Swiss artist Felice Varini used this town as a canvas for a piece of abstract art.  The art is amazing, but wouldn’t you love to live in a small gingerbread town on the edge of the Alps, even without the circles?

Click here for the full image.

This weekend I had the chance to house sit for some good friends who recently moved to the country.  It was a really nice, peaceful weekend; felt good to get away.  Here are some pictures.

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Take a deep breath, close your eyes and let Garrison read to you.

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Guaranteed to reduce under-eye puffiness, sooth sore muscles and slow your heart rate.

This entire post was done using html.

(But you can’t see it unless I make a mistake).

Here you see that I am learning how to do tables:

The most exciting part of tables is playing with the border.

See? Fun.

More updates as events warrant.

More posts forthcoming, but to hold you over for now, here is something clever and beautiful.

And here is something that I miss.

…and now it is also the land of my dear Swiss friends, who are taking a three month road trip in their Shasta RV, starting in Boston, ending in California and then, so sadly, of to Switzerland never to return.  =(

I had a wonderful three years living in community with Joel, Daniela and their four kids, and I’m a little shaky on my feet at having to do it without them.  I love them all, but I feel a special bond with the youngest, T, whose accidental bathtub birth I missed by ten minutes.  It happened like this.  Another housemate, B, posted on facebook that Daniela was having the baby that night, and I called her, but she said she was just in early labor and that it could be days.  Still, I had a feeling that I should be there, and was planning on heading over after I finished a couple of emails.  Twenty minutes later,another housemate, M, called me to say the baby had just been born while Daniela was taking a bath.  Apparently she had something like three contractions, and Joel couldn’t finish dialing the number of the midwife before T was out.  M, a doctor but by no means an obstetrician, “caught” T, the oldest son cut the umbilical cord (which they clipped with a bag-clip from the kitchen) and B, who is studying to be an Anglican priest, said a blessing over her.  Voila, instant baby, no need to hire outside help.  Definitely one of the high points of living in community.

Cutest bathtub baby ever

For those of you who know the Roth-Naters, they are keeping a blog of their journey.  http://roth-nater.blogspot.com/

Posted in Community Tagged: bathtub baby, RV, Shasta ]]> http://tenthousandplaces.org/2009/08/15/this-land-is-your-land-this-land-is-my-land/feed/ 0 tenthousandplaces Photo_051509_001 http://tenthousandplaces.org/2009/08/11/antosia-and-jozef/ http://tenthousandplaces.org/2009/08/11/antosia-and-jozef/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:54:15 +0000 tenthousandplaces http://tenthousandplaces.org/?p=635 ]]>

How my great-grandmother was married, written by one of her daughters, Anne, my great-aunt.  For the non-Polish speakers, Babci = Grandma and Dziadzi = Grandpa.

In Easthampton, Massachusetts it was a Polish Catholic parish!  That was how the young people met.  With extra long work days, and so many church services, there was not much time for play.

-And so it was that Jozef eyed Antosia, inviting her to a first date to accompany him to Mass on a Sunday to hear the “banns of marriage” announcing their forthcoming marriage.

Banns of Marriage” were announcements made after a Sunday sermon to convey to the public that a couple was to be joined in marriage.  If there was to be an objection for any reason, the priest was to be notified before the wedding date.

Antosia and her girlfriends knew who Jozef was, or knew of him, but Antosia was not proposed to by Jozef – in fact, he had never spoken to her before that.  Apparently, he went to the rectory on his own, submitted his and her name, and assumed there would be no problem.

Antosia was flabbergasted to say the least.  She immediately meant to go to the rectory to explain the “misunderstanding”.  Her girlfriends preyed on her humility saying that she could not be waiting for a “Knight-in-shining-armor” to ride in on his white horse to spur her away! Even they knew those fairy tales of old!

They convinced her that she was so lucky to be chosen by such a handsome, intelligent, industrious young man.  Jozef’s plan for the wedding proceeded!  Antosia’s plan for her future was detoured!

The wedding took place on a Saturday (January 15, 1915) – party into Sunday -  Jozef went off with “the guys”, and Antosia slept in a rocking chair at his “Aunt’s” house waiting for her honeymoon.
Sixty years later, when Dziadzi began becoming “obstreperous” with the beginning of senile dementia, Babci reminded him of the honeymoon they never had!  She said – “and where did you take me for a honeymoon – Bermuda, maybe?”

On Monday, they all went back to work!  The whole male contingent of the bridal party went to the priest to “take the pledge”.  It was a vow not to use alcohol for one year.  I guess it was a common practice.

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My great-grandmother had always wanted to become a nun!  Good thing for me, I guess, that she didn’t.  Still, reading this story makes me wish she didn’t give in to my great-grandfather!  Just a note for any potential suitors: I prefer to know in advance before the banns go up.

One of the best places in Boston for a walk, and only 1/2 mile from my house!  I finally took my camera along (thanks again Mom and Dad!) and tried to explain with photos some of the things I saw.  I plan on adding many more to this set, but click here to see what I have so far.  Here are a few previews.

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A science program, complete with beakers, giant sock balloons and DRY ICE.  I went with the C’s and the RN’s kids, but this picture of the kids sitting in front of us is my favorite.

Draw a line. Write a line. There.
Stay in line, hold the line, a glance
between the lines is fine but don’t
turn corners, cross, cut in, go over
or out, between two points of no
return’s a line of flight, between
two points of view’s a line of vision.
But a line of thought is rarely
straight, an open line’s no party
line, however fine your point.
A line of fire communicates, but drop
your weapons and drop your line,
consider the shortest distance from x
to y, let x be me, let y be you.