Birthday Tribute

My dad's the type of person who can find an adventure in everything. Whether it's walking the streets of New York City, hiking in the Black Hills, or enjoying an evening bike ride, he will find something new or interesting ... or peculiar to do. I'm not saying he's a daredevil - in fact, he's quite afraid of heights. He simply has the mindset for adventure. This is really just another way of saying the old cliché: he sees the glass half full. Whatever is in front of him, be it work, play, or even mindless errands, he is curious, open-minded and sees the possibilities. And that's how adventures are born.

Hiking at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota.

We used to live in NYC back when I was a toddler, and my mom has told me how dad enjoyed his walk home from work through the busy streets. Yes, he loves his hometown in the Black Hills of South Dakota and is quite the nature boy, but he never let that keep him from enjoying another experience. One day he actually found a sofa on the street and carried it right up to our apartment. The big green sofa of my childhood came to be because he found it on the street and said, why not?

Apparently my favorite past-time as a lil tyke was swinging upside down!

Dad and I were out on a bike ride one summer evening when we came across a Jaguar parked at the end of a long driveway. For Sale, it read in the window. Naturally, we had to check it out, peer through the windows, contact the owners ... we continued on our bike ride, then stopped by on our way home for an official test drive. Leave it to dad to head out on a bike ride and come home with a new car!

But not all of dad's adventures result in sofa and car purchases. Many are just about exploring a new path when out on a run - something he's instilled in me. Part of the excitement of running outside is the fact that there are choices to make. Shall I turn left or right? Over the bridge or around the path? What's going on down there ... ? With nothing but my own two feet I have the power to explore. It's really quite liberating and the rhythm of those choices lulls me into a nice runners high (never heard running and lull in the same sentence before, have ya?).

Although it's impossible to list all of the things I've learned from my dad over the years, here are a few that come to mind right now:

-You can make a home anywhere, if you have the right mindset. And everything you need will more or less be available, although maybe not in the form you expect.

-Don't assume you know yourself well enough not to try something because you don't think you'll like it.

-Be your own drummer - foster positive relationships and be socially savvy enough to bolster your own success, but don't worry about petty stuff getting in the way of what you want to do - or be.

-Make up words

-Be curious.

-Be geeky.

Dad and his geerkery

Hiking Crazy Horse Monument when we got caught in a hail storm!

Happy Happiest of Birthdays to you, Dad!

"... Let's have an adventure! (from the pancake song)

Wrapping up 2011

Just a few weeks ago my family was all home in New Jersey for Christmas, decorating the tree, rolling out cookies, prepping one of my favorite meals of the year, and trompsing through the woods and fields with dog in tow. With four of us sisters spread across the country, it is a treasured moment when we all are under one roof, let alone home in good ol' NJ.

When we were little we turned into little ballerinas around Christmas time, pausing from our sugar-high-induced Nutcracker "performance" long enough to grab a taste of some "food to eat" (as Karrin used to say, aka sugar cookie dough) before resuming our "dance" - which, much to our frustration, inevitable turned into skipping and galloping in a circle.

I thought it only fitting that I set the following video of us decorating the tree in NJ to the much beloved tune from the Nutcracker. (and I'm happy to say I finally undecorated our Minnesota tree and gave it the boot last night ... so nice to have some more space in our house!)

ENJOY!
(I think my favorite part is when, just for a second, Scott pretends to run in front of the camera with lots of animation)

One of my favorite meals of the year: Swedish meatball!

Apple Salad with walnuts and homemade whipped cream

            

Our sugar cookies are kind of a big deal ; )

The recipe is actually my great-grandma's, and won the purple ribbon at the South Dakota State Fair years ago. Perhaps I will share next Christmas season. The key to decorating is to make an icing, not a traditional frosting.

The Pearson family

the Girls! KCKS (I'm in the process of starting up a sisters blog - I'll let you know once that's up and running)

Christmas morning

             

Sarah gave us all snuggly mittens!

Evan and dad got matching robes!

Christmas Day hike at Baldpate

Bryant Park, NYC

            

We wanted to go skating, but the line was way too long

Toparepa at a stand in Bryant Park. YUM.

Rockefeller Center: the tree! Great photo taken by my dad.

Nice pic of the parents in Central Park

Mike can't help but climb on rocks (Central Park)

We walked to the Upper East Side where we used to live (when I was a toddler). Up on one of the top floors!

On our way to the Brooklyn Bridge, here in the subway

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, with the Freedom Towers in the background

Impromptu visit with childhood friend Ariella (fellow Nutcracker dancer!) at a coffee shop in Brooklyn!

View of the city from Brooklyn, photo by John Pearson

We all met up at the Tree to congratulate Kirsten and Scott on ....

their ENGAGEMENT!

It was so much fun being in NYC to celebrate with them right away. Probably the highlight of the trip! We're so excited for them and can't wait for all the planning to begin : )

We also enjoyed lots of quality time with Max ... I won't mention who's butt this is ; )

See this post for more pics/videos of us playing with Max last year ... when there was tons of snow!

It's always sad when we all go our separate ways at the end of our visit, but there's a lot of exciting adventures in store for everyone this year .... Kirsten and Scott are planning their wedding (!!!!!), Karrin is headed to Madagascar, Sarah is moving to Alaska in June and will then be off to Africa for a bit, and Evan and I have lots of house projects and trip ideas in the works. Here's to a great start to 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's bustling here at the Pierson house: turkey is in the oven, refrigerator is packed with food halfway prepped, coffee is continually brewing, relatives have arrived, and the house is beginning to smell good!

Here's one new dish I'm introducing to the family this year.

But I wanted to stop in quickly on this wonderful day and reminisce a little about Tdays of yore. Remember this video I posted last year? It's one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day memories.

Today will be filled with great memories too -- Happy Thanksgiving!

Snowed In

This year I am thankful for snow. Yup, that's right, I was actually thankful for the 17+ inches of snow that were dumped on us last weekend, beginning late Friday night and not letting up until late Saturday night. Oh, and in typical Minnesnowtan fashion, this blizzard was followed up by the infamous sub-zero temperatures that freeze nostril hair if you dare step outside.

So why, might you ask, was I thankful for this "winter survival challenge" you may ask?

Let me count the ways ...

1. Reminder of Childhood: Snow, especially large dumpings of snow, always brings me back to the days when my sisters and I lived for snow days. We would bundle up bright and early, and spend the entire day jumping through snow drifts; making snow angles, snowmen (and girls), and elaborate forts (that included slides on the roof, windows, secret doors ...); and just lying back in our own imprint to count the snowflakes meeting our eyelashes. Childhood is naturally filled with wonder and delight, and whenever those silent flakes come down I'm reminded of those days (and actually spend a few minutes sitting in a snowbank to soak it all in again ... hopefully my neighbors don't think I'm weird!).
Here's a photo of one of our early forts. We even drank hot chocolate inside! I'll have to dig up pictures from our later forts, because they were really impressive!

One of my favorite snowfalls of my childhood was the Blizzard of '96. We lived in New Jersey so we didn't have a continual blanket of snow all winter long, but every once in a while we'd get a "Noreastern" -- and boy were those fun! In '96 we woke up to a huge snowdrift that had us captive in our house since it pressed up against the front door and kept our shovel hostage -- which we had left somewhere out in the front yard. So what did we do? We all tumbled on out the front window, of course, to find the shovel and dig out the front door! In hindsight this really makes me laugh, because I'm sure my dad didn't need all 4 of us out there "helping". But what excitement! Later that day Karrin and I went on a hike to the movie store to rent a movie. We didn't make it very far (just to the playground) before we had to stop for a break, sighing "I don't know if we're going to make it ... maybe we should find shelter for a while..." hahaha, so dramatic (I think we were probably reading Little House on the Prairie at that time). We did continue on and made it to the store. What a triumph!

Kirsten, my oldest sister, used to love sticking her face in snow and just sitting there. I don't know if she liked the challenge of seeing how long she could stay before she turned numb or if she was pretending she was an Eskimo or something (I'll have to ask her!) but something about that experience in the snow called to her.

What snow experiences do you crave every year? Is it something cooky like plunging your face in snow? Or perhaps it's an activity like cross-country skiing or snowmobiling, or even just a late night walk? My aunt and her family started a neat Christmas tradition where they go on a walk at midnight on Christmas Eve, and sometimes they are lucky and there is a fresh carpeting of snow underfoot. Magical.

2. Provides natural exercise and adventure! If you're from Minnesota, or any place that has experienced gigantic heapings of snow, you know what I mean when I say snow = exercise. Especially if you don't own a snowblower. Thankfully we did invest in a snowblower this year. But even with it, I got quite a workout over the weekend and was even sore the following day. (Photo is from earlier snowfall)

You see, a snowblower doesn't help much when you have to shovel out your car, and when you have to push your stuck car for the third or fourth time (no photos from those feats). Uffda! ... although we did try putting our snowblower to work out in the street. I think it helped a bit ....

But when it was all said and done, it felt good to really get out there and work on something with a purpose.

Even going to the gas station (to get more gas for the snowblower) was quite the experience. When it snows, it's like the world is inverted and simple tasks turn in to big adventures, traffic rules are tossed aside, and people come together to help each other ... which leads me to ...

3. Helps develop a sense of community. There were probably 6 cars that got stuck at the end of our street in one day. And those were only the ones that I saw. But every time I'd see a car stuck, I also saw a group of people crowded around it, figuring out how to work through it together. Evan and I got stuck twice on our way out of the alleyway, and once when trying to move our car parked out front. Every time, without fail, some random neighbor I'd never met before (and often times a whole group of them) would appear, seemingly out of nowhere and just start pushing the car! Once one of our helpers was a high school aged boy who said he's been shoveling people out since 5am. He could have been sitting inside playing video games, but no, he chose to be out there helping his neighbors. What a great way to establish a sense of community! Here's Evan doing his share of "community service", attempting to plow the street with his snowblower (the plows didn't come through for a couple of days).

It's almost like a natural disaster, only there is no real rush or urgency. Time is measured out by how many neighbors you can meet, how many cars you get unstuck, and how many times you have to go out and re-shovel or blow your driveway -- and you can forget your to-do list for the day.

4. allows me to relax (when I'm not out shoveling, of course). I don't usually find time to just sit. If I'm sitting, I'm also working on my computer, doing homework, or organizing something. Seriously, I probably have a "must be productive" problem. But I found that on this snowy weekend I discovered something:

I actually sat down, even took a nap (!) without even reading a book! Just sat in our cozy living room. Not only did I not worry about cleaning, I also didn't worry about mess, as is evident here:

I should learn to live like this more often!

5. Provides clarity, inspiration, and a new beginning: I think Calvin says it best:

I love Calvin and Hobbes, and even have the book with this particular strip in it sitting right next to my bed. I read it if I have trouble sleeping, if I need help relaxing and calming down, if I want inspiration, or even just a good laugh. This is my favorite strip as it reflects exactly how I feel about snow ... and life. Have you noticed my reference at the top of my blog?

6. Provides challenge so we can prove we are resilient. When it is dark and cold and many people yearn for the balmy days of summer, that's when it's most important to see the glass half full. This is our chance to make our own warmth and "light". Read more about my thoughts on the importance of the colder months in this post of yore.

Right before Thanksgiving I attended a concert hosted by Garrison Keillor (Gratitute, Gravy, and Garrison, with VocalEssence). In the program notes he spoke to the Minnesotan who is faced with this challenge every year -- of surviving a bitter winter and deciding to see the challenge as something positive:

 "We have the good fortune to live in a beautiful state where people care about each other and where ... we look out our windows every morning at a dazzling whiteness and put on our down vests and take a brisk and invigorating walk and feel the blood in our veins and the stimulation in our brains. Nothing like a Minnesota winter -- you get the sensual pleasure of it, plus you get to complain about it."

  

























So thank you Old Man Winter, for all of the "quality time" ... and now I'm off for a "balmy" vacation in New Jersey!

Note: Calvin and Hobbes image taken from here, although it's originally from the comic book It's a Magical World"