Stones into Schools

Mom and I just finished Greg Mortenson's sequel to Three Cups of Tea, Stones into Schools, which picks up where three cups ended and brings the story of building schools, esp. for girls, in the most isolated areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan up to late 2009. We highly recommend both books. They are remarkable tales of what one person can do and how change can be brought about by working with people and not telling them what to do. How foreeign aid needs to be presented according to several current ideas including Mortenson's. It is quite negative on the Kabul government and optimistic on the US military -Three cups of Tea is now required reading for them. There is a long section on the Pakistan earthquake that provides a sense of what those disasters can mean to the people in the area - we thiunk it helped to understand the situation in Haiti. When you want an uplift, read these books. We'll bring Stones to the shore this summer for those who are around.

Hi From Snowy Colorado

It looks like we might reach a record snowfall total for the year, especially if April is as snowy as it was last year. It's great for the water supply, but not so much for getting the kids out of the house during spring break, and the last storm wasn't good for many trees around town, including our nice big ash in the front yard. We lost the limb that comes out into the yard and had the tire swing on it. Amazingly, there was only a little damage to the fence, but losing the tire swing location was sad- we have lots of fond memories from that swing.

We've been doing some skiing, some hiking and we introduced Alden to the fun of sledding, which she couldn't get enough of (We do dat 'gain, daddy!) I hope that you're all enjoying better weather than we are!

I uploaded a fun video of me, dad, Boden and Reid all skiing at Eldora on a gorgeous day on Monday. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PquKbuxyD5A

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes

Thank you one and all for your birthday greetings! I had a good day - started with a swim, then tea with friends and a few errands. Chatted with Mom and Dad, picked up the girls from school, then walked with Chai and the girls. Had a few gifts to open, then a yummy dinner of Ginger and Soy glazed salmon - I might post the recipe if anyone is interested?

Not much news here - autumn has thankfully arrived, although the last couple of days have been very humid, thanks to a low up north. The girls are doing well at school and looking forward to a well-deserved break. No formal plans for Easter, although I'm sure The Bunny will make an appearance with those yummy little chocolate eggs! Chai gets her 3rd and final vaccination today, and then she is free to mix and mingle! I think we might set up a "puppy play date" for this weekend with some friends who have a dog - see how she "socializes". She's growing and learning and becoming more obedient every day.

Sounds like Mom and Dad had a great visit Down East - it must have been nice to see lots of old friends. I think of the old SPS crowd often, and it was nice to hear news of Kelly Clark. Rico - loved your St. Paddy's Day video - we all had a good laugh! Could just about smell the Guinness!! Bye for now, Elli

Happy Birthday, Happy Spring Break!

Happy Birthday, Elli! Here's Boden and a fabulous snow diva wishing you the best. The snow diva arrived thanks to a major upslope dump on the friday before break began- we should have canceled school, partly because the kids were nuts and a lot of them already took off to warmer climes. We kelloggs are laying pretty low this break, doing some skiing, some biking, hanging out around the house and looking forward to a visit from the L.A. cousins in the second half of the week. Happy spring!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLI!

Happy Spring, Northern Hemisphere,...

Happy Fall to the Southern Hemisphere!

We spent a fun Saturday in Philadelphia watching W&L rugby.

Sarah spent most of the weekend representing Switzerland at a local Model UN.

I spent most of today (Sunday, 3/21) cleaning up branches in one quadrant of our yard.

New Hampshire Visit

We had a good visit seeing lots of friends and very successful AP presentations. Saturday- Monday it poured - worst driving I recall in a very lone time getting to NH from Boston but no trees across the road! Had a very nice dinner at Paul's with Alice and Peter and Paul's friend, Pia, who he has been seing for a while. (They went to visit her family in India a few years ago.) Stayed with the Lemelands and Anne for three nights each. Had dinner with the Eddys and got lots of news of the boys - both have new houses, both have jobs - Nils is working on a major nursing school project for the Univ. of Utah, and Tavis has a new baby, Corbin, so the Eddys are excited about their two grandchildren. Nils and mary have no kids.

Charles seems in decent shape after all the cancer treatment of the past year. Jane as busy with peace movement as ever and looking well. Anne is walking much better after two knee replacements and Bunny continues to be sharper on each visit. Anne arranged a dinner for us, Chases, and Lemelends at the nursing home and Bunny was right in the conversation with his old spirit and sense of humour. As we are losing 'it' Bunny seems to get better on each visit.

We had a nice lunch with Kelly - Priscilla was at a retreat - on Saturday and he sent love to all and was taken with the family calendar photos and the grown aspects of all the grandchildren. Mom also saw several"girlfriends" and I had lunch with a former co-worker at the NH History museum so we covered a lot. We'll have a photo or two later but no videos!

Paul met us at the Currier on Thursday for lunch and a visit to an exhibit on watercolor in america from colonial times to the present. It was interesting but much of the later work wasn't very appealing to me - mainly abstract and not much subtle use of color. It was advertised as Homer to Hiopper but there were only three paintings of each man in the exhibit - disappointing. the highlight for me were several Andrew Wyeths paintings -Maine landscapes and two of a boat overturned on the beach. Very effective - one was watercolor and one tempura so you could see the contrast between opaque and translucent paint in the hands of a master.

Everyone sent love to all of you.

The photo on this posting was taken by the library's organizer of all the concerts. Boden and I had a nice time at the latest event just before we left.

Happy St Patty's, O'Kelloggs!

Wow, Julie- are there going to be any trees left on your property by the end of the year? I hope the wrath of the global warming gods spares you! The annual St. Patty's Day parade went off pretty well despite the crappy weather (not Dobbs Ferry crappy, mind you!) We brought the kids into the team this year- Reid did fantabulously, so look for him in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-ko8l8yGc
Hope the weather in NH is decent! Happy Daylight Savings Time!

still on the hill in the NE!

Bon Voyage, Mom and Dad!

Sarah's DI Team placed second to Yorktown (rivals) in the Regional Tournament so we are off to the State Tournament on April 17 in Binghamton. Happy Birthday, Sarah!

A Week in New Hampshire

Hi from Mom---
Dad and I are getting ourselves organized to leave for Boston via Southwest Airlines, flight 553, on Sat. am, March 13. We hope to spend that night with either Paul Miller or Alice Cura, but not sure yet of how it will turn out. If you need to get in touch, call us on our cell phone 720/394/9731.
From Sunday to Wed. we'll be with the Lemelands in Concord---603/225/0596. Dad will be working at the Historical Society from about 8 to 2 on those days. Starting Wed. evening we will be with Anne Sayce in Hopkinton---603/746/2475. You can leave messages at either of those two numbers, or call us on the cell. We fly home on Sat. Mar. 20, flight 1023, getting into Denver at 7:25pm.
We are looking forward to seeing Concord and good friends again, and have our fingers crossed on the weather. This is supposed to be CO's snowiest month, but so far accumulation has been zero. The east coast will perform better, I have a feeling!
Love and hugs to all-----Mom and Dad

About Movies and Pets

Hi all-

Haven't seen Avatar yet - Emily is the only one in our family to have seen it so far, and declared it "Awesome!!" Maybe after all the glowing reports we'll have to get ourselves to the movies one day. Em is off to see Alice in Wonderland this afternoon, which has gotten mixed reviews down here. Anyone seen it yet? If so, what did you think? It's another one I wouldn't mind seeing...

Welcome to Alfie - he sounds like an "easy-care" pet! Much more low-maintenance than a pup, that's for sure! Chai is keeping us on our toes, to say the least. We can't take her out into public yet, as she hasn't had all her needles. The day after my birthday is her last of 3, and then she will be allowed out into the big bad world - look out! The leash training is going slowly, but she has gotten "sit", "stay", "come", and "down" (sometimes) for the most part, except when she is really excited/distracted! She has started barking at the chooks, but the ignore method and then distraction with a toy seems to be working so far. No digging yet (touch wood!), but an obsession with a particular flower pot seems to be developing - no idea where that comes from!

Glad to hear the New Yorkers are plowed out. Snow - what a distant memory!! We've had more rain than we know what to do with, and everyone is going a bit stir-crazy. The good news is that the drought is now officially over; the bad news is that most of western Queensland is now flooded. At least dams will be full and farming will be possible after the floodwaters have subsided. FYI Jules - school is "okay" (R) and "really good" (E). Good luck at DI!

Friday, March 5 ,2010 Dobbs Ferry

We are finally freed from fallen trees (in the lane) and plowed out - no more climbing up and down the hill to and from Ogden Place with garbage, recycling, slippery snow, ....Fred Broda and I took down the trees on the lane last night. Our plow guy came today. What a pleasure it is to be able to come all the way home!

When the snow melts, we will deal with the tree carnage in the yard.

Alphie is a cutie pie. How is the tank mate doing?

Oy! Aussies! How's school?

DI Regional Tournament tomorrow,.....

Avatar and other events

Mom and I celebrated the liberation of the end of the Olympics by going to Avatar on Monday. We both enjoyed it and recommend it, in special glasses, if you have not seen it. The story is clear and quite simple, but well put together. As in many stories, characters are one dimensional except for the hero and the woman copter pilot. We had sat thru the previews which were all full of explosions and computerized characters so Avatar is in the midst of the "in" programming, but I think it would be hard to come up with better special effects at the moment. Of course, I agreed with the main thesis so that helps. The military/industrial complex is damned and the environment supported. It was a fun event.

I am enjoying my music course very much. I'm hearing things in music I never heard before and that is good - it has a down side as I now often stop and listen when I have music on just for a relaxing background - interesting development. Following on music, we have a packed week. There was a birthday concert for Chopin's 200th on Wednesday and it turned out it was paid for by someone we know in town whose great uncle, a geophyicist, had collected Chopin manuscripts. It displayed the piano department, faculty, and students from CU very well. Tonight, Friday, we go to a Bach Festival Concert ( we have to pay!), Saturday there is a Beethoven recital at the library, and on Sunday a "new music" recital by CU students (both free) and Monday we have the monthly string quartet concert. You won't be starved for music in Boulder. It is incredible with such a great music department at CU. And, for those who like it, there is a whole folk music/rock music world that has concerts going all the time - some free in local bars and some in concerts at two theaters in town.

Alphie

I just wanted to announce that we've made the jump back into pet ownership- no puppies or anyhting as courageous as the Blackwells, but we're happy with our new additions. I had to teach a science unit on food chains, and part of it was to study Green Anoles, so I had a tankful of these little guys in my room for six weeks. They arrived from california in the mail looking stressed out, cold and dehydrated- we susequently lost a few to the traumas of travel. One, however, managed to thrive through his pluck, determination and appetite for live crickets. We named him Alphie because he was clearly the alpha anole in the tank, taking no shit from anyone and ruling the roost with his impressive dewlap and cocky swagger. He survived an abduction by a sped student who brought him home in a pocket and several trips back and forth from school over cold weekends. His brethren had to go back to the ed center to help other 5th graders further their science knowledge, but Alphie had won my heart, so we made room in the boys' bedroom for him and we went to Petsmart to get him a buddy this weekend. Reid dubbed his new pal Shreddder because he was in a state of unbecoming shedding when we brought him home. So far, Alphie has been savagely bullying shredder, and shredder seems to be a glutton for punishment, giving attitude that brings Alphie's wrath down on him repeatedly. I hope they'll work it out and shredder will survive to get along with his tankmate, but in the meantime they're providing all of us with lots of entertainment and reminding us of warmer tropical spots like Haiti.