The Ruhes

Jason Jupiter has Landed

2008-09-01T21:31:00.006-04:00

We are all extremely excited about Shamsi's new arrival (in early summer). She had a beautiful baby boy named Jason Jupiter Rune. He is sweet, cute and feisty. Isaiah and I drove down to meet him and hang with everyone for a night. Isaiah was buzzing on sweets that great grandma kept feeding him the first evening and by 10:30 pm I had to drag him over to Dad's for a nighty-night but not before he had Doug and Jamal in hysterics with a mad ramble about lattes and airplanes while doing super dooper karate kicks in the air. It was kind of scary but hilarious. The next day we went for a hike with Dad, Naya and Mimi to shoot a pellet gun. We got off about 10 shots before the thing broke. Dad threw it into the woods and we caught a snake and collected buttons (there used to be a button factory in that area long ago). On the way home Isaiah and I googled "swimming holes in CT close to I84" and found a fabulous bridge-rope swing that we played at for a couple of hours before driving home. umm ummm... good times

Triathlons

2008-08-24T22:48:00.005-04:00

Well, I did it and am over it! I trained and participated in two triathlons this year. The first was the Whately Police triathlon where I placed 38th out of 110. Go to coolrunnings at Times_for_Whately_Triathlon to see my exact times (Also note 7th place). I did this race with three other coworkers (shown below). Then I did the Greenfield triathlon. I placed 72nd out of 260. I feel good about both results and have never felt this in-shape ever... and finally learned sort of how to swim (although I did do a lot of breast strokin it). I hope somehow to keep up some of this exercise regime through out the winter. It feels really good and I want to do both of those events again next year.

June 21st

2008-07-06T19:55:00.002-04:00

It has been a while and much has transpired in our amazing lives... it is weird... could be a whole lotta stuff happened or a whole lotta nothing depending on how you look at it. Our lives are so amazingly full and the days just fly by... being on auto pilot, acting and serving with out much reflection on yesterday and not a whole lot of thought about tomorrow beyond the usual who will pick up the kids, what time and where.... we are all in this crazy "do" mode. The kids still require a lot of attention and it is at once easier than before and harder... we actually have to treat them like "real humans" now... I know that sounds horrible but they are becoming "people" whose weaknesses and strengths and real feelings to go along with them that we have to learn to recognize and navigate just like.... well real people... that still sounds so cold and callous but those are the only words I have to describe it at the moment... Both boys are wonderful yittle guys with huge smelly feet and fascinating sparks in their eyes. Aman is almost as tall as Isaiah and Isaiah almost fits end to end on his bed... Anyway, this "fullness of life" was our chaperone this year easing Britt and I into our 17th year of marriage on June 21st. We didn't do much on that longest day of the year other than to nod our acknowledgment of each other a little more enthusiastically than usual as we passed each other on the stairs going about the day's activities. Sounds depressing but it's not. I love the routine I have with Britt and the whole family. We have time set aside for celebrating 16 years of marriage but on that day, in order for things to be smooth we made it smooth... priorities in the right place. So I leave you with a pic of Mason really expressing how both Britt and I felt on the inside as we passed each other on the stairs on the day of our 16th anniversary.

Creativity

2008-05-21T08:46:00.004-04:00

I was just listening to a talk by Elloy Anello at one of the recent Social and Economic Development conferences (http://sed.skyrunner.net/ ) in the car. I am an addict now. I take any excuse to jump in the car to listen to these talks and others that I am currently digitizing. He quoted Maria Montessorri as saying that creativity happens when truth and imagination get together for one common purpose... (paraphrase) ...what a wonderfully concise definition of creativity... I like it. What do you think? (This image by the way is of someplace in Iran)

Catching U Up!

2008-04-26T20:43:00.009-04:00

We have had a full couple of months. Spring is here in full. Warmth has permeated everything and we still have the wonderful cool nights… but warm is king right now. The smells of spring are wonderful and waking up to the birdsong is heavenly… even if 2 hours earlier the Umass party goers were still in the high gear in their raucous romps through the neighborhood (earplugs) Gene Wallace has been living with us for a few months while she gets the weight up on her new baby girl Amani Pearl (hey that rhymes). It has been nice seeing Gene and catching up and also I have to admit it is sooooo nice having an infant in the house to hold…

Tomorrow Sunday is the kid’s last day of their break which started off in Maine on the beach for a few days with Britt. They have been … well growing. Isaiah is moody and spends a lot of time listening to story tapes… lost in his own little world. He is now in travel soccer and has games all over this section of MA. And Aman has been showing a little interest in playing… vamos a ver. Aman sees Isaiah’s moodiness as his cue to go play happily by himself most times and has taken up drawing as his main creative outlet.

Britt and Jamal worked for days to finish the first of a couple videos about Fit Together the program she started for Service Net. If you want to check it out go to: Fit_Together_Website . Britt went down a few weekends ago to NYC to support Ericka and Jennifer (my cousin) in their running a half marathon. Britt ended up participating… she walked the first 10 miles then ran the last three!!! One of the images here is of 5 women. From left to right is unknown, Ericka, Katherine Switzer, Jennifer and Britt.

Katherine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon that had been exclusively men til the 70s or so. She disguised herself, registered and ran almost the whole thing before someone saw that she was a she and they physically forced her from the race.

I have been doing a lot of cool projects at work that are sort of wrapping up now and have a lot of nit picky detail work to do for the next few weeks that I am not too excited about (at least the skate park is open for my lunch time escapes). I am also beginning training for a mini triathlon in early July. It will be ½ mile swim, 14 mile bike, 3 mile run… should be interesting… especially since Alf will be running it (thank God he is not in my age bracket!!!). I also played three of my songs at Amherst College arts night for about 70 people and then choked severely singing Allah’u’abha for about 100 folks at the first day of Ridvan celebration last Monday. Oh well little by little I will get over this insane nervousness at being in front of a group of people with a guitar!

The Alschulers are in Ireland for the week sightseeing and visiting a college friend of Ericka’s. We really miss them.

Anyway, I am beat at the moment. We had a pretty amazing romp up to the top of one of the peaks at Mt. Tom with Aman’s friend Ethan and his dad Matt. This involved the usual birch jumping, climbing, eating, hiding, trimming, throwing, yelling, etc…What a great day. Here are some of the images.

Spring Entry

2008-04-21T09:54:00.004-04:00

Well it looks like I am going to break my month long silence here with a movie recommendation: Please, if you haven't already, rent Lars and the Real Girl with Ryan Gosling. This has to be one of the oddest romantic comedies Britt and I have ever snuggled up in bed to see. Certainly funny but tender too. Please check it out.

All Hail the Skippy Shakes

2008-03-12T20:00:00.006-04:00

So I have managed to conquer yet another day of Fasting. This is my 27th Fast and it is definitely a struggle although why I manage to stay so focussed and get so much done is beyond me and beyond the scope of tonight's ramble. So as I was saying... I conquered today and in so doing I have earned the right to describe ... the skippy shake (and no I am not still fasting just buzzing on the incredible amounts of sugar). So this incredible meal-in-a-cup normally consists of chocolate ice cream, a large scoop of peanut butter and milk. But since its creation James has taken it one step further and to this wondrous blend has added... a whole banana. This is blended to a smooth, creamy consistency and if done correctly is eaten with a spoon. Cafe Milagro in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica started us on this yummy tradition and we have gladly and proudly carried the skippy shake banner. Actually, here in my inspired, buzzing state... I think I will make up some t-shirts that say, All Hail the Skippy Shake!... anyone interested?

Being Spiritual

2008-03-12T12:20:00.004-04:00

How about this statement? Am I being too simplistic?

Ayyamiha at the Ruhest 2008

2008-03-05T12:33:00.003-05:00

Anna, Aria, James, and Sasha shook their collective fists at the incoming snow storm and came visiting for Ayyamiha on Friday. You guys really are amazing. Thanks again for coming out. Sasha woke up in our driveway from a nap in the car and said, “Casa de Tio Colin”! She is getting so big. Britt put together an amazing birthday/ayyamiha dinner for all of us consisting of rice, beans, and crunchy, crispy salad (a meal more perfect simply does not exist anywhere in the known universe). Birthday cake, singing and some presents happened. Mom sent me a new skillet which got put to use the next morning with a serious round of blue berry pancakes and the making of breakfast burritos… (ok can anybody tell what time of day it is right now while I write this? I will give you a hint… plenty of descriptions of food). The snow did deliver with another 6-8 inches. I spent 1.5 hours trying out the new electric snow blower someone gave Alfie. Then we all went to Cherry Hill golf course for a great hour of sledding. Anna hadn’t been since she was 13!!! We had another fairly successful children’s class and went to see Spyderwick… which ended up being a really scary movie… a sort of horror movie for kids… we enjoyed it but were shocked at the tenseness… We thought Aman would wake up scared lots but nothing happened. He is growing up so much. Well the fast is here… a seriously spacey season in which I tend to get tons done… very spacedly focused…. Low energy but constant… it is an amazing time.

Message or Messenger?

2008-03-02T21:02:00.007-05:00

Here's another silly submission that didn't get published at the UPI religion and spirituality column. I guess I got lucky with the one they published last year. *******************************************************************************

Through public radio and the internet I try to keep up on world and local news on a daily basis. The amount of conflicts and the chaos they bring is mind boggling. Most involve power struggles at one level or another have their roots in deep seated religious differences. I am a 4th generation Baha’i who like most has his daily struggles with applying the basic spiritual laws we are asked to follow. And as a Baha’i I was always taught that unity is of the highest priority. He might have only said it once (though I doubt it), but I can still hear my Dad saying, “It is better to be unified than to be right” echoing in my head while I roll through my daily tasks and their respective speed bumps. And so it always amazes me that I can have these fantastic discussions with friends of other Faiths and with so much enthusiasm we arrive at the amazing realization that we are talking about and believing in the same thing (whatever the topic) only to have it end with a, “Yeah, but the only way to the Father is through the Son” type of comment. And so I ask myself, “At our level, the level of puny human beings, what is more important, the message or the Messenger?”

Let’s rise above the chaos of surface detail and look for a moment at the emergence and basic story of each of the world’s religious systems. It seems that every 1000 years or so God looks down on the full population of the planet and picks one being to be a Messenger, a Deliverer, a Courier, an Envoy, a Herald. He “says” to the one chosen, Look. I have an extremely important, life-long task for you. I want you to be My Mouthpiece, My Representative. I want you in words and deeds to deliver a very important message to as many people as you can. Oh and by the way, you are probably going to be laughed at, ignored, opposed at every step, tortured, spit on, imprisoned, your family threatened and hurt, and will probably be killed for being delivering this message. I assure you will have all of My omnipotence, wisdom, power, vision to back you up but you still have to deliver it in human form with all that entails.

And off he goes arriving at the most spiritually dark, geographic location on the planet, somewhere credibility in the power to change the human heart is dying.

He sets up camp in the busiest area, steps out among the population and says, “Hi! I am here! God sent me to you with a new message.” And people’s ears tune in to the words. He says, “God wants you to know that He thinks that you are amazing creatures and He loves you very much.” And interest peaks and people stop and listen. “He also wants you to know that the basic spiritual laws that the last Herald brought are still in full effect and reemphasizes the importance of those laws. So please continue in your daily quest to incorporate those into your very beings.” People nod in agreement. “Also, He would also like you to know that there is a small group of social laws that no longer apply because you have all grown and matured so much in the 1000 years or so since the last Herald.”

After a moment of stunned silence some bold soul in the crowd invariably says, “Hey! No! The way I read it, this is NOT what the last Courier said, and therefore you must be a fake. You are here to try to take away what we have”. And most of the people hesitate then nod their heads in agreement.

And sure enough the Messenger and his initial small band of followers are persecuted, imprisoned and many are executed. But despite all this that little band of followers persist and share that Truth to as many people as possible. The number of followers grows until huge, glorious, prosperous and just civilizations are built upon the principles and laws that this Divine Envoy had been sharing with everyone. This civilization grows, flourishes and then eventually declines. The process then starts all over again.

Based on each specific Messenger the sequence will vary slightly but it’s the same basic story line. It is a circular process. And for us little folk here on the receiving end what is more important, arguing over which Herald brought the message or striving to other put all those laws and teachings into practice? I would say that the Source of these laws is one and the same so it seems pointless to pursue the former. What is more important for us at our level of existence, the message or the Messenger? Regardless whether it is Moses, Christ, Muhammad, Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Baha’u’llah, Buddha … it is always simply God saying the He loves us and wishes us to grow and be happy, prosperous beings.

Alschuler Family Reunion 2008

2008-03-01T18:07:00.011-05:00

Amazing foresight and generosity on the part of the late Al Alschuler facilitated yet another fantastic family get together. Britt's family, Alfie's family, Elena and Cathy, Zoe and Cloade, Lise and Ann and Irene... we all flew to Playa del Carmen for a week of fun in the warmth. The warmth was the best part of the whole trip. The winter this year has not been particularly cold but we have been bombarded by snow storms which have really taken its toll on the vitamin D production facilites.

It was such a joy to be in shorts and flip flops for a week. I reached my goal for the week of no deoderant or underwear for the entire week and we spent 90 percent of the time in the water with the boys... pool and ocean.

There were excursions to the driving range (Mason and Aman are really getting good), tennis courts, ping pong and pool tables, snorkeling, archery, lizard hunting with plenty of wild life around. I went for a 4-5 mile run on the beach on two separate mornings before people got up and then finished off with a cooling swim in the ocean... exquisite! One day we went off campus to the Mayan ruins called Cobá and went swimming in a cenote (sinkhole). A very well appreciated time off from reality. Thanks Al.

Energy Release

2008-02-13T20:33:00.005-05:00

Last sunday we had Aman's friend Ethan over after children's class. We were bored so we asked if the across-the-street neighbors Jodi and Sol wanted to go see if we could sneak into "the cage" with us at Umass. It is the old gymnasium that only gets used for basketball practice and dances and such. It was open as students use the running track and there were 4 women practicing a dance routine but otherwise it was ours... the kids played a bunch of games that mainly involved running on the running track while Sarah (Sol and Jodi's Mom) and I chatted. Then the kids found two mats that they were jumping on. At this point I got involved and we played some "daddy's a monster and if he catches us we're in jail". Then we found more mats and the launch-fest took off. These guys must have climbed those bleachers and launched themselves on to the mats below 75 times or more! It was a lot of fun and we were thoroughly tired and happy at the end of the 3 hours. Britt enjoyed it also as she had the chance to get some coffee and hang with Jill, Ethan's mom. All is well here. We are all gearing up for the Alschuler family reunion that starts this weekend. Off to a sunny, warm part of the world for a week. I will write about it when we get back

Winter Thunder

2008-02-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

I think the storm system that caused all those tornados in Tennessee rolled through here last night… with less fury though but still intense. We had some major lighting and thunder and hard rain which put us to sleep last night. We were all missing spring. We were so blessed to have Mom here for a visit. She flew back yesterday after a 3.5 week visit after her pilgrimage with David, Gianni and Ela. She was very weak and tired due to bad flu that she got while in the Holy Land. She stayed a week with us and the rest with James, Aria and Sasha in West Roxbury. It was super nice especially since we got to see Aria and James and Sasha every weekend. They made the drive out and we hung, romped and ate some amazing meals that James cooked for us. Anyway, we had some museum, pool and other assorted romps included are an assortment of images of Mom’s stay, the Pyburn visits and other. I also include some recent drawings and my head xrays from when I got that surf board in my eye 2 years ago (just in case you were curious... I find them fascinating)

Nature? Nurture?

2008-01-18T12:30:00.000-05:00

We have always thought that everything we are is written in the code found in our DNA in the form of genes. I just recently read an article talking about epigenetics and the epigenome. The epigenome refers to the complex system of chemical switches and markers that live on the outside of our DNA and whose sole purpose is to turn genes on or off (through a process called methylation) at specific times depending on what instructions are needed (do we need to make a liver cell, brain cell, eye cell etc.). So it looks like DNA can’t do its thing without the epigenome. And scientists, as it turns out, are finding that the epigenetic structure can be handed down from generation to generation! So what does this mean? It means that not only do each of us have “say” over what genes turn on (or off) and when based on our diet, stress levels, environmental conditions etc BUT we can hand that on/off structure to our offspring. As Britt put it, “there is no longer a conflict of nature vs nurture…. It is BOTH.” !!!!!

Plodding Along

2008-01-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

The trip home from Costa Rica on Dec 24th was uneventful. If anything it was extremely relaxed and exciting due to the fact that I flew back with Aria. I can't ever remember flying anywhere with her. We chatted about life and slept. I made it back at 3 am just in time to wrap a few gifts I had bought for our christmas exchange, get a few hour's sleep and wake up at 730 am for the exchange. The Alschulers were here plus Lise and Anne came in from Chicago. There was a lot of sledding, eating, giggling and some coughing with the colds running around. Yummy ham dinner yummmmm. Aria, James and Sasha came later on in the week. Sasha is unbelievably cute. We were able to spend quality time with her after she woke up from her nap and James and Aria were at the movies and the coffee shop on a date. Everyone benefited greatly from the afternoon. That weekend we went to NY to visit with Uncle Doug, Grandma, Husayn, Shamsi, Jamal, Janet and Dad. We were also blessed with seeing Heidi too. We hung, ate, laughed, annoyed Grandma with all the loud noise and frequent wrestling on the floor... I love you guys all soooooo much. Thanks for being there for us. The rest of the story is basically that the whole house got sick. One by one we each succumbed to a horrible stomach-focused influenza type bug followed by fluy achy, snotty basura for days. I had to take Wed and Thurs off last week and probably should not have gone on Friday. Aman succumbed to it finally this morning early at around 430 am. Our friend from Costa Rica Renee and a her two kids Aleta (9) and Bo (7) have been visiting since friday morning. We had a lot to catch up on and the kids didn't miss a beat playing as if they had seen each other last week. Pics to follow

Well ok, there it is... I think I have everyone up to date with MassRuhe happenings.

Compressed Air Car

2008-01-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here is a little compilation I did on this car.

Well?... I am mad...

2008-01-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Mad and ready to do something. Please watch "Who killed the electric car?". Who_killed_the_electric_car? It has gotten me riled up enough to think about selling our cars and buying something that will get us more off the grid.

Trip Home

2008-01-06T20:48:00.000-05:00

Jere, my step-dad, died 12-12-07. If you have been following at all this blog you will know that he had been battling prostate cancer for around 10 years now so his death was no surprise. He had a peaceful passing shortly after breaking his hip and started his journey in the next phase of his life. He was buried the next day in the very corner of the cemetery of Ciudad Colon, the town he lived in for 30+ years. I went down along with many of the other siblings to support mom and help plan a memorial service. We spent a week working around the house, cleaning, rewiring, rearranging and going through a lot of stuff of Jere's. It was a very therapeutic time in which we laughed and cried and raged at each other each dealing with it in his or her own way. The memorial service was filled with much of the same but this time with about 120 or so people who knew and loved Jere. It was amazing to hear the memories and stories ... all the different ways that people remembered this great man. He really had an amazing impact on many people's lives through his relentless service. In so many ways he was such an amazing example of taking the "me" and making it the "we". It seemed that he tended to put others ahead of himself most of the time and really focussed on other people and their needs and acted on what he saw. The result of that was clearly seen in the quantity of those who came to remember him and the things they said during the memorial. I was so honored to be a part of that. I/we have been very blessed to have someone that strong and caring in our lives...

Apocalyse? ... yes

2008-01-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

Here's another piece I submitted (minus the pics) to the UPI Religion and Spirituality page that didn't get published. Let me know your thoughts... ___________________________________________________

“Will it be warm? Will it be bright? Will there be a flash of light?” These are the opening lines of a beautiful song my cousin wrote called End of the World. Actually I am not quite sure that is the title but it seems to be a love song written to someone at the end of the world. There seem to be many, many traditions around the world expecting some sort of end to the world, as we know it. And it is always some time in the future but always soon just around the corner. But why shouldn’t the “end of days” be happening now? Why can’t it be that we are living in the entropic soup of the long expected apocalypse right now? How many more horrors do we have to witness before it is actually counted as the “end of the world”? What is the correct number of atrocities that we have to be able to ignore or not feel because we have been too busy numbing ourselves to be able to say that we have now entered the time of “unimaginable horrors”? How could we not all be collectively nodding our heads in agreement that we are in fact, right now living through the apocalypse and all of its horrors?

I am not going to try to name these hideous things that happen daily all around us (Richard Hooper’s recent submission of Dec 6 had a paragraph that summarized some of these). I think we can all name quite a few even if it does take a few seconds to retrieve through each of our shields of numbness or justification. But the fact is that we escorted ourselves into this “time of the end” quite some time ago. It has crept in and caught us unaware, caught us sleeping, napping in the glare of our TVs. It is like we are all blindly standing in the middle of the once beautiful, shining city we built and which due to the decay of its basic foundation is crashing, smashing, exploding all around us taking some of us with them in the process. This must to be the time of the end referred to in traditions across the globe.

But now having offered this negative paint stroke, I would like to try and describe another process that is happening simultaneously. There is something else going on. Parallel to this decay is the incredible explosion of growth and renewal popping up from between the rubble and ruin of the crumbling we see all around us. The pain of the crumbling of the old structures is allowing us to attain to an incredible new level of awareness of those around us. This pain has thrown together large groups of folks who never had dealings and who have been forced to recognize each other and start addressing differences that had previously been ignored completely.

The freeing and recognition of basic rights of groups of people that have been beaten down, oppressed and denied equality for eons globally based on skin color, gender, ethnicity or religious convictions. Countless numbers of previously exploited groups of now at least have protection by law. This is something unheard of previously, laughed and scoffed at by their oppressors. It is happening now all around us.

Cooperation on a scale never seen before has been “suddenly” thrust on all of us. Our economic interdependence is obvious; a housing slump here in the US has affected banks worldwide. Oil prices go up and everybody feels the crunch. Increased cooperation is necessary. Natural disasters are events that know no borders and with the ability to instantly communicate through voice, images and video to any one on the globe we are made immediately aware of the pain and suffering caused by these events. Again, an increase in cooperation is necessary. More data and evidence is presented daily on global warming and again a solution to the problem requires more cooperation.

Technological advances are improving the quality of our lives and sculpting the earth, as we know it, into a whole new earth. These advances that are extending our lives, keeping our drinking water clean, allowing us to travel, freeing some of our time, and providing us with countless tools being used to better our lives has also increased the quality and frequency of the interactions with other people around the globe. This increase in interaction is allowing us to slowly realize that we are all undeniably part of one human family.

Of course the media will immediately remind us of all examples of bloody failures of this great coming together, but I think the successes far outweigh these failures. All these upheavals are just part of the collapse of old structures and the birth of a new awareness. It is an awareness that is slowly seeping into all of our lives whether we like it or not that we really are part of one human family and it really is one little planet we all have to live on and learn to share. It is the awareness of oneness.

In referring to this awareness, Baha’u’llah, the prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith said, “Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 167)

So yes, I think we are all currently living through the apocalypse or “time of the end” predicted in traditions through out the world. And yes we are all in quite a lot of pain (or running from it) but this is all part of the process that ends a life as we have known it and ushers in the birth of a new world promised to us in those same traditions. We live on one globe and we are part of one, single human family and it is inevitable that we have some growing pains while trying to figure it all out.

Travelling

2008-01-01T09:56:00.000-05:00

It is always amazing to me how I can climb into the innards of a big plane, go to sleep and wake up and in a completely and totally different place. So it took me basically 6 hrs to go from this.... To this.... (details from my trip to Costa Rica will follow)

Jere's Passing

2007-12-13T13:34:00.000-05:00

December 13, 2007 Dearly loved friends, We are sad to announce that our beloved husband and father, Jere McKinney, passed away in his home last night at 10:30 pm. We are so very grateful to all of you for your heartfelt prayers, and loving support during the past few months. They were so strongly felt and carried us all through this difficult period in the last stages of Jere's illness. He left this world and was literally greeted with embraces from those awaiting him in the next. I had the privilege of witnessing this profound passing of a truly remarkable, unique and well-loved person. His funeral will be held this afternoon at our home with close friends and family and his burial will take place in the late afternoon in the Villa Colon cemetery. We plan to hold a memorial for him at a later date. Thank you again for all of your loving support and prayers. With deep gratitude and love Julie, Colin, Jaleh, Ali, Lisa, David and Aria

2nd Snowfall, 1st Snowday

2007-12-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

The boys have had several short weeks. Thanksgiving week was short. The next week after that they had curriculum day on Friday, classes cancelled. Then this Monday we got our second good snow storm this season with ice and freezing rain… no school this past Monday… Tis the season I guess for shorter school weeks.

Another one of these days (and thank you yes don’t ask!) (oh wait I remember it was Tuesday) the boys and I went sledding behind their school. A fun little jaunt that ended with me really hurting my knee. It was so depressing (not to mention cold) being out there hobbling up and down the hill with the boys in pain thinking “Oh no! this is it. Here it is … I am getting old, my body is deteriorating, falling to pieces. I will never recover fully from this one. How stupid can you get? It’s not like you got tossed off of some epic 20 foot wave or slid off a cliff on your mt bike. You fell on a little rinkiy dink hill doing a little nothing and now your knee is messed up.” And on and on went the conversation in my head and I was truly depressed. I went to the emergency room the next morning and the xrays confirmed… no biggie.. no tears, no breaks just a little strain I will be over in a few weeks…. I was being silly. Funny how the brain can do tricks like that on us and we make mountains out of mole hills…

The boys are really growing up. There latest game is checkers which they have been playing a lot.. On the snow day, Mason and Aman never really got out of their PJs and played for hours with some game they came up with. All three boys are sooooo good with Anika. They talk to her in a little baby voice while picking her up or trying to make her chase them.

Anyway, we stayed up late last night watching Reign Over Me… (Don Cheadles and Adam Sandler) what a fantastic movie!!… but I am tired now and want to be fresh for a last day of work before the weekend. So I am going to go up, brush my teeth and climb into bed with Les Miserables... all the characters are at the barricade now and the situation is tense... what will Jean Valjean do?....

That Insanely Cool Brandon Family

2007-12-06T20:52:00.000-05:00

The Brandons came over on Saturday. It was frigid but we decided to scale Mt Sugarloaf. No sugar located but it was freezing. It is a short very steep hike and we ran as much as possible to keep warm, climbed to the top of the tower but couldn’t stay long because of the wind.

Aman had a bit of a melt down in the beginning and later we found out that I had accidentally fed him large quantities of preservatives in the morning’s bacon which is a substance along with dyes that we think he might be allergic to at least enough so to make him uncomfortable and hyper.

Other than that episode, the Brandon visit was a total success as usual… any of you who have ever had dealings with the Brandons will be nodding your heads in approval when I say that this is a special family that gives out really good energy. Thanks guys for making the trip.

Read-a-thon

2007-12-06T20:11:00.000-05:00

One of these days, and my 41 year old brain can’t remember which, we did some ice skating. Aman did incredibly well and we were exhausted after the jaunt. Isaiah is becoming a natural on the ice and it was fun to zoom around the rink with them. One night (another brain burp is asking you not to ask which) the boys were excited to have a readathon. This involved building a fire, getting sleeping bags and all lay around reading together! Wow!

Dia del Pavo 2007

2007-11-25T19:55:00.000-05:00

Also known as Turkey Day, Thanksgiving and other names my synonym generator doesn’t know… I definitely have to start out this entry by saying that we definitely missed Alfie, Ericka, Mason, Anika (went to Ericka’s family in PA) and Grandma, Doug, Shamsi (who had the meal with friends in NY) and Jamal and Heidi (who probably tucked in to the meal in CT somewhere) and Uncle Puge (who had a gig in Utah) and Lise and Anne (who had the meal in Colorado)… Please, let’s try and all have a small sit down next year! That said we had Elena, Jaleh, Dad, Janet, Anna, Olivia, Claude, Zoe, Irene, Rachael, Aman, Isaiah, Britt and Colin here for a loud, rambunctious, festive thanksgiving (day of the turkey).

So much good food y buena vibra. A lot of singing, dancing, playing games, and laughter… silly as usual. We were so happy to see the boys going from person to person, snuggling, talking, and interacting and such a nice way. Lots of tickles with the grandpa Chris and TT (tia Jaleh) and aunt Elena.

Most of us went for a superb hike the next day to the tower on top of Mt Lincoln. It was cold but we warmed up quick with the little river we followed up the mountain chortling away… Grandpa Chris, the boys and I scoured the forest for dead trees to push over with thundering crashes and we introduced the boys to birch swinging where you climb to the top of a black birch and jump out holding on to the top branch which lets you down gently. Anyway… very enjoyable and now we are doing laundry, cleaning up and getting ready for the start of another week. Testing 1,2,3...

Morals, Ethics, Values, Traits, Virtues, Qualities

2007-11-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

Here are some first definitions of words that I hear all the time but haven’t know exactly what they meant. It is still not crystalline but it is a start. These are words tossed around in conversations, some of them used interchangeably.

1- Morals: of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong

2- Ethics: a system of moral principles or the study of morality. (Morality is beliefs regarding appropriate behavior, while ethics is the formal study of morality)

3- Values: a concept that describes the beliefs of an individual or culture.

4- Traits: A trait may be any single feature or quantifiable measurement of an organism

4- Virtues: Traits valued as being good.

5- Quality: a personality or character trait.

Baha'i School plus

2007-11-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

So here’s a random shock on a Sunday morning. The boys and I went to the skatepark before children’s class and had a blast. We get to class and I say hi to everyone in the main hall where we all sing songs and say prayers before going off to our respective classes. Everything is normal so far… I climb the stairs to my classroom and walk in and one of the mothers (no names here) is already there with her child and she says nonchalantly, “So I think my husband's Mom breastfed you when you were little.”

Hmmm Ok… so... I said hi (again), put the guitar down and asked her to clarify. Apparently her husband has a brother who is my age and their Mom is friends with mine and they were at a Baha’i conference together and they would watch each other’s kids while taking turns going to sessions. I got hungry and well…

So no other surprises today and we did have a great class today. I include pics from class last week which was great! I also include a couple of Isaiah’s last day of outdoor futbol for the year. Aman and I were having a serious grass fight while trying to watch Isaiah. Isaiah scored an awesome goal from the left side!

The Uncle List

2007-11-12T20:11:00.000-05:00

Ok. Certain recent events have made this issue critically serious and I need some help. We started a tradition with one of the famous uncles and his delight in eating crunchy salad and now we have to finish it... close out this piece of business. Below is a list of uncles and their akas. I need some comments, votes and/or suggestions or else... they will now and forever be referred to in the aka form...

Virtues Poster

2007-11-09T11:41:00.001-05:00

I created this poster of sorts to hang on the wall of the boy’s room. Every night after highs-and-lows and before prayers we read and talk about one of these virtues. It has worked out well and the kids really get into it. Britt and I are happy that we have that moment to talk about this kind of stuff with them. It is difficult sometimes to get anything out of these guys at this time of night. I don’t know what it is (universal probably and I probably did it as a yittle guy) but a switch gets flipped and they start giggling uncontrollably so much so that they accept punishments sometimes just to be able to giggle a little more!!! And the parents are of course annoyed that they aren’t going to sleep or doing anything remotely close to what we ask them to do!! Anybody else have that? Anyway I just wanted to share the poster that has worked out really well so far.

Life of Baha'u'llah in Pictures

2007-11-09T07:33:00.001-05:00

Hey, just in case you haven't seen this yet... The Baha'i International Community has created an amazing site with a history of Baha'u'llah's life with tons of never-seen-before images... www.bahaullah.org.

Halloween, pre and post

2007-11-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

A few quick glimpses of pre and post Halloween stuff. Pumpkins before we chopped them up. They later turned out pretty cool. Isaiah did most of his own cutting this time (the elongated one). Then there is the candy fest. Alfie is right (oooh I bet he’d like to hear me say that more often….)! Halloween is an odd tradition. You put on a costume, walk to someone’s door, knock and they give you candy. No work involved just plain walking and receiving… kind of odd… regardless we did a good portion of Lincoln ave and part of the next street over before pooping out and being rescued by Oma in her car. Aman and I had a chance to hang one afternoon so we raked leaves and played. The cold has dropped in like a bomb this week. Winter is basically here. We did have some nice fall days with leave and warmth but those are gone. Most trees have lost their leaves and are hunkering down for winter. The boys and I have been frequenting the skate park a bunch. Here is a vid of Isaiah’s first day going down one of the big ramps and then Aman following. skatepark Anyway, it is now sleepy bedtime for me… and I still have to go upstairs and check in with Britt before climbing in bed to find out how Marius extricates himself and saves Jean Valjean from the clutches of the evil Thernadiers (Les Miserables).

October is Birthday and Costume Month

2007-10-31T21:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a collection of pics from the last couple of weeks. The boys bday party with their friends... a rowdy two hours with 14 hyper boys in the house eating sugar and snowballing energy off of every wall in the house. Fortunately the Alschulers were in Washington, DC for Ericka's first ever marathon run! She did 26.5 miles in 4 hours 8 minutes. She was upset that she didn't reach her goal of under 4 hours... but we are so proud of her finishing let alone coming in so close to her actual goal!!!!! (26.5 miles!!!!) Anyway, the party went well. No injuries. Nothing broken in the house. All the friends went home tired and happy. The boy's friend Aiden spent the night and the kids were pretty tired on sunday. I went for a fantastic bike ride for 2.5 hours on some of the most delicious single track covered in bright yellow leaves which made it beautiful and challenging. Some other pics are of that rascal who should have been a girl but turned out to be a boy (gerbil), Anika at some cute moment with her hat (the family bday celebration on Wed), the boys with nylons (removed from the shoe shop where we caused a raucous while trying on shoes for Isaiah), and some images of a nice walk we all took after work to a fort I found behind one of the Umass dorms.

October's Double Cumpleanhos

2007-10-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

It’s that time again… the boys made one more full trip around the sun… Isaiah has been around it 9 times and Amán has been around 7 times… and I am getting dizzy just watching … it all seems to have happened so incredibly fast. We had a nice family celebration for both of them tonight. Mason and Ericka made a treasure hunt for them that they had to read and search for pieces of the missing map that once assembled had to be ciphered correctly in order to find their gifts. Irene contributed some new furniture for their bedrooms. Isaiah got a shelf and Amán got a desk. They will have another small get together with friends on Saturday. They sent invitations out and Amán’s friend Ethan actually responded by owl (you guessed it… it is Hogwarts themed). I also include some pics of the boys in some of the recent spectacular fall colors. It is still fairly warm but the trees are exploding with color.

Quabbin Romp

2007-10-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

It is really amazing what a wide open space can do for clearing my mind and freeing my soul. It also helps to be finally over a week long illness. Last weekend we went for a hike to the Quabbin reservoir which I have posted pics of before… A little bit of rain with its dark gray skies gave such a fantastic backdrop for the first of the fall foliage. The leaves are starting to turn and some of the colors are already breath taking. The water level is low due to the dry summer we have had so far but this was way fine by us. Lots of open space with water, rocks, sand and fantastic drift wood to sort through and build sculptures. We spent at least an hour throwing rocks. It is amazing how many games are invented when the rock throwing starts. We sank ships, pushed ships, skipped rocks, made splashes, aimed for the center of each splash etc.

We caught a snake, two frogs and a dead fish. It was an incredibly successful romp in which our spirits flew, spun, twirled, and bounced around that vast open space...

Capture the Flag

2007-10-07T21:11:00.001-04:00

Randomness. I mentioned a few days ago that I have been out with a fierce bug. Wed-Fri I stayed home really feeling out of it. Today is sunday and I still feel out of it. Tomorrow is a holiday so I have one more day to get right but during those days alone in the house I got a chance to attack a list of things that had been hanging over my head to do for a while. The list is not finished of course it never is... there is always stuff to do and things pending and fires to put out etc. But I did knock a few big items off the list. A few weeks ago I trimmed some of the little lower branches of a tree in the front of the house and it has, as I had hoped, become the kid's favorite climbing spot. They go way up, spy on folks walking by and play for hours. We invited as many folks as we could for a potluck yesterday afternoon and a game of capture the flag. Aria, James and Sasha came out from Boston and we ate tons and had a fantastic time running around in the dark, strategising, putting each other in jail etc... until the inevitable happened... I floored poor Mason. I was so intent on getting this kid Brennan who had our flag that I didn't see Mason and we collided. He's ok but it was scary there for a moment and I felt really bad. Despite this and one other accident everyone seemed to have good time and made a date to do it again in two weeks. So for those of you who couldn't make it this time around put it on your calendar.

Summer Projects

2007-10-07T20:59:00.001-04:00

I really need to put in a little tribute to a summer project that Irene took on this summer. She bought a house last year that had an old rock wall in front of it that was completely broken down and buried by many winters of sanding the icy roads and forces of nature. This summer she started at one end uncovering the rocks and building a new wall in its place! The result is what you see here and it is gorgeous! Congratulations Irene! You are amazing!

Rapid Multiplying

2007-10-07T20:50:00.000-04:00

Are you sure...? "Yes, I am positively sure these are both female." That was the guarantee at pet store where we got skittles and m&m. And you know what we found out? Tada!!! People tend to bend the truth or make stuff up to make a sale!! Skittles, the little devil (on his perch left) was just pretending to be a female! Now we have 8 instead of two...!!! ... Anyone want some cuddly, cute, furry pets? I promise they will get fur and open their eyes...

Emerging from Silence

2007-10-04T13:38:00.000-04:00

Silence… could mean anything... sickness, stress, tiredness, lack of confidence, computer's busted, internet's down, away... a gazillion different reasons for not writing in a while... probably a good few of the above and others... Here's what I can remember ! :) I just spent 1 week in Florida trying to be of assistance to Mom in the effort to get Jere back on a plane home to Costa Rica. Jere is doing much better after being rehydrated and having an 18 cm titanium pin put in his hip/leg to reinforce the bone where the cancer has infiltrated and tried to take over. We brought him home to Ali’s house, got to a place of confidence and flew him home. Jaleh came up to help on the flight down... he is now back and settled back in his home.... home.. yaaay... we love you Jere! The kids went to school last week without their forms to have their pictures taken and poor Isaiah went to the office to call home to see where they were. Britt had to do a mad dash and got them there just as Aman was walking down the hallway toward the photo shoot. The boys and I biked to a great get to know you picnic at school last night for Isaiah’s class. Lots of food and giggles with the kids. Aman’s was last week and he was a bit nervous about being there without friends so I just chilled with him while Isaiah romped with his friends. Aman is such a sweet heart and his latest thing since I came back on Sunday is to say, “let’s go sit over there (in that tree or on the top of the playscape) and talk”… talk? Where does that come from? Isaiah in the meantime is feeling generally a bit left out and I guess he has a point since we have really been giving Aman a lot of attention to try to keep him from flipping his “I’m pissed off at the world” switch. Britt and I were having our usual morning cell phone conversation (life is so crazy) and both resolved to try and give Isaiah a little more TLC I have been doing a lot of skating at the new park in northampton, did some early morning surfing in Florida one morning, children’s classes are about to start back up, Anika gave me a 5-7 min hug when she saw me after being away for a week, the number of gerbils will increase tremendously in a few weeks when she is due, Ericka just had a birthday on Saturday (sept 24), Mason is really excited about being in gymnastics, Ericka and Alfie just got back from another Triathlon. Ericka did really well in the running part in a relay and Alfie did the whole thing (swimming, biking, running). Alfie came in 2nd in his age group (his friend Eric came in first) and #20 something over all out of 570 competitors!!! They don't call him Turbo-Alf for nothing!!!! We are so proud of their accomplishments. Ericka will be running a full marathon later on this month (26 miles!!!).

Speaking of gyms here’s a link for another more in depth story about Britt’s gym that was aired on WFCR here in Massachusetts WFCR_STORY

I am supposed to be sick so I am going to go nap... but not before I post these last three of the boys in deep focus during quiddich practice in the rain...

Limeade

2007-10-04T13:15:00.000-04:00

Three weeks ago or so was move-in day here at Umass and there was a line of cars in front of our house for hours... the boys "just-so-happened" to have a lemonade stand planned for that day. We made lots of scrumptous limeade and put smiles on all those waiting to move their sons or daughters into the dorm rooms down the street. Mason, Aman and Isaiah made a hefty $5.20 each!!! Even with a traitorous competitor who set up just up the street from us who was selling cokes with his sons at outrageous prices... We also had a chance to go see the season opener of the UMass football game...

Saunders Visit

2007-09-08T21:26:00.000-04:00

Well it has been a few weeks of wait and see as far as Jere is concerned. Definite progress has been made and there is a chance that we can take him back to Costa Rica next saturday... vamos a ver. In the meantime I realized that I haven't mentioned a few key happenings here. Right when we got back from CR we had a visit from some dear friends who are now living in Dubai. They have been there for a few years now and have been sorely missed as we found out this visit. Zia is from Atlanta. Everybody knows Zia being that he is the coolest, calmest, most in tune guy you have ever met (except for a few amazing stories he has about rare occasions of severe confrontation with established injustices...). Seff his wife is from Papua New Guinea and they have two amazing yittle ones (huge now actually) Samira and Senai. Seff couldn't make the trip up here as her vacation time had run out but Zia and the kids were here a little over a week at our house. The kids clicked immediately with legos, water games and silliness and it was fun catching up after 7-8 years worth of distance. Thanks again guys for honoring us with your visit... it was a full blast of wonderful fresh air that was sorely needed. And I can't even begin to tell you how much you are missed!!! Let's do it again soon! I also include a recent pic of the cousins having a picnic in their fort And the boys and I sitting on the car I learned to drive on in the early 80s!!!

Updates and Final CR notes

2007-09-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

Well the nuttiness of life never lets up does it? One thing after the other testing our commitment to the path we have chosen to follow, sucking at our energy with a relentless pounding ... like waves on a sandy beach... My step father Jere has been battling cancer for many years. He is an amazing dude with lots of energy, persistent positivity and an incredible dedication to service... (you know the keen, basic awareness of those around him and their needs...) Recently, the cancer has been causing him great pain and so they flew up to Florida where he can receive treatment at the VA hospital ... The basic goal is to get the pain under control while fighting severe nausea (a side effect of the pain medication causing severe dehydration). I talked with Mom earlier this week and the doctors (he is currently staying at the hospital) believe after looking at several xrays and cat scans that the cancer is in some lymph nodes that that begun to put direct pressure on the surrounding nerves. This is the source of the pain. One of the ways of dealing with this would be to attack those nodes somehow using chemo to lessen the pressure on the nerves. So the focus right now is to find out how this can be done in Costa Rica and what they need to do to make that happen. David is doing some investigative work for them through a friend whose father is going through a similar ordeal. They also were going to get an MRI done today to see if they could get a better look at what the cancer is doing in the lower back. Aria has posted some more details from today at her blog...

Anyway that was a little update... please keep Jere, Mom and family in your prayers.

What else? The boys started back at school this week. Both have new teachers and have some of their same friends. Work is booming for both Britt and I. I tried to unsuccessfully buy two gerbils for the boys today. Did you know that 25% of americans did not read a single book last year? Or that your heart pumps 75 gallons of blood every hour when you are at rest? Or that there are only 3 (THREE!!!)countries in the world who do NOT use the metric system, Liberia, Burma and the U.S.!!!! Or that through our DNA you and I are 99.99% the same!

Whoah... I need some sleep.

The remainder are a few Pics from the last of the Costa Rica trip. Beach trip, saying good bye, one of Britt's favorite churches on the way to the beach, Sasha let the boys and I take her to the children's museum in downtown San Jose for THREE Hours without her mom... we were very honored.

Reunion Part 2

2007-08-19T21:14:00.000-04:00

Fall type weather has dropped in suddenly here in Massachusetts. Cool nights and semi warm days. We just wrapped up a nice weekend with today where Amán and I went exploring the Umass campus on our skateboards and scooters while Isaiah went on a nice bike ride with the Alschulers and Oma. I ended a day with a grueling mt bike ride at a place called Bachelors street that I had heard about for years and never had a chance to explore. I got pounded to say the least... half the ride was fun and the rest was just plain old pain... And the depth of tiredness reminds me of the epic 8.5 hour hike that Britt and I took while in CR. You may remember a year or so ago me posting about Britt and her friend Anne and others in Costa Rica attempting to find a path from Escazu where Anne lives to Ciudad Colon where we lived. 3 attempts (two forward and one backward) were made which all ended with them arriving at some yittle town way out in the middle of nowhere bumming rides from the local pirate taxis to get home... 9-10 hours later... Britt and I got to spend the most continous time together we have in years and finally conquered this same run. It was tiring but exhilirating... 8.5 hours and the way both of our knees hurt we seriously thought our legs were just going to fall off! The next morning we drove to the beach with more adventures but that'll have to wait til after a sleep a little.

We have been going non stop all week with work and painting our bedroom... we are done except for the radiators and are severely sleep deprived. I include also a couple more Costa Rica pics of a little romp we did with Aleta and Beau to the river during their visit to the house. They later came to the beach with us too....

Mckinney-Ruhe Reunion Part 1

2007-08-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

Well it is official... we did it! Got all the siblings from the Jere-Julie clan together .... except one. Lisa, Eddie and their two girls were not able to make this time around... but Jaleh, Aria, David, Giannina, Ali, Ilka (Ali's girlfriend), Britt, Colin and all the respective kids managed to land in the same house for a few weeks! It was a very nice lovefest to celebrate the family, meet the new niece Ela (insanely beautiful, cute and buttery) and catch up... The boys were so good with Sasha and played tons out in the yard with her and the new puppy Barney... the old swing got a lot of attention of course being that it is by far one of the cooler swings on the planet (thanks to Jaleh of course). Here is a few pics from the first couple of days. We had a few sessions of trying Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans ... some with disasterous result as the booger, vomit, earwax and others do in fact taste like what they say they are... sugary but disgusting... There are a few pics of obvious near vomiting... We also took TT (Jaleh) to our favorite "top of the world" spot above the university for peace. I was amazed that she hadn't been there and happy that we could share. Britt watched Sasha while Aria took a break. The watching really was watching her run out in the rain and play in the big mud puddle... along with all the boys and the puppy of course. Isaiah of course had to try and get his footprint up on the ceiling of the garage which is the underside of the David and Gianni's porch... The prints I put up there a couple of years ago are still there... This was done via the two swings that Jere had installed under the porch... of course Isaiah did it quite quickly while Aman made it his goal to smack the leaves of the mango tree with his head... which he did quickly also... Well a lot more to tell but it cooled down considerably here today... tonight the temps will be in the low 50s and perfect sleeping weather... I am going to go snuggle up with Les Miserables and go to sleep... (I include also a pic I took of Mason and Anika sleeping just before we left...)

Back

2007-08-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

Well, I am back but Britt and the kids are still in sunny Costa Rica. There are tons of stories and pics to share but I got in at 2 am last night and will be going to bed straight away. Before that happens I wanted to share a link for an NPR Story about the program that Britt started and is running here in Hadley, MA as part of her job.

NPR_Story:_New_Gym

Enjoy.

Thursday Before

2007-07-19T20:14:00.000-04:00

It is thursday night. The boys are fantastically wired and are calling each other ickle Amanikins and ickle Isaiahkins and giggling hysterically. They were tickling each other and laughing to tears... Now they are both perched on the office chair behind me as I write this pushing and pulling on my shirt as they navigate around the room. We are packing up getting ready for a needed two week visit to Costa Rica to visit family and they are very excited to say the least. All the siblings on that side of the family will be there except one... and this is our first family reunion of sorts in a long while... Here are some recent pics of a river hike we took last weekend. The water picture was me trying to capture the amazing shadow of water skimmers, those little bugs that sit on top of the water and run around. I have fascinated with the shape of that shadow for a while.

New England Summertime

2007-07-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

Summer fun means just getting out... and when the lazies are visiting and you feel like a sloth and don't want to do anything we just need to remember that we are going to be cooped up inside mostly all winter and to take advantage of the wonderful out doors. We have really needed to tell ourselves that often lately. Our lives have seemed so incredibly full and it feels like we are running on reserves. So much day to day stuff to do and not enough time starting at around 6 am and continuing until about 1030-1100 pm... run run run... but then we get out and do amazing romps sweat out lots of toxins and wash it off in cool rivers and breath fresh air and meet new people and make up new silly songs etc and the energy comes rushing back... We went kayaking/canoeing last weekend on the swift river. That sunday I got sooooo sick with some bug and was out for the next 4 days. I am still blowing my nose among other things but my energy is back. This weekend we went to Plum Island north of Boston with Anna and the Pyburns. They had most of the peninsula closed off due to nesting Plovers (what the heck is a plover?) which as disappointing but the beach was delicious even though the water temp froze the extremities quickly. The boys were fearless though in the waves while they lasted and I can't wait to play in the waves in CR in a couple of weeks. It was nice catching up with Anna and the Pyburns. The boys have been in some cool summer camps this year and Grandma Irene has picked them up a few times after camp and hung with them. They really connect with her at moments and it is wonderful to see. Anyway, I should find my list of poop to do before I can fall asleep. I am really jonesing right now for our old copy of the unabridged version of Les Miserables that uncle Doug gave me for my birthday many years ago (I think we left it in CR). Speaking of books, Josh recommended a book called The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby. I just finished it and it is an amazing book about how the cosmic serpent is found in most indigenous cultures in their stories about the how the world was created. He also goes on to explore how the description of these intertwined cosmic serpents in all these cultures are very closely related to DNA and the description of how it works and what it does! Check it out if you can and if you want to order it try to do it through Josh's network site and amazon (http://joshuahomnick.ning.com/). Alright I have rambled enough.

Choices... Happiness

2007-07-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

My friend Federico Bolanos from Costa Rica sent me this link to a 21 min talk given by a guy named Dan Gilbert who wrote some book on happiness. He is a very energetic speaker who presents some really startling results from some studies done at Harvard with regards to happiness. I will try to boil it down here for you but you should really see this thing for your self http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

Humans are able to make up different futures based on our data in the present. This is one of the many things make us different than any other animal.

We also are able to be happy in two different ways: The natural one that comes externally (winning the lottery maybe) and a synthesized one that comes from within each of us (being truly happy with the situation we find ourselves in (survival through a tragedy maybe or just a general contentment with ones present situation no matter what).

There was a study done at harvard where a beginners photography class was set up and the students had to produce 12 pictures of things of meaning around campus. They were then told to pick 2 of their most favorite and were shown how to make postersized enlargements of the images. Then 1/2 were told that they had to choose one to keep but could only make their choice once. The other half had to also choose one to keep but could change their minds as many times as they needed over the next 4-5 days. The ones with the one time choice were always happy with their choice. The other group invariably were not happy with their final choice no matter how many times they changed their minds! A second class with different students was set up and this time the students were told before the class started that they could choose between choosing at the end or not being able to choose… and of course 66% chose to choose… choosing the path with which they would be least likely to be happy with the outcome.

Freedom is the friend of natural happiness because it allows you to choose. But the enemy of synthetic happiness.

I find this interesting. According to this study WE can CHOOSE to be happy about things. The source of this happiness comes from within (synthetic happiness). But if we let the source of our happiness primarily come from the outside (a natural happiness) and we are allowed to many choices then we don’t arrive at happiness as easily because… well maybe because we are letting the primary source of our happiness be outside of our control. …it has to be a surprise, something random, unexpected, external...

This reminded Britt how the Baha’i Writings are full of exhortations for us continually strive to be detached from the world and always push to be “content with His holy Will and Pleasure”.

Anyway, watch the video… I’d love to hear any comments anyone might have.

Here is part of Gilbert’s summary: When preferences drive us too fast we tend to overate the differences between the futures we can see in front of us… All of our longings and worries tend to be overblown because we have the capacity within us to manufacture the commodity we so desperately seek (happiness).

Belated Father's Day Gig

2007-07-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

Britt, as I mentioned earlier sent 15 yellow roses to my work for our anniversary and then that friday let Isaiah and I go to NY to hang with Dad and Janet for the weekend. Dad and I have been trying to keep up a tradition of a Father's day jaunt started last year with a phenomenal mt. bike ride at lake Minnewaska. This year we did the same 9 mile loop around lake Minnewaska and lake Owasting but Isaiah came along this time. It was again breath-taking with all the mountain laurel in full bloom still. Isaiah and I went swimming in the Awosting lake which was clear and warm but the winds made us freezing. At midday before driving up to Minnewaska we went with Dad to his peace vigil. This is a group of people who believe strongly in the concept of peace, standing on a busy street corner just below the big shopping malls of Poughkeepsie holding peace signs. They have been doing it every saturday for over 4 years now. Isaiah held up a sign that said honk for peace and I held up a similar one together with an american flag. It was all very exciting considering we had some thing that helped us see the level of support peace got. Diagonally, across the street 7 pro war folks with american flags and "peace thru strength" signs were looking for support from the cars passing by. IT was interesting because 95% of the honks seemed like they were for peace and a few toots were for the war. Isaiah did learn a few new swear words and I had to explain what the middle finger meant as a few people drove right by us and said some pretty gross things... but for the most part it was amazing to see how many people cheered, whistled, or honked for peace. We also saw Isaiah's great grandma and great uncle Doug for a few minutes before driving back to go to a rare afternoon Baha'i Feast in Amherst.

15 Years!

2007-06-21T20:38:00.000-04:00

Britt and I got married 15 years ago this morning at around 10am pacific time. Britt sent me 15 yellow roses today at work and I got soooooo many comments and congratulations. I am such a lucky dude. So here are a few extra pics from Uncle Salad's camera from this past weekend with them. Test Test... does changing this alert my blog tracker...

The Power of Religion

2007-06-19T19:52:00.000-04:00

Here's a piece writing I submitted to the Religion and Spirituality page at the UPI site which did NOT get published even though I submitted it twice with two different titles and approaches... So I thought I would post it here for any of you curious folks... 163 years ago (1844) on May 22 the Baha'i Faith had its beginnings with a dusty and weary traveler being greeted warmly by a stranger at the gates of Shiraz in what was then Persia and inviting him to eat and rest at his home. While I was biking to work the morning of that very day this year I started to think about the power one act of selflessness or one truthful response or one moment of forgiveness can have can exert on the world around us. And I had a warm, inexplicable confirmation of a message that I received growing up in a Baha’i household.

That message being that there really is no greater unifying power in the universe than that of religion! Really and truly! I know that this statement seems ridiculous in light of religion’s track record, but I am not talking about the religion that we have twisted and warped into the chaos that we see all around us now. I am talking about the pure, sweet, powerful aroma of the words contained in the books that help define each of the world’s great religions. And I am not talking about the words argued over and insisted upon that we have used to confuse and divide the entity that is our present day world. I am talking about those powerful, basic, pure words that are found at the root/base/heart of all these religions. These are words that whole civilizations have been founded and built upon… think about it, whole civilizations...

And I am not talking about one or two magic words that will change all of our darkness to light (though the magic, mystery and power in any one letter in each of them is irrefutable). I am talking about the specific arrangement of words that define for us a lifetime of search, effort, challenge, and joy on our journey towards God. These are the spiritual truths found at the root of each and every one of the world’s great religions.

The Messengers who delivered these words to us and their lives are important, this is certain but more important is the message itself. It is this message that we use in our daily romps and adventures that we experience on our path towards our Creator. It is these words and their arrangement into key concepts that we use to treat ourselves and others justly, to help ourselves and the others around us on that journey towards God.

So let's look at one of these basic concepts. Let's take the concept of truthfulness. Here are some examples of quotes on truthfulness from some of those Holy books.

"Overcome meanness with generosity, and overcome a liar with truthfulness." ({italic}Buddhist, Dhammapada {/italic})

"Let him always delight in truthfulness..." ({italic}Hindu, Laws of Manu {/italic})

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." ({italic}King James Bible, 1 John {/italic})

Baha'u'llah's son Abdu'l-Baha has said that "Truthfulness is the foundation of all the virtues..." ({italic}Baha'i Writings {/italic})

So sit there and try to imagine what today would be like if we all told the truth. Maybe this an impossible task amid the chaos that we have created but let’s for a moment attempt it. Today when you ask someone a question you can immediately act on the answer, no questioning, no games, no searching in their face for a twitch or a narrowing of the eyes, nothing. You asked the question, it was answered, and you acted on it. Imagine the power there would be in that day. Just think of how much could be accomplished. How much mileage we could each cover on our path towards God. All with something so simple as telling the truth.

Now this example of course is not without its holes which I am sure you have picked up on by now. We do have to excercise caution with what we say, when we say it and to whom etc. But even taking this into consideration there is no doubt that applying the concept of truthfullness to our daily lives can only bring good.

And this is just one of a host of concepts that we are asked to apply directly to our daily lives that will help us ever closer to our Goal. So let's put aside the parts that divide us and unite in our focus on these "gem-like utterances" found in in each and every one of the God's holy books.

Ok, so I have bitten off way more than I can chew here with all this but I would like to end this way: Is religion the most powerful, unifying force in the universe? I think so and would like for us all to give it a try. Anything is better than the sheer chaos that is out there now

Visits and Conquests

2007-06-18T21:22:00.001-04:00

Life can get so full sometimes... at moments there seems that there are no reserves left for anything but the basics ... you know folding clothes, washing dishes, digging legos out of the couch, finding swords (what is up with little boys and the inability to find their most prized possesions???), washing dishes, sweeping, washing dishes, sweeping, taking out the trashs, and washing dishes... have I said that yet? ... oh yeah I did and cooking... anyway... broken record... you get the idea... What I wanted to say was that there are other moments where the reserves are there and wonderful things spark up in earsplitting belly-laughter type joy. Today Aman conquered his fear and went from end to end of the Umass parking lot on his bike for the first time ever and the belly-laugh joy was there. The belly-laugh joy was there last night when Xinxin and Josh showed me a video that Xinxin shot while they were driving somewhere... it is a simple shot... Josh... at the wheel driving... and he is lip synching to a mexican ranchera that Xinxin is singing hysterically... classic... if you see them please ask them to share the belly-laugh. As you can see, we finally got to meet Xinxin. They are so sweet together and we are so happy to have Xinxin as part of our family. We both confessed to being super nervous about the meeting eachother ... but the awkward section is over and we had a good couple of days with both of them. Xinxin made us chicha morada and a spicey creamed potato yumminess whose name I forgot but typical dishes from her home in Peru. We took them up to Shelbourne falls to a bunch of rocks called the potholes for the afternoon... The boys are done with school for the year (see the last day pic) and have started their summer camps with... Camp Oma... they have this first week with adventuring with Oma. This weekend if everything goes right Isaiah and I will be driving to NY to go mt biking with Dad...

Speaking of Dads... Happy father's day to all you fathers out there. Especially to Mr. "I change diapers give her to eat and baths carry her around all day while I neglect my job" ... yes I am talking about... who else? but Ela's dad Dadvi (follow their link for the latest Ela pics). I love you bro.

Anyway, I am going to try and write more often so that these aren't so long and windy.... whew... feel it??

First June Weeks

2007-06-10T22:14:00.000-04:00

We have been rolling along with lots of stuff happening. Work loads for both Britt and I have been tapering off. The hectic project I was helping out with is winding down and I have started where I left off in Dec on a nice design with another group. Britt got through the episode where the building inspector shut down her newly opened gym by kowtowing and did the tricks through all the hoops that supposedly hadn't been performed before. It is amazing how many laws there are for things... things have just gotten way too complicated... it's interesting... it seems to me that we as collective whole... you know... the world... by not followiing something so basic as telling the truth have had to come up with a gazzillion rules for every little detail in order to not have chaos reign supreme. Anyway I am rambling...

The kids have one more week left of school and we have a summer of trips, camps and other activities lined up for them. They are excited to be done and moving on. Isaiah will be in 3rd and Aman will be starting 1st. Aman read every word of Green Eggs and Ham tonight to me... He is really taking some huge strides... it is so nice to see. He and his class along with the 5th graders gave a concert for the school and parents which was really cute. Their cousin Jesse Welbourne was one of the 5th graders (redhead just above Aman). Isaiah is getting an attitude and tells you how things are and how they are done at every turn... I mean what is that? It was like someone came in one night, flipped a switch and taaaaddaaa... lip... I guess I hear it from his friends too a bit... that must be the source. He reads (or listens to) books constantly and still has his wonderful imaginary life... Oh yeah... the kids have stumbed on the art of bickering... they will argue over who has the most hairs on their head!! It is interesting to watch sometimes... Don't get me wrong they are still amazing and cuddly and we love'm...

Aria, James and Sasha stayed a hectic few days with us while they found an apartment in Boston where James will be working towards his master's degree. It was a stressfull time for them but it is basically over now... they even drove out today to hike with us up to the horse caves in south amherst. It is so nice having them close... and one of these days I will win Sasha over to me... she is till super timida with me... I have been trying believe me pero ya ahorita...

What else... Oh yeah we went for a great romp with the Brandons at look park. The last time I was there was for Alfie and Ericka's prewedding party where I got bit by a brown recluse spider... It is a nice park with lots to do and we ate, caught frogs, played baseball, and got wet at the water park. We are really going to miss having you guys close... Oh yeah, memorial day, Britt and I and the boys went for a fantastic 17 mile bike ride... something which we hadn't ever done as a family before... beautiful backroads up to sunderland where we ate and came back...

Mason had a fantastic 4th birthday party at groff park... treasure hunt, arts and crafts, cake, food, lots of running around and some time in the water at the river... Speaking of births I told you that I have a new niece right? Ela? She is adorable and you must visit the mckinney link to see the latest pics.

Anyway... I am getting tired and need to crawl under the sheets to read go to sleep...

Long Weekend

2007-05-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

The HUGE news is the arrival of Ela Mckinney Estavanovich on May 27th at 540 pm.... please follow the David and Gianni link to see la preciosura de esa ninha. Congratulations guys! This was a long weekend, 3 days, and I took a 4th day and kept the kids out of school to commemorate the ascencion of Baha'u'llah. The boys and I are having a mellow morning after a couple of fantastic days. We are getting ready to go meet the Brandon's at look park. Sadly they are moving away to Hartford and even though that is only 35 min or so farther away it will still make them less accessible than the 20 min they are now. booo hooo.... Which sort of leads into a joke the kids are telling everyone now. What makes the following sound: Boooo hooooooo splat splat??? Some one crying their eyes out. Ha ha... oh well. We have been outside swimming, biking, hiking, playing baseball, catching snakes, throwing rocks, runnning, kayaking, learning to hulahoop, giggling, telling jokes, and getting sunburned all weekend. Dad came drove up saturday afternoon while we were at the resevoir with uncle Steve. It was a buggy hike but well worth the effort for the swim in crystal clear water that we had not to mention all the frogs, snakes, salamanders, and other creatures that we found and caught. A mellow evening with Dad and then off for a picnic at the mill river park where we enjoyed the sun, warmth and games (also where Aman caught his first two snakes!!!). Monday, Britt and the boys and I went for an 18 mile bike ride and then went to a friend's house for a cook out. It was hard to get out of bed this morning but... here we are ... the boys are taking it easy and I need to clean the kitchen and get us out the door fully packed and ready for anything to meet the Brandons.

Couldn't Wait

2007-05-22T20:04:00.001-04:00

We really couldn’t… it was one of those mornings where everyone is just getting on each other’s nerves and the whole house is raw… three days of cold rain… Britt and I thought it would be a good Sunday to set up the kid’s rooms… give them each their own room… but man did that ever turn out to be a whole boatload of work!!! We thought we’d invite some of the boy’s friends over so they could chill together while we did the work… no… no one was getting along at all… so .. finally the sun peaked thru the clouds and we just couldn't wait to vacate the premises. And so was Alf who had to put up with all the furniture moving noise upstairs while he was trying to get some work done…

So we took Aman’s friend Ethan and caught a duck and a nice king snake. A new romp along a river close by… the duckling thought the boys were its mama and would not stop following us. We caught it, ooooohd and aaahhd over it, contemplated taking it home and then let it go at the lake at the end of the river with the rest of its siblings who we found swimming around…. Swimming around presenting themselves as potential snake meals for the two snakes we saw one of which we caught. Never a dull moment in the Alschuler-Ruhe household.

A Few Random Blurps

2007-05-19T21:14:00.000-04:00

I will start out with a few recent Aman quotes: He comes down in the morning on a school day with a button-up shirt on and shorts. The shirt is buttoned up all the way to the top and tight and Britt asks, "Hey, how come you have your shirt buttoned up all the way?". He looks at her then proceeds to unbutton the shirt a few buttons and then points to his bare chest and says, "See that? That! is chest skin. I don't like anyone seeing my chest skin!" He then buttons up again and runs off to school. The other one what about him playing with this tiny flashlight and he asks, "Daddy can I look in your ear?", and I'm like, "sure"... so he sticks the flashlight in there and looks around for a long time. When he finishes he is all quiet. So I said, "So... what does it look like?" and he replied, "Just like a skatepark but with lots of hair!" Things have mellowed out a bit. Work isn't so crazy at the moment. I am working some other projects that are not quite as chaotic... but it's only a small pause in activities from the other project that is about to heat up next week probably. I biked to work on thursday... a mellow 35 minutes. I am going to try to do that more often. Britt worked like crazy to open the gym which happened on monday only to have an issue set her back a week or so in having the grand opening celebration with the big wigs and the press. Send some good thoughts her way... The boys had their Baha'i school graduation last weekend (the pic of us making faces). It was a nice ceremony to acknowledge their hard work this year and thank the teachers for the effort put towards preparing and executing the classes all year. We will break for the summer. The few picture of a water here are of Puffer's Pond here in Amherst. Isaiah and I biked there two thursday's ago went swimming and then biked to Aman's friends house to pick up Aman. We took full advantage of Alfie and Ericka's latest experiment in bike riding, half a bike attached to another. Very useful and they can contribute to the pedaling. The fair was also in town last weekend. Same as any other fair... fun, loud, expensive.. I rode this thing called the strawberry that just went round and round and I thought I was going to hurl but kept it down... barely. We all road the big boat thingy that goes back and forth... there's a before pic here... Alfie and I went to see Spiderman3 but it was sold out. So we went to see Next with Nicolas Cage... it is a must see... we really enjoyed the concept and the story... and don't pay to go see Spiderman... what a waste... Britt and I saw it later and fell asleep in it... it is amazing how popular things can be even if they are bad as long as they are hyped enough.... que fome. The last weird pic is of the boys holding some knives I carved for them while on a nice Mother's Day hike last sunday. We celebrated the three mother's with us but also all the rest of you awesome mother's out there by hiking along a beautiful river close by...

Feliz Birthday Sis

2007-05-08T21:40:00.000-04:00

Today is Jaleh's birthday. She completed another elliptical trip around the sun today. We are sending you lots of love and wishes for another 942477796 miles. The boys were excited that it was TTs birthday and made some nice notes for her which I include here.

Growing and Flowing

2007-05-04T22:31:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday the Baha’i School hosted the 9^th day of Ridvan celebration. We had a nice hall in the Nielson Library at Smith College (close to the hall where the children’s classes are every week). Each age group brought something to share. Our group, the young ones, made a huge poster in which we used cut out pictures from magazines to answer three questions that the kids came up with about God. What does God love? Is God powerful? And is God gentle? Isaiah’s group dressed up and read some parts of the story of what happened that day in Baghdad as Baha’u’llah was saying goodbye to everyone. (which reminds me, our friend Druzelle Cederquist wrote a great piece for the Religion and Spirituality section at the UPI website On_the_Banks_of_the_Tigris about the contrast with what is happening now in Baghdad and what happened 144 years ago when Baha’u’llah was in that garden…) Back to the presentation… Isaiah stood up and clearly read a nice long section. It was awesome to watch.

I include more spring pictures. Having the smells and moisture in the air is intoxicating. We are eating our meals outside, shooting baskets, having water fights, throwing our kids in the air… you know typical stuff.

During quiet time a lot of the times Amán will choose to draw and Isaiah of course is still devouring this series called Spiderwick. Everyone is growing up and moving along… growing and flowing.

In other news, David and Ali jumped off a bridge in Costa Rica (bungee)… serious freaks… Aria and James are trying to sell their house in NM so they can move forward with their move out this way to Boston… and of course the huuuuuuugggggge news is that Xinxin has finally arrived and is settling in with her sexy hubby uncle Salad in LA… welcome Xinxin!!! We can’t wait to see you in a month or so… Junio verdad? Other news? Gianni and David are close to finding out if they have an Ela or a Tristen… (we can’t wait guys!!! And Gianni I still can’t believe you let him jump off a bridge!!!).

Primavera/Spring

2007-05-01T22:38:00.000-04:00

You can see from some of the recently posted pictures that spring is rolling in around here. What a magical time. Flowers, leaves, grass, sun, smells, moisture. I have been working 2nd shift (2-11pm) a lot lately and have had some nice time to myself in the mornings after getting the boys off on the school bus. Today I went for my solo first bike ride of the year. 17 miles or so mainly on asphalt but some serendipitous downhill trail runs just happened to jump in along the way. Here's the run I did today. I found some more meanings for the name Aman today: trustworthy, safe, peace, protection without fear... Both of these guys are really growing quickly. Britt and I are so lucky to have these two wonderful boys as part of our lives... Here's an old pic of them on our bed in Costa Rica from a few years ago...

Spring Visits

2007-04-28T22:31:00.000-04:00

Mom and Jere arrived as part of a scheduled stop on their whirlwind train tour of the US and Canada. They brought wonderful warm weather and we all got out and enjoyed it. It was wonderful having them here and they had some nice connections with the boys. We had a nice first day of Ridvan celebration with the Amherst Baha’is and a program that I helped put together. They were here 5 days and left on Tuesday morning bound for Chicago.

That Sunday Alfie’s friend Eric and his kids Aiden and Meredith were here visiting. I managed to break Aiden’s remote control airplane on my very first try and felt very bad about it… we came back here and goofed off… Meredith shows us some of her latest fashion ideas and I attempt to be Meredith.

Wednesday blurred past and then Thursday evening John, Carole and Noah from Oregon show up. The boys clicked immediately and ran off upstairs and weren’t heard from for hours… amazing!

I had a chance to catch up with Carole and John while we waited for Britt who was overseeing the installation of the equipment in the new gym she is starting through her job at Service Net.

I woke up on the stuffy side this morning and we all got on eachother’s nerves until we got out of the house. Isaiah had his first day of spring soccer and I took Amán to his friend Reid’s birthday party. Then we all went to the Welborne’s house to celebrate Jen’s birthday. Afterwards we came home and I crashed on the couch comatosed… one of those deeeeeeeep sleeps … my body shut down almost entirely… 3 hours… we then had dinner and had a little bday party for Anika who turned 1 today. Then we packed up stuff and went and watched Amherst High play Northampton in baseball… well… we did that for about 15 min then we went to the playground next door and had grass fights…

The whole house is asleep and quiet… me? I am still running on that nap I took. But this is such a special time of day… everyone tucked in and mellow… so peaceful... I am so lucky.

Differences

2007-04-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

I was just reading about some interesting findings about the way women and men are built. They have found amazing differences in size and density of different sections of male and female brains and that we are wired that way from birth! And how that means that in some cases doctors really need to take gender into account when making a diagnosis but also in prescribing treatment.

On the Gruhe-vee family side of things it is amazing how incredibly full life can get. Between work, family and Baha'i related activities the days are flying by. Even with the craziness of our daily routine we are still managing to do some interesting and fun activities. Saturday we went for a nice hike to Skinner mt. house (compare the previous pics to these and you'll note the snow is gone). Sunday we had a nice children's class and a wonderful afternoon with Eloy and Renata Sheppard and their three kids Andrea (boy), Isabela and Juliana. These are some Baha'i friends from back in the school days. They are both from Brazil but have lived here for about 20 or so years.

I include some pics of when Dad and Janet were here for Larry and Peter's 60 birthday bash up in Shelburne Falls. Also here is the link to another tune called Abrete I was fooling around with as well as the "thrush" which is a recording I made of a bird that would sing outside our window in the woods around our house in Shutesbury. I have been thinking of the garden of Ridvan lately when I hear it... I don't .... Check them out New_Songs

Britt and I just got back from our dance class where we learned some classic Merengue steps... our teacher is a nut but wonderfully so... although she is threatening to cancel the class if we don't bring any more couples to the next class.

Ericka, Mason and Anika will be returning on Saturday. They just spent 10 days in Virginia with her sister and mom. Every night at prayer time the request was the same from the boys, "This prayer is to thank God for a good day, and for a good day at school tomorrow and make the days go by fast until Mason gets back". Isaiah burst into tears the first time he said that at prayer time. Very cute.

The last thing is that I am back to obsessing with surfing and am looking for a used wetsuit and board... man those days at Hermosa or Bejuco were the best (except for when I almost put my eye out of course)

Post April Fools

2007-04-02T19:26:00.000-04:00

Another weekend blew by... I pulled a muscle in my back raking friday night. It hurt enough to stay home while the others went on a birthday hike with Oma. Lise came in from Chicago for the celebration. I got a chance to ice my back and watch the rest of Casino Royale. Then I recorded a bit and waited for everyone to get home. We ate nice Irene birthday meal of salad, bread, cheese and pork. Everyone played poker (including Isaiah) after Aman went to sleep and I drove 1/2 hour north to hang with Peter and Larry who were celebrating their 60th. Dad and Janet spent the night here at the house and we had a mellow sunday morning while Britt went to teach our children's class. Isaiah and Dad went for a bike ride and Aman and I played in the sun with some action figures while talking to Janet. Mellow schmellow. And now the crazy week has started. So much to DO!!! (By the way, our friend Kristin posted a comment and it was so nice hear from her but she didn't leave an address... can anybody help???)

Ordinario (extra?)

2007-03-26T21:43:00.000-04:00

I am starting out by including here (and I hope they don't mind) some beautiful pics of Matias, Shawnie and Angelica's boy. They all live in Oregon and we miss them terribly. For us it was just another ordinary, fast moving weekend. Cavindoor has once again written the kids a letter requesting that they go on a mission. This is a character that Alfie came up with about a year ago and he and I just revived him by sending Mason, Aman, Isaiahand Anika another letter from Cavindoor. Their first mission to complete as the "Green Brigade" involves protecting queen Terrabee by finding a green pinecone and putting it on the largest grate they could find on the campus of the university. During our search for a green pine cone we found the doors open at one of the large gymnasiums on campus and snuck in... the kids were fascinated. So many bleachers to climb and places to hide. But that led us to finding the real treasure find of the day. Huge mats used for breaking the fall of pole vaulters. They are like huge matresses but 3.5 feet thick and huge!!! We stacked a bunch up and climbed and jumped and played for about 3 hours! It was fantabulous. In the excitement I forgot to take pics... but you can imagine what sort of happiness would be instilled in 3 (or maybe 4 with me) boys with access to 8 extremely oversized matresses in the middle of large gymn... Sunday involved completing first mission (depositing the pinecone with their initials in the appropriate spot), play dates for the kids and a trip to see The Sneeches and Stone Soup put on by the Baha'i children's theatre. I stayed home and tried to organize our files... what a mess! I also had a chance to do some recording. Modern technology is so wonderful. I sent a copy of the song called Never for David to peruse in CR and he immediately plugged it in to his system and put a nice bass line to the whole thing. Follow the link to listen to the results of the jam session across 4500 miles. I also include two images of artwork from the walls of Anna's room in Summerville. Well, the week has started and ... man that weekend was short!!!

Feliz/Happy Naw Ruz!

2007-03-19T20:39:00.000-04:00

So I am standing taking a break from shoveling snow right about where Anika was playing in the puddle two days earlier. Nutty New England weather... we got about 12 inches. And tomorrow is the first day of spring and the last day of the Fast. Besides staying up after eating in the morning I did a few other funny things this time around. I willed myself not to put my fingers in my mouth to bite my nails, a habit I have had since the early teens. I now have a beautiful set of nails on my fingers for the first time in a while (and I keep scratching myself horribly cause I am not used to them). We will see how long this lasts... I also kept myself to two meals a day only and mellow ones at that... no stretched tummy trying to cram in the evening or morning. I managed to get through all the special Fast prayers in the prayer book... I love the one where each paragraph ends in, "Thou seest me holding to Thy name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous, the Most Mighty, the Most Great, the Most Exalted, the Most Glorious, and clinging to the Hem of the Robe to which have clung all in this world and the world to come". We have been getting in that last of the winter's activities like sledding, shoveling and building a snowman. Aman had a little presentation at school today where he read for a small audience. Britt went and said it was very cute. There have been haircuts (where I killed my unblemished record by seriously taking a fat chunk out of Aman's ear [his and my fault]) children's class and the usual non stop cleaning, washing, folding, scolding, holding, reading, skidding, jumping, yelling, singing, bouncing, mopping, brushing blah blah blah blah... and on.... daily routine of the Ruhe household.... Happy last day for all of you who are fasting and Happy New Year (Naw Ruz)!!!!

March Teaser

2007-03-15T06:51:00.000-04:00

Next week will be the official first day of spring and the weather got incredibly warm this week. All the snow is practically melted off and gone. We can actually shoot baskets in the back now without the ball getting wet on the pile of snow. It was only a small teaser because there is a winter storm coming this way tomorrow and saturday (another 3 inches of snow maybe). But it is part of the spring ritual, you get a few quick glimpses then it is taken away a few times before kicking in for the summer. We took a great hike on saturday with Isaiah's friend Nick to rattlesnake gutter. I published some pics a while back on the same hike but in the fall. This was still as magical except with snow, wet snow. We got soaked and frozen but had a great time. Ali even called during middle of it and told us some jokes that the kids have been retelling to everyone they can find. We were distracted and couldn't talk that long (sorry about that dude) and plus we didn't really wanting to hear about how he was in the car on the way to go scuba diving in 85 degree weather (happy for him of course but...). This past week and a half has been uneventful. Work has been nutty. I have been working second shift alot. The deadline for delivery of this system is right around the corner and everyone is loosing their minds! A few fun romps, children's class, and others. Aman read all of Go Dog Go to me last night alone and unaided! I am amazed at the strides he's making. I also include a pic of Anna's first 3-D movie that I forgot to include in the last post and a pic of the boys at a lacrosse game at Umass. 6 more full days left in this fasting period. It has been amazing so far. For the first time I have been getting up to eat and staying up having about an hour of quiet time praying, reading, spacing out, writing in the blog or whatever. Just my time in the quiet house before Britt and the boys get up or I have to rush off early to work. It has been a bit tiring in the evenings but I get to bed early. In other news, we bought our tickets for a visit to CR in late July. I will be there a little over a week and Britt and the boys just over 2 weeks. We are excited to see everyone and have some romps. Ted and Rita came down from Maine to visit the Alschulers and the boys put together a little show which started off a skit about Luke and Obiwan confronting Jabba the Hut but just completely degraded (of course) and had us in stitches. The little things taped on are arms with light sabers (in case you were wondering). Here's a few sillys for you. Isaiah_Story & Happy_poopy_pants & Miracles

Dessert a lo Tico

2007-03-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is. Step1 (man I love lists):Put on your boots, gloves and coat, get a bowl and a flashlight if it is dark out, find yourself the cleanest batch of snow and fill your bowl with it (watch out for the yellow patches those are definitely not considered clean). Take off your coat, boots and gloves, put them away neatly, return the flashlight if borrowed and mosey on into the kitchen. Step2 (did I say how much I love lists?): Open up the bottle recently bestowed upon you as a birthday gift by dearly loved relatives (thanks Mom and Jere) of... Sirope de Kola made by Cruz Blanca of course (with vitamin C). Step3: (Ah glorious step 3!! It looks so good!!!) Smother your snow/ice stuff with this delicious concoction. Step4: A generous helping of Pinito on top (another birthday gift). Step5: Find a spoon and an out-of-the-way place to eat it so no one can break your concentration.... ummmmm! but don't eat too fast for a serious brain freeze awaits you... Wow, can you tell I am fasting??? Enough silliness. Let's see what is going on... I submitted a little article fasting to the UPI's Religion and Spirituality website and they published it. It is still there today but might not be for long so if you wanna check it out here is the link (http://www.religionandspirituality.com/). I was searching a few months ago for sites that would let me know what is latest religious news out there. What religious issues are news worthy and what is the rest of the world saying. I get a little of that at this site but more important are these small articles written by various people around the globe. Some are silly but there is alot of wonderful sparks out there. People really are talking about more than just the weather and thinking about how we can change the craziness around/in us.

I took friday off and pulled the boys out of school to go to the museum of science in Boston. What an amazing place! So much to do, see and learn. There was once exhibit that was a huge bank of tv screens and some terminals in front of it. On some you could design your own fish based on your eating habits, depth at which you lived, level of fear and others and you send him into the virtual world where he would interact with the rest of the fish on the all the screens (like looking into a huge fish tank). On others you controlled predators and their patterns etc. Alot of fun.

Anna joined us for a bit and we all saw a 3D movie on bugs (Britt and I swore they filmed it in the little river behind our house in Costa Rica). We then met Anna's house mate Katrinka for fast breaking at a diner near their house and had a quick tour of Anna's fabulous apartment. On sunday after Baha'i school the boys and hiked to the top of skinner mt, had a picnic and sledded down the whole thing. Anyway, I have written too much. Enjoy the pics. I would like to include here a huge thanks to Zia for updating his blog with the great pics of Dubai (see the Saunders link on this page). Keep'm coming especially of that awesome family of yours!! We miss you.

Feliz Ayyam-i-ha!!

2007-02-27T22:41:00.000-05:00

I am dog tired and not gonna make much sense but I can't resist. The Baha'i days of Ayyam-i-ha started on Monday and end on thursday. 4 (and sometimes 5) days of gift giving and service. The theme for us this year is actively trying to find a way to serve someone every day. We start off the hunt for gifts around the house with a prayer and each of us sharing a service story. This past weekend we drove to NY to be with the Ruhe family. We all got together for brunch on sunday with lots of good food, laughs and some truly memorable quotes (the second one is Jamal... of course who else... right?) ... and got to do some serious (Sledding_train) sledding on a really fast, ice-covered hill near Dad and Janet's house... (Isaiah_Jump) Friday the Fast begins... amazingly this will be my 26th consecutive year that I have been fasting... weird. Anyway, another reminder that tomorrow I am 41 years old and truhely gruhevy.

Sugarloaf

2007-02-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

Saturday we had another round of sledding. We hiked up the access road of Mt. Sugarloaf for a nice afternoon of romping. The sledding was fun and so were the snow drifts. And yes that is Mason asleep in the sled... tired little guy. Today we had an Ayyamiha party for children's class. We decorated cookies and played with balloons to celebrate the upcoming holidays.