Moving on…

Some of you may have noticed that I have changed the name of the blog. With Paris long behind me and knowing I needed to move forward, I decided that yesterday was the day to do it. I’m not a huge fan of the new name but it will work for now. I do feel like I need to come up with a name that isn’t tied to a specific place. Scotty and I seem to have chosen a life that requires regular upheaval so the idea of home is one that is fascinating to me. Ultimately we believe that the earth (at least in its current state) is not our home and everyone is imbued with a longing for that more glorious home that is to come. And yet, in all the moves and transitions I’ve come to value the idea that home is a state of being…one that you can take with you and nurture no matter where you are. While my current address does not feel like it’s where I am most comfortable, I still have a sense of home. Despite the fact that we’ve only hung three pictures on our barren walls and we could use some more furniture (chairs stripped to the studs do not make for an inviting place to sit), there is a contentment in being where we know we’re supposed to be. Sure, this new place is lacking in a lot of the things I think make life beautiful and inspiring, but I am finding things to value. There are opportunities here for both of us that we didn’t have in our other homes and we’re starting to find our footing. So here’s to finding a sense of home no matter where life takes you.

San Francisco

After four beautiful days in Chicago Scotty and I made our way to San Francisco. We had decided to combine the conference trip with our Thanksgiving visit to my family. Doing so meant we would get to hang out with my brother Solomon and his lovely wife Becca for a day and take in a bit of San Francisco. I think SF is a great city. Its topography makes it fairly unique. We didn’t do the whole tourist thing as we only had one full day and had made a visit a few years ago. Going to SF always brings back childhood memories for me. It was the “big city” we visited when we left our tiny little country town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I didn’t end up taking many pics but did snap some in China town. I wanted to teach Solomon how to make coconut curry so that sent us on a bit of a wild goose chase for curry paste. Note: try the grocery store first.

We also got to check out Becca’s office at Causes, a cool charity oriented start-up. They occupy the top of the Citibank building and have some amazing views.

It was super fun staying with the newlyweds. They have a beautiful apartment and I even took a catnap in front of the fire. Bliss!

And, of course, a trip to SF isn’t complete without a stop at the city’s best bakery, Tartine. If you go to the city and fail to stop by Tartine for a morning bun you are seriously missing out. Seriously. I even broke from my strict no-gluten status to have a couple bites…buttery, sugary, a hint of citrus. Perfection.

With fingers slightly sticky from the yummy goodness it was off to San Luis Obispo to meet up with my entire family for our not-so-traditional Berg Thanksgiving celebration.

Chicago continued

Our time in Chicago also included some other fun experiences. Along with walks up Michigan Avenue and enjoying the gorgeous architecture, we ate at a Lebanese restaurant with a group of friends. The food was delicious and the entertainment included a very enthusiastic belly dancer.

Ashli and Matthew at the Lebanese restaurant.

I also spotted a bit of Edinburgh in the Tribune Building. Thanks Becky for pointing this out.

We also dined on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. What a fun experience. My friend Anna recommended checking out the restaurant for lunch and it was a winner. One floor above the viewing platform the restaurant provides wonderful views of the city along with a moderately priced, and delicious, lunch menu.

And here’s a pic snapped by a stranger of Scotty and me.

Thank you Chicago for providing me with a much needed break and an excuse to wear boots and sweaters.

 

Chicago!

Well, this blog has collected a bit of dust. Have any of you caught on to the fact that I’m not finding much inspiration in my new surroundings? Despite my best efforts to see the beauty, this place just hasn’t grown on me yet. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Either way, I was thrilled to be able to go to Chicago with Scotty for the SBL/AAR conference. The weekend before Thanksgiving saw us enjoying gorgeous weather in the Windy City and catching up with dear friends over deep-dish pizza and Lebanese food.

Scotty had a paper accepted to the world’s largest conference on Biblical and religious literature so we took advantage of the excuse to book tickets to a city we hadn’t visited in over five years. Can I just say that it was good to be back in a city? After getting used to the bustle of Edinburgh and Paris and growing accustomed to walking everywhere I have definitely grown to appreciate the city. And I miss seeing beautiful buildings and Chicago is packed full of them. And we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny, mild weather.

Most importantly we got to see old friends from Edinburgh. I even got to get caught up with a friend from college who I hadn’t seen in a decade (it’s scary that I can now measure time in measures so large). It was soo good to see these faces that are so dear to me, to talk about life shifts, new and expected babies, the repatriation process, and recall memories from other times and places. These periods of reunion give me an even deeper appreciation for friendships forged over time. I’m not the best at keeping up with people once I move somewhere new but trips like this show me how important it is to maintain those friendships. So, it was an encouraging and fun time and one I’m deeply grateful for.

One gorgeous afternoon I went on an architectural boat tour with my friends Becky and Ashli. It was gorgeous. Here’s the pics:

Rubbing Shoulders with the 0.01%

Last Thursday the tropical storm associated with Sandy blew through Fort Lauderdale and it’s made me very nervous for DC and NYC. Four days after, we’re still experiencing some crazy winds and I don’t know if that is just the tail end of the storm still affecting us or if it’s completely unrelated. Either way, all of you New Englanders and Eastern Seaboarders are in our prayers.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale

Thursday also marked the opening of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the largest boat show in the world. We sort of tossed the idea of going around and finally after church yesterday decided to check it out. To get to the show we took a little waterfront cruise past Billionaire Row in downtown Fort Lauderdale. I will warn you now, if ostentatious displays of wealth are not your thing, you may want to skip the rest of this ’cause it gets pretty ridiculous.

One of the many canals that make Fort Lauderdale “America’s Venice” – a title of which I’m seriously skeptical!

Fort Lauderdale is known as the Yachting Capital of the World. I guess it has something to do with the fact that there are over 300 miles of inland waterways and is home to more than 50,000 registered yachts. And, if you’re gonna have a yacht here, you’re gonna need a house and what better place to buy than on the Billionaire Mile.

The lovely number above belongs to a husband and wife team of venture capitalists. They have the distinction of being Florida’s highest property tax payers at $44,000 per month. That breaks down to about $65.00 per hour, 25 hours a day, 7 days a week. And all for two people to live here.

This was a wedding gift for one billionaire’s niece. This particular billionaire has been classified by Forbes as the “World’s Greediest Billionaire” and has a record of links to organized crime, spousal abuse, intimidation, environmental violations, and other wrongs.

See the pagoda with the blue tile roof? The third level as has a hot tub rimmed in 24 carat gold.

We spotted some cruise ships at the main port in Fort Lauderdale.

And this was all before we even saw the $4,000,000,000,000 (yes, that’s billion) worth of yachts.

Here’s the fuel tank capacity for the 007 boat. At $4.669 per gallon (price of fuel at boat show), you’re looking at dropping $13,568.11 to fill up.

Of all the boats in the show, these two were my favorite. The craftsmanship was impeccable, but you’ll still drop a cool million if you decide to purchase the one on the left.

Here’s the view from the back, or stern….

The agent, who more than knew that we were not in the market for a boat, still let us aboard this one:

Price tag: $6,100,000.00

Galley, complete with Miele appliances.

One of three dining areas.

Top deck.

The agent even wanted to take our picture…so here it is.

But, just to put things into perspective. This isn’t a long-range yacht. It only goes about 1000 miles, so a real billionaire would put this boat on his larger super yacht if he was going to do some real traveling and then use this to explore once he arrived.

There was only one sailboat at the show and it was obviously Scotty’s favorite. It was magnificent.

Of course, there were also luxury cars available to purchase.

And if buying a yacht wasn’t your cup of tea, you could always arrange a charter. Some of these could be had for a million a week but there were more reasonable options.

And what yacht is complete without a helipad and chopper?

Or a slide?

At this point we had a serious case of luxury fatigue and decided to head home. Before I sign off, I have to write something about the people we saw at the show. It was quite the eclectic group: Russian oligarchs, couples from Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, schleps like us just checking things out. Apparently, according to the agent we spoke with, Brazil is creating 19 millionaires each day and they are buying boats and real estate in S. Florida. He also said that of all the property bought by foreigners in all 50 states, 25% of it is purchased in Florida with the highest concentration being in S. Florida. As a Columbian himself, he had all sorts of things he thought about the trend and most were pretty negative. I found it fascinating.

Along with the new rich of Russia and South America, we spotted quite a few plasticized women and a bit of really expensive but bad fashion. After a year in Paris, I have to say that there seemed to be an unfortunate concentration of brightly colored lycra and sequins at the boat show. And lots of peroxide blonde, Botoxed foreheads, plumped lips, and preternaturally perky bosoms. This is a different world.

The MA

So quite a few of you have asked for details on the degree I started. To give you a visual, I stacked up the books I’m reading this semester as I thought that would be the best way to introduce you to what I will be studying for the next 18 months: The Classics.

So this semester I’m taking three classes. The first is Plato and Augustine and I’ve been reading some Hesiod as well as The Republic along with The City of God. I’m really interested in this course as we’ll be discussing justice, good, and politics. The dueling notion of earthy and heavenly cities and how those idea affect our lives is fascinating to me. My next course is Dante and Milton and we’ve read a couple of Aristophanes plays to establish classical ideas of comedy. We’re nearly all the way through Dante’s Comedy and I love re-reading the Inferno. Purgatory and Paradise are new to me and I think I may even like them better than hell. It will be fun to contrast Dante’s comedic vision of the world and afterlife with Milton’s tragic vision. And finally, I’m taking an Old Testament survey course that will take me through the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Hosea, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel. So far I have found this course to be amazing. The professor ties everything to the New Testament showing how it all foretold the coming of Christ. It sort of boggles my mind in a lot of ways and I’m finding it stretching.

So there you have it, my reading for a semester. As an English major I’m loving being able to read and re-read some of these books. I feel like the cobwebs are being cleared and its fun to be a student again.

Guilty…

I found this article in The New York Times to be hilarious. And, I’m totally guilting of using words that I picked up while living in Scotland…although I resisted the accent because I always thought it odd when native born Americans started sounding English. But words like “shattered” are just so much more effective for letting some one know you’re really tired. And the phrase “good enough” is particularly useful when you’re discussing a controversial topic and want to give a bit of ground but not completely concede your point. “Interesting” has become my go-to word when I’m no longer really interested in what a person is saying and “lovely” is just simply one of those words that I find endearing. So, yes, I’m guilty…are you? Here’s another link to the article “Americans are Barmy over Britishisms“.

Illustration by Alex McCauley for The New York Times. 

Made for Instagram

First off, I want to say a very sincere thank you. I always knew that the people who read this blog were fantastic and I so appreciate your kind response to my last posting. Your thoughtful comments and sweet emails definitely served to cheer me up and remind me that my home is not a place but a ragtag collection of memories, relationships, places of comfort, and adventures. You all are the best!

And, in an effort to switch up my lens and focus on the beauty that exists around me, I’m going to share some pics I snapped on my phone. While Edinburgh and Europe are more fine-art photography in their classic beauty, Florida is definitely more instagram. Those funny filters help capture a bit of the feeling down here. Seemingly still holding on to the glory days from the 70s and 80s, our little village of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is your classic beach town.

Check out the pool furniture: gold frames with orange plastic.

What I’m missing these days

October in Paris is sublime. The light, the tourists have thinned out, the city is a bit more relaxed.

Ever since we arrived all the locals have been telling us to “just wait until October, it is glorious here.” Well, we’re nearly a week in and it’s still hot. And I’m thrown by the fact that the light hasn’t changed, that my skin still feels sticky when I walk outside, that the sun still has a harsh quality. I’ve never lived in a place where autumn didn’t bring those lovely changes of weather and, while I have been known to complain about the cold felt in northern climes, absence is definitely making the heart grow fonder.

I now fully appreciate how wonderful European markets truly are. The fresh produce situation down here is dismal.

Homesickness is a funny thing. For some reason this move has hit me more acutely than previous relocations. In an everyday sort of way both of us are fine. But then something will trigger a memory and suddenly my throat tightens and in that moment if given a chance, I would drop everything and hurry back to Europe. Those triggers come at unexpected moments, out of the blue: Rick Steve recalling on his radio program the lone bagpiper at the end of the Edinburgh Tattoo, an email from Velib reminding us that we need to renew our subscription for the Paris bike sharing system, a photo on Facebook from Little Brown Pen, an email from a friend. And it brings to mind all the things we’ve left behind, the things that became a part of who we are and how we live life.

And so we’re trying to adapt, to gratefully accept the changes, to be happy that we’re able to skype with friends still abroad, to adjust expectations. But those moments of homesickness do hit hard and we’re learning that it’s OK to miss a place that was so formative in our lives, marriage, and the people we are today. We’ve moved enough to know that there is a tendency to gloss over all the difficulties that were a part of the places we now miss. And we know that the difficulties of settling into a new home are fleeting, we adapt, we grow to appreciate new things. New beginnings always mean the end of something else and this week both of us have been hit with the finality of the change. Time will do its work and thinking back to our old home will not sting so much. But I do find Robert Louis Stevenson’s words on Edinburgh to be so accurate: “And yet the place establishes an interest in people’s hearts; go where they will, they find no city of the same distinction; where they will, they take a pride in their old home.” (Thank you Nathalie for the reminder of this lovely quote!)

So, what do I find interesting here now? Well, for some reason I’m a bit obsessed with the drawbridge at the end of our street. I can see it from the kitchen window and every time it goes up, I stop and take a look at what sort of boat is going through. I was downstairs the other day and snapped some pics of the bridge at work.

The Intracoastal Waterway is actually pretty busy, especially considering it’s still the low season. I can’t imagine how busy it will be when all the snowbirds arrive.

Fort Lauderdale is full of crazy big yachts. It’s actually really ridiculous. This one is sort of average.

And through the drawbridge it goes. For some reason I think this is all really interesting. The boats are nearly always pretty much empty and I find that to be sad. It’s a different place here. Having lived in cities where space is at a premium I find it disconcerting that people have enormous houses and boats just for their own use. Some time I will post pictures of the mansions and yachts from Los Olas, a swanky neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale. I’m pretty sure this neighborhood is what people have in mind when they talk about “conspicuous consumption!”

To end, here’s a pic of a flower I spotted outside our building. There aren’t many flowers down here, probably because everything is sort of reversed. I think the flowers will start blooming in November and December when things cool down a bit. It’s so strange! So, I may not be able to photograph lovely changing leaves and pumpkin patches and other things autumnal, but I can spot a flower here and there.

Here’s what’s cooking

So, I haven’t been writing a lot on the blog for several reasons. Outside of re-entering student life and having homework and lots of reading to do, I’ve also been spending quite a bit of time in my kitchen. Over the past several months I’ve been exploring something called GAPS and it’s made me very interested in traditional nutrition and cooking. It’s been fascinating. For anyone who feels a flicker of curiosity check out Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBrides book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. In this work you can learn all about the importance your digestive system and how it is one of the most important elements of your immune system.

And so, my kitchen is humming with activity as chicken stock bubbles in the crock pot and my counters are full of jars of fermenting veggies and I’m learning how to make yogurt and kefir. It’s fun and satisfying, if a ton of work.

And I’ve made a few mistakes along the way. For instance, making fish stock is disgusting. I now have nearly a gallon of fish stock in my freezer but can still, one week later, remember the smell of those lovely fish heads bubbling away, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to drink that stock or make some hugely nutritious soup with it. So it sits in my freezer, next to the rapidly diminishing lamb and chicken stock.

I made a big batch of lacto-fermented hot and sweet peppers and am looking forward to trying those when they’ve settling into briny, crispy, yumminess.

And dill-flavored green beans and carrot sticks are so colorful when they’re sitting on my countertop.

And homemade sauerkraut is the best!

So that’s what’s happening around here. Not super exciting but if you want to stop by for some fermented veggies, give me a call!