a paddle and a tent

I grew up as a country girl, and I feel like I am still a country girl at heart. But I know that living in the city for almost 10 years now has citified me...and sometimes makes me feel like a big weenie! I love the country...the quiet days that can turn into weeks, the lack of dependence on things city people take for granted, he home-cooked meals, and the comfort of being able to hang out in your yard in your skivvies without having to worry about neighbors. Living in the country teaches you how to live simply and resourcefully, and that's hard to maintain when you get use to living in the city. I have grown use to living only a couple miles from work, being 2 minutes from the grocery store, having dozens of restaurants to fall back on if we don't feel like cooking, being near to Blockbuster on a Friday night, and having cell phone service almost anywhere I go. Don't get me wrong -we enjoy taking advantage of the convenience of everything!

Not that camping for a couple of nights is anything near the same as country life, but it does make me miss that lifestyle. Mitch and I have gone camping twice over the past couple of weeks. The first time was at Lake Sommerville. We camped on a campsite with all the other cityfolk. Next to a couple of RVs and a truck full of fisherman, we definitely weren't able to enjoy the "peaceful" outdoors, but we did have a good time. We brought stuff to build a campfire, cook hobo meals and s'mores, and of course our tent. The stars were in full sight (which is not a luxury we get in big Bryan), and the weather was cool and perfect for camping.

The second camping trip was a bit more adventurous. Will, Lindsey, Jeff, Mitch, and I started our trip in canoes down the Brazos River. Stopping occasionally for a quick swim, tree swing, or hike, we paddled about 15 miles on the first day. We knew that we would need to make decent time because the weather reports had said that it was likely to rain that evening. Will had a map drawn out of where he knew some good camping spots would be, and we finally came to the spot to settle in for the evening. We gathered firewood, set up our tents, and got to cooking before we lost our daylight. Within just 15 minutes or so of finishing our fajitas, it started raining....and then pouring. It rained hard several times throughout the night, and the lightening and thunder seemed to be right on top of us! Lindsey, Mitch, and I were sharing a tent, and we were sure that our tent was either going to get blown away by the wind or washed away by all the rain. After what felt like a night and storm that would never end, the sun finally started coming up, and the storm moved on...just in time for a big breakfast of bacon and eggs before hitting the road. The take-out place was only a couple of miles down the river. It was a short but awesome canoeing and camping trip...one that made me feel small but real among the great forces of nature.

a letter

Today I heard on the news that there is a letter written by Albert Einstein that is currently being sold on Ebay, starting at 3 million big ones! This of course piqued my interest, so I went online to find out the contents of the letter. It turns out that it was written soon before Einstein's death to a man named Erik Gutkind. Gutkind had apparently sent Einstein his book - "Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt". This letter is in response to the book. While I would by no means even begin to say that my brain has reached the depth that Einstein's did, I can say that I agree with much of what the letter discusses. I especially love the last paragraph - reminding us that no matter our "differences in intellectual convictions", we can still be "quite close to one another in essential things". The letter was originally written in German; however, I found a translated version on a very cool website called Letters of Note. Here is what the letter says:

Translated Transcript

Princeton, 3. 1. 1954

Dear Mr Gutkind,

Inspired by Brouwer's repeated suggestion, I read a great deal in your book, and thank you very much for lending it to me. What struck me was this: with regard to the factual attitude to life and to the human community we have a great deal in common. Your personal ideal with its striving for freedom from ego-oriented desires, for making life beautiful and noble, with an emphasis on the purely human element. This unites us as having an "unAmerican attitude."

Still, without Brouwer's suggestion I would never have gotten myself to engage intensively with your book because it is written in a language inaccessible to me. The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change this for me. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and whose thinking I have a deep affinity for, have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything "chosen" about them.

In general I find it painful that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as a man and an internal one as a Jew. As a man you claim, so to speak, a dispensation from causality otherwise accepted, as a Jew the privilege of monotheism. But a limited causality is no longer a causality at all, as our wonderful Spinoza recognized with all incision, probably as the first one. And the animistic interpretations of the religions of nature are in principle not annulled by monopolization. With such walls we can only attain a certain self-deception, but our moral efforts are not furthered by them. On the contrary.

Now that I have quite openly stated our differences in intellectual convictions it is still clear to me that we are quite close to each other in essential things, i.e; in our evaluations of human behavior. What separates us are only intellectual "props" and "rationalization" in Freud's language. Therefore I think that we would understand each other quite well if we talked about concrete things.

With friendly thanks and best wishes,

Yours,

A. Einstein

doubts

Mom walking through the city park.

 I recently went to New Orleans for the first time ever. It has been on my list of places to see, but it was one of those places that I wasn't just dying to see...I just knew that I should see it. It became even clearer to me that this was the case when one of my favorite singer/song writers, Steve Earle, said something like "I don't care what people say about Austin; New Orleans is where the music is at." It's mystifying and enchanting. It's almost supernatural how an entire city can survive numerous fires and floods as it sinks further and further below sea level. Yet people continue to pull together and carry on the rich flavor - not able to let go of the magnificent city. I did not understand this before going to New Orleans. Now I do understand. But I do wonder how much longer people will be able to sustain life here...how much water can they continue to pump out of the city every day? How tall can they build the levees?

Fixin' up some fine shrimp po' boy sandwiches!

The food that we dined upon was out of this world. We at at several dives that served shrimp po' boys and muffeuettas, and we at at the other end of the spectrum - enjoying fine crab, jambalaya, polenta, and fried green tomatoes!

 

Cafe Au Lait and Beignets at Cafe Du Monde

Mitch and I always talk about how one of our favorite things about traveling is the food! (Of course, this can be one of the worst things about traveling as well) We definitely picked a top-notch place to go to satisfy our taste buds.

Zydeco Night at the Rock N' Bowl

Of course another favorite of our trip to Nola was the music!We watched in amazement as musicians and dancers worked their magic in various night clubs and dance halls. We were lucky enough to be able to listen to a traditional Zydeco band play at a bowling alley one night. We gave our best shot at learning the steps so that we could fit in on the dance floor, but we were hopeless! Who would have thought that Louisianians don't do the Texas two-step!

New Orleans Cotton Mouth Kings at The Spotted Cat

I would have to agree with Steve Earle on this one - that New Orleans knows music. Whether it was a group of friends meeting up and performing on a sidewalk to make a few extra bucks, or whether it was band playing on a proper stage - the city is overflowing with talent and soul.




I guess with all the opportunities that surround them, there better be at least a few talented musicians! :)