Home Sweet Home

We were (and are still) exhausted, but Binbin is exhilarated! He endured about 55 hours in the car from December 9-18, and his reward: a playroom filled with stuff with which to be reacquainted. I heard in my mind the happy soundtrack of "Toy Story" and the toy euphoria of being played with as I watched Binbin scoot around the house on his way-too-small wooden tricycle.

It's good to be able to smile even while my eyesight is blurry and my mind delirious from so many, many miles on the Interstate Highway System.

We're starting to unpack the dozen boxes that we sent through post (Thank you for staying in business even while you are losing money, USPS). And the task to get organized seems as herculean as is seems uninteresting. So, sounds like a good time for procrastination. Hmmm...what memories do we have of the last bleary blur of weeks at DS?

Much cooking with Edward and Matt, including a delicious end-of-term meal, which including tiramisu! More slaughtering of lambs, some done in bone-chilling weather. A handful of game nights with Emily and Katie, and one final spoon challenge to end all spoon challenges, which ended in a torn 8 of clubs and wicked, triumphant expression on Isaac. A last family photograph taken by Henrik's mercurial camera. Amity picked up "Pox: Save the People," which added a fresh twist to our game selection. Brother Kenneth was on hand to wipe the grins off our face, whenever necessary (and then some).

It feels, now that we are back in our home for the first time since the end of July, that our time in the high Sierra desert was just a dream. But, we are fortunate to have evidence in the form of a digital video shot and narrative by Binbin. The voice-over is delightful and original ("...and here...we have...our toilet... "), but the shaky clips of gazing at the ground are not recommended for the weak of stomach. Now that we're back in the land of (slightly) faster internet speeds, we'll try to edit a clip. Stay tuned.

Those of you at DS, we miss you; our friends in Maine, we can't wait to see you!

still here

We're still here, and we're still having fun! We had a visit from Yeye and Nainai last weekend, and it was great to be able to show them around our neighborhood, including a hike to the Druid and a drive up into the Whites to see the bristlecone pines. This weekend, things have been quieter. Family movie night featured "steamboy," an anime film in the "steam punk" genre. That was new to us, and pretty exciting with the mechanical inventions mixing with megalomaniacs. Today, we drove into Bishop to have a swim in the hot springs again. We had lunch at the Village Diner, stopped in to pick up a few things at Manor Market, and then used up half of our credit at the used book store, courtesy of Deep Springs.

Spooky Deep Springs

Since Halloween falls on a Monday night, which is the DS night for committee meetings, the students decided to celebrate on Saturday night. While kids and parents watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, they transformed the office wing of the Main Building into a corridor of horrors, with crazed country spinsters, orange-jump-suited jail-breakers, a creepy spider-man, and occupy wall street/deep springs protesters. Binbin, who went as a strong main with packaging puffies taped to his biceps and quads, collected treats and reveled in the tricks. jack, with the help of a student body accomplice, gathered enough props to turn himself into a good-natured second-year student; and I went at the 'three pillars' of Deep Springs: self-governance, academics, and labor rendered in doric, ionic, and corinthian orders.

We enjoyed the extra company of visitors, Michael (a Deep Springer from the '70s) and his kids, Rhys and Nathan. It was nice to have others carving pumpkins and playing foosball.

Windy!

I think Indian Summer has been blown out of the valley. The temps are above freezing at night, but the wind is howling through our valley. The few trees that have been planted around the ranch form hardly a windbreak, and the dewdrops I see through my office window have frozen into solid, icy pearls.

Today is pregnancy testing day for the cows. Everyone is going to be on work duty 10 miles down the valley near the lake to operate the corrals, gates, squeezer, confirm results, etc.

Animal Adventures

Apparently, the lizards are getting chilled as fall sets in, and we are finding regular visitors in our quarters. Binbin and I caught a released two, included the bluish belly guy with the stubby tail.

Also, this morning, Binbin and Jack spent some time at the dead animal dump looking for treasures. They came home with a couple of vertabrae, some ribs, and a jaw bone with a handful of teeth.

More elements

After wandering the Stanford campus, we made our way to the New Guinea sculpture garden. Here, Binbin poses in front of the wooden thinker.



Out of order, but still beautiful, Yosemite Falls on Friday, October 14.



Water and metal combine at the fountain near Stanford's Old Union.

Elements

We went on a road trip to Northern California this past week, while DS was on break between Terms 2 and 3. The quickest way to get from Deep Springs to Ukiah requires driving through Yosemite on 120, which takes us through Tioga Pass at 9945 feet. The early October snow has mostly melted, leaving the pass open. And so, we camped at Porcupine Flats on the last day of camping, October 14th. Binbin picked out a site with a large boulder, and we set up camp before driving down into Yosemite Valley. It was breathtaking, and we were lucky to see the waterfalls, which do not normally run this time of year. Here we are at the base of Yosemite Falls



Next morning, after packing up camp, we stopped on our way out of Yosemite at the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias. The short walk took us down a steep ravine to see the dead giant with a tunnel carved through it through which cars could pass. This other one died a more natural death. The trees were magnificent.



After seeing amazing water and wood, we spent a couple of hours in the middle of the week at Stanford. Here is earth, or rock, arranged according to the vision of Andy Goldsworthy.



Metal, or bronze, as Auguste Rodin cast it.



And a less inspired, water fountain with river stones, functioning effectively as a traffic circle.