There's a startling lack of pictorial evidence from this past year. I guess I haven't been doing anything but working and running—until December 15 when I turned in most of my applications to graduate school. Then everyone left town on vacations and I blew off everything except what I like doing. For two weeks I have been cleaning my house, staying up late and sleeping late, shopping for gifts, and sitting with my coffee in cafes and writing on paper or reading for pleasure. I could live this way forever.

Andy always says to choose the simple path. Everyone else encourages the opposite.

I'm sorry to have neglected this site for so long. Working on it is meaningful and enjoyable.

Well, here is what I have:

For my birthday I wanted to leave because leaving is always more memorable than staying. I missed the wilderness and it had been a long time since I kayaked. Andrew agreed to try it with me and I found a tour company on Bowen Island in B.C., which is a relatively hassle-free destination on a summer weekend. We used Hotwire to stay at a nice hotel in Vancouver for cheap. When we arrived, some necessary guest was too sick to check out and we got bumped across the street to the Four Seasons. Kayaking itself was sort of a bust. The guide was bored and wanted to try for a far away goal. We spent the whole trip trying hard to keep up and missing everything small that being in a kayak brings you close to.

For two years I've wanted to see if I could grow blood grass indoors in front of the big window where the sun sets. I finally did it this late summer, and it was stunning throughout those long warm days. My plain yellow orchid bloomed again too. The blood grass died in the fall when things got so busy I lost track of days. I forgot to water it and it dried up (as did the orchids, but they fare better in arid conditions). I gave it a buzz cut and now it looks like it's waiting for spring.

Sometime in the fall one of Andrew's best friends married. Andrew was a (novitiate) groomsman. He wore a tuxedo, which was apparently a first. I like this photo of him, looking natural in the rented suit. I'm always amazed at how photogenic he is.

In early November I attended/presented at a conference in Toronto. Conferences suck, even if some of the talks are interesting. I loathe the vast windowless rooms. Invariably, conference centers are located in some city-center DCZ rife with chain restaurants and lacking public means of escape. Andrew came with me and he was the perfect excuse for bailing.

We went to the CN Tower and struggled to override the hardwired instinct to avoid stepping over a precipice. He's so much better at suppression than I am and he calmly forced himself out to the center of the plexiglass pane, pulling me with him. I shrieked and leapt off before I could reach the center, but I loved feeling the incongruence of irrepressible physical warning signals and the knowledge that I wasn't in danger. My will is no match for my instincts! We noticed that almost no one dared stand upright on the glass. As most people approach, they crouch and then turn around and sit or lay down on the glass so that they don't have to look down. This looks brave but isn't. Interesting!

People are always telling me that Toronto is the New York of Canada. I was surprised, then, to find it not like New York at all. But it's a lovely city and I enjoyed those vestiges of midwest early industry coursing yet under and alongside streets.

The best was discovering Queen Street West. The concierge at the conference center recommended an Indian restaurant there. Later we returned in the daylight to stroll and shop. I bought a long sequined scarf in an exquisitely rich purple color. It cost a fortune.

We saw Body Worlds at the Ontario Science Centre. I enjoyed the show very much, even if some displays were gratuitous. I knew nothing about it beforehand. Later, at a requisite conference function, someone told me of the controversies surrounding the exhibition.

Part of what made the entire trip cool is that we accidentally ended up staying at a Howard Johnson's located in some industrial no man's land in the Scarborough area of the city. The place had a freeway on one side, a fenced-in industrial transport hub on another, and a Chinese buffet and Chinese Baptist church on the remaining two sides. Any other services were a good quarter-mile walk in the brisk lake wind. We found a pub-style restaurant called the Three Monkeys (formerly the Monk and Firkin) that was dark with red vinyl four-poster booths and chock full of hosers. Hockey careened across the hanging TVs. The food was expectedly bad but much appreciated after 12 hours of travel. Staying so far out of the city necessitated long cab rides to and fro, and in that way we got to see much of the city and enjoyed long and colorful conversations with cab drivers. We even got the same cab driver twice! It was a fun thing.

Last year my aunt encouraged me to get a Christmas tree but I was too busy to get one and then I was gone to Hawaii. This year I promised myself a tree as a treat for surviving the fall. This is the first live tree I've had in 10 years. Growing up, we always cut our own, either from a farm or from some relative's property. This year, I just walked into the local lot and picked up the first noble fir I saw and brought it home. Bizarre!

I love my tree. I bought a string of red LED lights and they are constantly lit. So much time these past two weeks I've been home sitting by the little tree, drinking tea and listening to music.

Not two weeks ago, my uncle Bob died in a car accident in southern Idaho. He was driving home to be with his family for the holidays. He fell asleep at the wheel.

He was the patriarch of our family and a significant loss for us. For me, I lament the lost opportunities to learn from and to cultivate a different and possibly deeper relationship with him. He showed me the rapture of adventure. From his example, I've learned that we can take far more risks than we think, and are told, we can. Whenever I want to do something and it feels like I'm taking a risk, I think of him and how fruitful unabashedness has been for him. He's the only member of my family not a shy wussy. There's much to inherit from that.