Cori:
Its been quite an emotional roller coaster ride with my mom being diagnosed with breast cancer. It was caught very early. She has made a triumphant recovery and is in full remission. Parts of treatment are rough to go through, I’m sure, but mom is one tough cookie. The doc even went so far as to call her cured! I’ll take that kind of prognosis. As a treat, we are spending Christmas in the Florida Keys with her and Charles. Will be nice to get a break from the snow and ice and frigid New England temperature.
I have been keeping up with running, pulling off a finish of a half-marathon, 13.1 miles, in October. It helped make the decision to do one marathon in my running career, and only one. The largest hurdle in this sport is the mental one. Your body can take a lot of punishment, pounding, sweating, heat, cold. Its amazing how the body regenerates, muscles relax and repair. It’s a pretty resilient organic machine. I love the way it feels like my brain and my whole body are getting a breath of fresh air with a good run, very satisfying.
My conservation job is still going strong. The latest projects involve redevelopment of some contaminated sites, which involve cleanup of the pollution. One project is on state land, where the intent is to return it back to wetland by removing the old fill. Another big deal in town is the City next to us, has a sewer system that backs up every time it rains and floods the yards of houses in the floodplain, its yucky. The State is allowing this to happen, so our town might join a lawsuit to try to stop the sewage overflows. Remember the movie, A Civil Action? That occurred a few miles upstream of Arlington on the Mystic River (actually it’s the Aberjona at that point in Woburn). Well, I get reports on the cleanup actions that still need to be done there, and the large piles of animal hides located near to a large lake and rivers and drains, the likelihood of further movement of the contaminants, etc. Its all very complex. I took Adam to get his arm cast a year ago, right next to that area.
My newest obsession is family genealogy. If you ever need a hook to get into history…here’s one. Mom’s family are from Missouri, but came from central Tennessee. They were pioneers who built a log cabin, traded saddles and soap with the Cherokee for wild honey, earlier members farmed in the Carolinas and Virginia, after migrating from England and Germany. Dad’s family were pushcart pioneers, poor English people who walked from St. Louis to Salt Lake City. I’ve found Pilgrims, Revolutionary war soldiers, civil war soldiers, English and French nobility, all the way back to Celtic lords (Beli Mawr). The nobility were most meticulous record keepers (to control succession rights), so it relatively easy to find these traces. I’m doing most of my research on line. But my goodness, I’ve got 10 books to read on English Gothic kings, French and Indian wars, the Wallum Ollum, King Phillips war, William Bradford’s journal. Good thing the internet is there to let me travel to these places and times in history.
Cori finishing the BAA Half-Marathon!
Anthony:
Hi, everyone. It seems a new year always brings a new perspective. I just got back from my longest run ever this morning of 14 miles. I’ve come to view running completely differently over the last year. For me it is meditative and rejuvinating and I’ve realized that the key to successful running is to really focus on "recovery" more than speed or time or anything else.
Work is going great. This year, I’ve started to use a "Smartboard" in my classroom, which is like having the computer desktop on the white board, which can be controlled using a special pen. I was kind of afraid of using it at first, thinking it would be too much to learn and may get in the way of teaching, but instead it has opened up entire new avenues of using technology to engage students and give them new perspectives on mathematics.
Having our small cabin in the woods in Royalston has been a great way to get out of the city and leave everything behind to connect with nature and quietude. I’ve also been doing some construction out there, which I am discovering to be a good part of the meditative aspect of being out there. I also biked the 82 miles to the cabin this summer as part of a 280-mile solo bike ride around Massachusetts.
Some recent books I’ve read: Marathon: the Ultimate Training Guide (Hal Higdon), Mathematical Mysteries (Calvin Clawson) – one of the best book’s I’ve ever read for giving detailed mathematics on incredible connections within different mathematical fields, Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars (Arthur Upgren) – this book looks at what it would be like if we had 2 moons or 2 suns, if we were the only planet in the solar system, if the sun were read or blue, if the Pleiades cluster was much closer to us, if the Milky Way lay along the plane through our equator, etc. , Galloway’s Book On Running (Jeff Galloway), Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Aron Ralston) – the story of the guy who had to cut his arm off after being trapped standing up for 120 hours, Bicycle (David Herlihy) – the entire history, with gorgeous pictures, of bikes – did you know that the bicycle was first proposed in the late 1600’s by a French mathematician named Ozanam, the first human powered vehicles to get any attention were in the 1810’s, but they had no pedals – they were kind of scooters with two big wheels - then finally in 1867 a frenchman came up with the concept of pedals, although they were just directly connected to the front wheel…, Touching the Void (I forget the author) – the story of a man who was left for dead after breaking his leg and falling into an ice crevasse, but survived and dragged himself for several days out of the mountains to rescue, and New Worlds in the Cosmos – the Discovery of Exoplanets - (Michel Mayor & Pierre-Yves Frei) – authored by two of the scientists involved in finding the first-ever planets outside of our solar system. Anyone have any good book suggestions?
Beckwith family with Cori's mom, Kathyrn, and Charles at a waterfront restaurant in the Florida Keys
Daniel (almost 11 yrs) explaining our new Harry Potter computer game to Adam (9 yrs).
Harry’s dying, help him.
See you got a pumpkin on that.
Put out the fire and you can get the shield. Its getting away.
Wait there’s a chicken over there. There are weird bug things that turn into a chicken when you jinx them and Bertie Botts beans come out.
Help Hermione.
Don’t get the shield yet, wait til Harry’s done.
Its fine, just leave it.
There’s another one in Hogwarts, I forgot where.
You got five of those.
Buy more cards.
For Harry? Go to Ron. He has the most beans.
Double jinx. Blue Bertie Botts beans?
They increase Magicus Extremous mode.
Double jinx.
Buy another jinx card.
What’s that 20? Stamina.
Got to the other people, creatures, 67?
Accio! All things come to you.
Daniel’s letter interview:
What books have you read?
1) Flush by Carl Hiaasen. It was about a boy, Noah, and his dad. He lived in the Florida Keys. His dad worked on a sunken casino boat, the Dusty Mealman. He accuses the owner of flushing waste into the tidal basin, which is illegal. His father has no proof. The police couldn’t prove it. So Noah and his sister tried to prove it. His dad gets out of control sometimes. In the end, they prove that their father was right.
2) Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. A boy saves these owls that were living in a construction site. Their nests were going to be covered. The boy stops them by finally getting the Pancake House to stop construction.
Daniel’s letter contribution:
My favorite part of vacation was when we went to see a dolphin show and the dolphins jumped 20 feet into a hollahoop.
Happy New Year
Daniel examining a spiderweb in Royalston, MA
Adam’s letter interview:
What things did you get in Florida, on our vacation?
I got Cody, a stuffed dolphin, who’s a beanie baby. I got him in Florida at the Crane museum. He is soft.
I also got Rebel, a stuffed sea turtle. Rebel is the name of a real a sea turtle that we saw at the Turtle Hospital. They let the people who find the turtles name them. Rebel’s shell is soft.
Karate is fun because I can beat up my daddy. I like to see my friend Andrew at the lessons. I like getting lots of exercise. Happy Holidays.
Daniel & Adam practicing Karate on the beach in front of the 7-mile bridge
Adam was chosen as a "volunteer" for a juggler in Key West
Love to you all, I wish we had the money and time to visit everyone, but this letter will have to replace some of that contact time. I love getting your pictures, cards and letters this time of year (I’ll take any time of year).
