A Coffee Break

 The other day I stopped by the Food Shelf on an off-day to drop off a generous donation from my friend Cindy and I found six larges boxes stacked on the back table. 

I had several theories, loose coffee was not one of them.

Taking a quick look I discovered that they were full of ground coffee, each one containing one large plastic bag full. Some local coffee company, I'm assuming Green Mountain, dropped them off. Since they were already inside I figured that Pedro had to know about their existence. Nevertheless, I sent a picture to my friend Steve, and, being Steve, he immediately came up with a plan, passing the idea by Pedro first.

Steve proposed that we looked like a remake of Pacino's Scar Face.

So, that led us to meeting at the Food Shelf yesterday morning for a three hour session of turning six large bags - adding up to 162 pound of coffee - into hundreds of smaller quarter and gallon size bags. These, in turn, we can then hand out to folks. It was a a necessary chore, but also one that allowed us to spend three hours goofing and talking, which, in the Great Isolation, was much appreciated.

And Again

 Yes, I know, how many pictures of the Namib Desert can I share? However, I'm amazed that I never included this one, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites (and which will be printed off and framed soon). As we approach the year anniversary of the Trip of Mystery expect more Namibia pictures and stories.

This was snapped in the walkup to Sossusvlei. I posted this on Facebook recently and a couple folks thought it looked like the least welcoming place in the world, but it looks like heaven to me. I wish I were there right now.

Christmas 2020

 As I proposed in my previous post, I can't decide whether 2020 lasted twelve months or merely a century. A year ago I was in a decaying relationship (although, truthfully, the full nature of the rot caught me off guard, as these things often do) but one that featured me living in my own crowded, noisy house. And suddenly I was cast adrift. A year later I live in a tiny little one bedroom apartment and the only outburst I experience is the icemaker occasionally filling with water. Am I better off? I suspect I am. As I've proposed previously, life is too short to be unhappy and if she was that unhappy she should try to find happiness. I'm blessed to have amazing people in my life and I moved forward. Still, there are times when the utter transformation of my life is more than a bit startling. Not surprisingly, one of those times was this Christmas. The person I'm seeing is Jewish, which means that we worked through the Jewish/Muslim multi-faith Christmas celebration. December 25th fell on a Friday this year so I signed up early online (I really should include a blog post on our local mosque and COVID) and went to the Friday khutbah. We then enjoyed, as she joked, the traditional Jewish Christmas celebration of takeout Chinese food. After that we watched It's a Wonderful Life. It all added up to a perfectly lovely Christmas day. And life goes on.

The prayer rug that my good friend Steve bought me as a gift in Stone Town.

The shrine at the Hop Sing restaurant in Essex, which somehow made the day even more ecumenical.

Bathroom Break

 There's nothing profound about this picture although for some reason I felt inspired to include it here on the blog. Partially, it speaks to Namibia, which has been much on my mind as of late (has it really been a year since I was preparing to head off on the Trip of Mystery or simply a century?), but also it's a reminder of the challenges of travelling in a place like Namibia. Before I left I knew that Namibia was one of the least densely populated countries in the world, but it's only when you're there that it truly hits you. According to some, probably specious, quick Internet research, here are the least densely populated countries in the world based on people per square kilometer:

235. Greenland .138

234. Falkland Islands .286

233. Mongolia 2.110

232. Western Sahara 2.246 (oddly, I've been doing research on a potential trip there)

231. Namibia 3.086

230. Australia 3.319

229. Iceland 3.404

By way of comparison, the most densely populated is Monaco, checking in a 26,337 people per square kilometer.

It's interesting that of these seven I've visited three and am interested in visiting the other four, which I guess says something about my desire to spend time with other people. My desire to visit them far pre-dates the compilation of this list so I must simply be drawn to the wild and desolate.

Anyway, while our guide was driving us to Sossusvlei the young woman in the group (the hairdresser from Japan, the only other person) needed a bathroom break. It's sometimes difficult to find a place to use the restroom in Vermont, but, believe me, we have nothing on Namibia. The guide pulled over next to a little bridge and she disappeared behind this bush. After a few minutes she came back safe and sound and untroubled by baboons (which would have been my main fear; in fact, it was, during a similar earlier break where I relieved myself while watching a group of them in the distance).

I have a brief, natural, reflection on Donna Reed's character in It's a Wonderful Life.

Cooking in Amman

 Which sounds like an early 1960s Miles Davis album. One of the many great things about travelling on the course trips is having my friends/colleagues along, and this is certainly true with Cyndi and Steve. Both of them have proven time and again that they will jump in and save the day when students are sick or flights or cancelled or their old colleague breaks down physically. They're both really good at scouting around on their own and suggesting different activities. I am often guilty of getting in a rut and it's great to get a different set of eyes and interests. A great example would be from the fall 2019 trip to Jordan (which I've come to think of as the Last Great Trip) when Cyndi proposed that we enroll the students in a cooking class. It was run through the Beit Sitti restaurant and was held on a roof overlooking downtown Amman and the students had a ball. We made eggplant mouttabal, makloubeh (an upside down rice dish, which was the hit of the meal), homemade pita, and a salad with pomegranate molasses dressing. We'll definitely be coming back.

The students loved the woman who ran the cooking class.

One of the family members who run the restaurant.

The students, and professors, were all pulled out front to cook. In this case Jack John, who loved the trip as much as anyone, was front and center.

Lily received her fair share in gentle teasing by the local cooks.

Mads dominating the veggies.

Oliver clearly having way too much fun.

I think that Ashley had just referred to Liza, Cat and Holly as three thirds of one idiot.

Thanksgiving 2019

 This Thanksgiving was a bit of a mixed bag, and certainly didn't up being what I thought it would be - but, then, did anyone's 2020 end up like they thought? Most importantly, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and am with a wonderful person now - and, yes, we had lobsters for Thanksgiving 2020, which seemed like a great way to start new and happier traditions. That said, it was also a bit bittersweet because the COVID pandemic cancelled the fall 2020 Thanksgiving trip to Jordan. So, that Thursday I would have been back in the Wadi Rum with a new group of students, and maybe my friends Cyndi and Erik, enjoying a Bedouin turkey dinner with Mahmoud and cooked by our friends Suleyman and Ali at the Rainbow Camp. I've already started planning for the fall 2021 trip (assuming I can conquer a whole new set of internal Champlain and external COVID logistics) but the missed trip did leave a little hole in my heart. So, not surprisingly, I found myself looking at pictures from Thanksgiving day 2019. All in all, an amazing day.

Morning in the Rainbow Camp.

Jack John, who I barely pried out of the desert, enjoying his morning tea.

Kayla and Lily looking a tad sluggish, but up and ready for the day.

Liza, Holy and Emma prepping for the day.

The greatest Arabian explorer since Thesinger, the esteemed Erik Esckilsen.

Ashley and Claire on their camels and ready for action.

Mahmoud telling the students about the Wadi Rum on a break on the camel ride (camels resting in the background).

It's hard to match the beauty of the Wadi Rum.

Fanatical Buffalo Bills fan Liza explaining football to Mahmoud.

Liza and Erik getting some football in - I mean, come on, it was Thanksgiving. Sadly, the Wadi Rum Bowl was cancelled (see picture below).

Lily: "Hey, Scudder, climb up here with me." Sure, what could go wrong . . . One fall later, luckily not from this side, and my knee was shot.

The kids exploring.

Another friendly camel.

The view of the Rainbow Camp from the outcropping. An extraordinary place to watch the sunset.

I don't know how many pictures I've taken of the sun going down in the Wadi Rum, but it's not enough.

And again.

This pictures always makes the students sad.

OK, one more.

The Thanksgiving turkey coming out of the ground, Bedouin style. I have a video of this and you can clearly hear Liza Ryan crying in the background.

Suleyman overseeing the feast. They made us a turkey (where they got it is anybody's guess, but that's how the Bedu roll) and a chicken, and a small mountain of sides.

An absolutely fantastic Thanksgiving feast. It will be extra special when we're back there for Thanksgiving 2021.

Heavy Negotiations

 Thanks to the excellent Suzanne Brandenburg for sending along this picture of her sister Cyndi, our friend Mahmoud, and some random old dude clearly in the midst of intensive negotiations in our favorite coffeeshop in Amman, Jordan.

Not sure what we were haggling about, although as you recall we arrived a day late because of the Air France snafu and there was some reshuffling. Or maybe we were just trying to sort out the students hookah bill.

Clearly Missing the Desert

 I'm clearly missing the desert. Yes, it's a different desert, but it's still clean - and I'm obviously still a desert-loving English (as my friend Steve is wont to opine about me).

Pea Soup Kitty

 And another gem from the 251 Club travels: the Pea Soup Kitty in Alburgh. They specialize in, yes, pea soup, although they also make a pretty solid locally-sourced grain-fed burger. Highly recommended. The woman who runs it was just getting ready to shut down for the season (although she also sells Christmas trees, so something may still be open) so we were lucky to catch her (we'll definitely be back in the summer).

Like the Burger Barn you order at the little shack and eat in your car. She rings a big bell when your pea soup is ready.

Red

 One of the oddities of the Great Isolation is that it's also inspired me to get in contact with folks that I don't often link with nearly enough. Here's my wonderful friend Debi, who has graced the virtual pages of this blog previously, and who is having trouble reconciling the fact that we've now known each other for almost thirty years.

Or, as she's usually called by me, Red. It's funny to think that when we met we were both fairly new freshly-minted PhDs; I think I arrived at Georgia Perimeter College a couple years before she did. Now, of course, she's a Provost and I'm still an academic non-entity.

Burger Barn

 One of the advantages of participating in the 251 Club challenge is that you, by definition, end up in all sorts of odd corners of the state - which also means eating at all sorts of places that you'd never even know about on a regular day. A great example is the Burger Barn in Cambridge. Now, how one stumbles across this gem in Cambridge is anyone's guess, although there's some ski-related sense to it, although that even that doesn't completely make sense on the calendar front. Still, they serve seriously great burgers and I'll definitely be back in the summer.

Obviously, seating is at a premium.

The signage is a strength.

Someone liked her burger.

Windhoek Gardens

 I was organizing pictures on my phone and I came across a series of photos I snapped of the Windhoek Gardens Boutique Hotel where I stayed during my visit to Namibia. Actually, I stayed there three times in the space of a week: when I first arrived, then when I returned from Sossusvlei, and then when I came back from my journey to the coast to Swakopmund and before I jumped on the plane to head home. I don't normally celebrate hotels on the blog, but it was both a wonderful trip but also a stressful time so I really appreciate the kindness they showed me. That includes wishing me a Happy Birthday repeatedly and one of the nice women who worked there actually bought me some chocolate. It was with gratitude but also sadness when I finally packed up and head back to a lot of uncertainty and heartache. So, if you're ever headed to Windhoek be sure to give the Windhoek Gardens a try - I know I'll be back.

Yes, I was so tired from the endless trip from Montreal to Paris to Frankfurt to Windhoek that I couldn't find the coffee cups.

The lovely little dining room. They also had a quaint bar where I ended up eating several meals.

And, yes, it was awfully nice to leave the frozen tundra of mid-winter Vermont for high summer Namibia.

Like a lot of boutique hotels every room at the Windhoek Gardens was different. This was my first one.

My third one was festooned with crosses. Being an old colony, first German then British, and being far enough south in Africa, Namibia is heavily Christian.

There's a metaphor here somewhere.