Still waiting for the bus

While we are currently slightly busy with end-of-semester shenanigans, allow us to share a fun tidbit from a previous expedition: we're on Google Earth! Actually, if you relied on Google Earth and not this blog for updates regarding our whereabouts, you'd be liable to think we are perpetually waiting for a bus on the island of Laeso, Denmark.

If you want to see for yourself, look up Laeso on Google Earth. We can be seen modeling Danish public transportation at 57 degrees 16.794' N and 10 degrees 56.147'E (Elevation: 7m), or along Vestero Havnegade, near the intersection with Kanderedevej.

Making the garden cozy for the winter...

The time of year has come when the temperatures drops to the low 30s and frosts at night. And as New England weather becomes quite unpredictable, a small group of community garden stewards headed to the garden on a chilly Saturday afternoon to prep the garden for the winter for what may very likely be the last time for the season!

Along with some composting, sheet-mulching, rain-barrel draining, shed-tidying, and camaraderie, we planted what we estimated (by crude measures after the fact) to be about 600-800 cloves of beautiful Red Russian garlic to be harvested into 600-800 heads of garlic next summer! Magic!

With the onset of winter, our garden looks cozy. Hopefully you're enjoying the coziness that this season affords, too.

Miss Rissa Roo

It appears that our blog is being looked at by more people than we thought! (Please leave comments to say hello and keep in touch, whoever you are out there!) In light of the discovery, we will try to be better about posting. This time of semester does not lend itself to heaps of adventures or travel, but a quick post is certainly doable.

Tonight, after a long day of teaching labs, I think about coming home to a cuddly pooch. I dug out some older photos of Clarissa, a cuddly pooch very near and dear to many, and who provided endless joy to me and surely others. For those who don't know, I helped to train and raise Clarissa together with a friend in college for the program "Guiding Eyes for the Blind." It was an amazing experience, and though she passed her test at the completion of the first stage of the program, it was discovered that she had relatively severe cataracts (the irony!). In the end, she was adopted by a lovely little family in Ossining, NY where she currently resides.

Here she is as a tiny pup, and as an adventurous boating pup! Enjoy!

We diplomats disarm you with our smiles...and treaties!

Heh heh heh...I thought of that punny little title myself. Seriously, though, while I haven't posted much about it on here, my past several months as a legal adviser/diplomatic intern (for climate change and sustainable development issues) with the Mission of Grenada to the UN have been fascinating. I have gotten to attend all sorts of formal meetings, attend lots of closed negotiation sessions between different member states (countries), and-yes-even voted on nuclear disarmament treaties on behalf of Grenada!

While I hope to do a better job of photographically documenting my experience, here are a couple to give you at least a brief glimpse from within the "diplomats only" portion of the UN.

Here I am, busily working away in First Committee negotiations. Just kidding-it's lunch break. More people show up for meetings than this (after all, this is the UN, not Congress).

Here are a couple photos (sorry for the blurriness) that I snapped in astonishment on one of my first days at the UN. I was instructed to go unlock a conference room, and expected to find, you know, a conference room. Instead I found this behemoth, which my card apparently permits me to unlock at will! It truly has been a surreal couple of months.

And, finally, I just happened to be walking through the UN one day, and look who sauntered past! Is that blurry man next to the police officer in a white uniform Obama?!? Why, yes! That is President Obama.

[Confession-I was actually sent on a 40-minute reconnaissance mission by a fellow delegate to see if we could get a good spot for a photo as Obama walked by our conference room. Minus the blurriness, the plan worked well. And no, I was not the only diplomat eagerly awaiting this 5-second encounter, as you may be able to tell by the throngs of other diplomats the police are keeping at bay.]

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Charlotte and I just returned from quite an exciting experience (namely, participating in this year's Portsmouth Halloween Parade). The event is amazing and totally grassroots-run, and we were just one of many hundreds of people marching through enormous crowds along the sidewalks (many of whom were in costumes, too!) It was a great event, and it was lots of fun to be part of the excitement.

Time permitting, we'll add some more photos from before and during the parade, but in the meantime, here's another photo someone snapped of our costume!

View from my Office

I have been meaning to bring my camera to campus for the past week or so, but in a rush to catch the bus, make lunch, etc, I have forgotten...until today! The view out my office window has been so incredibly vibrant and I thought I would share it with you. I am not sure how much longer it will last as the leaves are falling fast, but I caught it in time, I think! The University of New Hampshire campus has been unbelievably beautiful lately and I hope the same is true of your surroundings, wherever that may be! Happy Fall!

Quark Fest at Brookford Farm

While it is now some time ago now that we were at this cheerful event, we thought you might enjoy seeing some photos from Brookford Farm's Quark Fest that we went to back in October! As you may remember, Brookford Farm was featured in a post early in the summer as the supplier of the raw milk we used to make mozzarella!

Quark is a cheese/yogurt-like product and this was a festival centered entirely around it!

Look at that Quark!

Here are the happy cows that make our milk! And such a beautiful day!

The farm was set up with all sorts of fall entertainment, including: a hay maze in the barn...

...puppet show...

...quark-inspired food!

...celtic-folk music...

...and some very friendly chickens, among other events including pumpkin carving and all sorts of other fun, nature craft projects.

So long for now! We'll be back to post some additional photos from fall festivals and events that we're attended in the Seacoast in the past month or so. Enjoy!