December 29, 2023

This year seems to have gone more rapidly than I had expected. Shortly after my last note, Matt and I headed to Rome. I had a conference to attend, which ended up being pretty poorly organized (and therefore not particularly useful), but we did get to see some friends and colleagues we have not seen in awhile, including one who lives in Chile, and one of my old grad students. We also enjoyed exploring the ins and outs of the ancient city. I’m including one picture here and have a selection of additional photos elsewhere on this website (https://www.agoraphotia.com/italy.html). It was very, very hot (broke a bunch of records) but we powered through it, walking many miles. Thankfully there as fountains throughout the city that provide drinking water. We would have been in trouble without those. Due to the heat, we gravitated towards venues that were underground (like catacombs and crypts) or air conditioned (like museums), but we also still spent plenty of time outside. While in Rome, we did as the Romans do - ate a lot of pasta and pizza and drank wine and limoncello. We also took a couple of day trip to see two different ancient port cities: Ostia Antica, which is very close to Rome, and Pompeii, which is further away. Pompeii is considerably more impressive than Ostia Antica, but it’s also considerably harder to get there and way more popular. There was hardly anyone at Ostia Antica. We also got to spend a couple of hours at a very ritzy and very vertical town called Positano along the Amalfi Coast. We felt rather out of our element being surrounded by very fancy people, shops, clothing, and cars, but we were nevertheless able to enjoy a delicious pizza next to the sea.

We had a fabulous remainder of our summer on Mackinac. Matt’s aunt and uncle visited us for a few days, and we had a really lovely time with them, including doing a self-guided island tour via a rented horse-drawn carriage (see photo of us with Jake the Horse above - photo credit goes to uncle Gregg). It was a delight watching the hundreds of little plants we put in the ground take root and thrive, and we also enjoyed regularly surveying for monarch caterpillars, which we transferred to a large field of milkweeds near our house. We had to head back to Cincy at the end of August, when Fall semester started, but we did get to return briefly in early to the island over Labor Day Weekend, and got to do the famous Bridge Walk. For one day each year, Interstate 75 is closed for a few hours and tens of thousands of people walk across the bridge between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. I’m glad we finally took part, although I’m not sure we’ll do it again anytime soon. We got up before dawn, caught the first ferry to the mainland, and then speed walked for hours to make it to the halfway point across the bridge by 10 am (when they started making people turn back the way they came). Once we crossed that landmark, we were able to slow down and appreciate the views from the bridge – both out towards the horizon and straight down. A good portion of the bridge deck is an open metal grid and it was somewhat unnerving to feel like we were floating way up in the air. We were also delighted to discover that Saint Ignace is filled with apple trees that were overflowing with ripe apples in early September and we sampled a bunch - the fruit on each tree was different – some sweeter and some tarter. We’ll be remembering this bounty in the future. 

Early September seems like a long time ago. It was a pretty full Fall. I taught a lab-based class three days a week, co-ran a two-day workshop on public engagement with science for grad students that was held two separate times, and continued as grad director for our Geosciences Department (but this is my last year in that role; I’ll be stepping down at the end of the spring). I also coordinated a geology field trip for an elementary school class, including applying for and receiving funding to make the trip possible. In principle, the trip seemed like it would be straightforward to run, but in practice wound it up being seriously involved, mostly due to trying to coordinate schedules and figure out venue logistics and busses. Nevertheless, In the end we pulled it off, and it was a success. The kids seemed to get a lot out of it (which was of course the whole point).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were most enthusiastic about finding their own fossil “treasures” in a creek bed. Their excitement was tangible and audible. I composed a little writeup about the experience if you’d like to read more about it (see https://ucengagingscience.org/2023/10/24/how-many-people-does-it-take-to-run-a-field-trip/). Finally, I was on the local host committee for the international Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference that was held in Cincinnati in October. I wisely decided not to try to present anything at the conference myself since all of my grad students presented their work. It was nice to see colleagues and show off the city to them. I was particularly excited to spend an evening catching up with my grad school advisor, who I have not seen in many years, and was very happy to get to spend an evening catching up with him.

Matt had a conference in Cancun in October, and I got to tag along. It was at an all-inclusive resort, which would not be our normal choice for a venue, but it worked out. If nothing else, there were no logistics to worry about. The trip overlapped with Hurricane Lidia, but this did not impact us beyond creating a strong wind that made the ocean too rough for swimming. I split my time between staying on top of work and floating in the pool and felt considerably lazier than normal. We also had a trip in early November. I took advantage of Veteran’s Day, and we headed out to Colorado for a few days to see Dad. The weather was gorgeous and we had a lovely time seeing friends and family and eating good food (including Dad’s killer cheese fondue). And last but not least, we spent Thanksgiving at Burr Oak State Park in eastern Ohio. Our initial plan had been for Mom to join us in Cincy, and then plan B was for us to visit her in Kalamazoo. However, neither of those panned out so we enacted Plan C – rent a cabin in the woods for a few days. Burr Oak is a beautiful, although rather unforgiving landscape of steep hills and valleys, curious rock formations, and of course lots and lots of mud. The weather was mild and mostly sunny, and we spent two days exploring nooks and crannies and encountering hardly any other people.

There was a mad flurry of activity at the beginning of December, but then, just like that the semester was over. December has also gone quickly, but it has been pleasant. We spent the past week visiting Matt’s Dad and his brother’s family in State College, PA, followed by a few days in Kalamazoo with my Mom. It’s mostly been gray and drizzling, which is entirely different from the arctic blast we experienced last year at this time. The warmer temperatures make for easier travel but sure feel strange. We stayed in Sandusky, Ohio enroute and stared at the ghostly shadows of roller coasters shrouded in fog at Cedar Point. Ostensibly this can be a very cold place in the winter but that sure wasn’t the case this year. We’ll return to Cincinnati to herald in the New Year. I always appreciate the opportunity for a fresh start. There’s not yet much planned for 2024. I will not be teaching next semester, and am very happy about this as it will allow me to wrap up on lingering projects. There will also be some big milestones for my students that will require some of my care and attention. We’ll have a couple of short trips for conferences, and of course we plan to return to Mackinac in the Spring.

As 2023 comes to a close, I am thinking of our friends and family spread around the globe and send a big hug.