Um, seriously?

Please note the date: October 17. Now, what do you notice about the following picture?I see red leaves and snow. I feel that this is an anomaly.

It was awfully fun, however, to put on my boots and go tromping through the snow this morning on my way to pick up work at my office.

There are trees down all over town (and if you look carefully at the back of this picture you'll see the trees down in my yard) and many are without power, including my friend Heather and her family (which includes her visiting in-laws). This means no hot water, which means that I may have some visitors later seeking a shower. It also means in many cases no heat, so people are huddling around fire-places and gas stoves...

I, being one of the fortunate ones, am warm and cozy in my warm and cozy apartment (no heat or power issues here!). It is the perfect day for getting entrenched in work and baking while the snow swirls outside. I think I will make some pumpkin bread, in honor of the fact that it is, after all, only October 17.

O-H-I-O

Every year during the month of October the music education faculties and doctoral students from all of the Big Ten schools gather together for what is known as "the CIC conference". CIC stands for "coalition for institutional cooperation", or something along those lines. It is, of course, an academically rigorous crowd. This does not mean however, that we do not know how to have a good time.

For instance: This year the conference was held at Ohio State, a drivable distance from the Happy Valley (unlike Year 1: Iowa and Year 2: Minnesota). Hence, we packed ourselves into a van and tooled along Route 80 for a mere six-and-one-half hours.

The highlights: Madlibs (pictured here with the venerable Robert Kenneth Docker presiding). The lowlights: The lunchtime pit stop at Burger King. It turns out a whopper jr. is pretty much yucky in any state.

We arrived at our hotel in time to check-in, change, and hop on the bus shuttles provided to take us over to the campus for the kick off reception. (Every year is kicked off by a reception of yummy eats and delectable drinks, and general milling around for the purposes of reconnecting with those you've connected with in previous years.)

The real fun, however, begins with the annual pool tournament.

It may go without saying, but doctoral types tend to be competitive types. Hence, we find our way to a local pool hall, get ourselves some beer, and get down to business.

I typically don't represent my school on the pool table, mostly because I have too much fun talking and taking pictures. Here, however, is a representative sample of Penn State-- representing.

The highlights: Our very own Mr. Docker and Dr. Gardner made it to the final rounds. The mediumlights: That meant that I was sitting in a pool hall at 2 am. The lowlights: Sleep?

However, the next day began bright and early, with plenty of good coffee provided by our hosts. We listened to brilliant people talk about brilliant things, and my little brain was going haywire as I connected what they were saying to what I am thinking about these days. My "dissertation notebook" (as I have come to call it) is fuller, I am delighted to report. (I would be even more delighted if I could just hand in my "dissertation notebook" and have them hand me back a diploma. I think the system would be much more useful if this was its practice....)

Late in the afternoon, after all the brilliant people finished talking, the up and coming brilliant people lined up their research posters in a beautiful room in Ohio State's beautiful new library. This would include Yu-Chen, Yi-Ting and myself. (You can't see it from here, but our nametags say "up and coming brilliant person" on them. They believe in putting on the pressure in the CIC. They have standards to meet after all...)

I can only speak for myself, but it was a fruitful time of conversing with faculty about the value of our work. (It is also reassuring to note that our work was deemed valuable by those we talked to, as the alternative is much too depressing to think about for too long....)

The reward for the efforts of all brilliant people, up and coming and otherwise, was a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown Columbus. Our table was situated right next to the band, so a few of our members naturally found their way into the ranks (i.e. Mr. Docker on fiddle with Dr. Gardner on bass guitar, as well as an occasional tambourine not pictured here). This was fitting, as Penn State does have a reputation (at this conference and otherwise) for making the party the priority. (Yes kids, we know how to have a good time.)

All in all, a good trip. Now I just have to orient myself to the fact that tomorrow is Saturday (why does it feel like Sunday?) and that there is a pile of work on my desk (x2: home & school...) But first--I think it's time for a little bit of old-fashioned sleep. ;-)

Let's Go State!

Keith and Marisa arrived on Saturday morning to partake in a little bit of State College madness: Penn State Football. Almost immediately upon their arrival we got on our way. We hiked into the woods so that we could avoid traffic, and gained the extra benefit of a beautiful fall day in the midst of changing leaves. We remarked on how much we love fall in the woods.

I wanted them to meet with some of my State College friends as well as some of my visiting Harrisburg friends at various tailgates but, sadly, we only had time for quick introductions before we had to get into the stadium.

We stopped for a quick moment, however, to get Keith all set for his Penn State football experience, since he is our true fan.

Then, we took some pictures to remember the moment for the rest of our lives.

Once inside the stadium, however, Keith took off in excitement to get to our seats. I had to laugh as Marisa and I jogged along behind him.....

(Almost there!)

I loved the half-time show, which was based on various movie themes. This one is referring to Back to the Future (I think...). My favorite was the tribute to Rocky, where the band formed two stick figures with gloves that moved toward each other as if to engage in a boxing match, all while playing the Rocky theme. Very clever.

This is not to say that I did not love the game itself: Though Penn State was not up against a challenge, the stadium still went wild anytime our team did anything slightly good, and at one point I had to sit down because the floor was moving (I am not always good with heights, particularly when the floor is moving. Bring on the dizziness....).



The weather was perfect for a fall game--a little bit warm when the sun shone on us, with the perfect amount of chill in the air.

We returned home in the late afternoon and got comfy. I made some chili and some apple crisp, and we settled in for a few rounds of UNO and a movie. (We began to watch the movie after I told them they could leave, since I COULD NOT seem to win a hand. They got me, every single time....)



This morning we woke leisurely up, I made us pancakes, we went to church. Afterward, we picked my cousin Rebecca up and came back for homemade pizza with salad for lunch. We did some shopping just for the fun of it (though lovely Keith helped me find an external hard drive for my aging computer), and returned home for a final bit of chatting and being together (not to mention some brownies left over from the day before...). Then, sadness upon sadness, we parted ways so that K & M could get back to NJ and back to their real life.



Once more a lovely weekend of leisurely sibling fun.

(I have said it before and will say it again: When it comes to family (and many other things of course...) I am blessed. Blessed, blessed.)

Dave:1, Spleen: 0

Meet our contenders:

In the left corner, OUR DAVE:

Source of great delight to all who know and love him.

In the right corner, we have HIS SPLEEN.

According to medem.com,

"The spleen is an organ that lies behind the stomach on the left side of the abdomen. It serves as a graveyard for old or flawed red blood cells (oxygen-carrying cells) and as a storage site for blood and platelets (essential for clotting). The spleen also clears bacteria and is important for proper immune function, especially in fighting bacteria."

Also a source of great delight when functioning properly.

One fateful day, three years ago tomorrow, Dave and his spleen met up in a dark alley.

(Alright, more specifically, they met up on a football field.)

What follows is my sisterly perspective:

I called Dave on a beautiful Saturday in the fall, just to see how he was. He told me he thought he had broken a rib from being kneed in the chest while playing football and, while his friends continued to play football outside, he was going to try and sleep for awhile to see if he might feel better (he seemed to think that this was the cure for ailing ribs, and I did not try to talk him out of it--it seemed entirely reasonable to sleep off his pain).

A few hours later I got a call from my Dad, who was driving to Trenton with my brother Keith because Dave was in surgery for a ruptured spleen (alas, not a broken rib).

This was a much better phone call than Keith got, which involved merely my Dad on the other end of the line shouting "He ruptured his spleen! He ruptured his spleen!"

(In fairness to Marlo, he had been left alone for the first weekend of his life while his wife and the mother of said "he" took the first girls-weekend-get-away of her life when all of this occurred.)

Let's go back to the spleen: when I say "ruptured" I mean "split entirely in half". And, again in fairness to Marlo, the Doctor who called him said he had to get into surgery immediately and did not have time to even give details of how to find the hospital. We found out later that had Dave slept off his broken rib as he had planned, he would not have woken up.

Let me say that again: HE WOULD NOT HAVE WOKEN UP.

We are forever grateful to the fraternity brother who realized that this was a much bigger problem than a cracked bone.

Three years later we are jubilant to say:

Dave won.

Sorry spleen, we're not sorry to see you go, if that's the way it had to be.

We won too.

Finally, an explanation.

My brother Keith and his wife Marisa recently visited my Kooistra grandparents in Iowa.

They were shown some old pictures, which Keith has been scanning and sending to the rest of us bit by bit.

Today this one appeared in my email:

I saw it and I said

"ah-HAH! Now I under-STAND!:

Look at that HAIR!!!!!

It also explains a bit of our Davy:

Alas, we do not fall far from the tree.

(And, in case you'd like some further explanation, the picture was taken early on in my parent's married life, and involves my aunts and uncles on both sides, as well as my grandparents on both sides. It reminds me of my childhood when they were all around, and is a keeper for sure!)

Sure on this Shining Night

I spent my weekend in Harrisburg, for what could potentially be the last time this semester. Though a bitter reality, it caused me to be aware that every moment was especially precious.

My first priority: Neato Burrito. I walked in at 7:57 and, though they close at 8, the lovely man behind the counter welcomed me with a smile. I knew exactly what I wanted: the GRINGO AUTHENTICO, the Friday special of the day. The technical description has something to do with steak and lime, cilantro, chipotle. I, however, simply refer to it as a bit of heaven in a tortilla. It's easier.

(It was also a bit of heaven to share this eating extravaganza with my dear Mrs. Noll, not pictured here, but an excellent photographer.)

Saturday brought a breakfast date with my good friend Faith at the Panera on the West Shore. I drank a ton of coffee while we caught up (since we hadn't in awhile), and filled each other in on how we see God moving in our lives, changing our hearts, letting us know He sees us. (Let me tell you something that I have learned: God is at work, end of story. I will never doubt that again.)

I then got in my car and drove across the river to the Panera on the East Shore. (They should really pay me to advertise for them...)

There I drank more coffee (decaf this time) and had a heart to heart with my friend Abby who was 12 when I first met her, and is now a mature and thoughtful 16. (She is also a driving 16. I'm not sure how I feel about that...)

The afternoon brought a meandering shopping trip with Marina that included a round of ice cream from Friendly's. I have to say, I was not overly enthusiastic when Marina mentioned the possibility, but I'm glad she convinced me. Pistachio ice cream is pleasantly pleasing.

Then, we picked Amanda up, went over to Marina's new school building for a tour filled with appropriate oohs and ahs and overall appreciation for the various colors of paint coating the various walls. Consensus: We approve.

We went back to Marina's and cooked up some dinner:

Chicken and Rosemary Ravioli, salad, garlic bread....YUM.

We filled in the gaps of life that we haven't had a chance to fill each other in on for awhile and (though it may have been the wine) I felt warmly blessed to be with such good friends.

When Liz arrived we shouted Hooray! and moved into the movie theater Rick and Marina have in place of a more traditional family room. We curled up on the uber-comfortable reclining chairs, armed with glasses of water and vats of the best caramel popcorn on the planet that Rick had graciously made for us. (Sadly, I have no picture to fully depict to you the stuffing of the face that occurred during this time...you will have to use your imagination.)

I reflected on the gift of these precious friends as I reclined in my chair, and would not have chosen to be anywhere else but with them. God has been good to me.



Sunday brought a visit to the church that Abby has been going to, which I found to be an insightful and worshipful time. Then I charged over to the West Shore again for Juice and Java (a name of a small cafe, and not an indication of what I had to drink). I found a new favorite food:

Toasted pretzel roll with cinnamon cream cheese.

(My apologies Panera. You probably shouldn't hire me after all....)

My reason for being at Juice and Java was to meet up with the lovely and gracious Dorea, and to hear all of the wisdom that she has collected since the last time I saw her. That girl is full of wisdom, and I am fortunate to learn from her.

Then I raced down the street for lunch with Julie at Isaacs, the place she and I seem to choose most often for our getting together. I drank my fill of iced tea and then raced off for the official reason I was in Harrisburg in the first place:

Dorea's mother Sue, who is also lovely and gracious and full of wisdom, decided to give a recital in honor of her
50th birthday. The songs were chosen to depict the seasons of life and she asked me to accompany her as she sang.

I was honored to be a part of her celebration, and I found the message of the program to be quite meaningful.
I also found the music to be quite beautiful, and had to choke back a tear or two as I reflected on the journey that Sue has been on as well as on my own.

The theme of my weekend was seeing clearly that God is addressing the pieces of my past that don't make sense to me by showing me the gift of the people that He has brought into my life. Even though I have changed locations these friendships have been preserved, they have grown, and they are foundational to my life.

Sue closed her program with Sure on this Shining Night, a poem by James Agee that was set to music so beautifully by Samuel Barber. Sue used it to express her gratitude for the way God has woven together the seasons of her life, and I am going to steal it from her and do the same.

Sure on this shining night

Of starmade shadows round,

Kindness must watch for me

This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north.

All is healed, all is health.

High summer holds the earth.

Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder,

wand'ring far

alone

Of shadows on the stars.

Come escape with me to a land where picnics reign

Ah, Labor Day weekend. A weekend full of events dedicated to the passing of the wearing of white shoes. If you do not observe white-shoe-wearing in your life (as I do not), then it is a weekend of blissful non-labor in an attempt to avoid reality. (Escapism is really what it boils down to. Tuesday is going to be rough...)

My Labor Day weekend started with 2 picnic-type options for non-laboring on Friday evening. I chose to go to neither, and to instead remain at home for the preservation of my mental health. (My calendar of the past few weeks has been non-stop, and my calendar of the next few weeks promises the same. Therein lies my justification...) I got into my pjs, made myself some food, and gleefully read the night away. (In an effort to be truthful, I should probably mention that I was reading school-work. That, however, would ruin the poetry of non-laboring in honor of Labor Day. You can choose to believe what you'd like to believe about what I chose to read on this particular occasion. Feel free to lie to yourself--this weekend is all about escapism after all.)


Saturday brought a reunion of Harrisburgian friends at the new home of Bob and Tesha Garvin. The Garvins have recently moved to Danville, which forms a convenient triangular shape between State College, Harrisburg and Danville itself. Though the Garvins moved to Harrisburg just as I was leaving it, my few encounters with them (along with the fact that they befriended my friends) causes me to believe that we would have been good buds had we been given the opportunity. Proof was in the naturalness of the laughter we all shared and the ease of just being together yesterday. I felt special to be included on the guest list, and loved catching up with everyone in B & T's lovely home.

(There was an extraordinary amount of children present between the three couples, and it is beneficial that the Garvins new home provided extraordinary amounts of possibility for fun-shaped activities....)

Today brought more food and more easy and fun conversation at the family home of my friend Amy (seen on the left here with another friend, Sharon). We ate a lot of meat (I'm going to become a vegetarian for a month I think, since I have single-handedly significantly reduced the population of cows and pigs over these past few weeks....) and yummy picnic-y type accoutrements.

Another treat was seeing my friend Emily. Emily and I are working together on her recital (happening in November) and we also both work with a choir at school. This means we see each other often, and yet never have real quality time. It was good to just be with her and her husband Aden without feeling like there was work to be done. (Our feelings about this can be understood more clearly if you closely analyse the giddiness factor apparent in the picture above.)

Ironically, tomorrow--the real and true Labor Day--holds no picnicking possibilities for me. Instead, I will be slaving away over my books and computer to make up for the non-laboring I have done all weekend and to prepare for the week ahead. Having arrived at the beginning of the third week of school, I think I can safely say it's going to be one heck of a semester. There is good news however: this is my last fall semester of course work. Ever. I believe I can safely say this for the first time in my life, as I have no plans to pursue a second doctorate. (Let's hope that God doesn't take that statement as a challenge, seeing as I didn't really have many plans to be doing a first doctorate and yet...:-/)

Happy non-laboring!