letter feb 15

Dear Everyone,

There have been some big family events over the last week, from Silas’ ritual sacrifice, to Grandma Barbara’s eightieth birthday. I wasn’t at the bris, but I can write a bit about the Birthday. We were at a special ceremony at the southeastern end of the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We were in a small wood overrun with buckthorn trees, and to the north was a large pond. This is the area that will be turned into a special native plant nature reserve. Erosion in the pond will be halted, and the base will be built up for mud flats. There will be nature trails, and a lookout pavilion. Already present is a bench dedicated to Barbara from her children and grandchildren. It was too cold for anyone to want to sit down though. We were served tepid chocolate and ice cold chocolate-dipped strawberries. Present at the dedication were Barbara, Roger, Howard, Betsy, Amy and Jim Tuchler, Andy and Gail, Ariana, Cindy, Lucas, and Jasper. Maddie and Eliza were debating at Harvard. Nicola was at a party in Hinsdale.

An hour after the dedication we all regrouped at an Italian restaurant in Ravinia. It is in the space that was once inhabited by a French bistro in which Vanessa worked. It specialized in cuisine of the ‘heel’ region of Italy. We started the meal with breaded artichokes and cocktails. They had great lentil soup. Entrees were varied from spaghetti and meatballs, osso bucco on saffron rice, veal chops, linguine with fruits de mere, and others. For dessert we had carrot cake, and a few people took on gelato. I think my stomach expanded several sizes.

After dinner we went on to see a play presented by the Writer’s Theatre in Glencoe. This was a premier performance of a play by Brett Neveu called Old Glory. ( http://www.playbill.com/news/article/125869.html ) Three scenes, separated in time and place were presented nearly simultaneously: two soldiers in Iraq, the mother of one of the soldiers and another of his comrades in New Mexico several months later, and the father of the same soldier with the soldier’s commanding officer several months even later in Berlin. The play is a bit of a murder mystery. I had eaten too much and kept falling asleep. I thought there were too many writing tricks in the play; I didn’t really believe in the characters. Still, although I don’t know if anyone liked the play very much, it did provoke a lot of discussion.

Instead of going to the play, the two boys stayed at Barbara and Roger’s. They were pretty tired out. We had gotten up before six that morning to drive to the Tuchler’s. Jim, Andrew, Peter, and Adam joined us for a drive up to Alpine Valley. Regardless of the warm weather of the last week (nearly record high temperatures), there was still snow on the molehill, and we skied from nine until afternoon. Jim started with Adam and Peter, while I had the three big boys. Later on Peter switched to our group, and eventually it was Andrew with me; Peter, Jasper and Lucas together; and Jim with Adam. A complete round trip up and down the mountain takes less than five minutes, so we must have gone up and down well over twenty times. I got tired out!

Last weekend was not as busy. We went to see Coraline in 3-D. I had read this spooky tale by Neal Gaiman to the kids when it came out several years ago (in fact, I have his latest, The Graveyard Book, in my ‘to read’ pile from the library right now). The movie is quite sensitive to the spirit of the book, if not all the details. You should definitely see it in a theater, in 3-D! The Friday night before, Jasper swam his first 500 freestyle race. He did it in 7:14 – probably five minutes faster than I could do it. His butterfly and freestyle times are getting faster, but the breast and backstroke need work. He ended the weekend by decreasing his best times in 4 of 7 races.

Work has been pretty busy, I will have more to say what is happening there in future letters. Loyola is relatively sound financially, only because the institution has never had much of an endowment to depend on to begin with. I hope some of that Obama stimulus package goes to pay us - - the State of Illinois hasn’t paid us for about nine months - - some of that Rod B. government by proclamation.

Three last asides: 1) has been the disparity I have noticed in the discussions of Lincoln’s and Darwin’s birthday. I listen to NPR in the morning and evening in the car, and there has always seemed to be a bit more effort made to discuss Lincoln’s legacy. It is a political news channel, after all. And of course, the journals that I read at work have been all Darwin, all the time (if they are general interest enough to discuss birthdays at all). I discussed this with Lucas. Who will people remember 1ooo years hence? I think Darwin (science) trumps politics (Lincoln). We remember great leaders of the past mainly for the number of people that they killed, it seems. Scientists and philosophers are remembered for their ideas - - although maybe the ideas killed more than any politician ever did.

2) video clips of the Westminster dog show. We enjoyed the last 30 seconds of the Keeshond trial the most - - when they are all begging for treats! http://video.westminsterkennelclub.org/player/?id=216401

3) a last plug for a family booksprouts club at http://www.booksprouts.com/ . I did invite people to join. Email me if you lost the invitation, and I will send you another. So far it is me, Joey Brown, Ariana, and Barbara. I may have to re-open book nominations. I am happy to read anything, from comic books to philosophy.

Love, H.