Hi to All,

Time to share the tales of November. H and I biked to and explored another park, our 2nd one this year! This one had some cool steps carved out of rock:

We really have been negligent in exploring Upstate New York, home of the Finger lakes, the Adirondacks, and the worlds smallest church (I think 3 people can stand in it). We did finally visit the Big Apple a few weeks ago, stayed in White Planes with some friends. They drove us into town, to visit the Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn. Helen reveled in this huge Russian grocery store with lots of scary looking meat like products:

Here you can see they NY city skyline at the end of the Hudson river:

Other things done in November: I juggled with mystical semi-transparent balls (they become fully transparent when I drop them and they roll under various furnitures) while having a 3 foot sword plunged into my head, while a well dressed but delicate ceramic lady in a picture frame watched on in horror, fearing to be destroyed by a wayward juggling ball:

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Aya did something unhealthy while riding her bicycle down a steep hill on the RISD campus in Providence, without a helmet. She doesn’t remember and no one saw what happened, but the end result was her lying in a pool of blood with her bike on top of her. An ambulance took her to the hospital, where she got to stay in bed for 2 days while they monitored a grade 3 liver laceration:

When we got there, she was in good spirits and not much pain, sporting an impressive black eye and stitches in the chin. Helen was in worse shape, thinking of what could have happened.

The liver behaved, so we brought her back with us, picking up Chloe from Wellesley College, and Nick from the airport for a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday week. Here we are exiting the latest James Bond movie. Check out Nick’s cool shoes (click for a bigger picture). They are a thin rubber that fit around each toe, so you can run in them almost like running barefoot, but with some protection:

When Helen made some sushi, we discovered that when you eat sushi that has been warmed over candlelight, like this:

It will turn your hair into Japaneses style. That is Aya’s puppet in the background, giving his approval (he sports a Mohawk):

We also had a a couple who both teach Physics at Temple University in Philadelphia join us for Thanksgiving. Here Helen and the she-part of the couple proudly display the 35 lb turkey:

We re-discovered what we had discovered last year but forgot: you really should have some sort of large basting pan before trying to cook a turkey. The stores sell out of those things, because there are many turkey battles being fought on T-day. We eventually won our battle, but only after much smoke and a slip-slidable greased up kitchen floor.

Nick and Chloe discovered some fun applications for their iPhone and iPod touches, including one that lets you play the iPhone like a flute. Here they are playing a game on them, while Aya makes a 2 inch clay sculpture of Chloe. The bear, as always, is the supervisor:

We had to let the kids go on Friday/Saturday, which was good as today (Sunday) we have nasty snow and ice. Here we are waiting for Chloe’s 6 am bus:

This photo shows couples of 2 dramatically different cultures. On the left, a diverse 21st century, technology enabled couple, and on the right a cookie cutter 18th century, technology averse Amish couple. The one and only thing in common … a Greyhound Bus.

Bruce