Age vs. Hope

For my Dad's 61st Birthday last week I made this card (in the center) by melding an old photo of him from 1972(?) and the well know Obama poster from 2008. I meant it as an homage to my dad and a humurous reflection on the past. He took it as a parody, as in, he now has the opposite of hope because all he has is age. Woops. I even wrote a poem on the inside of the card explaining the drawing, but the print was so small that he couldn't read it.

Numb toes

Next on my agenda after finishing my earlier post was to look up why my big toes have been numb ever since day three in the woods with the kidos. I have had the same hiking boots for seven or eight years and don't recall having numb big toes in the past. It's not painful, but it is irritating and a bit disconcerting - like, are my toes going gangreen?

My super in-depth research (i.e. 20 minutes of web-browsing) leads me to believe that I have a fairly common condition experienced by hikers, and most creatively pseudonymed "Christmastoe" by tree-planters who work from May to September on steep terrain and then regain feeling in their big toes around Christmas time. Great. That puts me into February with numb toes.

At least I can talk about having Christmastoe, though.

Might be worth it.

Back from the woods

Returning from life in the woods with 10-year-olds is a rough transition. I spent last week in just such an alternate reality, which was lovely, both in its own right, and for its difference from the day-to-day goings on in my office, which are all-consuming unless you are forced to take a break. Four days in the woods will do anyone a world of good. Four days with 10-year-olds makes it magical if you let it.






This trip to the woods marks a end of sorts to my Thesis Fieldwork. I have much more material to write about than I initially anticipated. The structure of the writing itself remains a bit of mystery, but I have to get going on that before I get to far from the experiences. I just don't want it to be boring.