Merry Christmas!!!

HI folks! A quick post before I board my flight to LAX!  Here are a scant few photos from the past few weeks.  I can't believe it's xmas time already!

I'm gonna be home for 10 days whilst Dan and Hannah hold down the fort.  Woo!!  Dan will probably be identifying 1000s of midges (no lie) and entering that many lines of data (probably much more).

Merry Christmas!!

chau

Thanksgiving recap!

Hi there all!

Hope you had fantastic Thanksgivings this year!

Dan and I left Thanksgiving morning to go camping up at DeSoto State Park.  It's about 2.5 hours NE from us at the foothills of the Appalachian mountain range:

The geography there is much different than where we live - it's heavily forested with smatterings of pines, mountainous (well, for the east), exposed rocks, and all in all super pretty.  It doesn't look much like what I think of when I think Alabama, but I should!

We had a nice leisurely drive up to the area and I think we avoided most of the holiday traffic.  After taking in a few sights, we hiked into our Backcountry site with Hannah in tow (carrying her own food, blanket, food dish, and a few other things we couldn't find room for on our own packs!).  We got in around 2pm or so, with just a few hours of daylight to setup camp and collect from the plentiful downed wood available for an epic-long campfire.  It had rained a couple days earlier which made the wood fairly smoky to burn, but a slight breeze kept it out of our eyes for most of the night.  The campsite we were at was the only one in the area, so it was nice to not have any noise aside from the babbling brook and the occasional train in the distance (no matter where we go there are always trains!!!).  It got fairly chilly at night, but I still don't think it was as bad as our White Sands trip from 2011ish.

A panorama of our campsite:

We opted to leave our campsite a day early, as adorable as it was, neither of us slept all that well with our sleeping pads on the wood floor of the structure.  It probably kept us a bit warmer, but it certainly made for a stiff night's sleep!  We spared torturing Hannah another chilly night and packed out of camp to enjoy the park for the rest of the day.

Flapping through the water...

There is surprisingly a lot of to do in DeSoto State Park, as small as it is.  We went fishing at Little River, did the scenic drive along the Little River Canyon outside the park, and took many, many pictures.  We then drove into Gadsden for a quick bite to eat at the Blackstone Brew Pub before heading home.  It was so very nice to settle into our warm comfy bed for the night by Friday night and still have the weekend for relaxing at home!

Ugh, and then, Saturday happened...the Iron Bowl happened....and Auburn beat Alabama by a mind blowing last second touchdown....that is all we will say about that...RIP Alabama football 2013, you were fun.

Sunday we lazed about some, but then hit the Cahaba National Wildlife Preserve to try to get in some fishing.  Dan's jazzed about fly fishing so he's spearheading these trips to practice his newest hobby. Water all around us has been high and fast lately with the fall storms from last week, but we still got to get some casting in.  Most of the work in the beginning of fly fishing is just learning how to cast!  It can be super frustrating, especially when flies get snagged in trees, stream rocks, on your own line, etc.  Dan is also learning at quite possibly the WORST time of the year for fishing.  Winter means the water is cold and food is scarce so most of the fish available are hunkered down and not super active feeding-wise.  Plus in general the sunfish in Alabama get spooked super easy.  So give credit to Dan for not giving up despite the lack of even the slightest hint of fish in these waters right now!!!  He's getting the timing down, but golly it takes time!  We are determined to just find a small pond stocked with bass that is geared for kids just so we can finally get a bite!!!

Anywho, happy December (yikes!!)

A tour of our campsite (and Hannah being silly):

Here are some pics (apologies for 95% of them involving Hannah)
xo

p.s. the video I tried to embed for thanksgiving didn't work, so check out the link in the previous post for the most awesome video of your day (ha!).

Happy Thanksgiving folks! (And Happy Birthday to my Mom!!)

Gobble gobble!
Enjoy!!

the embedded video posted here before didn't work right...click on the link above to get the video to work!

hiyooooo

Hi dudes!!!

Another week closer to the end of the year..crazy!!!!! Well it's Dan's birthday week, he'll turn the big 3-4 on Wednesday! We've made plans to camp for two days at Desoto state park during Thanksgiving- let's hope the weather cooperates!! Yeah!! We'll hike into our campsite about a mile away from the trailhead.  Our campsite has a shelter that was recently built so it'll be a fun little homebase for a couple days!

Dan's already gotten some early birthday presents.. I got him a fly rod and we plan on making use of her during the trip!

We took out our rods for a test drive this past weekend.  We checked out Lake Payne state park on a quiet, overcast Saturday afternoon. We went for a short nature walk that tuckered Hannah out, then we spent a couple of hours casting off of the beach.  Dan's a natural, and though we didn't get any nibbles it was good casting practice along an empty shoreline.  After an hour or so Hannah finally laid down next to us after accepting the fly rods weren't out to get her. Prior to that acceptance she just ran to the car and sat....sigh

Other than that, we've had a low key week. I've been tutoring some undergrads in biology which has been fun (DNA refreshers yikes!!), and Dan's been working super hard on his samples in the lab and is on track to get a bulk of his samples done by February me thinks! 

Anyhow, enjoy some pics of our outing!

It's November!!!

Well Hot Dog!! It's Thanksgiving month already!!  Most of October flew by in a haze...

1) Dan's sister Caroline visited a couple of weeks ago.  We had a blast visiting Birmingham breweries (Good People, Cahaba, and Avondale), feasting on Alabama vittles (Cypress Inn, Rojo, Saw's Soul Kitchen, Jim n' Nick's, and The Alcove), and got to show off what an Alabama game day looks like vs the Tennessee Volunteers (which always begs for this video).  Super fantastic!

2) Dan and I (and Hannah) went to Tannehill State Park last week and went for a nice hike amongst some great Fall colors...It's a pretty neat state park, with Civil War history and some neat streams.  We had a blast hiking since it's been a while, and it whetted our appetite for more outdoor activities.  We're currently planning a camping trip to DeSoto State Park in NE Alabama during Thanksgiving!!  Yeah!

3) Guy Fawkes Day was last night, we went over the Benstead's to celebrate with a customary bonfire, and a not-so customary batch of pozole.  Mmmm...it was delicious.  It's a great kickoff to the weekend which is the big Alabama - LSU game tonight!!! ESPN's game day taped by the stadium this morning so everyone's been a buzz all week about that.  The game is at 7pm tonight and we'll be watching at a friends house.  In fact, today is Practice Thanksgiving, so we get to have turkey with all the fixin's while watching some football - yeeeeee-haaaawww ya'll!!!!

Here are pics from the last few weeks!

more soon (hopefully!!)
xo

Beeeeer Fest weekend!!!!

Howdy!
Last couple of weeks have been busy but fun!  Last week we went to a Sigur Ros show in Birmingham.  We spent most of the Friday in the big city - a trip to Bailey Borthers Music Company where we got Dan a sweet guitar strap, a drink at World of Beer across the street, then some food and drink at Todd English's Public Urban Bar.

The last screen shot from the show:

Takk is thank you in Icelandic.  So cute.  It was quite an enjoyable show.  One of their more popular songs is from Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic movie (during this tiger shark scene!).  I love that song and I love that scene, one of my all time favorite movie scenes.  I also really enjoy this song.  Sigur Ros is mostly dreamy uplifting space music, but the recent album is a bit darker.  Our big boss man went as well with the wifey, one of their favorite bands so they got up close and personal in the 4th row.  Despite the big arena venue it felt nice and homey with the stage setup and and lighting.  I can't really remember the last show we went to, so it was nice to see some live music!!

Speaking of live music, a few days later Dan and I (and Hannah) walked down to the amphitheater to check out the r kelly show.  My sole purpose was to hear the Ignition remix which is AMAZING. ("doo doo, beep beep").  We didn't stick around too long in the rain, but it was pretty great to check it out for free.

This weekend was the first Alabama Brewfest in Tuscaloosa!  For $30 you get a souvenir glass and 4 hours of unlimited tastings from over 50 different breweries (20 of which are from Alabama!).  OR you could do what Dan, Jamie and I did and volunteer pouring beer for one session and get in for free the next day!  Friday night we poured beer for happy patrons and then got to come Saturday to try some great brews.  It was super fun to hang out, listen to a live cover band, and sip in the sun.  The event was well attended and I'm just so proud of Tuscaloosa for entering the craft brewing realm with this event!  Exposure to better beer is always a good thing and Alabama has come a long way.  Although I should have been concentrating on beer of the South, I really think at the top of my list for the day was Delirium Nocturnum.  I usually don't dig some Belgian ales, but maybe "Belgian Strong Dark Ales"will have to be added to my watch list. mmmm

After the event we walked down to a new(ish) downtown restaurant that we've been meaning to try - the Local Catch.  They tout fresh gulf seafood and certainly deliver!  We had some great fish tacos and got to watch some of the Alabama game (against Kentucky, so not much of a contest: 48 to 7 final score).

All in all a great weekend.  Now we get to spend Sunday getting some work done!  Dan and I both have our Coursera online classes.  I'm about to enter my fourth and last week of an R programming statistics class and Dan is starting his second week in pre calculus.  I'm super happy with the R course so far.  It's pretty challenging and I'm learning a lot.  I've taken a few R courses in the past and they've been shallow introductions into how to use R.  This one digs deeper with programming assignments and quizzes using real data sets and numerous weekly video lectures.  I love the idea of free online courses and hope I'll have enough enthusiasm to take some more classes in the near future!

Caroline comes in less than two weeks!  We are slowly accumulating a long list of places to show off while she's here...  They are mostly food places!!  Starting our fast now!  Roll Tide!!!

Here are some pics!

Our first Fall BIke Ride! and other miscellany

I woke up with this song in my head.  Now you get it too. (You're welcome.)
The hawaiian shirts, shots of Hollywood, fake rain on the phone booth.  Guy in shorts at 1:50..oh yeah. This video has it all.

Moving on..

Dan and I just biked part of the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail in Alabama!.  It's about 2.5 hours away from us, but was a total blast.  Can't wait to go back and check our more of the trail, and other rails to trails around the country!!

We biked from point A to B, then back to A.  You can see how far we had to drive, Tuscaloosa's int eh Lower left hand corner.  The bike trail starts in Weaver, AL just south of Jacksonville, then once it hits the GA border it turns into the Silver Comet Trail, which goes all the way into North Atlanta! 

Yeah!

Aside from biking news, we have some new pets in the household...Marvin, Leo, and Mortimer are the newest additions..  They are Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars that we found on our parsley and we've brought them in, fed them more parsley, and awaiting for them to turn into beautiful flutterbyes...We can't wait!

We also Tito visiting.  He is a Mediterranean House Gecko.  He is cute but not native to AL.  I've killed so many of these guys by accident.  They really like door jambs it seems... Hopefully Tito lasts a bit longer.  He's been lurking around in the kitchen and living room mostly.

Lastly, we have a green anole we have named Son of Rambo (if you remember our previous experiences with our buddy Rambo, RIP).  We hope he overwinters with us...

We loved you Rambo...RIP
(Imagine Bette Midler's "The Wind Beneath my Wings" playing as you gaze upon this picture)

It's Homecoming week at the UA, so the town is abuzz in tissue paper floats and school spirit.  Also, we're now in Week 5 of Fantasy Football.  I'm determined to win at least one of the leagues we're in...Mark my words - W...I....N...

More pics!

It gets my goat....

Let me start with a happy picture before I go into my rant (it turned into a big one, sorry):

During a rainy hike at Lake Lurleen on Saturday!

So..
The nuances of language can change the difference between a lackluster play to awe-inspiring, life changing speech. That's what makes language so magical.

On the flip side, the careful and strategic choice of specific words can be used to undercut a basic message.

Our University president, Dr. Judy Bonner, seems to be guilty of just that.  

What do I mean by this?  

Well, let me start of by saying, if you were not aware, the University of Alabama has been making headlines recently due to allegations of traditionally all white sororities discriminating against well qualified pledges due to their race.  This coming only days after allegations of the Greek system ("The Machine") committing voter fraud in the local school board election.  

Let me accentuate the fact that such actions of discrimination and segregation are not news to anyone remotely aware of the University here.  From Day One we've been aware of The Machine.  This website reprints a sad Esquire article about The Machine from 1992.  That is 1992 folks...Over 10 years ago the same information came out regarding election fraud and discrimination - different names, different years, but NOTHING came of it.  Now with national headlines once again upon the University of Alabama, I wonder if any real change will come of this...I'm getting ahead of myself..

Going back to my rant against Bonner...

As read here from today's Crimson White and in other articles, Bonner talks about the "barriers" that students face in integrating sororities and fraternities (to which in this article is the "progress" they refer):

Bonner said students were responsible for encouraging progress.

“The students wanted to make this happen. The students were saying that there were barriers that were preventing them from making it happen,” Bonner told WVUA-FM. “There were many barriers identified – one that was always discussed was media descending upon them.”

Bonner said the media might be a real or perceived barrier but that the students have cited media as a barrier. She did not specifically cite the CW’s “The Final Barrier.”

When asked how the administration would protect individuals who spoke out against segregation from threats or being ostracized from their sororities, Bonner said that might not be a valid fear.

“See, that would be an example of what I would call a perceived barrier,” Bonner told WVUA-FM. “But we certainly will work with all of our students to support them as they take the steps that are needed in order to make progress.” 

(my emphases)

You see, in the article, Bonner highlights the existence of real barriers and perceived barriers in this issue.

I wondered, what the heck is the difference between real and perceived barriers?  From a bit of Google searching I found this:

Perceived barriers are any element that can stand in one's way of performing the behavior, such as expense or social pressure (Hochbaum, 1958).

and, perceived barriers to be defined as this:

One's opinion of the tangible and psychological costs of the advised action

Which as the definition stands, by my interpretation, means a perceived barrier is in fact a REAL F-ING BARRIER.  It's not a physical barrier in front of the sorority, but it's still a BARRIER.  To Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive and cynical about this response.  Perhaps I'm perceiving(ahem) duplicity in her speech where there really is none.  But when I read  about our fair leader claiming to be leading the flag of change and improvement, whilst at the same time undermining the very cause by her choice of words on describing the problem, I get a bee in my proverbial bonnet.  It seems to call to question the students "thinking" there is a barrier when in fact, there is no barrier...no no, nothing to see here folks.  Just some confused students, but we'll help them along the right way...

I thought, well, perhaps she is using such vocabulary because the good doctor has a background in psychology, social issues, repressed peoples, and the like where these differences are important to highlight.  Nay...the good doctor instead has a PhD and Master's in Food and Nutrition...so...yeah.  My poor impression of the president was not at all improved after she sent out a hastily made video accentuating the fact that Dr. Judy Bonner indeed has a black friend (and it's Bill Cosby folks!). "Don't worry everyone, we'll fix this! But it'll take some time!" **head shakes...**

This rant of mine is not an exclusive in depth review of the seedy issues here at the University I call my employer.  Rather, it is a rant quickly and finally written on my soapbox fueled by disgust and sadness (and extreme irritability brought on by hunger..I should eat lunch).  I say finally because I've been writing this blog post in my mind and in several drafts the past few weeks.  I also note quickly because I spent some time googling things that make me made only to find more things that make me even madder, and upon rereading this rant in a week's time I may be flushed red with embarrassment.

 I just don't know what to do sometimes, or what to think.  I never want to live in a happy liberal bubble, and here I am, as far from a liberal county as you can think.  However, I'm falling (or perhaps already fallen) into my own bubble here where anyone representing the Greek system is automatically labeled as part of The Machine, who are unthinking drones following the traditions laid before them from years past.

I try not to get too down on the Deep South where we call home.  Overall, I'm happy to be here and look at it as an eye-opening view to a place which I previously had absolutely no experience.  I think the true value of living in such a place will be my reaction to all of this negativity.  For us to strive to look for the good people here who want change, who aren't represented by the poor publicity we see in the local newspaper.  I don't want these negative allegations and stories to color my view of strangers, but they do.  

Every time I see a group of boys around campus strutting and chatting together dressed in the usual uniform of pastel polo shirts, short shorts, visor and sunglasses fitted with Croakies, and boat shoes I cannot help but think - 

What reason are you congratulating each other?  Did you just come back from a smoke-filled, closed-door meeting where you were planning your ambitions at the mercy of those you you think less deserving and worthwhile?

grr..Such ideas are not healthy Chau! Nor do they promote positive change or progress!  So I suppose this rant is to not only allow me to vent, but also see if I can challenge myself to be more open-minded towards this sea of close-minded people around whom I live.  That comment itself was a bit judge-y perhaps.  Well, I suppose I must start somewhere...

Chau

End of rant

***************

Here are some happy pictures...

Happy Dog:

More news:

1)  Dan and I are in a Fantasy Football league (actually two!)  For reals!!  It's super fun!!  We would have never guessed it!!

2) I am learning to play the mandolin!  Dan is my teacher  He is great!

3) Dan's sister Caroline is coming to visit us at the end of October!!  We will be playing Tennessee!!  IT should be super fun!!

4) We are hoping to take a bike trip this Saturday on the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail, yeah!!

And then it was September...

Jimeny Crickets Batman!!

So yes, it's pretty obvious that we've been remiss in our blogging duties this past summer.  Reasons?  Well, no big time eaters really, just general day to day life that seems to get in the way of everything else you want/need to do.

I can't believe it's already September.  Someone please tell Alabama weather that it is Fall so she can start kicking into low gear when it comes to heat.  We've had a few amazing days where the low at night was in the mid sixties.  But still, we're getting 90 degree days here and there!

I guess to recap on the summer since coming back from Chicago, I worked a lot, the garden was a big fat BLAH, and Dan came home (wee!!).  Since Dan has returned from his last Iceland summer of field work for his phD we've been busy at work, but also a bit of play.  

Dan, Hannah and I drove to PA at the end of August to attend a wedding of Dan's childhood friend, Ryan.  It was in Philly so we got to stay with his folks for a week with a nice couple of days in the city as well.  The wedding was a nice excuse to use for a road trip to visit Dan's family in the summer time (although hot sticky rainy AL weather seemed to follow us up North).  Being able to play in Philly for a couple of days was also fun!  We went to a few fun new bars and had some tasty food to boot.  The wedding was fine and dandy as weddings go.  A bit of catching up with friends for Dan, a bit of dancing and drinking, and a lot of people watching.  Oh the people watching...

The visit with the family was nice and relaxing, delicious meatballs, couch lounging with TV time, quite a pleasant visit!  Here is a picture the day we left with Dan's parents and his nephew Willie:

During the trip back home we stopped in Asheville, NC as our midway point.  It was our first time visiting the area that we've heard was a fun town.  It's larger than I had pictured, but quite pretty.  The downtown was extensive and was exploding with eating and drinking options.  We ended up at the Lexington Avenue Brewery and had a couple of great sandwiches for dinner.  Dan tried a flight of beers and I had a pretty amazing pumpkin ale which got me SO excited for Fall.  After a quick night stay at the Red Roof Inn (they allow dogs to stay for free!) we drove around the UNC-Asheville campus (very pretty, small, but oh so quaint!) and headed back into downtown for a lunch outdoors at Bomba cafe, which was right in the smack center of the downtown area and had a fabulous little outdoor area to soak up the sun and enjoy our coffee and sammies.  It made us pine for something similar in Tuscaloosa ...someday...someday...

Since coming back from the trip, we've attended a Garden Party dinner that was a fundraiser for the Druid City Garden Project.  It was a fun event that was at the Rivermarket where they hold the weekly Farmer's Markets.  Local restaurants, brewers, and farmers contributed to the menu.  It was really nice and relaxed and they had a great little bluegrass band playing the whole night.   We wished there were regular events like this throughout the year!  It was a great use of the space...

Ugh, so recently I've been dropping the ball on not only the blog but also in my picture taking duties.  A handful of wedding pictures (of Dan in a suit! Me in a dress! opportunities lost), a smattering of Garden party pictures on Dan's phone, little to none of our crappy garden.  Clearly I need a mental reset.  Hopefully this will begin to turn the tide.  I think writing for the blog is a good way to center myself and take note of all the things that are happening at break-neck speed around us.  I'll try to be better!!

On other news, Bama football continues to be kicking some major behind.  This past Saturday was super fun to watch the Tide beat up on Johnny Football and his big fat ego.  HA!

Here are a few recipes we've tried recently that have totally ROCKED!

***Braised Coconut spinach and chickpea with lemon recipe from thekitchn blog!

In true Chau fashion, there were substitutes because I worked with what I had on hand.  No sun dried tomatoes so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes with juices as it simmered, didn't have spinach but subbed in a lot of collard greens and cooked them a bit longer so they got dark dull green which tell me that they are ready to be slurped up like noodles.  We had this with the baked sweet potatoes as the recipe suggested. OMG alabama sweet potatoes are amazing... spicy and sweet

***Roasted chickpeas ala Alton Brown...

Pretty addicting chickpeas, would be great to add some more spices to the vinaigrette..thyme, cayenne, cumin???  I didn't have red wine vinegar (of course) so I used apple cider vinegar instead.

As you can see, I'm on a chickpea kick.  Dried beans are so amazing, but I just need to invest the time and effort into actually soaking the dang things and cooking them in the crockpot (which is no time or effort at all, so I really have no excuses)..

***Butternut Squash and Black Bean burgers ala two recipes from thekitchn and cooking stoned...

We got some beautiful butternut squashes from Dan's Sis/Bro-in-law's garden.  They were so very delicious!  I steamed them in the microwave (cut squash in half, scraped out pulp, cut side down in the microwave for 14 minutes...easiest thing EVER!).  So I mashed the two recipes together.  Pulp from one butternut squash, the brown rice, black beans, onions, cilantro, smoked paprika, jalepeno, bread crumbs, coriander and cumin, and garlic.  Didn't add the egg, they were super tasty (and vegan!), and held together better than any veggie burger I've made to date.  Love this recipe...well, recipe idea...recipe mashup?  whatever..

Here are some pics! 

Will write more later and often!!

xo

July is winding down!

Back from the Windy City!

Here are pictures!

Amy, Kerri, and I had a BLAST!  We got to meet Amy's beau Erick and make sure he passes the test (he do), we saw Chicago in all its wonderfully pleasant-weathered glory, got to catch up with Steve (a friend from high school, LBP in the house!), ate plenty but not managed to not painfully bloat ourselves.  Just so very enjoyable to spend a weekend out of town surrounded by good friends doing everything and nothing. It was the exact thing I needed to recharge and reboot my midsummer funk.

I am back in town, refreshed and ready to tackle the lab with all its samples, troublesome machines, and never ending list of things to do with so little time.  Heat has set in here in the Deep South as it has all over the US.  Hannah and I retreat into the deep recesses of the home shielded from the bright orb in the sky and her many mosquito minions.

July is winding down!  David came back from Iceland this week, Caroline is visiting Dan this week in Iceland, Jon and the family return in NEXT WEEK on Thursday, which means Dan quickly follows the week after that!!

August is looking great - Dan comes home in the beginning, school will start, and we have a Philly wedding at the end which means road trip with Hannah to visit his parental units are well!  Hurrah!  It should be fun to visit PA when it's warm!

Oh boy, so much more to do today so all for now!!

xoxo

Goood night...sleeep tight....

Well, It's 5am on a Saturday morning.

It's a bone chilling 73 degrees outside which means the doors are open and the sweet summer air is rolling in along with the birds and their chirpy ways.

I'm here typing, listening to The White Album while sipping on some iced coffee ("THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOOOO").  I've already vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom.

 Life is good.

Perhaps, you exclaim,
"But you're up at 5am!  How could that be good?"

Well, it certainly helps when you fall asleep at 7pm the night before after an exhausting and productive week of work.  I got some lab work done, went up to Coweeta for THE. LAST. MONTHLY. SAMPLING. TRIP. EVER.  Well, at least for this project anyhow.

Here is Mick taking his final core:

This means we washed rocks for the last time, which means no more rocks for the garden!  It's best this way...it really is...(sniff).

Anyhow, I then went out with Kate to go electroshocking in the boat for some fish for her project yesterday.  Using a boat for field work is fun, but can be exhausting!  Thankfully another researcher comes out with us to man the boat while Kate and I electroshock and net fish.

I am very rusty with my general boat skills ("boat engines need oil mixed with gas, oh yeah..I think I remember that"), my boat ramp etiquette ("So when I back up and I want the trailer to go left I turn my steering wheel which way?? Let's just try different things while other boaters are watching and chuckling at me...DON'T JUDGE ME!"), and my boat trailering skills (hitch locked on, chains on, lights plugged in, straps tightened, OMG you are so needy Mr. Boat!!).  It's been a long time since the boating class I took at NOAA back in Seattle.  Oh that was so fun (remember that??)...Getting everything ready in 90 degree heat with 98% humidity probably doesn't help me brain...I'll blame it on the heat...yes...the heat.

So, with a week like that I came home to a shower, flipped on the AC, and CHECKED OUT for the night.  It was fabulous.  So here I am, catching up on the blog, and getting over a little summer cold - just occasional dry hacking now, I'm a real delight to sit by right now.

Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks...included are a FEW videos of Hannah playing with her new toy (consider yourselves warned).  We finally got some nice rain last night so the rain barrel is full again and ready to nourish my plants for the week.  I'm about a week away from my first tomato harvest I think...SO excited...

Been enjoying summer vegetables from the Farmer's market and cooking up some things from the pantry as well.  I was hankering for some lentils and had a sweet potato sitting on the shelf for like 2 months at least.  This lead to a web search for curried sweet potato lentils and I came up with this recipe from smitten kitchen (it's VEGAN even!).  It was delicious, but as always, since I have to adapt recipes dependent on what the pantry dictates, I tweaked it a bit.  I cooked as directed, used only water instead of veggie broth, upped the spices, then added a can of coconut milk toward the end of cooking, didn't have chard so put in spinach and turned off the heat to let the spinach melt into the curry.  I felt it still needed a little acid (I had no limes - gasp!!), so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes and let it sit.  I also had no cilantro or green onions or tamari almonds. OH MY LORD.  This was so satisfying.  I'm glad I made a big pot of it - I got to enjoy it for the whole week and I am sad to see it gone after today.  It was good cold, it was good hot, I ate it plain without any rice as I'm cutting down on carbs as the summer heat suppresses those cravings for me.  It was good with a fried egg on top for a more substantial dinner.  I love putting fried eggs on top of certain meals and having the oozy yolk spill all over and add that silky texture that I find so satisfying.

Oh yes, and this is another reason why life is good -  After I post this I'm going back to bed, just as the sun is about to rise...happiness is a cool bed.

xo

It started with a snip snip...

Attempting to riff off of this song?

yes.( there's a 30 second intro you'll haft a sit thru)

Anyhow, thankfully I am not referring to a self imposed haircut (both my mother and Dan can sigh in relief), but about the garden.

This is the South...the Deep South in fact and we have the horrid and invasive kudzu everywhere.

 You know this because I gave complained about it endlessly in the past. Anyhow, every year about this time I get a bee in my bonnet and go to town on the kudzu I can easily reach in our yard. It starts with using my "garden shears" (in actuality a spare pair of kitchen shears that got demoted to outdoor use).  My daily 10 minute watering of our planties each morning gives me time to notice..

"oh, a bit of kudzu here, snip, snip!"...

Water...water..weed, water..weed...

"Well lookie over there, if it isn't a bit of kudzu twisted up in this ivy, I suppose I should try to clear that up"...

Well, as you can imagine, two hours later I am dripping with sweat after yanking kudzu out of our poor trees, then severely trimming said poor trees because they are blocking out the sun for our tomatoes..

Our tomatoes!!! Anything for our tomatoes!!!  If you've had garden fresh tomatoes before then you maybe familiar with such illogical protectiveness...

In fact, I trimmed a branch today the diameter of my arm! The biggest one I have sawed down to date!  It's easily 25 feet long, no lie. Also, I will not tell you that I did not trim this branch from our neighbor's yard that is now vacant. Nope. I shall not...

That's all for now from Bama.  Dan has been in Iceland for a week now!  So only 8 more weeks until he is home!  I hear things are going relatively well there, aside from crappy Iceland weather - wind, rain, sleet.  But folks seem to be in good spirits so that is great!  

I think soon the weeks will fly by for the boys.  David the undergrad REU comes back in 5 weeks, and then Dan's sister Caroline visits for a week!  Right now Dan and David are sharing a room in a quintessentially small Reykjavik apartment.  The apartment has two other rooms filled by Tanner the Master's student from Montana, and Ellie, another undergrad REU working with Tanner for the summer.  The trade offs on a small apartment are a better downtown location and internet though!  They are also within walking distance to the pools so they can have a nice long relaxing soak after a day of field work!

Have you checked the Iceland blog lately?  Thankfully, Tanner is big on posting on the blog, so we all benefit from his contributions...(i.e., we get to see pictures of Dan et al).  

OK, time to hit work!  Here are pics!!

aaaaaannnnnd...this is what I do when Dan is gone:

arrrrrr matey! I be twitterpated with Cap'n Dan!

Xo

The Tran parental units visit Alabama!

Here are some pictures of the Tran Parental Unit Visit circa 2013!!  We had a great time and it was quite the whirlwind tour of the Deep South!

Our road trip - New Orleans, LA to Gulf Shores, AL to Fort Rucker, AL to Montgomery, AL, to Tuscaloosa!

I picked up my parents in New Orleans and we covered over 500 miles in two days and got to see a lot of new places.  Once we got into Tuscaloosa we spent the rest of the time around the home front.  We visited campus, ate some BBQ, built a screen door, made egg rolls (or, more correctly, watched my mom make egg rolls...). We walked around downtown Northport and did our fair share of supporting the local businesses, Dan made his famous eggplant parmesan which was quite tasty as per usual, ate at Jim N Nick's and the Cypress Inn for some good ol' Southern vittles.  We also hit up Mr Chen's for one of our lunches so my parents could taste what little asian food we have here in Tuscaloosa.  Their cumin lamb dish is super fragrant and addictive, but perhaps my opinion is skewed since regular asian food is scarce around these here parts. We also visited one of my favorite spots in Tuscaloosa -  Brown's Nursery.  My mom helped me pick out a few flowers for the yard along with an intoxicating jasmine plant that I am very excited about.  We repotted him into a large pot but we're unsure where he will finally sit for all to enjoy...

It was getting a bit hot in town these days so it was nice to soak up the AC at home and hangout outside in the backyard area which has gotten quite nice in the mornings.  The birds are lively and the veggie plants are trying their darndest to grow...So far we have 3 tomatoes growing already along with one banana pepper! Woo hoo!!  Let's hope for a bumper crop this year!

Anyhow, it was quite a fun visit with the parents.  Their last night in town we hosted an egg roll dinner for a few friends.  We had 16 people at our place gorging on egg rolls and Vietnamese grilled pork with rice noodles.  Everything tasted so great and it made me miss my mom's food that much more!  It was also fun to share her wonderful food with everyone else so as to finally show them the wonderfulness that is homemade Vietnamese cuisine that I have been raving about all this time.  We also got to show off the new screen door as well that worked like a champ, increasing air flow in the house and keeping them pesky bugs outside!

I'm glad they finally got to visit our happy little home in Alabamie!  And now Dan leaves Thursday for Iceland so we go from one whirlwind to another!  He's readying his field gear for his last summer of experiments and data collection for the project!  I'm glad he's only staying in Iceland for two months this summer.  The time should really fly by and we'll be back together in early August!  Yippee!!

All for now!

xo

ct

Back from JAX!!

Hi there all!

We are back home and all is well! the last week in JAX was great and quite the whirlwind!!  Here are some photos from the last week or so.. the highlights as I can remember them...

1) Dan absolutely KILLED his talk!!!  He did so great and I'm so very proud of him!  He's been practicing every day for the last week and a half and he did a great job delivering the talk - he was good on time, clear, and got some great questions at the end and great feedback.  He even plugged the Hengill Diaries blog and upped the page views to the highest to date from that one plug!! My apologies for not getting any photos of him up at the podium...I promised him I wouldn't embarrass him!!   Just know that he did great and I was beaming with pride at the end of his talk.  That was the best he's given it in all the practice sessions we've had!  Way to go Dan!!!

2) JAX was a lot of fun!! The SFS meeting was fun with a lot of neat talks - it was my first time attending this particular conference and I hope it's not the last!  Next year is Portland and if we can scrounge up the money it'd be great to go!!  Anyhow, we got to eat at some fun places without any real duds (thank goodness for Yelp!!).  We hit up two different pho restaurants - Pho a Noodle bar and Bowl of Pho (my neuroses is clear, but shared among others we traveled with..I actually went to Bowl of Pho twice because it was that good), an upscale bistro called bb's where we all had various fish atop salad, Olio for sandwiches, a bar called Kickbacks with a ton of tasty taps, and Havana Jax, a Brazilian place with some very tasty black beans and rice, plantains, and steak...very reminiscent of cuban food that I crave from Versallies in L.A. (I do realize the irony of lusting for cuban food from L.A. while in the state of Florida that is much closer to Cuba geographically and culturally, but at least I didn't come to this conclusion in Miami which is much farther down the coast and much much closer to Cuba)...

3) The best day clearly was the afternoon we skipped out on poster sessions and headed for Mickler's beach.  I found the beach on Yelp and it was touted to be non-touristy and quiet.  It was just that but from the looks of things all JAX beaches were like that on a Wednesday afternoon.  It was an AMAZING day and we had a blast swimming in the surf and snorting salt water (I think I was the only inept one doing that).  My skin felt so great the next day!!  I need regular saltwater soaks!!!  We also got a decent base layer tan/slight burn...

Well, we are home now, the garden is amazing, the Ham-Bone (aka Hannah) is cute as ever, and it's going to be a beautiful weekend here in T-Town!  I leave Monday to pick up my parents then we tour around for a day and hit Tuscaloosa with a vengeance starting Wednesday night until Saturday!  It's going to be quite a fun week and I can't wait until they get here!!!

xo for now!!!

Hola amigos!

Hello there folks!

Well we are finally into a full on Spring.  Which means warm slightly muggy days, thunderstorms, and scattered days of "perfect" weather with a slight breeze in the mid 70s and no humidity..

This cheery weather draws us to the garden with a flurry of projects, but mostly a lot of dreaming about projects.

Here are some photos of the last week or so...We leave tomorrow for JAX so just a bit of cleanup, hopefully we bottle our beer, and a bit more packing and we are set for the week away from town.  We are all excited about the trip, perhaps not so excited about the 8 hour drive down with 6 other folks in a University minivan, but still, excited...

This last week the most exciting things that we did (for me) was re-caulking the bathroom tub (It looks so nice now!!) and cleaning up the backyard a bit.  You can see where my sad priorities lay....

Anyhow, I'm also enjoying the first cold brew coffee of the season...ahh...caffeine buzz away!!!!

Happiness is here..

xo
ct

Woo hoo!

Finished the table!!! Yeah! Now time to clean up my mess!!!
Xoxo!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hello there!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!  

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks!  It is trying to be spring around here, but mostly it's just really wet...today should be a nice sunny day though, with only a small chance of a random short thunderstorm..the front door is open and I'm swinging along in a hammock we set up in the house.  life could be much, much worse!

We've been getting some great bird action around here...my first Hooded Warbler, baby Carolina wrens, baby Brown thrashers, high-soaring Mississippi Kites...it's been so fun to sit outside and see what visitors we get...  The garden is slowly coming along... added a lot of compost to the boxes so I'm hoping the nutrient boost will make them happy.  This weekend has been rather low key...sticking at home and putzing around...our neighbors left this morning so the past week has been spent hanging out and having dinner together.  We are so sad!  We are super thankful to have had such great neighbors for the last three years.  Our new neighbors won't move in until August.  We don't know much about them but they are a grad student couple.  Hopefully they will be nice to live next to!!!

Anyhow, we're ramping up our grilling nights these days and getting ready for Jacksonville, FL next week!  Then my parents visit for a week, I go to Coweeta, and then Dan leaves June 6th for 2 months in Iceland!  It's gonna be a whirlwind May, but should be lotsa fun!! I'm coming up with ideas for things to see with my mom and dad, and all the many meals we'll eat here in town.  I'm excited to cook, and help cook with my mom... I'll be putting her to work making this place an eggroll factory!  I only get these homemade puppies once a year usually, so now that the brain trust (my mother) is visiting I'm looking forward to help her build me up a good stack of eggrolls to keep me content until December!  You would think by now I'd have the recipe down and memorized, but I don't.  I do know the general ingredients that go into the delicious morsels, and generally how to put them together and generally how to deep fry them.  But "generally" doesn't quite cut it!!  Thus far the plan is to pick them up in New Orleans, drive to the gulf coast (tentatively Pensacola, FL) to experience the sugar sand beaches, drive to Fort Rucker to visit the Airforce army base and the US Army Aviation museum (which looks AWESOME and should be a good treat for my Dad), then head back to Tuscaloosa meet back up with Dan and Hannah to spend the rest of the week at home showing them around!

Almost May? Yikes!!!!

Hi there!  Well, this past weekend it was time for our annual...

Yeah!  We missed the rain which was great and in addition to our neighbors we had three other friends bring by loads of things.  It was a lot of fun to just hang out and get rid of some of our junk.  We actually didn't have a whole lot to sell this year as we did our big purging event last year, but we still managed to get rid of a few items and make 60 bucks, which means we made a profit after buying hot dogs and beer for the day, so...yeah!!!  This was our third yard sale so far, and now that the neighbors are moving away we hope to still continue the tradition but we'll have to see if the new neighbors that move in are keen on it!  We have a year to warm them up to the idea, whomever they maybe...

Have you checked out the Hengill blog lately?  The boys (Jon, Alex, and Philip the Engineer) made it to Iceland with all of the heat exchanger bits and managed to put it all together at the lab.  I'm unsure how field construction went, but stay tuned for updates!!!  I'm anxious to hear about it working or not since I spent so much time the last few months readying all the parts for it.  Exciting to see it together at least!!  Let's hope I know how to glue PVC together well...

Anyhow, here I am at Coweeta again for monthly sampling...all is well so far.  Mick and I checked out Black Rock Mountain State Park on the way up this trip.  We got there later in the evening, but still got to do a quick hike around the summit area.  Ahh the Appalachians are beautiful and I should stop making fun of them for their shortness....good times!

Here are some pics!
xo

sunday tidbit

Dan shared this with me the other day.  It's an old video of a Bon Iver song, Holocene, but the real treat with the music video is that it's actually a VISIT ICELAND promo.  Well, not officially, but try to watch the video and NOT want to travel to the island...apparently shot on the southern side of the island in Vik (though that article says it's on the eastern side of the island, but look at this map and decide for yourself) which we've yet to visit...but I think it's on the list after seeing that video...

Here are a few pictures from our Sunday...we put the drill to work and used it to screw together another level on one of our beds...I believe his name is Edgar...it's been too long since I've chalked up their names...so now we need to fill it with more soil and get it going...I bought another round of eggplants and hot banana peppers to replace the ones that failed after the frost - I really should just let the greenhouse do its thing until May and then buy my starts...sigh...Anyhow, I also bought some watermelon starts because I just could not resist...I hope to get them in the ground sometime this week!

Also, we finished transforming our coffee table...the oilcloth came in, I believe it was "Hawaiian Hibiscus - Orange"...I think it looks quite nice...a little spray paint and a staple gun goes a long way!  I bought another bit of oil cloth, unsure what to do with that just yet, I'll have to wait until I'm inspired!  

Oh! Saturday is our annual yard sale with the neighbors and a few friends...yippee!!  We don't have much to sell this year, but others do so that will be fun just to hang out outside, grill hotdogs and chat...

xo

Jello...

Hi there...I started this post earlier in the week, and then lost track of time.  Yikes to all the news going down around the world lately...I feel like it's been a second job just to keep track of all the late breaking news.  In any case, here it is, and xo to all...

Howdy y'all!

I still haven't perfected the blog-phone-laptop interface so it's been hindering my blog postings lately.  Anyhow, here are a few photos from the last few weeks.  We have been busy since Dan came home one scant week ago..well, busy relaxing really!  The weather has really been kicking us in the proverbial nuts lately - today was in the 90s with the humidity of a damp sponge... Y-U-C-K in other words!!!  

We've been slowly getting back into our routines of work, cooking, cleaning, dealing with the garden, and whathaveyou.  I have my manuscript looming over my head, but I need a good kick in the pants to get going on that.  Good news is it seems to be getting pretty darn close after some major edits from the coauthors!!  Yippee!!  Dan is busy pcking through his samples and entering his data for his talk in Jacksonville in mid-May for the Society for Freshwater Studies (SFS, which used to be NABS...dumb story)...

The heat and increased daylight has just upped our overall antsy-ness...if that is even a word (which my email is saying "NO, IT IS NOT").  Since Dan's return he has yet to sleep in past 6:30am, and the birds outside are singing an hour before that!!!!  In any case, it's exciting we are out of the southern "winter", but gosh darn it I wish we actually had a Spring...

So, in other news..we've been cooking some pretty tasty recipes that Dan has come across as you'll see later in our pictures...Our fearless leader returns for a week tomorrow and we're hosting a BBQ in his honor Friday evening...Dan will be putting together some beef/pork chipotle sliders and a slow cooker pulled pork that involves root beer and BBQ sauce- yum!!!  It's been awhile since the lab got together for something outside of the lab or a lab lunch, so we're looking forward to it!  

Oh yes, we have been instilling lab lunches to boost morale and feed our tummies.  This week we went to Maggie's Cafe which was a hole-in-the-wall meat-and-three deal.  You walk in to the epitome of an "unassuming" building (right down the road from the county jail I might add), grab a tray and point to things you want...I got chicken and dumplings which is one of my BIGGEST weaknesses.  There's just something about chicken chunks floating in a sea of buttered, boiled dough that sets me straight in life...I actually only got a "two" instead of a "three," which was mac n cheese and collard greens.  Then I got a "flat bread" on top of that which isn't middle eastern in ANY shape or form, but basically a cornbread griddle cake (aka, flapjack, pancake, etc)...Anyhow, it really is an experience to behold...Kate, our newest Master's student from Maryland exclaimed after retrieving her food and sitting at a table "That was the most interesting experience I've had to date in Alabama"...Well put...well put...

Anyhow, here are some pictures from the last week...I've been lax on the blog postings and will try to be better...

xo!

P.s.!!

My parents are visiting the south in May!!! They head to a helicopter reunion for Vietnam vets in New Orleans at the end of May then I'll pick them up and we'll road trip to Fort Tucker at some point then to T Town! Yeahhhhhhh!!!!

Hoppy Easter!!

Hi!!

Here are the end of our Spring Break photos!  We had a great trip but boy did it blow by fast!  We had a load of fun visiting PA and were sad to leave.  We left Thursday morning, stopped in Chattanooga for dinner, then rolled up into Tuscaloosa around midnight.  We had a brief day of rest on Friday then I went out into the field with Kate and others to catch fish in Lake Lurleen on Saturday.. Here are a few pictures of our janut!  Right now I'm in Coweeta for a few days of field work and Dan is waiting for his flight out of Boston to Reykjavik...

All for now, can't wait for this round of travel is over so we can just rest at home for a bit!  Dan doesn't come back until the 10th and hopefully we don't have a whole lot else to do until May...

Whoop whoop!!!

ct

Yahoo! Updates from Spring Break 2013

Hi there folks!  Greetings from Snowy Bethlehem, PA!

Here are some photos of our house and garden last week..

Also, here are photos of our awesome Spring Break thus far - Hanging out, Tricky Tray Mardi Gras style, A Dairy Queen photo session, A trip down to New Hope, PA with Dan's Sister Caroline and friend Walter, our NYC trip, and a bit of snow fun from this morning!!  That's right, we get a fun snow days today - it should snow 2-4 inches all day today, Hannah's already pretty tuckered out, but she better rest up for some more snow play!!!
Here's a quick on of her running around like the nut she is:

It's been a lot of fun hanging out, eating, relaxing, and eating some more!!  We still have a few more days of our fantastic Spring Break left until we leave Thursday morning!  Yeah!!
xo

ct

Sppprrriiiinnnggg bbbrrreeeaaakkk!!"

This clip is necessary I think...

We are on the road to Bethlehem, PA! So far we are in Harrisonburg, VA.. this means we have a little over 250 miles left in the trip! We left at 3:30 am today and have been switching off shifts every 300 miles! Hannah seems to be tolerating the drive thus far.  We've made the back seat cushy for her with a nice plush sleeping bag. We've got a couple of pounds of sliced pork and ribs from Archibald's and will be grubbing on that tonight! Yeah!

More to come soon!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Hello!  What a whirlwind of activity the last couple of weeks.  I don't feel like we've done much that was eventful, but it sure does feel like we've been busy bees.

The weather is WARM.  Yesterday was somewhere in the 78-79 zone and it was GREAT!  We spent the day running some errands to prep for the garden!  Yeah!  All our starts are out, supposedly Good Friday is the "safe" day that marks the time to plant outdoors!  We got a little crazy and loaded up on tomatoes - maybe 5 different varieties?  Almost as many peppers, and then some eggplant, dill, and basil.  Soon there will be some cucumber starters at our favorite nursery and we'll put in a few of those as well.  I know I've overloaded the garden, but I just can't help myself after our (my) crappy winter garden.

Yesterday was also my Dad's bday (Happy Bday Dad!) and Thursday was my brother's (Happy bday Simon!)...I hope they had good birthdays...

Today we spent St. Patrick's day at the house and just got the mad urge to CLEAN!  It's a nice way to welcome the spring with a fantastic clean home...I mean some DEEP cleaning...like move the furniture and vacuum and mop behind it, wipe the window sills down, and wipe the top of the refrigerator clean.  Dan tackled the upstairs (absolutely nothing more romantic to me than a man who will spend a Sunday cleaning with you!) while I hit the kitchen.  After our all day cleaning fest it feels great to sit and revel in our nice clean house.

We also finally got our yard mowed after the landlord has neglected it since September (grr!!).  Granted the grass doesn't grow super fast over winter, but the weeds were getting close to knee high in some area so it's nice to have a respectable front yard that Hannah can actually do her business in..Ahh...it's so nice how the little things make your day.  Last night we slept with the window open and it was fantastic!  A nice breeze lulled us to bed and the birds chirped us up in the morning.  Let's hope Spring sticks around for a bit before the oppressive summer sets in!

We leave for PA in a few days to visit the Nelson clan!  It'll be great fun to road trip up there with Hannah and spend Spring Break relaxing about.  We are planning a quick trip to NYC as well - my first jaunt to the Big Apple!!  After about a week up there we zip back down here where Dan heads to Iceland for 10 days for more field work (it'll be his last until he leaves for the summer in late May!) and I head to Coweeta for a few days of our regular benthic sampling as well as sampling for aquatic inverts for gut analysis.  Should be nice!  We (thankfully) don't have much else planned for April, but we will be having another Yearly Garage Sale at the end of April!  Our dear neighbors are leaving us in mid-May (so soon!), and they'll have a lot to purge.  We don't really have a ton of stuff, but we can always find stuff to sell!!  Our friends the Kendricks are also ready to purge after recently having a baby in October, so it'll be a nice multi-family sale with (hopefully) some nice weather...

I can't believe it's past mid-March already!!  This year has been FLYING by!!  I suppose that is how it always is, hopefully that means we're having fun and getting things done!

Here is a link to some pictures of late!  Mostly of Hannah, some plants, some food, a short hike at Lake Lurleen, the usual...

xo