February 13, 2020

I am certainly long overdue for this note. So much has happened since last July, that I had balked at the idea of trying to summarize it in a single note. But I just recently returned from a trip and have motivation now to share some of what we have been up to. I’ll do my best to give some highlights here. Feel free to ask for more info if you would like it. As always, selected photos of the events below are available on Shutterfly (https://brookecrowley.shutterfly.com/).

First of all, Ireland at the end of July was great. We stayed a block from the major river in Dublin (called the Liffy) and enjoyed a week of hearing seagulls and breathing in the fresh, cool air.

The scientific meeting (the International Union for Quaternary Research Congress) was truly fantastic. It is held once every four years and is attended by scientists in very different fields united by the common time period that they study (called the Quaternary, which has encompassed the last 2.5 million years). I co-led a special session that was quite well-received, learned a lot, saw colleagues I have not seen in awhile, and met a number of new colleagues. When I wasn’t at the meeting, Matt and I enjoyed exploring Dublin. We of course checked out old town, and learned an enormous amount about the Viking history in the region. We also signed up for an archaeology field trip that took us to several excavated Neolithic passage tombs north of Dublin. Pretty neat experience. And so much history! The combination of the sun and grassy mounds covering the tombs created a surreal landscape. It felt like we were in Mario World. My understanding is that many mysteries remain about why the tombs and their passages were constructed as they were, but at one of the better-preserved tombs (called Knowth) has a single passage that is constructed in such a way that during the winter solstice (and only during the winter solstice) the sun briefly penetrates all the way into the interior of the passage once a day. We were provided with a recreation of the experience during our visit. There’s a lottery system to be able to see this first hand.

American Airlines cancelled our return flight at the last minute, so we wound up spending an extra 24 hours in Ireland. After wallowing in self-pity at the airport for about an hour, Matt made the executive decision that we would enjoy ourselves and make the most of the extra time. Luckily it was a gorgeous day. We spent it on the Peninsula of Howth, which is just north of Dublin. Howth is really almost an island; it’s one big hill and the area boasts some great hiking, sea views, and a quaint fishing village. We hired a ride that dropped us off at the top of the hill, and then made our way down, and around the perimeter along the coast, eventually ending in the town proper, which is nested on the north side of the peninsula. Our route took us through a sea of purple heather and yellow broom with a 360° vista, and then along cliffs bordering the actual, very blue sea. Along the way, we met some wonderful local people, including an ancient lady who apparently was a school teacher for many years, and now uses a pool cue as a walking stick, and a nice gentleman who gave us oranges and pointed us in the right direction when we were at a crossroads. The little village of Howth proper, is charming, and filled with boats that are every color of the rainbow. Our afternoon ended with a beer and a unique lip-syncing performance by some very drunk Italians who used brooms and mops as props. All in all, this was a great way to spend a day, and our rebooked flight returned us back stateside without issue.  

We had one more trip in August before the semester started. ‘Spent about 10 days up on Mackinac Island in Michigan to get a sense of what it is like being there for more than three days at a time. It proved itself to be tremendously relaxing and rejuvenating. Mom joined us for part of the time, and we enjoyed showing her our favorite secrets, as well as our little corner of the island where we are in the process of building a house.

Once the semester started, my life was mostly filled with “nose-to-the-grindstone” kinds of work days. This was punctuated with my participation in an educational video series called “Science Around Cincy” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMVPnycAwVw&t=118s), a radio interview about my research with jaguars (www.wvxu.org/post/uc-professor-helps-track-jaguars), and a very well-attended public forum on climate change in downtown Cincinnati. My father was able to visit us in early October (he finally got to see my dance troupe perform), I briefly went to Michigan see my mother in early November, and we had a 40th Birthday celebration bonanza for Matt, which wound up being a multi-day affair with friends and family. We subsequently enjoyed a low-key Thanksgiving with friends and family coming to us here in Cincinnati, and then in contrast, had a travel-filled winter break, that involved three states in two weeks. We first flew to Baltimore, where I participated in a symposium on Caribbean Natural History. From there we went to Florida, where we spent several days with my Dad, his sister Sue, and her family. Then it was back to Baltimore/Annapolis, where we spent an evening with Dan and Lauren, Matt’s brother and his wife (they threw a really fun Chanukah party), and on to State College, Pennsylvania, where we enjoyed several blissfully low-key days with Matt’s family and my mother. We briefly returned to Annapolis and then flew home just in time for New Years. Wow! I cannot believe that all of this travel went off without a hitch and we did not get sick. It was fantastic getting to see everyone.

2020 has started strong. There’s something about the way the year looks on paper and rolls off the tongue that makes me feel happy and centered. We’ve just returned from a workshop on Emerging Model Organisms that took place at the Bellairs Research Institute in Holetown, Barbados. Both Matt and I were invited to participate. What a fantastic opportunity and experience. I met some very interesting other scientists, shared some of my own expertise, and learned a lot about topics that are not within my normal “research sphere”. The research station is right on the western, leeward coast of the island, which made for a lovely sunset. And after the scientific program ended every evening, we would walk out to the beach and stand with our feet in the water looking up at the sky. Our trip started during a new moon, and the stars were brilliant. We even saw a single firefly (!). The weather was also perfect, and Matt and I made a point of making sure we were in the water every single day. We saw lots of fish, including a southern star gazer and flying gurnards, which are among the weirdest fishes out there and some eels (including a sharptail eel, which is new to me). After the meeting, we spent some quality time in Oistins (on the south end of the island) with friends Rozy and Tim, who live in Toronto and we only get to see infrequently. We explored the town and the more dynamic coastline, watched surfers and LOTS of sea turtles. Yay. What a nice break from Cincinnati, which has been mostly grey and rainy.

The year promises to continue to be interesting. We haven’t really experienced Winter in Cincinnati, but I’m still happy that Spring is right around the corner, and that is always one of my favorite times of year. I will be hosting a colleague visitor next week, giving a talk in Illinois the following week, visiting my mother the week after that, and then turning around and visiting my Dad for Spring Break. Later in the Spring, we have trips planned to both LA (for a conference of mine) and Santa Cruz (for a conference of Matt’s). And most excitingly, we will be traveling to Greece in May with our friends Travis and Keriann, with whom we went to Namibia. We are VERY excited. Keep an eye out for photos and stories! Behind the scenes, I’m in the process of writing up several research projects. My goal is to wrap up some of my outstanding business this Spring so that I can free up cognitive bandwidth and time to work on new things that are cropping up. The conveyor belt is chugging along nicely so far.

I hope that everyone is well and enjoying 2020.

Take care,

Brooke