, though we did a few plants while Caleb was in Wichita, just to show him how it is done.  The picture shows how many potatoes we harvested, and I am certain there are more in the ground, but we did not find them.

Not long after, I took a dish of red, white and purple potato salad, made from freshly harvested potatoes from our backyard.  I have to admit, it was pretty tasty . . . and attractive, too.  

After the harvest, Don decided to try growing pumpkins for Halloween.  We hope we can take one of our homegrown pumpkins to Kansas City to carve with Caleb!!!

How Waffle!

In 1908, a firm named Griswold Manufacturing Company in Erie, Pennsylvania,  designed a cast-iron waffle iron, meant to be used, we believe, over a gas or propane flame.  Somehow it found its way to the Gladstone Mercantile, in Gladstone, NM, in 2016, where it was seen by Don.

“We don’t need it, Don.”

“But it would be so cool to use on our cabin stove, and Diana loves waffles.”

“Don, we do not have any place to store it.”

“But it would be so fun to have.”

“It isn’t going to work, Don.”

But I lost, and within about two minutes, we had a 1908 waffle iron tucked into the already packed car.  We carted the contraption back to Wichita, where Don read how to condition cast iron.  Three hours later, on a hot summer day, he had oiled and baked the waffle iron, causing smoke to infiltrate the house. Despite the fact that it was 90+ degrees outside, we were running the whole house fan to get rid of the smell and the smoke.  But the waffle iron did look perfect and ready to use.

Fast forward to 2018. The cabin addition is complete, and Diana has come to visit.  Don pulls out the waffle iron to see how it works.

He makes his signature (ha) waffle batter (Pioneer mix), and with his sous chef, Diana, he begins to cook waffles.  They have no idea what they were doing, but Don keeps testing the batter to see if he could open the waffle iron, and suddenly it breaks free.  The first side looks good.

He flips over the iron and cooks the other side about the same amount time.  It does not come out quite as easily – perhaps a little too much time – but it is still better than any of the electric waffle irons we have owned..  By the time he cooks the batch of batter, he has it down to perfection, and those waffles just slide out.

I do not mind eating a little crow with my waffles.