2011 New Thing 1. Moonlight Snow Shoe Hike

Last year, when I decided to do 52 New Things, lots of my friends wondered if I'd run out of ideas.  Actually, the converse happened.  The more new things I did, the more additional ideas got generated.  I did a couple of great snow shoe hikes last year, and when I did them it made me want to try doing one at night, which is what I did tonight for the first new thing of 2011.

The crew at the top of Mt. Philo

Once again, I have my students and Saint Michael's College's fabulous Wilderness Program to thank.  When the week's schedule of wilderness programs went out over email, I immediately forwarded to a number of friends and colleagues to see who else was game, and sure enough, Alexsis came through with impressive speed.  She'd never gone up Mt. Philo, and we both thought it was time to change that, so tonight we did.

Bridget and Nelly, our cheerfully unflappable leaders

One of the things I learned from last night's hike is that the Be Prepared motto isn't just for Boy and Girl Scouts.  Faced with some snow shoe problems (a bunch of them had buckles missing, which we didn't notice till we got to the parking lot of Mt. Philo), Nelly, one of our Wilderness leaders, responded with a sense of resourcefulness and dispatch that would have made MacGyver weep with envy.  Using only the string of her compass and the tape in her first aid kit, she managed to get her, Alexsis' and my buckle-deficient snow shoes firmly attached to our boots and off we went.  I had already met Bridget the year before when she was one of the Wilderness Leaders on a snow shoe hike that Ryan and I took up Camel's Hump that was so cold that all the rest of the participants who had signed up bailed the morning we were supposed to go out, so I knew she was impressively intrepid. But last night's hero award definitely went to Nelly for incredible grace under fire.

Nelly and Alexsis doing battle with their buckle-deficient snow shoes and trying to ignore their freezing fingers

On one of my snow shoe hikes last year my friend and student, New Thing Hall of Famer Josh, gave me a piece of advice for winter activities -- you should be dressed so that you're a little cold when you start, because otherwise you'll be peeling layers halfway through.  This proved true once again.  In the parking lot I was cold, halfway up Mt Philo (which is admittedly not a major haul, but still clearly slants in an uphill direction) I was plenty warm.  Thanks to the overshoes that the Wilderness Program kindly provided to go over our hiking boots, for once, even my toes were nice and toasty.

Alexsis and I at the top of Mt. Philo.  I felt particularly good about having twisted Lexi's arm to go when she told me she hadn't been to Mt. Philo before.

If you've never done a snow shoe at night up a trail you've hiked in another season during the day, I recommend it.  It's a whole different experience.  Between the snow reflecting on the trees in the moonlight and the totally different way that the trail looks covered with snow, it gives a whole other perspective on a place that you might feel you already knew.  The same was true at the top.  Looking out at Lake Champlain and all the farms below was really beautiful and a completely different sight than you'd see if the afternoon in the summer or fall.

Love the way the light of the headlamps looked in this picture taken on the trail

In the Works

New Things:  Not quite sure what the next New Thing will be.  It depends on who's up for something new, and what they're interested in, I think. Some of the possibilities on the docket for the next month or so include sled hockey, walking greyhounds at the St Albans rescue, visiting the Snowflake Bentley Museum in Jericho, and trying dog sledding.  Let me know if anyone wants to do one of these, or has some other fun idea.

Challenge 1. Become a better skier/snowboarder.  This one is a lot of fun.  So far I've gone this year to Smugg's with Josh and Sugarbush with Chris.  I'm looking forward to going with Paul to Bolton in the next few weeks when our schedules mesh, Alexsis has offered to go to Smugg's and possibly pull together a group for Jay Peak, and I'm always looking for other people who are up to go.  The one thing I've definitely discovered is that it's not possible to have too much warm weather gear, and I'm still looking for ways to keep my toes warm.  Any suggestions (or offers to ski together), let me know!

Chris and I at Sugarbush last Friday.  My smile is clearly related in part to the fact that I was inside and could once again feel my toes.

Challenge 2.  Become a better cook This one, I must say, is going quite well.  It's just so much fun, plus the possibilities of things to make are pretty much endless, plus there are lots of people willing to do it with me and/or eat the results.  Lilly and I need to start our tandem experiments in Thai and Ethiopian soon (anyone up to come over and try them when I do it?), and I still need to give my new crock pot its inaugural run.  Of all my challenges, this is the one I'm most confident of actually achieving this year.

Challenge 3. Learn to jump and spin on ice skates.  I'm really only putting this one down to note that I have made so little progress on this one.  Chris and I went ice skating two weeks ago and that's the last time I've been in a rink.  Gotta get going on this..anyone up for doing it together?

Challenge 4.  Finish a marathon.  Still plugging away.  Did my first long run last weekend -- nine miles.  That sounds more impressive than it is, though, because the program that I'm on requires you to do a combination of running and walking, making my already-slow pace even slower.  But I figure, given how horribly cold it's been here lately, I'd be hard-pressed to be running at all right now if it weren't for this challenge, so at least that's something.

Challenge 5.  Become a better rock climber.  Still haven't been since the New Year began.  But Amanda is starting Women's Night at the Climbing Wall at SMC on Wednesday nights again, and Claire and Kate have promised to give it a try with me on the first Wednesday in February.  Anyone want to join us?

Challenge 6.  Write a book with students.  This challenge is about to suffer a setback when Drisk heads to Montana for a few months. However, Alexsis, Matt, Amanda and Ben are stepping up to help with logistics on the project, and we have a big in-person meeting coming up the first week in February to get everyone back on track.

One of the many things I'll miss about Drisk is that we  agree on all the crucial aspects of producing this book -- such as the decision that all editorial meetings should be conducted over breakfast.  Here he is with Siham, Leah and I discussing weighty country case study issues at Mirabelle's.

My other challenges, such as learning Arabic, haven't even been started, but I have high hopes that once the semester classes settle into place, I'll find time to incorporate more of the others.

So, that's it's for now.  Still deciding what all the challenges of the year will be, and still looking for people who want to do them together or in tandem long-distance.  Drop a note if you'd like, or if you have other ideas.

Challenge 2. Become a Better Cook

I have a feeling that, of all the challenges I've laid out for this year, this one, becoming a better cook, is going to be the easiest because I have so many friends who are willing to be a part of it in one way or another.  I still have some offers from last year's new things list that I need to take up, such as my friend Dean's promise to take me through the multiple stages of croissant baking.  My uber-supportive friend Lilly not only sent me a crock pot and an Indian cookbook for my birthday this year, she's offered to do some long distance tandem cooking together.  Siham is going to teach me to cook some Moroccan dishes, Chris has promised to eat all my main-dish experiments, even those that turn out less than perfectly, and I have a whole slew of students and former students who want to hone their cooking skills as well, so I have lots of co-conspirators on this one.

Success!  The pretzels pictured here and the calzones we made are both definitely keepers -- let me know if you want to make some sometime

Yesterday evening, in the midst of a snow shower that cancelled lots of evening events but didn't deter her in the slightest, my friend and student, Claire, made good on her long-term plan of trying some new cooking things together.  She's back at Saint Mike's a week early because this is her semester to student teach, and so she brought another friend who's also student teaching, Siobhan, as well. The two of them had left it to me to decide what to make, and so I went with something I love to eat and hence, would love to know how to do myself -- spinach calzones.  Last week when we went skiing Josh and I went to Das Bierhaus afterwards for beer and soft pretzels and I've had pretzels on the brain ever since. So, though I'm not sure Julia Child would approve of pairing pretzels and calzones for dinner, that's what we did.

Claire thought the balls of dough we were making into pretzels looked like mouse ears.

After Claire and Siobhan arrived, we started by making the dough for pretzels, since it needed an hour to rise in the oven. You have to dissolve the yeast in warm water with a little sugar, and we were a bit surprised that between the three of us, we were still not exactly sure what the borderline between "warm" and "hot" is -- and in the world of yeast that's a life and death question.  We made our best call and whipped up some dough the old-fashioned way (i.e. mixing and kneading by hand) and while that was doing its rising, make the calzones. The calzone filling included spinach, three kinds of cheeses, eggs and herbs, and was surprisingly easy to put together.  Siobhan proved that it is possible to roll out calzone dough in a perfect circle, and filling them was kind of fun.  Our one mishap there was learning through trial and error (mostly error) that calzones are hard to seal.

Siobhan and Claire pouring the dissolved yeast into the flour "well".

Once the calzones were in the oven, we went back to the pretzels and rolled and twisted them.  In case you've never made a pretzel, here's the secret.  You dip them in a baking soda bath before putting on the kosher salt.  Apparently, the alkaline water gives them their thin brown crust on the outside when baking, They smell fabulous when they're baking too. 

The secret "pretzelizing" step -- Siobhan dipping the dough in a baking soda bath.

Just after we sat down to eat, Chris, who had been trying his cross country skis on the fresh snow outside, dropped by and then Drisk came home from work.  Of course, we pressed them into service as tasters as well, and we all agreed that it had been quite a fine experiment.  I know I'll definitely be making both pretzels and calzones again in the near future.

Chris, Drisk, Claire and Siobhan.  Both Claire and Siobhan are in their first weeks of student teaching; hearing their stories made me realize how much easier it is to deal with young adults than little kids in a classroom (though the kids definitely produce more funny story material.)

In the Works

Last year when I was doing a new thing a week, I would always finish my blog post with a note about what was coming up in case people wanted to join me or make suggestions.  This year, with 12 challenges and at least a new thing a month, I'm going to try to post in this section how different challenges are going, what next steps are coming, and new things that are on the horizon as well.  Half the fun of last year was doing these activities with other people, so please, if something looks fun or interesting, let me know if you want in on any of it.

Challenge 1. Become a better skier/snowboarder  Assuming it's not too cold, Chris and I are going to a new place (for me anyway) to ski on Friday -- Sugarbush.  Thanks to the generosity of Drisk, who got me skis for Christmas, and Siham, Leah, Katrinka and Brian, who bought me gift certificates to the Outdoor Gear Exchange, I'm just about all outfitted for the rest of the winter.  I have a bash badge for Smuggs and am looking for people who want to go....

Challenge 2.  Become a better cook This one is such a lot of fun. Some things I'm hoping to try in the next month or two include; croissant-making with Dean, making homemade yogurt, learning to make fruit tart, soups and stews (including in the crock pot); fruit tart; Indian curries; and homemade from scratch pierogis.  If any of these sound like fun, or if people have other ideas of things to cook together or in tandem long-distance, let me know!

Challenge 3.  Learn to jump and spin on ice skates This one is still not really off the ground the way I'd like.  Although Chris and I went last week, I haven't been able to get on a regular schedule. Between Leddy Park and Cairns, it is possible to ice skate between 8:30 and 11:15 Monday-Friday, and I need to contact Ali to find out when the Ice Barn has skating as well.  Anyone want to get on a regular schedule with me?

Challenge 4.  Finish a Marathon Took the plunge and registered for a class at the Y that is supposed to help you do exactly that.  After convincing us that we absolutely had to do it, Colleen is now iffy about whether she can come do the Burlington City Marathon.  In the meantime, Siham and I are on our training schedules. Anyone else out there think this is the year for them?

Challenge 5. Become a Better Rock Climber I haven't been at all in the New Year, and really want to get going on that again.  Nicole and I might re institute our once a week night at Petra Climbing Gym and now that rock climber extraordinaire Dan is back in town I'm hoping to go with him soon.  Claire, Kate  and some other students are interested in trying it, so if you'd like to go, write and let me know!

2011 New Thing 1.  I think the first new thing of the year will probably be either sled hockey (maybe this Sunday) or going to the Snowflake Bentley Museum in Jericho.  Any takers?  Also, John wrote and suggested a closer-to-home alternative for dog sledding -- the Vermont based Peace Pups.  I'm looking into it and will post when I get more info.

I think that's pretty much the focus for the next couple of weeks.  Let me know if you want to join in!

2011 Serendipity 1. Celebrate an 80th Birthday



The man of the hour, my father -- Donald Siplon-- at his 80th birthday party. I find it slightly disconcerting that I have about the same amount of gray hair that he does.

 My parents are the only two people I know who retired from Florida in order to move to Michigan.  But when you consider that my dad was born and raised in Western Michigan, and you can't go ten steps without running into someone to whom I'm closely or distantly related, it starts to make a bit more sense as a retirement destination.  I have to admit that making the winter trip from snowy New England to Florida used to be somewhat more enticing than the same trip to Western Michigan.  But it's not every day that your father reaches his 80th birthday, so it was off to Michigan to join my siblings and the rest of my family for a celebration of this great occasion.


After the party --back row: Brian, Katrinka, Susan, me and Rick; front row: Mom, Dad, Tigist, Emma, Jim, Grace, Daisy, Donna, Alex and Jean


We kids have definitely scattered.  I live in Vermont, my older brother Jim and his family live in North Carolina, my sister Katrinka and her family live in Tacoma, Washington, and youngest sister, Donna and her family are the sole Michigander group among the siblings.  Then there is my "other brother", Jean, or as my sister Katrinka puts it, "Don's oldest son, but not his first".  Jean is French, and joined our family in 1973 in his first visit as a teenage french exchange student when Katrinka, Jim and I were in elementary school (and Donna was not yet born).  He's now a doctor with three kids of his own, and has been back countless times. He has also hosted various family members as well as sending his own kids to stay with members of our family over the years.  He came with his girlfriend Mary from France for the occasion, since, obviously, a family party would not be complete without him.

All my dad's kids back home after the party: me, Katrinka, Donna, Jim and Jean

At the party, each of us got a chance to toast my dad, and tell some stories about him, then we opened the floor for other friends and relatives to do the same.  Finally, my mom and dad both spoke and we had cake and champagne.

My Dad saying a few words after everyone else has had their turn, while my mom and the kids look on

Back at home that night we launched into a round of political debates, since it's not possible for us all to gather without one.   And finally, as people peeled off for bed, my dad told my sister Katrinka and me stories late into the night about his early days in the Navy when he served as a hospital corpsman in New York City, and the tragic fate of some of his closest friends there, who died in the Inchon Invasion in the Korean War.

The next day Jim, Susan, Emma and Grace started the drive back to North Carolina after all of us took a lunch time trip to the resort town of Pentwater and the Brown Bear.  It was cold, but the lunch portions at the Brown Bear were huge, so we felt amply compensated.

Dad and his "non-identical twin" brother, Bob who came from Wyoming.  They were born on the same day, exactly 15 years apart.

Jean and Mary came all the way from France for the party.  Here they're braving the cold in front of Lake Michigan in Pentwater with my dad.

Tomorrow, most of us head back home through the snow to our various corners of the world feeling a little bit luckier for having been able to celebrate a milestone in the life of someone very important to all of us, my dad.  We are all the products of our experiences and the people of our lives.  My mother has always maintained that, of all the children, I am the one who is most like my father.  If that's true, I think I'm pretty lucky. When I was a kid, my dad was the most principled person I knew, and the one most interested in new ideas and perspectives.  He also taught us that the greatest lessons are learned through example as much as lecture, and that there is no substitute for integrity in the way we live our lives. I'd like to think that I learned through his example, and I'm hoping to keep learning from him in the years to come.  Happy 80th birthday, Dad!

Challenge 1: Become a Better Skier and/or Snowboarder

As I noted in my last post of 2010, 2011 is going to be the Year of the Challenge. This means that I am identifying 12 areas that I started in my Year of New Things that I'd like to improve and push to a different or higher level.  I'm also not giving up on New Things, and plan to do (and chronicle) at least one of those each month as well.

As usual, I owe both the inspiration and means to the first step on my first challenge, improving as a skier and snowboarder (both of which I sampled in last year's New Things) to other people.  In this case, those people are two of my former (Drisk) and current (Josh) students and friends.  It all started when Drisk surprised me with a fabulous Christmas/New Year gift--new skis!  Of course, Drisk is the one who gave me a ski lesson last year when I tried out skiing as a new thing, so it made it all even more cool that he has now provided me the means to keep going with skiing as a challenge.

Last year, Drisk took me on my first ski trip ever in Vermont. This year he gave me skis to keep going.

Naturally, I was beyond excited and told Josh about the gift when we met for coffee earlier this week.  He suggested that I should try them out without delay this week, and so today we did.  And in doing so, I took another step to being a real member of the Saint Mike's community by finally, in my twelfth year at the College, going skiing at Smuggler's Notch.  Those outside of the Burlington area may not know this, but one of the many perks of being a student at Saint Michael's College is a free season ski pass to Smugg's.  Obviously, this make the resort, which is about 45 minute's drive from campus, the ski destination of choice for our students.  It's more than a bit crazy that I'd never been, but at least I remedied that today.

Standing above the Saint Michael's College banner outside the lodge-- can't believe it's taken me over a decade to do that, but better late than never

It was a great day to try out my new skis.  It was a Wednesday, and the local public schools have all gone back to class, but the colleges haven't started their semesters, so the college students aren't around.  So, it was quite uncrowded, and although it was pretty cold, and it snowed during parts of the day, thanks to Drisk and Josh, who loaned me goggles and some extra stuff to keep warm, I was in good shape.

Yet another thing to thank Drisk for -- the goggles he loaned me definitely came in handy

In case there are other people associated with Saint Mike's who have yet to ski at Smugg's, here are a few tips:

• It's a great mountain (actually three mountains) but it really is cold and pretty windy at the top.  Dress warmly, and then add some more layers to that.  You can always take them off later.
• If you should happen, as I did, to have problems getting your ski boots on, here's something I learned today.  Let them heat for five minutes next to a heater.  Once we did that, I was fine.
• If you're a newby, don't be afraid to fall.  It's how you get better.  That's something I learned in last year's New Things generally, and I'm still finding it to be true.



Don't be afraid to fall, but hope your friends don't feel the need to document it -- .Josh kindly waited till I was back on my feet and moving again before snapping the photo above

• Go with someone who is better than you.  Josh is an excellent skier (and a great instructor), and the desire to keep up (or at least slow him down less) really helped push me to do better.



Josh getting ready for the first run of the day after we had resolved my minor boot crisis

• Whatever you do, just go.  For years I had lots of excuses -- it's too cold, I'm too old to learn, I don't want my students to see me, it costs too much.  From the top of the mountain all of them seemed pretty silly.  With a little research, everyone can find discounts and ways of making skiing more affordable, and clothes to make it more comfortable.  And drawing on lessons I learned last year, I now know that you're never too old to try things that look interesting and everyone that is doing something had to be a beginner at some point.

So there it is.  Thanks to Drisk and Josh, the new year of challenges has begun, at a place that I should have gone to years ago.  Can't wait to go again!

The List for 2011: The Year of the Challenge

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.  -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

At this point I had planned to be back in Vermont cleaning out the enormous teetering stacks of papers that had engulfed my office during the last weeks of the semester. But as the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, talk about your plans. The snow storm that shut down East Coast airports for several days has given me an extra few days on the West Coast with my sister and her family, and some more time out of the office to think about the plan for 2011.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Leah, Siham and I have decided to follow up the Year of New Things with a Year of Challenges.  One of the things I've like best about 2010 is that it has turned new things into a habit for me.  I used to shy away from the unfamiliar and now I find myself constantly looking for new things to try, or new ways to try old things.  So, I'd definitely still like to keep going with new things, but I also want the challenge of really tackling some things that I'm not good at, or haven't mastered, and getting better.

So here's my formula for 2011: 12 new (and challenging) things, and 12 challenges based on things I''ve already started, including two "super-challenges" picked from the life list that Leah, Siham and I also started compiling last year. Something else I learned from last year is that it's a useful thing to be flexible in list-making: new opportunities come up, and friends suggest ideas that hadn't crossed my mind.

With the caveat that the list is intentionally incomplete, and subject to change, the plan for 2011 is:

12 New Things including:

• Visit the Snowflake Bentley Museum in Jericho, VT.  This one and the next were suggested by my friend and Dominican Republic service teammate, Ashley.   One thing I loved about last year's list was the chance to discover new things in my own backyard.  This is one of them.

• Volunteer as a dog walker at the Greyhound Rescue in Saint Albans.  I think greyhounds are great, and so are the people who work to give them a life after they've been chewed up by the racing industry.  Don't know why this one never occurred to me, but glad Ashley suggested we do it.

Ashley getting paper towels for our Dominican Republic group at our Vermonster-eating session last spring. Now that she's done with student teaching, she's got time to do some new things together.

• Do nothing.  Former student and fellow AIDS activist Madison suggested this one almost a year ago, Tom warned that it is much harder than it seems, and after a year of putting it off, I've decided he's right. But I really want to try, so it's being written in to this year's list.

• Try sled hockey. My super athlete philosophy colleague Patrick suggested that I could try this at his team practice last year, but it was near the end of the season, so I didn't get to it.  But I'm intrigued, I'm hoping to do this one sometime in the first month of the new year.



Leah, the Tall Ship Expert, is dying to show off her expertise to Siham and I on a New Bedford expedition

• Explore New Bedford. I think Leah should work for the New Bedford Chamber of Commerce.  She's got a whole  itinerary planned, from exploring the Ernestina tall ship to the New Bedford Whaling Museum to the fabulous indoor climbing gym, we're set to go for a weekend of being tourists.

•  Go to a shooting range.  My friend and student Alexsis suggested this one. She's willing to go with me.  I hate guns, but I agree that it makes sense to at least learn how they work.

• Try using a pottery wheel.  Julia B suggested this one in a comment to a recent post, and offered to teach me.  Kate B. and Lauren have both become amateur potters in the last year as well, and really encouraged me to try it. I've always been intimidated by the thought of a pottery wheel but think it's time to get over it.

• Go dog sledding.  When Siham, Leah and I were on our trip to Quebec City, we discovered a number of places that offer one-day dog sledding experiences.  Now I really want to go back and try it.

12 New Challenges (the two off the Lifetime List are marked with an *)


• Become a better rock climber.  Anyone who's ever glanced at this blog for more than five seconds had to know that one was coming, right? Can't wait to get done with my three-week doctor-imposed hiatus of exercise to get started.



With coaches like  Conor and Dan S. how could I help but love this activity?  Now I just have to actually get good at it.

• Write a book with my students* Already started, and with a 28-person team of students and alumni spread around the US and in four different countries, it's an interesting challenge.  Luckily, it's a Dream Team of students and alumni to work with, and it's a LOT of fun.



Matt and Alexsis will be incorporating some of their work on MDG Goal 8 into the independent study course the three of us will be doing together spring semester. In this picture from our  November writers' meeting they're setting up a google group to communicate with all the Goal 8 team.

• Become a better skier and/or snowboarder.  Loved trying both of these last year.  I bought a Bash Badge to give me incentive to go to Smuggler's Notch this year, and have a great ski instructor, Drisk as a housemate.  Plus, Paul also just started snowboarding, too, so I'll be tagging along with him at Bolton, I think.

• Run a marathon* I always swore I'd never do this, though at least one friend, Gary, insisted differently, and I put it off indefinitely by assigning it to my life list.  But Colleen caught Siham and me at a weak moment in Washington, DC and somehow convinced us that we wanted to.  I just signed up for a class at the Y to help me get serious about the training for the Burlington City Marathon.

• Become a better ice skater. Failed at sticking with this one last year, but this year will be different.  Ali is now working at the Ice Barn in Milton and between her and Michelle, I am bound and determined to get back into a skating routine and learn to jump and spin.

• Become a better cook. Between the cooking new things I learned last year (souffle, fresh mozzarella, pesto and Indian food) plus my December baking spree, I've realized that I really want to become a versatile and good cook.  I am still going to get Dean to give me the croissant lesson, Katrinka is teaching me stuffed grade leaves here in Tacoma, I still want to learn to make homemade yogurt and Claire is all set to do some cooking in early January.  I think the plan will be to try a new recipe or food per week, with emphasis on different ethnic foods I like.

First baby step on my challenge to become a better cook: learning to make stuffed grape leaves in Tacoma

• Become a better hiker. I loved the hiking I did last year, and feel like I'm ready to stretch a little into some new and more challenging trails.  The one I'm most intimidated about is attempting to follow Chris up Hell Brook Trail, but I'm game to try it.  Plus, Ashley and Luke have both offered to do  a peak in the Adirondacks, and I still really want to get out in New Hampshire and climb Mt Washington and some of the other Presidentials with Chris and/or Kate.

• Get comfortable with mechanics. Despite Nigel's excellent lessons, I still feel like I'm just not there.  I think I need a full-fledged, multiple-session class in beginning auto or bike maintenance to feel like I understand it.  Laurie, Kate and Nicole have all offered to do it together, and Chris has offered to give me some more instruction to try to nail this one down this year.

• Visit Alaska via container ship.  Leah, Siham and I all feel like we're ready ta tackle this one.  The plan is to leave from the Port of Tacoma and sail to Anchorage, and then return via car or plane.  We're all pretty psyched, and now just waiting to find out if the March timing we had selected can work or if we have to wait till later in the year.

• Study Arabic. Hanging out in foreign countries with Siham, who is fluent in both French and Arabic is very humbling. Jordan is one of the most wonderful places I could ever imagine and I definitely plan to go back. So, it's time for me to bite the bullet and try to learn the language a bit, even though I think it seems much harder than French or Kiswahili, the two languages I've struggled with in the past.   

Listening to Khaled and Siham go back and forth effortlessly between Arabic, Friench and English during our Petra adventure made me wish I could as well

 So, that's the plan.  As always, I'm looking for teachers, people who want to do these things together, and new ideas, so please let me know if you're interested in any of these things.   Here's to a 2011 filled with all kinds of great challenges!

Some Superlatives (and Very Big Thank-you's) from 2010

One of my sister Katrinka's and brother in law Brian's many talents is that they are  phenomenal gift-givers.  Unlike me, they can shop with great focus and endurance, are highly imaginative, and  are always on the lookout for the perfect gift for specific people.  This year, though, they outdid themselves with their gift to me, which was themed on the 52 New Things.  It was a four part gift -- 52 individually-counted seeds to represent the many seeds I've planted in my own life with new activities; a necklace and bracelet made with 52 and 12 beads respectively, to represent last year and this year's new things; a $52 dollar gift certificate to the Outdoor Gear Exchange to further my rock climbing aspirations; and finally two framed collages with four collections featuring a photo from every one of last year's 52 New Things.  It is so fun to look at the collages and see reminders of all 52 activities all at once.

Wearing my 52-bead necklace, Tig and I talked about all the 52 adventures in the collages Katrinka and Brian made for me

Looking at the collages also reminds me of the last list I wanted to make to close out 2010 and get ready for 2011-- a thank you list to some of the many people who figured prominently in last year's project.  There were so many people who helped in so many ways that listing them all would make for an incredibly long post, so I've decided to make a list of superlatives instead and single out a few of the people from the many to whom I owe big debts of gratitude. 

So here is my list of "most's" from 2010:

Most helpful in the beginning: besides Leah and Siham, who helped come up with the idea in the first place, Matthew sent a list of possibilities,(as did Henry, Madison, Alexsis, Donna and Connor S.) and the idea of learning "I love you" in 52 languages.  Pat and Kathy generated all kinds of ideas at last year's Wigilia dinner and Pat sent me a list of translations for dozens of languages when I got stuck.  Cliff and Nicole invited me to Nepal, making my first trip possible, and Manish gave me my first in-person language translations. And very significantly, Julia showed me how to blog so I could get started.

Cliff, Nicole and Jai during a bit of souvenir shopping in Katmandu

Most supportive posters: Anyone who has ever kept a blog (or written anything for broader distribution) knows that feedback is the thing that writers crave.  I am so grateful to everyone who posted comments throughout the year, and especially to Siham and Lilly, who consistently checked in and offered their thoughts. Leah, Jamila and her younger sister Joy-Anne also regularly participated when they were in Burlington, and via posting when they weren't.

Although we haven't figured out a way to do a new thing together yet, my long-time friend Lilly has been a huge supporter all year long.  Here she is with her amazingly cute kids, Eli and Sophia.

Most spontaneous involvement:  Chris came into the list fairly late in the process.  But on our first date we wound up doing yet another memorable Camel's Hump hike (memorable not least because we started it at 2:30 am!).  So, I wasn't surprised when he took a look at the list of what remained and offered to do the 24 hours without sleeping in New York City together as well. He's part of the reason that 2011 is going to need to be the Year of the Challenge, because his form of hiking and outdoors activities fall squarely into that category, and I've asked him to lead on some of them (like Hell Brook Trail) for the 2011 list.

Chris in another spontaneous activity -- dropping by to meet my niece Tigist and be part of her third birthday celebration during her October visit

Furthest travel to participate:  Katrinka and Brian came all the way from Tacoma to be part of the final Camel's Hump hike. Jamila came from Oxford to learn to change a car tire and set up a room in my place where I could display photos and souvenirs from my 52 things travel. And Angela flew from Twin Falls, Idaho to spend the weekend together in New York City when I went there to skate at Rockefeller Center.

Katrinka and Brian back at the trailhead after our October Camel's Hump hike

Most frequent instructors: Three people, all students or former students, showed up on the blog for multiple appearances as my teacher. Dan S. gave me lessons on cross country skiing, skate skiing, and rock climbing, inside and out. Nigel also gave me a skate skiing lesson, and taught me to change both a car and a bike tire.  And Josh H. taught me snow shoeing, rock climbing and pesto making.  All of them are great teachers, and taught me new things about both the specific activities we did together and the art of teaching.

Two of the greatest instructors the Saint Michael's College Wilderness Program ever produced -- to my great advantage -- Dan and Josh on the day they took me on my first climb outside.

Superathlete (and student) Nigel, the day he took me skate skiing.  Little did he know he'd be roped into doing bike and car tire changing lessons as well.

Most frequent  participants: I am so grateful to so many people for their suggestions, lessons and involvement.  But four in particular stand out for having been willing to do so many things on the list together.  They are Paul, Josh H., and of course, Leah and Siham. 

My colleague Paul started out teasing me a lot about my list, but pretty soon he started seeing it as a chance to do things he'd always wanted to try, knowing that he'd have a willing accomplice in me.  We've done some things that didn't make the list, like trying new classes at the Y together, and attending our first ice hockey game at Saint Mike's. We went to Montreal to see professional tennis and try poutine together, went to my first (and probably last) car race at Thunder Road, and tried out the roller derby. In 2011 we're going to, among other things, work on snow boarding, since we both tried it for the first time last year.

At the Roger's cup in Montreal Paul introduced me to that oh-so-tasty artery clogger from our neighbors to the North, poutine.

Josh not only gave me the three lessons mentioned above, he also took part in many of the other activities.  He is on the MDG book team, took part in the Washington DC trip, led our Saint Mike's group into the frigid waters of the Penguin Plunge, did the summer (night-time) Camel's Hump hike, tried paddle boarding together, and went rock climbing with me at the SMC wall, Petra Cliffs gym and my first climb outside at Bolton.

Josh, the renaissance student. He had offered to open up the SMC climbing wall for me to do a  lesson, but first rode his bike back from downtown Church Street from his internship in Senator Sander's offce and did the climbing with me in his office clothes.

Though it was a joint effort, Leah was the one who enlarged the idea of 2010 as a year of travel to 2010 as a year of new things.  She did the trips to Bar Harbor and Quebec City, the Rokeby Museum, suggested many of the things that made it onto my final list, and is a big part of the MDG book project.  Probably more than anyone else, Leah is always thinking outside the box for new things to really challenge us. She's going to be just as involved in 2011, starting with the trip to Alaska. And incredibly, though Leah was a star rock climbing instructor in the Saint Mike's Wilderness Program when she was a student, we still need to go climbing together.

Leah going through her list  near the top of Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor in February

Finally, Siham is the person who was the most involved in the activities on this list.  She was also part of the trips to Bar Harbor and Quebec City, but she also travelled with Connor and I to Jordan and Jerusalem (and translated Arabic brilliantly for us the whole while) and made our adventure at Petra possible. Besides that, she was on the "support team" for the Penguin Plunge, did the summer Camel's Hump hike, went hot air ballooning, and constantly offered ideas and comments on and off-line throughout the year.

Siham and Connor taking a  breather during our fabulous trip to Petra

I remember when I started the project of 52 New Things a little more than a year ago, a number of people wrote and suggested that I might want to scale it back.  It was too ambitious, they thought, and I'd probably just give it up after a few months.  What they didn't know (nor did I) was that the key to trying 52 new activities, places and adventures in a single year is to have a phenomenal set of family and friends, students and former students.  They are the ones that made it possible, and more importantly made every single experience great fun and special in its own way.  Something I didn't know till I did this is that trying new things can also create and reinforce our own personal communities, and remind us of the unique and wonderful talents and qualities of the people in our lives.  To everyone who was a part of the last year's project -- the people I mentioned here and the people I didn't--  I am grateful, and hope you will join me in creating and meeting the new challenges of 2011's list.

Another Wigilia Celebration

One of my earliest posts on this blog was the one that I did almost exactly a year ago, when I wrote about celebrating Wigilia in Tacoma. I am thrilled that I got to come back for this year's celebration, and thought I'd do an actual recounting of what, exactly, a Wigilia is like -- at least, as it is celebrated by Siplons and Mannellys (my family) who learned it from our good friends, the Szuberts (the family of my closest  childhood friend, Teesie) .  Wigilia is an Eastern European Christmas Eve dinner, with a large number of dishes, heavy on the fish.  As I noted last year, our families have done modifications over the years, such as getting rid of an aspic dish that everyone passed around without actually touching, and substituting family specialties for the dessert course. But, these modifications notwithstanding, this is a dinner loaded with tradition, so I thought I'd do a post showing all the courses as they unfolded throughout the evening.

This was a smaller Wigilia than the first one I attended in fifth grade, which had included six Szuberts and six Siplons, and expanded even more over the years to encompass growing families and other family friends. Our 2010 celebration consisted of Katrinka, Brian and Tigist, Brian's dad and stepmom, Pat and Kathy, and me.

Everyone except Brian sitting down to dinner -- Katrinka, Kathy, Pat, Tigist and me --the two other 'regulars', Dave and Pat, were out due to illness

Before the dinner can begin, the first tradition to be observed is that the youngest child has to find the first star in the sky.  That's the sign that the Three Wise Men are on their way to see the Baby Jesus. 

Tigist, wearing her new Tiana princess dress from Grandma Kaye, looking for the first star in the sky

The table set for Wigilia -- there is an extra place for the Baby Jesus, but it is Tupperware rather than the special china the rest of us used because that's a tradition that Marita, one of the Szubert girls, started when she was in elementary school.

Once the first star has been located, the dinner can officially begin.  The first course starts off, as do all the others, with a vodka toast. My niece, Tigist, was born in Ethiopia, and when Katrinka and Brian went there to adopt her they bought a set of Ethiopian cups specifically for Wigilia, and we now use them for the vodka toast. 

A new(ish) tradition -- Ethiopian cups for the toasts at the beginning of each course

Brian offering the first toast of the night

The first course is a kind of greeting. Everyone is given a piece of bread that looks like a communion wafer and breaks it into even smaller pieces.  These are exchanged with everyone else at the dinner, with messages of peace and thanksgiving and good wishes for the coming year.

Next comes pickled herring, for luck.  The whole time I was growing up, I avoided it because I thought it looked disgusting, but when I tried it, I discovered I actually liked it.

News flash -- turns out that pickled herring tastes much better than it looks

The next course is canapes, which everyone loves, because there's something for everyone.  We use tiny loaves of rye bread and cream cheese for the base.

Lots of salty treats -- lox, anchovies, smoked oysters and caviar

In keeping with her princess garb, Tig went straight for the caviar ("raspberries") and picked them off as many pieces of bread as she could get away with.

The next course is a new one this year.  Brian had gone on-line doing some Wigilia research and discovered that many Wigilia traditions include a cheese course.  Given the fact that I am a Vermonter and consider cheese as pretty much it's own (the best) food group, it made sense that we add it as well. In the picture you can see Vermont's other contribution to the dinner -- Vermont Vodka, which my friend and colleague, Mike turned us onto when we were eating at his restaurant, Claire's, during Katrinka, Brian and Tig's last visit to Vermont

The cheese course is followed by the one I thought was most exotic when I was a kid -- borscht and ushkas (mouse ears).  The ushkas are mushroom dumplings that we used to go over to the Szuberts to help make in advance the day before Wigilia. In the picture below, Brian and I are using a shortcut we learned long ago - won ton wrappers for the ushka dough.

The best course of the night, at least as far as we were concerned when we were kids, was the pierogi (potato dumplings).  We ate them with copious amounts of sour cream. 

Lots of butter is the key to the perfectly-fried pierogi

Last but not least is the dessert course.  Over the years this has been the most free-floating and I can remember walnut tortes, cherry cheesecake and turtle brownies at various times and places  The last few years, Tacoma Wigilias have featured a delicious apricot tart.

Our friend Kelly shared the recipe for apricot tart with my sister some years ago, and it has become another Wigilia tradition

So there you have it.  Wigilia, at least as it is practiced by one family in Tacoma, Washington.  Seven courses (the bread exchange, pickled herring, canapes, cheese, borscht and ushkas, pierogis and dessert), all preceded with a vodka toast for each one.  But the most important components, at least in my opinion, are the memories that have stacked up over the years, and the associations I have with my family and friends in this celebration I've been doing since I was in the fifth grade.  The year 2010, the Year of New Things, has been a reinforcement of the lessons of Wigilia; what matters about Christmas, like what matters to me about life, is not things. It's experiences and relationships, which are what Wigilia (to me anyway) is all about.