Sweet & Good for You

Move over, Mater!

2011-06-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

Harrison walks backwards regularly. We think it's pretty funny. Also, here is documentation of a favorite toy of Harrison's: Matt's clamps.

Untitled from Kathryn Crosby on Vimeo.

Dessert in the Desert

2011-05-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. Looks like he takes after his mother.

I have a problem. I had dessert after every meal today. Breakfast dessert was the last leftover chocolate cupcake that I needed to "get rid of." Lunch dessert was angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. That was intended for family night treat, but we forgot about it on Monday, and could I really refuse when Matt got it out of the fridge at the BEGINNING of lunch and it was sitting there being tantalizing through the whole meal? My dessert tonight was an oatmeal raisin cookie, because Matt really needed some cookies to take to his LAST study session for med school final exams and I really needed to sample one. I have to note it was reduced in fat and sugar. Still, it was my third dessert of the day.

This isn't really the norm, but it is symptomatic of a problem I have of often reaching for sweets when I get hungry between meals (and I always get hungry between meals). I think the problem is I don't really want to avoid sweets. I observed Lent this year by going without chocolate, and by the end of the 40 days, I was doing great. I was eating less of other sugary foods too, and I found that I had less tolerance for sweets when I started eating them again. Unfortunately, I seem to be fully desensitized again. The thing is I think dessert is an important part of life. I really do! I don't want to eliminate it from my life, and I don't think I want to do the one-day-a-week sweets thing. Is it possible to train myself to be more moderate?

Maybe my salvation will be the scorching summer months that are due any day here. I seem to be less interested in food in general when it's hot.

Oh, and here's my lower-fat, lower-sugar, still-yummy oatmeal cookie recipe, if anyone's interested:
Mix
3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
In another bowl, combine
1/4 cup softened butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix wet and dry ingredients. Add pecans and whatever else you like (Matt always chooses raisins; I go for milk chocolate chips). Use a tablespoon to measure the dough--this always results in 24 cookies with an allowance for dough sampling. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

About Harrison

2011-05-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

My son is pretty much the greatest kid in the world. I'm a lucky mom. I'll just point out some of the outstanding evidence.

He has 12 teeth (kind of a lot for a 13-month-old, I think), and he uses them very responsibly. He doesn't bite people, though he did go through a short phase when he wanted to bite during moments of frustration. When he couldn't get a hold of Mom or Dad, he'd bite himself. He'd yell and then chomp. He went through a brief period of biting the floor when he was frustrated as well. My sister Carolyn loved that stage.

He squints his eyes a lot. It's just really cute. I worried at first that there might be a problem with his vision, but I'm convinced now he's mimicking me. (I don't wear my glasses very often.)

He can stack blocks! This is a pretty recent development; before he was more interested in demolition (knocking down the towers Matt or I built as soon as he saw them). Now he can make a two-story block tower like a pro.

He can play the kazoo. It still delights him that he's finally figured out how to get the buzz to work. It distracts him from his playing though. It usually sounds like this when he's got the kazoo: Bvvt. "Heh." Bvvt. "Heh." I'll have to try to catch it on film.

He's got some cool dance moves. Mostly, he marches or does something that would probably be called "the sprinkler" at a Jr. High dance, if you can imagine what that would look like. It makes people smile, when they're fortunate enough to see it.

He waves to nearly everyone. This makes people smile, too.

And my favorite: He folds his arms and bows his head for prayer. It's so darn sweet! He has kept this posture for the whole prayer a couple of times, and he occasionally says "Maymen" afterwards.

Seriously, I've really lucked out with this one. He's an angel when we're out shopping, and he loves tickling and snuggling. About the worst his behavior get is dropping food on the floor when he doesn't feel like eating it and doing things he knows he's not supposed to do while shaking his head and saying "no no no." I love this boy!

Baby Steps

2011-01-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

We are so excited about what Harrison did after dinner tonight! I also have a growing sense of "yikes" when I think about how much more mobile he is now.

Baby Steps from Kathryn Crosby on Vimeo.

I know babies have been learning to walk since the beginning of babies, but I can't help thinking, my baby is awesome! He can walk!

Happy Halloween; or, A Nightmare Come True

2010-10-30T21:26:00.001-07:00

I enjoy Halloween. It does, however, give me anxiety. I used to have dreams--nightmares, actually--in July or so of any given year, that it was Halloween and I didn't have my costume yet. I'm too cheap to buy ready made costumes. Unfortunately, I'm not super talented as a seamstress either, so this ends in stress sometimes. Two years ago, Matt and I attempted to go as Calvin and Hobbes, but something went wrong and everyone thought we were Tigger and Piglet, which was bad because Matt didn't like being mistaken for a "baby girl pig." (Don't worry, all you Pooh fans. I assured Matt that piglet is male, though that didn't seem to make him feel much better.)

Anyway, this year I was down to the last minute without costumes, proving my nightmare prophetic once again. Then my sister Carolyn saved the day with a great idea: the three bears! Simplicity was of paramount importance at that point, and so was thrift, so it was a good fit. Here we are: Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear.

Yes, I realize we look like mice. But honestly, why would we be three mice, unless we were the three mice, as in the blind ones? Clearly we have no dark glasses, so people should have been able to tell who we were by process of elimination at least, right? Anyway, here's Harrison getting in character (actually, it's Harrison getting freaked out. He started crying immediately after I pushed the shutter button):

Whatever people thought we were, we had a really fun Halloween. Matt took the whole afternoon/evening off from studying and we squeezed in a lot of celebrating. We started at Midwestern's annual carnival, then headed off to a pumpkin patch where we had a hayride, chose a pumpkin, visited a petting zoo, and where my cowboy husband used his roping skills to subdue a hay-bale with horns. (But seriously, he's good at it.) Here's Harrison learning about the art of selecting a pumpkin:

Next we went to the trunk or treat and chili dinner at the church where Baby Bear dumped his just-right porridge on the table and where we were mistaken for mice. Finally Matt and I finished off the evening watching Charade on my laptop, huddled around a set of headphones so as not to wake the baby. We hope you had a happy Halloween too!

Hello, Matthew again.

2010-10-14T22:47:00.001-07:00

I blogged for the very first time today!

Hi, this is Matthew.

2010-10-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

I felt a prostate for the very first time today!

Four-month-old baby

2010-07-23T15:34:00.001-07:00

We love our boy!

"excellent..."

Great Day, Everyone!

2010-07-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Two days ago at the bank, the woman behind us in line asked how old Harrison was. When I told her almost 4 months, she said, "Oh, he's a big boy!" That's a big deal for us because he was kind of scrawny for a while. And as if to prove the woman right about his skills as well as his size, Harrison made two important breakthroughs yesterday!

Roller from Kathryn Crosby on Vimeo.

H's Firsts - The Hilarious Lion from Kathryn Crosby on Vimeo.

That's the best sound in the world, don't you think? Harrison has giggled a couple of random times before, but this is the first time we've gotten such consistent laughter. Special thanks to Michelle, who made the lion (which Harrison LOVES).

It was a pretty good day for Matt and I too. In the anatomy lab where Matt's working, he was the only one among the TAs and students who could shed some light on a certain obterator artery. As for me, I saw some tiny baby quail and scored some shorts at Ross, which will help make this Phoenix summer more bearable. Pretty good, all around!

10 Weeks Old

2010-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

Favorite songs: Peace Train (Cat Stevens), Beautiful Boy (John Lennon), Prelude from Cello Suite no 1 (Bach)
Favorite word: ng-ah
Best tricks: Smiling; Reaching for and occasionally grabbing toys.

Quirks: Snorts when it's time to eat; Won't sleep in his bed during the day (he needs help falling asleep, and most of his naps are in his bouncer chair).

Last week was his 2 month checkup. He weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and measured 23.5 inches. Apparently that's pretty tall and very skinny. He's gained 2 lbs 6 oz and grown 3 inches since birth. I'm trying to fatten him up, but the more I feed him, the taller he gets!

Harrison and I have been in Utah for a week now. Matt's in Alabama for officer training. We miss him pretty bad. I do get to talk to him on the phone at least once a day. Whenever Harrison is awake when Matt calls, he gets to talk to his daddy. Here's Harrison right after one of these phone calls and just before bed.

I show Harrison Matt's picture everyday, and he smiles back at it. It's really sweet. We can't wait for him to get home!

The Harrison Show

2010-05-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

A few highlights from Harrison's first week

2010-04-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Matthew sometimes holds Harrison on his lap while he practices the piano. This time the baby spilled a little, uh, diaper juice on Daddy.

A common expression with this kid. He also has an adorable smile, but I haven't caught it on camera because he usually does it just as he's falling asleep.

Check out those long fingers! He also has really long feet, but none of the pictures I've taken of them have turned out well.

Another grumpy old man face:

My favorite picture of Harrison won't load here for some reason, but it's my Facebook profile picture, if anyone is interested.

We're in Love.

2010-03-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Meet Harrison Shadrach Crosby. More pictures to come soon.

Here He Comes!

2010-03-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

If I don't go into labor by Sunday night, my doctor's instructions are to call the hospital and set up an appointment to be induced on Monday! We're so excited for our little one to come!

March Begins

2010-03-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

Baby's due date is not for another three weeks, but at my appointment this morning, my doctor said he could come any time now. Like even before my next appointment a week from today. AAAAAAAAAK! We're really excited and really scared around here.

Here's what I look like today. All attempts at this picture ended up with my face looking weird, so please try to overlook that.

In other news, Matt did an awesome job in his second semester of medical school and is now enjoying a week off. We're having a staycation because I'd rather not go into labor on a long stretch of highway in some other state.

And finally, the book I plan to read for March is The Creative Habit. Read along if you'd like!

Hormones and Pathogens

2010-02-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't noticed many mood issues during my pregnancy. I've been pretty even-tempered the whole time, with the exception of a little breakdown during a game of Settlers of Catan over Christmas.

But this week, I watched a couple of Super Bowl ads online, and I cried in two of them. First, the Google Paris commercial:

The very last part with the baby giggle and the query about building a crib got me. Maybe that's not so unusual. I'm positive there are non-pregnant people who cried during that part too. But my tears in the Volkswagon Punch Dub commercial are a little more ridiculous:

Yep, during those 2.5 seconds when the woman in labor punches her husband and says "gray one," I thought, "Aww! She's having a baby too!" and the waterworks started.

But I've been very fortunate to have a pregnancy largely free of inconvenient symptoms and complications. And really blessed to have Matthew around for those times when problems arise. This week I caught a stomach bug, and what a guy - he set up a comfy, pillowy bed for me, held my hair while I knelt over the toilet, and came home from the store with Gatorade, Tylenol, and these lovely flowers. I was better in no time!

February's Book

2010-02-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry this announcement is a little late, but I'll be reading Kepler's Witch by James A. Connor this month. Let me know if you want to read along! Oh, and thanks for the suggestions. I'm trying to figure out which ones I want to read the most, and it's not easy!

I'll post next month's book earlier.

For the Brain

2010-01-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

I love to read fiction. Typically, when I have downtime for reading, I reach for a novel. So, when I made goals for the new year, one of the goals I made for my brain was to read at least one non-fiction book per month. I've got a tentative list in the works, and I'd be interested to hear suggestions as I make my final choices for the year. My book for January is The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball, but nothing else is set in stone. Some of these books are ones that we own that I've been meaning to get around to; some of them are ones I've read parts of but never finished. Some of them are embarrassing to admit I haven't read yet (mostly because I received them as gifts from my Dad a few years ago). Anyway, here are the semi-finalists:

1. I love words, and I love the Oxford English Dictionary. This book is about the writing of the OED. My dad gave me this book a few years ago, and it's about time I read it.

2.A yet-to-be-determined biography of one of my fave authors, George MacDonald (possibly the one in the picture below). MacDonald wrote The Princess and the Goblin and a lot of other great fairy tales and Christian fantasy.

3. I studied a little about the astronomer Johannes Kepler when I worked as a writer for a museum exhibit at BYU. He's well worth reading about because of his faith, his integrity, and his genius. I used bits of this book for my research, and it seems to be a great biography of Kepler.

4. This is another book my dad gave me a few years ago that I haven't read yet. The author is a former U.S. poet laureate and I'm excited to read it.

5. This one might be a little tough for me, since I've never taken a physics class, but I want to try it anyway.

6. Matt's reading something else by this author right now (Letters to a Young Conservative), and based on what Matt's read aloud to me, this is an author worth reading. Dinesh D'Souza grew up in India and moved to the U.S. as a teenager, and so he has a uniqe perspective on America. He's experienced in politics and higher education, and seems to be a witty writer. If anyone has a recommendation from the other side of the political spectrum (meaning written by a liberal) that's not too snooty or angry (I don't have much patience with partisanship in politics), I'd be interested to read it, too.

7. Terry Warner was one of my favorite professors in college. I'm embarrassed to admit that even though we have 2 copies of this book at our house, I've never read more than 2 chapters of it. Those 2 chapters were eye-opening, though. Everyone can stand to swallow their pride a little and admit there's room for improvement in their relationships, and that's what this book is about.

8. Just an astronomy book I picked up on sale. I don't really know if this particular book is any good, but I own it, and I like astronomy, and I think it's interesting to learn about how people have understood the universe throughout history.

9. This was assigned reading for a literary theory class I ended up dropping in college. But I kept the book because the idea of defining art as a gift rather than a commodity was interesting to me.

10. Fulfilling the Founding. This is an old textbook from my American Heritage class at BYU. That class was kind of all about how the United States came to be and how to preserve that legacy and be a good citizen. I think I've read more of this than the other books listed here, but I still think I should read it again/thoroughly sometime. There are several editions, and if anyone's interested, you can buy it for like $3 on Amazon. Mine is the 2001 edition by Heimburger, Latimer, and Pope.

11. I heard about this on the radio the other day, and it sounded really interesting. I think it focuses on the courtship of two young people from North Korea who eventually defected to South Korea. Anyway, I think this book would be an interesting way of learning about a part of the world I don't know much about.

12. I'm really, really, really interested in creativity, and one of my friends recommended this.

13. Brains are cool. Oliver Sacks is a neurologist whose clinical experiences the movie Awakenings is based on. He's also a really kind, gracious man.

14. Matt brought a copy of this to our family, and it looks really interesting to me.

15. A compilation of sermons about the Holy Ghost by Joseph Smith, James E. Talmage, Bruce R. McConkie, and several other LDS prophets, apostles, and theologians. The book also includes Joseph Smith's Lectures on Faith.

16. Something by Neal A. Maxwell (possibly Not My Will, but Thine or Whom the Lord Loveth).

If there are any books here I should definitely include in my final list of 11, let me know, and if there's anything missing that I must read, let me know that too. I'll post the final list when I figure it out. That way, if anyone wants to read along for one or more of the months, we'll be on the same page (heh, heh).

And speaking of good things for the brain, Matt's friend Scott told us about an awesome website, ted.com. If you were one of those people in college who enjoyed going to special lectures and forums, you'll love this website. And even if you weren't one of those people, you really should check it out. It's a bunch of videos of talks given by smart people on interesting topics. It's pretty cool.

For Emily, Abbie, Liz, and Whoever Else Is Interested,

2010-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my belly, taken a couple of days ago (at 31 weeks and 1 day).

Things are going well. I pre-registered at the hospital today. Every day, I wish for a cookie, a brownie, a piece of cake, or a donut. Some days I give in, some days I don't. But what do you do when you've just baked a batch of cookies because they sounded good, and then you find yourself with more cookies than will power?

The prize-winner for most unexpected current pregnancy symptom: achy joints in my hands. It must from swelling, but my hands don't really look swollen to me. Curious.

We miss you, Christmas break!

2010-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great time in Utah visiting with family and friends, and it was over too soon. I didn't take a lot of pictures, and most of the ones I do have are fuzzy, but I'm going to post them anyway. Some of the highlights include:

Christmas breakfast: Not picnic-style this year, and not cooked in the bathroom, but still prepared and eaten with love.
Midas received his first T-shirt.

A few of us went to the new Oquirrh Mountain temple. This is a prime example of our bad luck with pictures. After we were done at the temple, we drove away and turned around and went back specifically to take pictures, and this is the best we got. (Matthew REALLY loves the temple).

We even asked a passerby to take a picture for us, and ended up with several failed attempts from her as well. My favorite from her batch:

There were some great moments of the trip we didn't capture on film, but they were unforgettable. We got to talk to James on the phone. We played games a lot and went sledding a little, and we spent some time in Bear River with Hendricksons and Crosbys. We're so lucky to have such great families!

It's a . . .

2009-11-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

We're having a boy baby!

I had another ultrasound this morning, and he's definitely a he. It's so clear, it would be awkward to post the ultrasound picture. It caught us off guard--we both thought it was a girl--but we're excited! Matthew, of course, loves the name Shadrach. So far, I like Dean, Grant, Theodore, and Maxwell. Hopefully in the next 19 weeks we can come to an agreement on something.

Also, in anticipation of today's doctor's visit, I have been fantasizing about the doctor telling me I need to gain more weight and ordering me to eat more ice cream, cookies, and chocolate. But the truth I learned today is that I have gained twice as much as I should have since my last visit. Drat.

Notice Anything Different About Us?

2009-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

That's right! Matthew is a med student and I am a future community college English teacher!

Mother Knows

2009-08-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have a difficult time accepting unsolicited advice from my mom. It's like I'm still trying to prove, after 8 years of living away from home, that I'm independent, bright, capable of functioning on my own. Maybe it's a lingering echo of that phrase all toddlers master: "No! I do it!"

But sometimes, Mom's right. I have two case studies to illustrate.

1. Matthew, as everyone who knows him knows, is an exceptionally smart, hard-working guy. But for whatever reason, by mid-June, we still didn't know whether he was going to get in to medical school. We kept our fingers crossed for Midwestern, where he was on a waiting list. During that time, my mom called more than once to suggest that Matthew just go up to the admissions office and talk to them. Maybe a spot would open and they'd give it to him. I thought it was sort of silly, but I agreed to humor her and mention it to Matthew. Anyway, we went. Matt was in the admissions office for less than 5 minutes. We drove back to Mesa thinking, oh, well. And the next day, he was in.

2. I like to think that I would be a great employee for a variety of employers. And when I got my master's degree last summer, I assumed it was my ticket to a very enjoyable (if low-paying) job in a library, a school, a museum, or an organization involving books in some way. But I think the last time I even had an interview was in February. Mom's advice to me in this situation: You should call the community colleges and see if there are any positions. Sometimes, they might have something they haven't posted online yet. At the time, I thought, oh, Mom. You just don't understand the age of technology. If there was a job, they'd post it. Well, last week in church, somebody heard me say that I had degrees in English and and humanities, and said, "the community colleges need English teachers." "Really?" I said, "I've been checking the job postings and haven't seen anything..." She assured me I should just get in touch with the various department chairpeople. On Thursday I sent my info to three people. Within an hour I had an interview set up. This morning at the interview, the head of the English department at PVCC gave me the job.

So. . . thanks, Mom. Call again soon.

News

2009-07-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

In the few minutes of public library internet time I've got today, I'm just going to note some news in our lives.

In the past month and a half,

Matthew and Kathryn visited Eagar, where the sun is not so mean.

Kathryn picked up a fascination for gardening (it's still theoretical, though), read some books, and edited some others.

Matthew's work situation improved a little.

Matthew and Kathryn enrolled in an anatomy and physiology class together. Their final is on Friday - hooray!

Matthew and Kathryn moved to a lovely condo.

Matthew and Kathryn visited Utah, very briefly.

And finally, and most importantly,

Matthew got accepted to medical school at Midwestern University in Glendale!

I'm so proud of Matt. He's going to be a great doctor. We have a busy month ahead with another move and all the other preparations, but I'm going to try to savor this pre-med school time.

And one more thing: here come the summer thunderstorms!

More Than a Quarter Century

2009-05-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Matthew's birthday this weekend with family, friends, lots of good food, and some water.

"Water" was Matt's response when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday. I found out through some probing that he meant he wanted to play in a river or a lake, so we drove north to Fossil Creek and had a great afternoon of hiking and playing in the water. Matthew loves to jump off of things into water, and he loves to climb on things, so we were happy when we found a spot upstream that provided opportunities for both. Here is Matthew doing what he loves:

(After I watched Matthew jump a few times, I thought I might want to do it, so I climbed up, swam over, and clambered down to the edge of the waterfall. Then I stood there for a long time looking down, and finally, I turned around and retraced my steps. I was NOT too afraid to do it. I just decided I didn't want to, that's all.)

For lunch we split a bag of Jalapeno chips. It was a great day, and a great finish to a three-day celebration that included Frisbee, Grandma Crosby's delicious fried chicken, cheesecake, and our nieces Raylin and Lucy trying to learn how to walk. Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Relocated

2009-04-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

We don't have regular internet access these days, but I need to post for two reasons:

1) I'm a little embarrassed that my birthday post has been the most current thing on my blog for almost two months. I promise, I'm not trying to brainwash anyone into remembering my birthday next year or anything like that.

2) This morning, it rained, and that is newsworthy. Hallelujah!

P.S. We made it to Arizona. We could be here for four months or for four years.

(Any guesses about what the star with yellow beams shooting out of it is all about?)

Birthday!

2009-02-27T08:55:00.001-08:00

We kind of made a week of it, and I'm glad Matthew feels the same way about birthday week as I do, but to keep things simple, I'll just mention the highlights.

Last Tuesday was my Birthday Eve, so Matthew and I had a scrumptious dinner at Zupa's (another thing I'll really miss about Utah), followed by a delicious homemade birthday cake baked by my sister and a viewing of Back to the Future.

Wednesday was the big day, and it was a most beautiful birthday with a bright blue sky. Matt had the day off, so we went for a morning run, had a delicious breakfast of wheat waffles with strawberries and cream (a tradition in the Crosby family), and went cross-country skiing. Then we hung out with the Webelos at a bridge construction site for a little while before heading to Salt Lake City to have dinner with my family.

I ended up with a large pile of chocolate (especially when you figure in Valentine's Day a few days before and the M&Ms Matthew brought home from work for me earlier in the week -- in two unused urinalysis cups), plenty of flowers, some money with which to buy replacements for the unnatural number of my pants that have developed holes in the past few months, and lots of love and good memories. I wish I could have birthday week all the time!

And I must say that I love birthday cards! I know that store-bought cards were written by a Hallmark employee who knows nothing about me, but they still feel heartfelt to me, and the card my parents gave me made me feel good. In fact, I sometimes get a little teary when I read cards like that. I also received cards from both of Matthew's grandparents and a great homemade card from Dave, Jodi, Johnny, Melina, and the babies. Thanks for the love!

Employment

2009-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

At long last, a couple of Saturdays ago (on Valentine's Day, to be precise), I got a job offer! I will be working as a freelance developmental editor for a publishing company! It's a job I think I'll really like, and it will transfer with us wherever we go!

Then, two days later, I got a tip from a school friend that landed me another job offer! It worked out perfectly as a temporary research gig to keep me busy for a while until the paperwork for the editing job goes though, and the extra money will be just what we need to facilitate our move to Mesa in a few weeks. The project was all about China, and one of its side effects was to give me a really cool spy dream once last week.

It felt really good to be gainfully employed for a week and a half. Now I'm back to unemployment for a while until I'm officially hired on as an editor and my company starts sending me projects, but I am determined to make the most of it. I'm going to read, read, read all those books I've been meaning to get to (I have no idea why I haven't been doing this all along - what's wrong with me?), and I'm going to practice the piano and the guitar, and measure our furniture so we can use our vehicle space efficiently for the move.

Bored? Board!

2009-02-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was Matthew's day off, and serendipitously, it was also $1o Tuesday at Wolf Mountain. We had been wanting to go snowboarding with Tommy since before Christmas, and we picked a great day to do it. The snow was really good, and Matt and I only paid $33 for the two of us for 8 hours! Wahoo!

This was my first experience with powder, and I could not believe the difference it made. I've been snowboarding a couple of times, but the conditions were icy and rainy. Now I know that powder is preferable. Not only is it a lot of fun to ride on, but it's much more comfortable for beginners (aka: me) when they fall. The one downside of all that fluffy snow, in my limited experience, is it takes a lot more energy to get out of a pile of soft stuff than to simply stand up. It caused a minor problem for me when I fell about 7 times within a minute on a run directly below the lift. After a while I heard a voice from above call down to me, "just stand up and lean back!" Although that is what I had been trying to do for the past 60 seconds, I still appreciated his suggestion, because 1) it was encouraging, in all my exhaustion, to know that somebody was rooting for me, and 2) it gave me the opportunity to imagine what I looked like flopping around from a bird's eye view. Very entertaining.

And three cheers for my husband and my brother for being so patient with me. They did a great job of helping me learn. Tommy in particular was a great snowboarding teacher because he was very meticulous about making his student to the same thing over and over. And I think in spite of my slowness, the boys still got in some good runs and had a fun time. Now I can (sort of) carve, and I still managed to get a great quad workout from riding the heel edge of my board for the first half of the afternoon. Great day!

Soups

2009-02-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

It's time to share a couple of soup recipes we love. They are both fairly easy to make and scrumptious!

Vegetable Soup
I found this recipe at www.foodnetwork.com (the chef's name is Ellie Krieger), but I tried to find it the other day and couldn't. I changed the recipe a little anyway, so here's my version. I love this soup because the ingredients are so inexpensive, and it's hearty and delicious!

Saute
1/2 cup onion in
1 tablespoon olive oil.
Add:
1/2 cup cup celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots (I like add a little extra)
1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Let the vegetables soften a little. Then add:
2 cups broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, rinsed (mash half of the beans, and put the rest in whole).
Let the soup simmer for 10 or 15 minutes, then serve with a little grated cheese on top.

Chicken Noodle Soup
This is our variation of a recipe from Betty Crocker's Sunday Dinner Cookbook (thanks, Teresa!)
We've made it several times, and it may just find its way onto tonight's menu. This chicken noodle soup has a different flavor than any other I have tasted. I think the fresh parsley and the nutmeg deserve thanks for that.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 medium green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped carrots

Cook in a saucepan for about 4 minutes, until the carrots are halfway between crisp and tender.
Add:

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups egg noodles

Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes. YUM!

Matthew always puts some cheese on his soup. I don't think he eats soup any other way. (He loves me more than soup with cheese melted in it though. He told me so while we were dating.) It is delicious, but some people might argue that soup is better uncheesed, so that its intended flavor comes through. This is not the case with the vegetable soup. Cheese sprinkled on top is part of the recipe, and the snobbiest soup connoisseur will not regret including it.

Correction

2009-01-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

The discounted ticket price applies to tonight's and tomorrow's performances only. Discount prices range from $7.50 in the balcony to $13 up front.

A Shimmering Star in the Theatrical Firmament

2009-01-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

I'll be using this post to brag about my exceptionally talented little sister. Carolyn is a very entertaining performer. Her latest success is her performance as Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie at BYU. We saw it on Wednesday, and I must say she stole the show. For those of you who have seen the movie, the stage version (and Carolyn's interpretation, especially) of Mrs. Meers is at least 10 times as outrageous as the one in the movie. These pictures from BYU's press release illustrate my point. In fact, if you can imagine Mrs. Meers from the movie, but taller, and with a personality like Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove and a fake Chinese accent, you're getting close to the hilarity of Carolyn's character.

My favorite moment in the show, hands down, was the song "Mammy," sung by Mrs. Meers and the Chinese brothers (in both Chinese and English). It had hilarious vaudeville-style choreography. I'm telling you, I'm thinking of going again just for that number.

If anyone out there is in the area and wants to see the play, I'd suggest buying tickets immediately because they are heavily discounted right now, but the discount could go away anytime (as soon as they feel like they've sold enough tickets, I guess). If you can get them before it's too late, you'll only by paying $11 or $12 instead of $21. The show runs through Jan 31.

And if anyone out there is interested in seeing the lovely Carolyn perform in the future, never fear! I'll keep the blog updated with performances she's involved in in the future. She's played roles including a dancing napkin, an ugly step-sister, a raunchy innkeeper's wife, an elderly murder detective, a mother duck, a roulette table, a popular witch, a Russian secretary ... the list goes on, and everything she does, she does with pizazz. I can't wait to see what role she'll play next!

A Year

2009-01-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Matthew and I took a break from our colds and from preparing talks and a lesson for church to try out our cross-country skis (thanks Dad Crosby!) at Big Springs Park, a favorite place of mine. When we move, Provo Canyon is going to be high on the list of things I'll miss the most. What makes BSP so great for cross-country skiing is 1) 360 degree beautiful views, 2) the constant but gentle incline all the way up, which means you get 3) a fun cruise all the way back down to the parking lot. I'm still an amateur, which means I'm not good at making quick, sharp turns, which means I sometimes ditch in the snow rather than risk falling into the stream that crosses the trail a few times. We had a blast!

Matt pointed out to me the other day that January 18 (yesterday) is the first anniversary of the day we met. What a year! I always thought I'd need to marry someone I'd known for a couple of years. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be wrong!

Christmas Traditions

2008-12-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

One of the things I am looking forward to the most about Christmas tomorrow is our traditional picnic breakfast on Christmas morning. For the past five or so years, my siblings and I have gotten up early to make breakfast for the family. We do the cooking in the upstairs bathroom, and then we eat it on the floor in the room where Carolyn and I used to live. We chose the bathroom so that we could avoid mistakenly glimpsing the tree and presents before our parents were awake on our way to the kitchen downstairs. Usually the tradition involves sneaking the food, electric griddle, dishes, and silverware upstairs on Christmas Eve, and we always have fun trying to figure out how to keep the perishables cold. Last year, I hung a jug of milk out of Tommy’s bedroom window. On Christmas morning the biggest challenge is to keep the Midas puppy quiet while we cook. David insists that breakfast cooked in the bathroom is a little bit disgusting, but the rest of us fight passionately to keep the tradition alive. We will miss James, our expert omelet chef, this year, but I am eager to introduce Matthew to Christmas Picnic Breakfast. My stomach is growling at the thought of it!

Hooray for Christmas and time off from work! It is my first Christmas with my sweetheart, and I am delighted that we will get to spend it hanging out with my family, hanging out with his family, and listening to books on tape for 20 hours in the car.

Crosby Update: Episode 1, Or, the Horse, the Hunts, the Heater, The Host.

2008-12-19T23:04:00.000-08:00

Matt and I just had our three-month anniversary (our third lunaversary, I guess), and I thought I’d celebrate by writing about some of the adventures we’ve had together since then. We’ll call this episode one of the Crosby Update. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of everything we’ve done together. It is however, most of the things I could think of that begin with the letter ‘H.’

The Horse: Matthew and I spent part of our honeymoon at a guest ranch in the mountains of Arizona where he used to work as a horse wrangler. We had a lovely time there, and of course, we spent some time riding horses. The last day we were there, as a favor to the ranch managers, Matt volunteered the two of us to go out on horseback and round up the rest of the horses from pasture. I decided to ride Ocho, a horse I felt relatively comfortable riding, and we set off. He did a fairly good job for me up until the point where Matthew and I had all the horses rounded up against the gate leading out of the pasture, about a mile from the ranch. It was at that point that Ocho (I am grumbling and shaking my fist as I type his name) started being an idiot. He wanted to run with the horses, and he kept rearing up when I tried to rein him in. Finally, he just bolted through the gate and began running through the trees. (Matthew had turned for a minute to attend to some stubborn horses). The thoughts I had were these: This doesn’t seem safe. I can probably either 1) get clotheslined by one of these branches speeding by, 2) be thrown from this horse, or 3) fall off. I opted for falling off, partly because I was losing my grip anyhow. Unfortunately, as I leaned to the side in preparation to slide off, the darned horse rammed me into the trunk of a tree. What happened next? I fell to the ground, closed my eyes until the sound of hooves around me stopped, writhed around for a bit, and screamed for Matthew. The end of the story is this: Matthew came over, accidentally lost his horse, used his EMT skills to check me out, and called on Heaven for me. Then he carried me down the hill to the road, where a vacationing couple were providentially passing by. They, mercifully, had a cold ice pack and a roomy vehicle, and they took us back to the ranch. In the end, I was in a lot of pain, but still felt blissful to be married to such a guy as Matthew. I spent that evening at our open house greeting guests from the comfort of an armchair, and Matthew spent the next few weeks proving his love for me by picking me up out of bed when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, lifting me into and out of the car, etc. Matthew and I wonder: Will Ocho’s name be changed to Nueve now?

THE HUNTS refer to the hunt for extremely good deals on secondhand furniture on the internet and for perfect Christmas trees in the forests of Wyoming. The results were a set of kitchen chairs for $20, a beautiful whitewashed nine-drawer dresser for $65, and this tree, which cost only $10 and a close encounter with a motor home on black ice.

The Heater: We live in a cozy little apartment that we love, and one of the great blessings we’ve enjoyed is that we managed to get a deal with free utilities. The heater does a great job of keeping us warm. In fact, we always make sure to turn the thermostat all the way down before we go to sleep at night, so we don’t get too hot. One night, Matt remembered to turn it off just as we were dozing off for the night. He hopped up and took care of it, not bothering to turn on any lights, and we were out before another minute had passed. The next thing I knew, Matthew was kneeling at my side, nudging me awake, and I was terribly thirsty… and hot. Matthew had in fact turned the dial on the thermostat all the way, but in the wrong direction, so that our house was now 90 degrees. Matt had woken up and discovered the situation, then come back in to wake me up before he opened the door to our house, thus saving me from being startled awake by the sound only to discover my husband was missing. We had a great time cooling the house down and getting drinks of water before we went back to sleep.

THE HOST: One of our favorite things to do together is read, and The Host is the most recent book we’ve finished. Some others of the books we’ve experienced together include The Princess Bride, a couple of The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, and The Partner. Next up: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Three Months

2008-12-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

2008-11-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

Gifts to Be Gratefully Acknowledged

At Church last week, my Sunday School teacher read a remarkable quotation from Abraham Lincoln about Thanksgiving. It got me wondering about the history of the holiday. Here’s what I found:

On Sept 28, 1863, a magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale wrote a letter to President Lincoln urging him to revive and unify Thanksgiving celebrations by making it a nationally recognized holiday to be celebrated on a fixed day throughout the country. Less than a week after Hale’s letter was written, President Lincoln made a proclamation that established Thanksgiving as a national observance. It was exactly three months after the Battle of Gettysburg. With the country in the midst of war, the President listed blessings the country enjoyed. Then he called for gratitude, acknowledgement of past mistakes and sins, and remembrance of God and the unfortunate. Pretty amazing:

“In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, … peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict…

“No human counsel hath devised … these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that … they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation…”

Amen, Brother Lincoln.

You can read the entire proclamation here.

Viva Venezia

2008-06-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Since today is the day of rest and I will not be spending any time on my thesis (Hallelujah! - I'm always most thankful for the Sabbath at times of intense academic pressure), I thought I'd seize the opportunity to catch up on chronicling my time in Italy.

Venice. It's hard to describe Venice. Yes, it's completely crowded with tourists. No, there's not a whole lot to it besides the novelty of roads made of water and the get-your-ticket-stamped Piazza di San Marco. But still, Venice is magic. There's nothing like walking out of the train station and getting your first view bustling Grand Canal. And the side roads (really, canals and sidewalks) are completely charming. Even the hundreds of tourist shops are hard to resist - it's really fun to admire the blown glass and porcelain carnival masks. It has a really unique appeal.

It's weird to imagine people living their lives here, but they do. And I didn't realize it, but Venice is an island in the middle of a lagoon, and the city is sinking. Some of the houses have front steps that end in water, and it made me wonder if there were more steps submerged.
It's kind of otherworldly. You'll have to look close, but you can see in the picture below a couple of gondoliers in their cute little striped shirts and straw hats. Heidi and I did not take a ride - it's pretty pricey and neither of us had a sweetheart with us, but it was fun to see the gondolas.

Another thing that's magical about Venice is walking into St. Mark's square. The first view of the basilica is breathtaking. The photo doesn't do it justice. And I have to admit, although I think the pigeons are slightly disgusting, and I would never entice them to sit on me for a photo op like so many people in the square do, it wouldn't be the same without them. They're sort of lovable in all their diseasey grossness. Again, the picture doesn't do the building justice. It's amazing.

I actually visited St Mark's Basilica twice that day. It's an interesting experience because they try to maintain a respectful, even reverent atmosphere by asking the hundreds of tourists not to talk while they're inside and requiring all the women to cover their shoulders. But it was strange to see all of these Gentiles walking through, gawking, while at the same time on the other side of the ropes set up to guide traffic, groups of people were worshiping at mass. It also felt strange to me that there were various stairways and wings of the building you could go into - each with a separate admission price. Still, it was magnificent. Touring Venice is not easy on the neck because there is so much to look at above you. Here's a little prohibited photograph Heidi and I snapped inside the Basilica. We thought maybe it would be okay because it's not in the main part, but we were sternly told "No photo!" The artwork on the ceiling here depicts the story of Joseph in Egypt. It was cool. Heidi and I also went to the Doge's Palace, which is an eyeful. I think it was my favorite thing in Venice. It was just so opulent - ridiculously so. For hundreds of years it was the place where all of the government and political affairs were taken care of, and it's set up so that people whose business brought them there - like foreign officials - were led through increasingly extravagant and impressive rooms. It kind of makes you feel puny. One of my favorite rooms had maps covering the walls and the most enormous globes I've ever seen in the center of the room. Dad, I was wishing you could see it. One of the globes was the world, and the other was the zodiac.
Another of my favorite rooms was a beautiful, and again, enormous, ballroom (used for grand council meetings far more often than balls, I think). Pictures weren't allowed inside the palace, but they did let us point and shoot out the windows, so here's a view from the window of the ballroom looking across the courtyard.

Other points of interest at the Doge's Palace were 1) a museum of medieval weaponry and 2) the prison, which is attached to the palace by the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). It was pretty creepy in there. Anyhow, Heidi and I were thoroughly fascinated and delighted with the Doge's Palace, as you can see. If you're ever in Venice, don't miss it.

Other highlights of the trip were shopping for glass beads, being the victim of a hit and run by a pigeon, having gelato (twice) for dinner, and visiting another museum which featured Egyptian mummies, cool boat stuff, really old coins (we're talking over 2,000 years old), and a colossal foot (I don't know where the rest of him is).

A note on travel: We ran out of gas on the way to the bus stop that morning. With the strength of Hercules, Aunt Aleta pushed while I tried to steer the car off of the narrow and busy street, but not into a ditch. It was reminiscent of the time I almost killed Blaine on accident. After that it was smooth sailing. Heidi and I enjoyed the bus ride to the Vicenza train station, which was a lot like that bus ride in Harry Potter where the bus shrinks to fit between some trucks.

Word Vomit

2008-06-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Not a pretty image, is it? Well, writing a thesis is not a pretty job. I've never passed a kidney stone, but I suspect this might be comparable. Actually, I'm sort of glad it's so hard. Getting a master's degree wouldn't feel like as much of an accomplishment otherwise. I really do like hard work. Now all I need to do is give birth to and raise children sometime in my life, and I'll be able to stand next to all the farmers of the world without shame.

I am very relieved to report, however, that a portion of this hard work is now behind me. I finished chapter two today!

Porque él sabe

2008-06-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think this phrase means because he knows. (Thanks, Matthew!) Who is this he? James. And what does he know? The location of his missionary service for the next two years. Are you ready to know too? Drumroll, please . . . JamesE will be serving his mission in the Spanish-speaking land of El Salvador!

Congratulations, James! I'm so excited for you! (But I'm glad we get to keep you around until September)

Verona

2008-05-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Lots of Italian cities are a mix of the ancient and the modern. But visiting Verona, more than any of the other cities, is like taking a stroll though multiple centuries in succession. We visited Ancient Roman ruins, a thirteenth century castle, and a sixteenth/seventeenth century garden. And along the streets, interspersed with shops and boutiques, the likes of which you might see in New York or Chicago, were the centuries-old homes of Romeo and Juliet.

One of the first sites we stopped at was the Teatro Romano, where an early Christian monastery had been built on an around some ancient Roman ruins. The monastery now houses a museum full of Roman and Etruscan artifacts found in Verona and the surrounding areas from the first century BC through the seventh AD.

Next stop was my number one must-see for Verona: the Giusti Gardens. It was marvelous. This garden was designed to gently lead visitors on a seemingly random path that gradually leads higher and higher, to increasingly impressive views of the city, lending a sense of authority and influence to the family who lived in the villa you see in the background.
The path is sort of hidden so you can't see where it's going, and there are little alcoves and grottoes built into the landscape here and there. It's pretty cool. The stone dragon face you see looming over the stairway in the picture below used to spout fire from its mouth. These guys were all about wowing their guests.
There was also a labyrinth made of shrubbery in one part of the garden. Heidi and I decided to race to the center of the maze. Heidi won...
I came in second. One of the most delightful things about Verona is how everyone gets swept away with the idea of a Romeo and a Juliet having possibly lived there hundreds of years ago. As Heidi and I walked through the archway that leads from the modern shop-lined street into the courtyard of La Casa di Giulietta, we saw hundreds and hundreds of love messages (which apparently include "Bern + Aleta" a couple of times) graffiti-ed on the stone. Here's a view of the house with the famous balcony:

You can't tell from the picture, but there are mobs of people in the courtyard here, many of them waiting for their chance to have their picture taken next to a statue of Juliet. We managed to get a few snapped sans the many adolescent boys and girls surrounding it. As you can see from the highly polished areas, poor Juliet has been fondled to pieces. I think my favorite moment of the day was when a boy who looked about thirteen and sweet as can be took his turn next to the statue and hesitantly put his hand on Juliet's shoulder for about half a second before he decided he was too shy to do that and just clasped his hands in front of him for the picture.

Verona also boasts the final resting spot of Juliet. Here is the tomba di Giulietta:

So sad. Romeo's resting place is apparently somewhere else. Poor Juliet! (and poor Juliet's statue!) For the record, apparently Shakespeare based his play on a novel of sorts by a guy who reportedly used the Verona city chronicles as his source material.

Finally, we walked over to the colosseum on our way to the train station. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside because there was a KISS concert happening there that night. That explained all the black t-shirts and funny face paint we had been seeing all day.

Two other adventures from the day deserve mention. The first was Heidi and I realizing that we had eaten our lunch of smooshed sandwiches not in a nice friendly park, but in the favorite spot of the Verona homeless. We realized this as a man who looked extremely drunk or otherwise impaired started following us and calling out unintelligible things (unintelligible both from the foreign language and from the slurred speech).

The second involves traveling home (getting from place to place in Italy seems always to be an adventure). We had been feeling pretty good about ourselves after successfully riding the bus and the train and navigating our way around town all day, but we had a little mishap in the train station on the way home. It involved mistakenly getting on a train that was shutting down for the night, nearly getting locked on it, getting off with the help of the conductor, running back down to look at the screen to see if we could still catch our train, and running like mad to the right platform just in time to see our train pulling away. Instead of waiting an hour and a half for the next regional train, we hopped on a different train half an hour later that went where we needed to go, although it probably needed a different ticket because the fare was higher. Luckily we didn’t get kicked off. Whew!

2008-05-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad, and happy 29th birthday of the Hartvigsen family! Thanks for all you do - I love you!

Lago di Garda

2008-05-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

On mother's day, after attending church with the little English-speaking branch, Uncle Bern, Aunt Aleta, and I drove up to Lago di Garda, a lake in the Dolomite Mountains. One of the great things about traveling within Italy is the countryside is so beautiful. This part of Italy is full of cyprus and olive trees, vineyards, fields, hills, castles, and churches, and poppies that grow wild everywhere along the roads. The drive up to Lago di Garda had all of that, but it was unique because we drove through a canyon to get there, and the mountains seemed super tall on either side, and in the places where there weren't terraced vineyards and farms on the mountainsides, there was lots of spongy-looking green stuff. Here's one of the first views you get of the lake as you drive up (minus the girl who looks like she smells something funny).

Sometime around the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the Venetians decided they wanted control over the lake and the surrounding area (I don't remember who was in control before them), so they transported a fleet of boats up a river and over land. They finally entered from the valley you can see behind me.

The town we spent most of the afternoon in is down toward the southern end (we're on the northern end here, I think). It's called Malcesine (sounds like mal-cheh-see-neh).
Walking through the town is like walking into another century. It's so weird. As I was wandering around with Aunt Aleta, I probably said about 20 times, "this is weird. It's so cool. This town is so weird and cool." Have a look:

I'm not joking. This is how the whole village is. People live on streets that look like this, and there are shops on these streets. It's so weird! Surrounded by the town and right on the edge of the water is a Scaligeri Castle. It's a very old castle - in fact, there is an Etruscan tomb in one of the courtyards, but the Scaligeri family added some fortifications in the 14th century (this family had a lot of castles throughout the region - they were very powerful. You can tell it's a Scaligeri Castle by the unique shape of the battlements - it's supposed to be a swallow tail or something).

You can walk through the whole castle and there are gorgeous views from all over inside it. It's a very picturesque place.

The bell tower inside the castle was built higher and higher over the centuries, but somewhere along the way, there was a brilliant architect who provided this lovely picture window so that the tourists hundreds of years in the future could take a break from climbing the many flights of stairs and enjoy the scenery.
After we had thoroughly enjoyed the castle and town, we headed back to the north end of the lake, which is a bit more modern (Uncle Bern says on one of their previous trips to the lake they drove up a slot canyon and found several rustic, pastoral towns - the kind where sheep-herding is the main economic activity). This little area, on the other hand, has sort of a resort feel. There are some lake-side cafes in the picture behind me.
And this is unrelated, but facing the other way quirky little building. You may not be able to tell from the picture but the little house is right on a pier.

Anyhow, I think Lago di Garda is great. A+.
And before I finish, I know it's several days past Mother's Day, but I love you mom! I think you're A+ too.

Marostica and Asiago

2008-05-14T02:23:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind in chronicling my adventures. All I can say is touring is hard work! It sounds silly, but I'm really wiped out by the time I get home each day. This post will cover Marostica and Asiago, two towns within an hour of where the Vetters live that we visited on Saturday. Before I jump into the story of the day's explorations, I should explain that in this part of Italy, there are castles with walled cities everywhere! Like Uncle Bern says, something made these people pretty anxious to defend themselves back in the 1200s and 1300s. Hilltop castles dot the countryside. Marostica is just one of these medieval fortress cities. Here are a couple of views of it as we drove into town (you'll have to look closely in the second picture to see the upper castle on the hill in the background):

Most or all of the wall remains, and today there are little cafes and residences and shops inside the city wall. One thing that's unique about Marostica is that on even years in September, there is a big festival in the courtyard that faces the lower castle that features people dressing up and acting out a chess game on a life-sized chess board. I don't know how far back in history the tradition goes - I get the feeling it's a fairly recent invention for the sake of the tourists - but the stones in the piazza do resemble a chessboard, and I guess the analogy of medieval combat is appropriate. So here is a photo of the lower castle and one of Aunt Aleta and me playing chess (I'm a pawn, and I think she's a rook) we gave up when we realized our team only had two people and our opponent had none. I guess that means we won?

Inside the lower castle there were some cool frescoes. One of the funnest (most fun?) things about visiting old castles and villas is trying to decipher the frescoes, or what's left of them. Usually, they're paintings of the crucifixion or of the evangelists or the Good Shepherd or Madonna and Child, and it's fun to use what I know of artistic conventions and early Christian symbols to figure out who and what the paintings are about. Also inside the lower castle was this mantlepiece statue. A winged lion is sort of the coat of arms for Venice, so it's common to see statues or paintings like this all over the Veneto district. I think the reason for the choice of the winged lion is that it is also the early Christian symbol for St. Mark, who is very important in Venice (St. Mark's Basilica is one of the main attractions there, and his body is supposedly buried there). Anyway, I thought this was a really cool sculpture. The expression on the lion's face is really neat.
The church behind me in the next picture is a few hundred yards directly below the upper castle. There are a lot of churches in Italy, too. In fact, there is another church just to the right of where this picture was taken. Both churches were really pretty inside.

This picture of Heidi, Maddy, and me was taken from the upper castle. The view up there was spectacular! This is a strategic place for a castle if you like enjoying beautiful scenery, and if you want to keep tabs on the peasants below and watch for enemies coming from the neighboring kingdom. Before we headed off to our next destination we paused for some gelato. This picture captures my first gelato experience, and it was a good one. I'm not sure what flavor it was because the name was in Italian, but it was some kind of white flavor with soft chunks of chocolate in it - yum! Heidi says that this gelato was nothing compared to what we'll get in other places (and admittedly, it didn't knock my socks off - Sweet Cream from Cold Stone ranks higher for me), but it was still pretty darn good.

Then we got on the road again and drove through a lovely and precarious mountain pass toward Asiago, of cheese fame (David, I was thinking of you, and wishing you could see the town). Aunt Aleta says that visiting Asiago is like visiting Austria, and the architecture and meadows did have an Alps-ish feel. We didn't spend a lot of time in the town, but we wandered up to the Church in time for Saturday evening mass, and we wanted to go in and see if there were any singers we could listen to. This stained glass window reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, and I really wanted a picture. Unfortunately, it was right above an altar and some kind of important relic, so as people were coming in for mass, they kept stopping here and crossing themselves, which made it very difficult to take the picture discreetly. My picture did not turn out, because I chickened out halfway through and pulled the camera away. Luckily, Heidi was able to snap this one, but not before she got some dirty looks from the locals. So now I'm sort of ashamed, but here's the picture anyway.
This is just a pretty little fountain just outside the church. It has lots of statues of woodland and mythical creatures decorating it. Picture the White Witch's castle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where the witch showcases all the little Narnians she's turned into statues. The capstone piece is a satyr riding a stag, so if you look closely you should be able to count six hoofs, which I think is a bit excessive. The pic below the fountain is this cool triumphal-arch looking thing on the upper edge of town. We don't know what it is, but it was cool, so here it is.

For me, the best part about Asiago was the pretty meadows that make up the countryside outside the town. I caught these pictures by sticking the camera out the window as we were driving home. Ah, beautiful Italy!
I just have a few more things to say, if anyone out there is still reading. I think my favorite thing I saw today (maybe tied with the Alpine meadows) was a classic Italian scene on the way down from the upper castle at Marostica. It was just a typical pretty yellow Italian house with flowers spilling out of all the windows and an old married couple sitting on the front steps.
Two things I learned about Italians: 1) They know how to have a good time. In Marostica we passed by a couple of groups of people - one army reunion, and one wedding party - where the people were all just sitting at tables outside, singing and laughing together (and drinking a little too, I think). I get the feeling that they really like just getting together and enjoying each other. 2) They are crazy drivers. Well, they might not seem crazy if they were driving the exact same way in America, but the problem is that the roads here are so dang narrow and twisty. It does nothing for people who have a hard time managing stress.
One last thing: I'm grateful that I'm not lactose intolerant.

Posso videre la villa?

2008-05-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

We've had some trouble with cars, and haven't gotten out to visit some of the towns we're planning on seeing, so Heidi, baby Maddy, and I took a little tour of the neighborhood last night. About a quarter mile up the road is Villa Tacchi, the 500-year-old center of Vilalta. Now it's used as a reception center/hotel, so we went inside and I said, "posso videre la villa?" (possible to see the villa?) The guy blinked a couple of times and looked a little confused, and then said "si, si." So maybe I used a weird grammatical construction, or maybe I had something in my teeth, but he got the gist of what we wanted and let us wander around. Here are a few pictures of the grounds:

Here's a little of Maddy, who's a city baby, enjoying the wide-open spaces and the smells and sounds of the Italian countryside.

And here are a few more pictures of the immediate neighborhood. The building to the right of the church in the last picture is the Vetter's house.

jogging in Italy - part 1

2008-05-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn’t go for a run yesterday. I woke up around 9:30 after a refreshing 11 hours of sleep, and started to try to figure out how to leave the house without locking myself out. After a while I realized that the door from the bathroom (Aunt Aleta calls it the escape hatch) didn’t have lock, and that I could put the handle in a position where it wasn’t even latched.

So I got excited and got dressed and put my running shoes on. Then I opened the door and ducked under the blind and found myself standing on a three by four foot alcove in the middle of the roof! So then I just gave up and showered.

Aunt Aleta has since instructed me on how to get into the house with the spare key which sticks in the lock. On related note, I have repeatedly locked myself in the bathroom on accident, and we all know now that the "escape hatch" is no more than a red herring. And finally, I should report that I did not run this morning either. The reasons for that are the church bells and jet lag.

Italian Villa

2008-05-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

I’m in my temporary place for the next two weeks. I just listened to the Church bells chime the hour. First they rang nine times, and then another set of bells chimed about 30 times. Five minutes later, I heard the bells chime nine times again. I love it. There is a Church right across the street from my open window. I don’t know who else is chiming. There’s a little chapel at the villa around the corner, so maybe that’s one of the culprits. Aunt Aleta and Uncle Bern live in a little town called Vilalta, which is near Vicenza, about an hour from Venice. This area especially is kind of an agricultural community. It’s beautiful. Here’re a couple of pictures I took on the way to the Vetter home:

So this is the neighborhood. I think I’m falling in love. I can’t imagine a more perfect place to stay in Italy. I want to go for a run in the morning. For now, it feels good to finally be clean, and I’m going to have a great sleep tonight, I’m sure. Jet lag - who, me?

Welcome to my blog!

2008-05-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

As my life will very likely get boring in another couple of months, I thought I'd start this little blog (thanks also to Heidi's powers of persuasion) while something interesting is going on. Watch for posts coming soon about my current Italian adventure...