A Visit from Jack

Frost, that is. It was cold today, but there's usually an upside. This was the view from our kitchen window.

I'm not sure why the type of frost is so different from one time to another. This frost looked like the glass in a kaleidoscope, flaky and segmented.

During our last cold spell, at the beginning of January, the frost was lacy and swirled, much different than this one.

Before and After in Haiti

The work that people do at the New York Times continues always to impress me, and then to offer it up without charging for it to guys like me who never touched the New York Times 10-15 years ago . . . that's very cool. Today's amazing thing is a collection of before and after photos of downtown Port-au-Prince with a sliding bar that allows the viewer to control the overlapping photos. It's here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/14/world/20100114-haiti-imagery.html.

Cool as the tool might be, its purpose is to help the viewer understand the depth and breadth of the devastation in Haiti. Driven to make that destruction clear to readers, the folks at the NYTimes have come up with yet another way to do it.

New Day

Things might be bad in other parts of the world, but here things are well enough. The sun comes up, our house is warm, we had a good day with some friends yesterday and could take the time to play in the snow and eat together, and we've got good jobs that allow us to do most of the things we want to do.

Port-au-Prince in Ruins

Perhaps one of the most telling examples of the devastation in Haiti is the destruction of buildings. People have died. That's for certain. But buildings that remain intact give people something to cling to, to shelter in, to have hope for the continuity of their lives and their country. The collapse of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince is certainly a sad sight.

Wir müssen Papier!

Sometimes you just have to realize you're on the wrong side of the paper vs. paperless battlefront.

Good Day for Uploading Photos of Jered and Sarah

Not much going on here but checking email and catching up. But it's a nice change from what was going on before, lots of busyness and people around, a good gathering of family and friends.

We traveled north to Fargo last week for the wedding of my youngest brother Jered and Sarah Kobrinsky on January 2. They put on a great celebration, with a beautiful reception at Sarah's parents, Nathan and Janeen, with Janeen conducting the wedding the next day. That night we all braved the cold to get to the zoo, where we rode the endless carousel and toasted the newlyweds. You can view more photos of the singing, dancing, and posing for the camera here.

Then we came home.

New Year, New Journeys

This morning we head to Fargo, ND, where I suspect it's no warmer than here in frigid Madison, SD, to attend the wedding of my youngest brother Jered, potter and artist, and his wife-to-be Sarah Kobrinsky, poet and yoga teacher.

It's been a good few days, with family and friends, with yesterday bringing the in-laws Tom and Karen and the Nelson crew together, sister Rita and her husband Mark, sister Renee and son Dillon, and mom Rosemary, where we ate out at the Moonlite on the night of the blue moon. Brother Jim has been to town, and he and brother Jess will journey to Fargo for the wedding as well. Brother Joe will fly in and drive back, with Mom in tow.

We're looking forward to the ceremony, which will be the first Jewish wedding for some of us.

We survived the snow storm that dumped 18 inches on us the past few days, with more falling gently now as we get ready to hit the road. We're brave and will embrace the weather!