allison takes over the liberal

Allison in the Liberal. Click on image for bigger version.


Last week, Allison gave me the copies of The Liberal I had begged her to pick up for me. I'll be donating one to Interfilk at OVFF, of course. Wow, hadn't realized how much of the front page her picture would cover! VERY cool. Happily, she got appropriately hassled at her school ;-) but she also got some surprise feedback, such as a letter from an old student of hers from early teaching days.




Inside article. Click on image for bigger version
(but PLEASE ignore my outdated geeky glasses back then).


Got an article assignment from Writer's Digest yesterday for their special Yearbook issue, due the week Jeff & I get back from Vienna. Glad I'm taking my laptop. Also glad my tendinitis has much improved these days, though I'm still careful to take arm breaks. Many thanks to Andrea Dale for helping me with Market Watch while I'm away!

I have my laser surgery follow-up appointment today, wish me luck. I don't notice the shadow in my periphery as much anymore. Not sure if it's because it's shrunk or (more likely) my vision has adjusted around it.

Did more packing and prep yesterday, including buying an adaptor plug at The Travel Stop on Cumberland so I can charge up my laptop, iPod and digital camera batteries while I'm in Vienna, as well as a new neck pillow for the plane (my old one suffered a fatal leak on the way home from Nevada). Charged up my iPod and loaded it with new tunes and an audiobook (a history of jazz); I've decided to leave my Big New Book behind. Still hoping to sleep for most of the flight, though.

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learning languages

Wrote and sent off two articles, then did more packing and prep for our trip to Vienna. And cramming in as much last-minute German as I can, of course. :-)

As I've mentioned before, I love languages. I'm not near fluent in any except for English, but I know a smattering of German, Japanese, and French. I used to study a bit of Swedish, though now I can't remember how to say anything in that language except for "My hovercraft is full of eels."

I plan to eventually study some Japanese again, probably within the next year or two. Hey, Worldcon's in Japan in a few years...who knows? Maybe I'll actually go.

Anyway, I've been looking at several types of German self-study courses over the past while and have come to some conclusions:

- I need to see the written language to learn it. I can't just absorb through listening. Therefore a course that is entirely audio doesn't work for me unless I also have materials (not necessarily connected to the course) with written language as well.

- I need to hear the language. A LOT. I can't just absorb through a written course. And just one audio course isn't enough for me. I need to borrow or buy other audiovisual and other audio materials, or listen to the many audio samples on the Web. This also helps me from getting too cocky; listening to a regular German radio program, for example, is a humbling experience, and helps emphasize how listening to an instructor speak slowly and clearly is a far different thing than day-to-day conversation in the country itself.

- I suck at memorizing the usual travel phrases you find in the small tourist language books. I need to be able to understand at least some of the basics of the grammar.

- It takes me a long time, and a lot of repetition. Those "Learn German In 30 Days" books/courses are not written for me. I need to go through material over and over and over and over again, as well as trying connecting it with other things I've learned. Then go over and over it yet again.

But y'know what? It's fun! I used to love learning secret languages and deciphering codes as a child (made up some of my own, too), and I suppose this is just a grown-up version of that passion. I know I'll never be really fluent in any of these languages, but I get a huge amount of enjoyment in the process as well as the hope that maybe, someday, I'll at least have learned enough to be able to communicate with someone in another country in their own language enough to have it qualify as a simple conversation.

To those of you out there fluent in other languages, I'm curious: Did you learn the language(s) yourself, or take a course? If self-study, any tips? Did you use flash cards, for instance? Intensive study in a short time, or gradually over a number of years?

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travel prep

Ruth and Sara go for an early morning paddle at the cottage.


Getting ready for our Vienna trip. I'm somewhat anal when it comes to packing for trips, and tend to start days in advance. The main reason is because if I have to pack in a hurry, I'll inevitably forget something important, or I'll overpack. Plus for me, part of the enjoyment of a trip is the anticipation, and part of that is the trip prep.

What about the rest of you? Are you anal like me (and do you make lists) or do you prefer tossing everything in a bag at the last minute?

I'm taking my laptop and will try to get online once or twice via MaGlobe, which has a couple of Vienna access numbers, but I'm not going to stress out if I can't. I'm mainly taking my laptop for dumping digital photos and in hopes of doing a bit of writing.




Sara's story in Sunday's paper (click for bigger image).


I'm still FAR from fluent in German, but I'm hoping to communicate a tad more effectively in Vienna than I did during our last visit. Listening to my language audio lessons, I'm thrilled (probably more thrilled than I really should be) to find that I'm actually understanding the basic gist of some conversations I had no clue about before. Yay! Now if only I could convince everyone in Vienna to slow down their speech about a zillion times.

"Könnten Sie bitte langsamer sprechen?"...

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briar patch inn

Snoozing in our cabin. Photo by Jeff.


(continuation of trip report)

After my sister and her family flew back home, Jeff and I drove to the Briar Patch Inn, a bed & breakfast place near Sedona, at the base of the red rock mountains. Upon arriving, we immediately got to work on doing absolutely nothing (see photo above).

:-)

The setting was ideal: short drive from Sedona, nestled in a wooded valley beside Oak Creek. No phone or tv in our cabin; calls could be made from a payphone on the property. We had an air-conditioning unit, but chose to leave it off most of the time so we could hear the creek.

Here's the welcome note we found in our cabin when we arrived, along with a small box of worry dolls:





Here's what our cabin ("The Deckhouse") looked like inside:





View from the inside, looking out towards the deck:





View from the deck:





The cabin also had a kitchenette that included a sink, microwave and a fridge:





And a nicely appointed bathroom with a deep whirlpool tub:





My favourite activity those few days: sitting out on the deck with a book, listening to the sound of the creek and the wind in the trees. Also, lots of birds... apparently the area is a favorite of birdwatchers; I'd look up from by book from time to time and would inevitably glimpse a bird or two I've never encountered in Ontario. No mosquitoes, either!

The Inn property only has eighteen cabins, so no worries about noisy hordes. And lots of quiet spaces on the property in which to curl up with a good book:





Breakfast usually included a choice of most of the following: fresh home baked breads, quiche and muffins, granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, juices, oatmeal, hardboiled and soft-boiled eggs, coffee and herbal teas. We always took our breakfasts out to the patio beside the creek:





...and ate it while listening to live music provided by resident musicians, Allen and Maryanne Ames:



The music duo Lyra.


Jeff and I spent most of our two days in Sedona reading, napping, relaxing, but we also went back to the Lowell Observatory as well as checking out some of the shops and art galleries in Sedona. I even booked an in-cabin massage, and felt very decadent and spoiled.

When we got hungry between meals, we would wander along the path to the main cabin, which always had iced tea, herbal teas and coffee, cookies, crackers and fruit available. The main cabin also had a library with a wide variety of books; I borrowed a guide to the area's flora and fauna as well as "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. Started the latter book the first night we arrived, finished it the next day outside beside the creek.

I fell in love with the red rock formations in the area, like this one:





We also checked out some of the local restaurants:





And I gotta say, I could *never* get tired of those gorgeous Sedona sunsets:



Sunset view from the restaurant in above photo.


It was a wonderful way to wind down the trip. Jeff and I are both keen on going back to the Briar Patch Inn and booking the same cabin someday. I highly recommend this place for anyone seeking a quiet place of relaxation or a romantic hideaway.

More info:

Sedona tourist information

Briar Patch Inn

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canyons and telescopes

(continuation of trip report)

I took the photo above when Jeff and I decided to check out the Grand Canyon at sunrise. The high-res version is now my laptop desktop. :-) I was pretty surprised when Jeff suggested the early morning canyon visit since he is definitely not a morning person, figured he would bail at the last minute. But I was wrong, and when he woke me up at 5:00 a.m. (as I had asked) to see if I wanted to come along, there was no way I was going to say no. -I- was supposed to be the perky morning person, after all!



Sara and Jeff at a lookout point.


So we sat for a couple of hours, just watching the morning sunlight gradually spill over the rock, warming grey shadows into pale rose and sandy browns, breathing life into the canyon.

It's a morning I won't soon forget.



Me in front of the canyon at sunset. Photo by Ruth.


I'm not a hot weather person, so initially I wasn't crazy about visiting Arizona during its hottest season. What I found when I got there: while it was definitely HOT (it got up to 109 deg Fahrenheit in Phoenix during our visit), it wasn't the hell that I had been expecting, probably because of the lack of humidity. So little humidity, in fact, that after leaving the women's washroom in one hotel with wet hands because the hand dryer wasn't working, my hands were COMPLETELY DRY by the time I got outside less than a minute later.

Kinda freaky, but it inspired me to drink a lot more water. I think the person who came up with the "eight glasses of water a day" rule must have lived in Arizona.





Seeing the Grand Canyon was the highlight of this trip for me; sadly, my photos don't do justice to the incredible experience of seeing the canyon in real life. I was still blown away by the breathtaking view despite the cliche/tourist factor. Someday, I'd like to come back during cooler weather and plan a trek to the bottom.



My brother-in-law Kaarel.


In Flagstaff, we visited the Lowell Observatory, which is a privately owned astronomical research institution founded in 1894 by Boston mathematician Percival Lowell, best known for the discovery of Pluto as well as his theories about canals on Mars. Other noteworthy Lowell Observatory discoveries include evidence that the universe is expanding, discovery of the rings of Uranus, and the continuing search and discovery of numerous asteroids, near earth asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, and extra-solar planets.

We had a chance to look at a double star and the M-5 cluster through the 24-inch Alvan Clark refractor telescope which Lowell used to study Mars around the turn of the century. Sara and Annie used a small stool so they could look through the eyepiece of this telescope:





We also got to check out the telescope used to discover Pluto:





I had no idea that Pluto was named by an 11-year-old English girl. Those interested in finding help more about how Pluto was discovered should check out this link.

(tomorrow: cabin near Sedona!)

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