A boat on the lake

We were invited to spend the day on Lake Monroe by some of our Bloomington friends yesterday. They had hired a double decker pontoon from 7am to 7pm and we made use of it for at least 10 of those hours.  We've been to Lake Monroe before, it's only a 15 minute drive from here, but the shore isn't such a nice place to swim as it's kind of muddy and flotsam collects in the shallow areas. 
 

It was a happy day.  We'd drive on the lake for a bit, float around the boat a bit, drive some more, eat, float some more.  Like a mini vacation, a day at the beach, except we were on the water.  Half way through the day we picked up a tire that we could pull behind the boat.  Pontoons aren't super fast so it wasn't too much of a thrill ride but we could try different tricks, like standing and catching the boat's wake waves. 

We got home happy, sunburnt, and tired, our smile muscles aching.  Jbird was asleep within 20 minutes. I think it may have been the most fun I've had in B'ton.  But it's back to the books for me today.

Boggle

As a treat for not procrastinating, Jbird and I have been playing a few rounds of boggle.  The rules are: there's no timer, acronyms are words, we don't keep score, we look up the words we're not sure about to learn them.  We used to play games and games of text twist when we were dating, I suppose it's nearly the same game but without a computer.  It's one nice thing about working at home and having your hubby around while he's on summer vacation.

Who doesn't love free stuff?

Jbird and I certainly do.  On a Sweet Free Stuff note, we have been going into Bluboy Chocolate Cafe and Cakery to get their free mystery cupcake.  I think they're trying to get people into their store over summer while town is quiet.  Unfortunately, we eat the cupcake and leave without making a purchase.  However, I'm sure we'll talk about their cupcakes to others so in a sense they're at least getting free advertising.  They advertise the mystery cupcake on a social network site* which Jbird is signed up to. If you go in and know it's name and there are any left, you become a lucky recipient of a free cupcake.  Today's was Thai Tiger.  Chocolate cake base with Thai green tea buttercream frosting and dark chocolate dribbles.  It was a decadent reason to get out of the house and go on a midday date with my man.

Today cupcake reminded us of Godiva's monthly free chocolate - there was a Godiva in Baltimore but none here.  It seems like such a small gift but I enjoyed mine every month and enjoyed their fancy seasonal creations.  If you're near a Godiva, I suggest you pop in and find out if you can sign up.

*I won't name names, I've advertised them enough recently for someone who is supposedly not an advocate.  Obviously in this case, I have to bite my tongue and take the free stuff advertised.

Crazy internet usage

I have previously briefly described my journey surrounding closing my facebook account.  This week I read an interesting article about internet addiction.  I'm not sure how hyperbolic the author is but, offering several citations to back his thesis, he points at all of us as addicts.  Are you an addict?  Do you use the internet 35+ hours a week?  I use the computer that much at least, and the internet comes hand in hand with computer use these days.  The author talks about the dopamine* we get each time we interact.  He describes the changes in our brains the more we use it, which are supposedly looking more like drug and alcohol addicts' brains. 

My friend and I were discussing how it can be hard to even watch a whole movie without checking facebook or our email account during lulls in the story lines.  Since I closed my fb account, I've been trying to do one thing at a time and I think I've been semi-successful.  My addiction to the internet hasn't exactly gone away though, I don't think.  It might depend on how tired I am.  Today I'm really tired, and it's easy to surf, hard to get onto some real work.

I'm planning to limit more than just facebook from now on.  I'm not sure how to do this, though, as I work on the computer most of the day.  I might turn off the internet on my computer while I'm working, giving myself particular hours of the days when I have it on.  At the very least, I want to become more focussed in my use, less likely to dawdle through favourite spots.  Best intentions, anyway.

*a natural drug which gives us happy feelings

Swimming in Michigan Lake

On the way to and from Kalamazoo, we stopped at Lake Michigan which is one of the great lakes.  It was GREAT.  I mean, I've been told they're big lakes, but they're really big.  We couldn't hope to see the other side of it.  From one spot in Northern Indiana, we could make out Chicago to the west.  One day we'll really visit that city.  

It was amazing to be swimming in a large mass of moving, breathing water again.  It felt a little bit like home with waves and everything.  Unfortunately, we were charged to enjoy this luxury.  Eight dollars on the Michigan side and five on the Indiana side because we are residents - at least, Jbird has an Indiana driver's licence.  That was very much unlike home.  We did find a spot to swim in in a residential neighbourhood which was free, but it wasn't quite as nice as the pay per car places so we sucked it up and paid.  How many times will we sit on the shores of a great lake, after all?  There's far too much to see in America to expect to do it very often.

A better description

I have to apologise for yesterday's post.  I was very, very tired and my brain couldn't think clearly.  I don't think I gave a worthy description of the wedding so I will today.  

We had pastries and custard for breakfast.  The custard was baked the night before, a northern tradition. The three host sisters agreed this was a breakfast fit for Christmas morning.  We spent the day out on the lake, Jbird went water-skiing behind a jetski.  And he rode the jetski.  The boys played frisbee football.  I think it might have been Jbird's perfect kind of day.  The ceremony itself was very very simple - nine minutes long, conducted in the living room.  There was a little wee flower girl with chubby chubby legs who sat very quietly when she needed to and stole the show afterwards with her cuteness. I was completely under dressed.   The bride didn't know she had a bouquet so she didn't hold it but it was pretty in the photos.  They opened a few presents.   We toasted with champagne.  We had wedding cake(s), huge American-sized (beef) steaks on the grill, and smores around a campfire.  The other cake (the one I didn't make) was a creamy mocha chocolate creation and dedicated to both the wedding couple and a sister who was having a birthday.   It was a great way to have a wedding.  If only the groom's entire family could have been there, it would have been perfect. 

I wore white to the wedding

We arrived back late last night, tired and sunburnt.  I wonder if you could tell from some posts last week that I wasn't exactly looking forward to our trip to Michigan.  I don't like not knowing what to expect and I hadn't known what to expect.  So much so that I put no thought at all into what I would wear to the ceremony when I was packing.  I ended up in an everyday outfit.  It was white.  The bride hadn't thought she'd wear white but she did.  Woops.  Oh well, I'm not in many photos.  I hope.  All three kiwis wore shorts and bare feet, the groom included, although his shorts were very smart.

Skyping the wedding to New Zealand didn't work, the screen froze on an image of  the ceiling and somebody's forehead.  I expected this of skype so Jbird also filmed it and will edit together a video to send home.  He makes nice videos.  

The fruitcake turned out great.  I think it was one of the best I've ever made and am thankful I bought cake flour.  I was informed that in the US, the grooms' cake was traditionally a fruit cake, so it wasn't so unusual after all.  It wasn't pretty but it was enjoyed.

Living, breathing green

Our garden is an alive mass of green.  It's hard to tell where one plant ends and another begins.  Long gone are the days when I carefully step around seedlings.  The courgette remains the largest contender for space but the melons - water and cantaloupe - are starting to compete, with tiny little fruit showing up on tendrils.  I'm still determined to have something to show for our efforts and have starting netting individual vegetables and fruit, hoping to deter a clumsy bunny, though I'd rather not entangle them.

Our thin bamboo stakes are no longer strong enough so I had Jbird fashion some stronger ones out of timber from an old crate.  There is so much fruit on each tomato tree, they had all fallen on top of one another and were beginning to spread over the footpath.  Every time I go outside, I stake another tomato branch and have begun to discover some really big guys waiting to ripen.  I heard it takes 65 days from flower to red tomato.  It feels so long to wait and to protect from visiting wildlife.  The canning is going to be out of control when those days come.

Yet another grumper of a day

I had an inexplicably grumpy day yesterday.  I was a fire breathing dragon, ready to flame.*  Nothing felt right or good.  Perhaps it was the Weird Muggy Weather - my frizzy hair certainly noticed it.  Or the feeling like I am writing the Essay That Will Never End.  Or the Looming Wedding which I want to feel excited about but am finding it hard to.  Poor Jbird felt the flames when I discovered him enjoying some watermelon I'd mentally intended to take to a someone's for dinner.  For me, it felt like the end of the world.  

I'm glad today is a new day, bright and fresh, and Jbird seems happy enough to let me make amends.  I'll buy more watermelon, darling, I'm sorry for snapping - though I know you heard about more than just the watermelon. 

* Speaking of fire breathing dragons, I cannot wait for the return of Game of Thrones.  The dragons were my very favourite.

Heads and tails of American politics

Without a t.v., access to a decent paper, or even a radio, it was hard for me to learn about politics here.  I barely followed the current affairs - unless it was a big enough deal to affect me.  This year we bought a kitchen radio and I slowly started to follow stories I heard on it from the news or other talk shows.  In the last two months, I have been watching John Stewart's Daily Show.  Things I hear about on the radio and had thought ridiculous - like the massive cat fights during the primary elections - are pointed out and made fun of. Three years ago, he wouldn't have made any sense to me at all.  I'm slowly assimilating to the ways of the people.

The illicit cake

The thing is, I haven't asked the happy couple if they'd like a cake, nor have I been invited to bake one.  I'm just baking it and taking it.  I figure it may not be the Wedding Cake.  It certainly won't be iced in any kind of fancy way.  It may not even be liked by many people - I've only met two Americans who like fruit cake and they are in their 70s.  But Andy will like it.  He will eat a good portion of it.  And it's for him.

While I was looking for ingredients, I also wanted to find a proper cake tin.  Preferably spring-form.  Though Target ended up having all the ingredients I settled on, I had a feeling that $20 was more than I needed to pay for a tin.  At K-mart they were $10 but I still wanted to find a lower price.  America is great for deals and I wanted mine.  So I asked some friends to take me to Walmart.  Low and behold, I found three for $10.  !!! 

I'm still nervous about baking New Zealand recipes with American flour so I bought cake flour.  Instead of using measuring cups, I weighed it.  In fact, for the first time, and on Julia Child's advice, I weighed all my ingredients.  This cake is for a wedding, after all, even if it is an illicit cake for an unexpected wedding, it should still be as good as possible.  Of course, it won't have six weeks to mature but Jbird suggests I spend the week aggressively soaking it in rum to make up for it.  

It will bake for three hours at 300 degree Fahrenheit.  It's a tricky medium, I don't want to burn the edges, dry it out, OR leave it uncooked in the middle.  But I have two layers of brown paper and then baking paper thickening up the edges to help slow the outside down.  There are many intricacies to consider every time I do this.

A midyear fruit cake

I know we revisit this topic often but my brother's favourite cake is fruit cake.  I mean all-time favourite.  When we were flatting together, he once bought a Christmas pudding thinking it would be like fruit cake.  I remember him coming home from the supermarket with all grocery shopping really really pleased with himself.  Look at what I got, Anna, one kilogram of fruit cake! And it only cost a dollar!  School had started so it must have been February and the supermarkets were trying to get rid of their Christmas stock.  I pointed out to him that it wasn't actually fruit cake, it was Christmas pudding.  He told me they were the same and asked if I would like some.  I declined.  In my opinion, Christmas pudding is the worst idea known to man kind.  Well, it's a close second to trifle.  Ew.  He ate quite a bit of it that night and was sick the next day. 

In her absence, my mother has asked me to bake him a fruit cake.  Yesterday I went around to all the stores near us looking for the ingredients.  Red glacé cherries were not available, nor were currants.  I have made do with the small amount of mixed cherry stuff I had left over from Christmas, orange peel, yellow raisins, brown raisins, cranberries, and slivered almonds.  I couldn't find blanched almonds so I blanched them myself and picked out all the peel by hand.  Jbird called it a special kind of torture.   If you ask me, yellow raisins are nothing like sultanas.  Nothing.  They're just a different coloured raisin.  Perhaps if they don't add to the flavour, they'll add to the aesthetics.  I thought about adding dried strawberries but things were getting a little bit pricey by then. 

I have those puppies soaking in a mixture of marmalade, brandy, and lemon juice and I'll bake the cake tomorrow. 

An unexpected expected wedding

My brother is getting married in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Saturday.  Surprised?  Me too.  We've been waiting to hear the date for a while but we all thought there would be more time than a week to prepare.  Unfortunately, it means my family will not be able to attend.  Instead, they will view it via the amazing faculties of the interweb. I was selfishly looking forward to their physical visit as I would have been able to show them around our little town too, but I'm trying to be grown up about it all and enjoy the celebration.  It's amazing really, our friends told us they could lend us their car next week.  I thought: oh well, we're really too busy to make use of it but we won't say no.  Then my brother told us we could visit that weekend.  Then he told us it would be for their wedding.  So it has worked out well - for us, at least.  I'm sure there will be more wedding related posts to come.

On the birds and the bees and a bunny

I have been inspecting these pollinators, busy at their work in our garden.  Have you ever sat and watched a bee busily dig in to a blossom?  Their legs slip as they struggle to grasp the surrounding petals and maintain a good hold.  My favourite visitor is a little yellow bird.  It sits on top of the wobbly sunflowers, eating the seeds and checking out the view.  Delicate and pretty. 

Sadly, a bunny has found our courgette crop and the only way I can rescue them for our dinner is by picking them when they're still tiny.  Sweet and yummy, but not the crop I was hoping for.  

Only questions, no answers

Disclaimer: this post was not intended to hurt anybody, it is merely a reflection of some recent thoughts I have had.  They have grown from the study I am doing regarding critical pedagogy.  The personal history stands on memory alone, it may be inaccurate. 

On a discussion forum recently, I tried participating as a Pakeha amongst Māori regarding bicultural discrimination.  In this discussion, though it was online, I sensed myself as ‘other’ by the silence of my peers in response to my comments.  I shared my personal history with Māori kōrero: an eagerness to learn to speak at school which couldn’t be fully realised.  I only heard kōrero during Māori class and snippets as part of media or at meetings.  It was not enough to fully gain it, I needed to practice and have more immersion so I ended up giving up up after 5^th form (15 years old).  My Grandparents were anti us learning it at school and our parents suggested we try not to bring it up when we visited him.  If it came up at their house, we heard negative, largely racist thoughts.  Yet my Poppa was involved in his local Marae, often attending various important functions, I was told he was respected there.  My father had Māori friends when he was at school, his best man was Māori.   As an adult and teacher, I continue to feel distant from Māori, incapable of giving the kōrero and culture its full deserve in the classroom, feeling like an outsider.
  

I have begun to wonder about my grandfather’s attitude.  I would like to know what he saw at school.  Were Māori children allowed to speak Māori at school in that generation?  Did they even try to any more?  I’m almost positive they wouldn’t have been allowed, it had been forbidden early on in NZ school's history and there had been no reason to change that yet.  What questions did he have as a child that were silenced by corporate punishment, teachers at his school, and people close to him?  He was such a loving man.  Did he love without questioning the way things were?  Did he grow tired of questioning? Or did he not realise he had questions? 

I also wonder about people who appear to have lost - or never found - their Māori culture, including Jbird.  He had no desire to learn Māori at school, he could not see it as beneficial in any way.  Yet he is enough Māori to gain a scholarship at university for his heritage.  Where did his culture go?  His great great grandmother was full Māori, family photos show her with a moko in amongst only Pakeha.  Was that the deal, that she silence her culture to marry a Pakeha? Or was it already silenced?

 

Pakeha - White New Zealander

Māori - indigenous people of New Zealand

Kōrero - language

Marae - meeting house 

Moko - tribal tattoo

Control freak...

...I am one, have you noticed?  I think it helps me feel that I have power over my life here.  I measure what I eat, how long I sleep, how often I socialise, the hours I spend studying, the amount of bible study I do, and my leisure time.  And I like it.  I tell myself my boundaries are all in perfect order and that's what makes me happy.  Jbird is a more happy go-lucky, carefree kind of person, and we often come into conflict when he wants to throw something unexpected into the mix.  I'm a pretty powerful opponent and I often/sometimes get my way. 

This passed weekend I let myself loose and somehow I felt normal, less stressed out.  I let myself enjoy spending time with some different people, and found myself relating to them on lots of levels.  Oh, and there were some stellar cooking-in-the-kitchen moments.  Life didn't feel like a struggle, in fact it was easy.  I didn't feel far from home, instead, I felt at home.  The problem was that I wanted to live every minute of it so I over did it.  Three late nights followed by early mornings, and I have to admit that I succumbed to an afternoon rest yesterday afternoon.

Oh, the glory of it.  And the guilt I felt on waking.

Heat Wave

I have holed myself up in our apartment.  Leaving it seems insane as the heat is such that I fear melting.  I quickly lose capability for clear thinking and so have set the AC at a humid 83 degrees.  Better than 102, less expensive than 68, my brain is mush above 85: the fine line.  

Outdoors, sweat appears instantly on my skin. The now solar-heated pool provides little comfort, and the garden wilts under the bright rays.   Only the sunflowers are happy, beaming from their awkward slant, reaching for the sun.

Life as it is goes on within a two-room box.  Perhaps staying in-doors will also be insanity.

* I wrote this after 2 weeks of very hot weather but it did rain briefly yet torrentially yesterday.  I'm very glad for my garden. 

Our first out of town visitor

Did you ever hear of someone you thought you should meet but the opportunity never happened?  While living in Bangladesh, there were a few New Zealanders around, many of them lived on my side of town.  There was one family, however, who lived over in Old Dhaka*, whom I somehow never met.  People would visit "the Kiwis in Old Dhaka" after church, or talk about seeing them at a conference.  

It turns out the world is small and when their eldest daughter moved to Baltimore a few years later to start her PhD at Johns Hopkins Uni, some complicated events took place, and we finally met.  Now, she is one of only a few Kiwi friends on this expansive continent and we were very happy to hear she would be popping by for a quick visit during her summer vacation.  

Quick it was: two nights and a day.  In that short time I easily managed to use up my quota of words for the next month at least.  I was worried the heat would ruin the visit but we made do, taking a pre-heat, early morning tour of Bloomington by bike.  It gave us an excuse to try out three new popsicle recipes.  We swam a lot too, even convincing Jbird to go night swimming with us which is an unheard of treat.  She managed to win four games of Carcassone.

America(ns), you're great and I love getting to know you, but I also enjoy having the occasional Kiwi to debrief slight cultural oddities with, our own included. 

*this wiki description fails to depict the crazy hustle and bustle of that ancient city.

Post script on a trip

I don't really know where to begin to describe our trip.  It was hot, the music was great, we had everything we needed for comfort while we were camping.  One highlight was making it to one of the fiddle workshops led by three pros.  They played the Tennessee Waltz together - I wish I had recorded it, it was so beautiful. 

Crossing country to Berea, KY, was fun.  It was a short drive but we managed to make it last all day, stopping on the way for Bourbon tasting at the Jim Beam distillery.  The hotel was gorgeous, everything I wanted and more.  The town itself had some lovely crafts made by the college kids.  The college in Berea is free but the students work for ten hours or so every week to pay their tuition. 

Now we're back and things couldn't be busier.

236 Years Later

It's my first Independence Day in America and we're going to a cook-out at our friends' tonight to celebrate.  We're having ribs.  Yum.  Remember that scene in the opening song of the Flintstones where Fred gets (dinosaur) ribs at the drive-thru and their car topples over?  Well, they won't be that big but they'll be close.  Thank you America: for knowing meat.  I'm taking Strawberry Shortcake as it feels like such a summery, picnic-type dessert.  

Unfortunately the weather has been so dry that people are being strongly advised not to use fireworks - the words fire ban have been thrown around.  The grass has turned to hay so I'm not surprised.  I hear the fireworks people are suing - I'm not exactly sure who - and only the State can make the fire ban a law, which they haven't yet. 

Making the most of surface area

I finished another literature review today, with just a search for 65 unnecessary words remaining, and I celebrated with a pleasant hour in our garden.  After the usual watering, weeding, and pest control - netting, mole spray, and picking off fungi-ridden leaves - I could finally create my succulent garden.  

Do you remember my plan to bring a bunch of succulents here from New Zealand?  I was sure if they would get through customs so I didn't end up risking it.  Since then, I have been on the hunt and will nab some babies or break off a branch any time I see one at a friend's place.  That makes it sound more prolific than it is, I only have four different types, including one aloe vera.  I have noticed they grow beautifully if they are watered every time their soil is dry and they have a nice sunny spot.  I've also decided soil quality is not such an issue and have seen them growing in only two centimetres (one inch) of soil, with no drainage.  So I put some soil in the ceramic saucer that would normally catch water beneath a pot plant.  I've arranged them like a tiny miniature dessert scene scape and they should look quite nice on our coffee table.  I didn't want a high pot taking up a lot of room.  I'm pretty happy with my effort, though I may look out for a nicer looking shallow container.  I've already saved $40 by making this one myself.

A Yummy Burger

Our summer dinner repertoire is in full swing and my favourite is still home made burgers.  Because we borrowed a Coleman two burner, I've been setting up our make shift patio and we grill 'em on the cast iron outside.  Our house is far less smoky which makes Jbird happy.  

Tonight I put some hot sauce in the burger patty - along with the usual of cayenne, worchestershire sauce, onion, bread crumbs, salt, pepper - and laid down four large basil leaves over it.  There's something about different flavours to bring old favourites back to life. 

We're chasing our tails to stay afloat

This month is proving to be a crazy busy month for both Jbird and I.   Him especially.  He started an early music history summer school class three weeks ago: 8am classes, five days a week for two months.  To receive the scholarship, he has to accompany for two studios.  He is also a day counsellor and a practice couch for the piano academy summer school and an accompanist for a teacher at the string academy summer school.  The two accompanying gigs require rehearsals.  Scheduling it all in is proving to be a nightmare, I don't know how he's doing it.  If you asked him, he'd probably say: a day at a time.  Jbird is a whizz at taking things a day at a time.  I prefer a little bit more structure in my life.

The piano and string summer schools will only be for a couple more weeks and we will both breath a little bit more easily.