Louisiana

Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans

After an intense week of essay writing at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, I headed off to Louisiana in Daddy's Subaru Outback. My first stop was Columbia, Missouri, where I met up with my friend Katie. Over dinner at Shakespeare's Pizza (below), Katie's friend, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards (#99), came over and greeted us. The next day, Katie and I drove 771 miles to Baton Rouge and stayed with friends (in loco parentium) Marilyn and Roland.

I accomplished everything I set out to do in Louisiana and then some! I got my hair cut at Blon Salon, saw Iron Man (when did Robert Downey Jr get to be so HOT?!) and Dark Knight (prediction: Heath Ledger will get a posthumous Oscar), ate at Chimes three times (mmm, fried crawfish!), got to the top of the Shaw Building, spent a day in New Orleans, went on a date, learned all about ultimate fighting, cleaned out my office, saw Mike the Tiger, and met with tons of friends.

The Mississippi River Bridge from the roof of the Shaw Center, Baton Rouge

After a week of fun in the (HOT!) sun, Katie and I headed back north. We had a lovely dinner at the Olympia Taverna in St. Louis and indulged in frozen custard back in Columbia. On the way to Iowa City I met former colleague Christine in Kirkville, rounding off a wonderful trip of reconnections. Hugs and kisses to Marilyn, Roland, Bev, Stephnie, Spike, Lydia, Jael, Zane, Fran, Angelika, Lani, Will, Russell, Megan, Alecia, Deborah, Nick, Althea, Stuart, Cora, Elizabeth, Christine, Ed and, of course, the Whiskey Widows!

Angelika, Katie, and Deborah at Maspero's

Fourth of July and Frog Survey

Coming back to the U.S. on July 1st was an unplanned stroke of genius! By the time I got over jetlag, I was able to enjoy fully my favorite holiday, the Fourth of July. It's not so much that I'm patriotic; I just LOVE fireworks!


This year my family elected to celebrate the Fourth of July at our cabin in southeast Iowa. I prefer small fireworks displays to the ones in large cities because my love of fireworks is directly proportionate to my dislike of crowds. I also hate the broadcast of Sousa marches that coincide with the fireworks display. I find it much more enjoyable to hang out on the bridge in Keosauqua and watch fireworks explode over the Des Moines River. The night watchman knows he can't control the number of illegal fireworks that are brought into Iowa from Missouri, so he simply walks through the crowd making sure no one gets hurt.

The rest of the weekend we spent cleaning up from the floods that ravaged SE Iowa this spring. We lost half of our garden to flood waters and three trees to high winds. We grilled out (i.e. barbecued) like 95% of the American population on Fourth of July weekend. We also did a frog survey.

FROG SURVEY

There are several common species of frogs in SE Iowa (spring peepers, chorus frogs, cricket frogs, tree frogs, green frogs, bull frogs, leopard frogs, American toads... you can check out their songs here) and my parents participate in a program to count the number of frogs of each individual species. They report these numbers to the Department of Natural Resources for the state of Iowa. So as the sun set and the fireflies were just coming out, we climbed into the Subaru and made our frog loop. As we drove through the Iowa countryside, we listened to a CD of frog songs. According to the rules, we have to stop at several different habitats (flowing water, stagnant water, ephemeral ponds), where we measure the air and water temperature. Then we spend 5-10 minutes listening for the different frog species. It takes a couple of hours to do the loop, and we fall into bed around midnight. Never a dull moment in SE Iowa!

KNEE HIGH BY THE FOURTH OF JULY

Iowa is the Corn State, and you know it's going to be a good year if the corn is "knee high by the Fourth of July." Case in point:

Hallstatt

Before the first year of my assistantship ended, I wanted to do something adventurous (like the past eight months haven't been one great big adventure!). So I set out for Hallstatt, one of the most picturesque towns in Austria and home of Hallstatt Culture.

You can take a train to the Hallstatt station, but then you have to take a ferry across the lake (I like ferries almost as much as I like fireworks!) The whole lake is rimmed with mountains, and paragliders sail overhead.



My first stop was the museum with early examples of Celtic art, and a tombstone of Perseus and Andromeda that I included in my dissertation. Then I walked up and down the main street taking photos and searching for the best lunch deal. I wound up at a lakefront cafe and had spinach and feta strudel with fresh tomato sauce. It was one of the most memorable meals I've eaten in Austria -- ever! After lunch I took the funicular up the mountain and hiked up to the salt mine. Against the advice of the funicular lady, I hiked all the way back down the mountain in about 90 degree heat. None the worse for wear, I had an ice cream cone and then wandered up to the Catholic church. There I saw the charnel house with its magnificent painted skulls (call me a ghoul!).

At 6:30 I took the ferry back to the station, and took the train to Bad Aussee where I met Irene. She took me to Grundlsee, and we walked to Toplitzsee. Just as we were about to go skinny dipping, there was a clap of thunder and the heavens opened up -- talk about divine intervention! I will go back in the fall, if only to visit Kammersee which is accessible ONLY by boat from Toplitzsee.

Grimmingtor from Ödensee

Sonnenwendfeuer

Last night I was invited to experience the Solstice Fires in the Ennstal. This is one of those unbelievably ancient and inspirational traditions in which I’ve been privileged to take part the past few months. I walked to my friends’ house in Raumberg and had a light dinner of salad of fresh garden vegetables, meats, and cheeses with pumpkin seed oil (available at Calandros South, $13). Then we went for a walk to gather the 11 flowers, leaves and grasses for a solstice nosegay (only Zittergras eluded us). The fireflies (called glow worms here) were just coming out as we returned to town. In the distance, an oompah band played Austrian Volksmusik.

At sundown bonfires are lit on the mountain peaks in a scene reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings. It wasn’t quite that dramatic, but we could see a good 10 fires from the terrace at Raumberg school. Imagine, people have to climb the mountains with all the wood for the bonfire on their backs, then they have to walk back down the mountain in the dark. With binoculars we could see a long line of people with head lamps walking down the mountain trail. We even caught a glimpse of a fire on the Grimming but it was so windy up there that it couldn’t be kept going.

We went back to the house and had drinks and cake on the balcony, then at midnight my friends walked me halfway home.

My most authentic Austrian experiences (hiking, sledding, etc.) have been with Franz and Eva, who also happen to be one of the happiest married couples in the Ennstal. Their secret? “Little compromises every day...” Unfortunately, they were unable to produce a nice Austrian man for me to jump over a fire with at midnight so that we could enjoy the same bliss F & E share!

Irene's Garden, Pt. 2

When I was in preschool, the teacher sent a note home to my parents indicating that my artistic talents should be fostered. Although I've had some success with various projects and crafts over the years, I've never really taken it seriously. But Irene's garden is so inspirational with its sculptures and flowers, that I have taken to sketching scenes that catch my fancy. This is one of my better attempts:


Besides read, write, and sketch in Irene's garden, I am allowed to do three things for the good of the order:

1) Weed the terrace
2) Weed the pebbled walkways
3) divert mosquitos from biting Irene


As a result of last night's weeding, I woke up with about 30 mosquito bites! What exactly are the consequences of too much mosquito venom, I wonder?

Wo man sich wirklich wohl fühlen kann...

Hard to believe, but I have just about a week left in Irdning. Sitting here in my apartment, I can smell the warm scent of mock orange on the evening breeze, and when I think about leaving this place, I start to get all weepy. The first year has been FABULOUS and I am so happy to be returning for 2008/09. I know wonderful new adventures await in Iowa and Louisiana this summer, but even so, I feel like I really belong *here* in the Ennstal. There is something about the people, the pace of life, and being surrounded by nature that I simply can't get enough of!

www.disapprovingrabbits.com

Looking back on everything I've done over the past year, it seems like my whole life has been leading up to this point. And although I've had my ups and downs, I am generally happier than I've ever been, doing things I really enjoy (writing, sketching, getting paid to read books, watch movies, speak English and explain the idiosyncracies of American culture!). I've made some good friends, live in an apartment where the rent is reasonable, my roommate agreeable, and my landlady does my laundry. I can hop on a bus or train any time and go to a concert, a festival, a museum, or just poke around a new town to say I've been there!

I've also reconnected with music, although I'm one of the five people on the face of the planet who does not own, or want, an iPod. Right now, I'm listening to the dB's on my laptop, and echo their sentiment: "I feel good, good today..." and "It's good to be alive!"