A simple story

A month or so ago, I was looking for something to read that would just hit the spot. I wasn't in the mood for non-fiction, or deep fiction, so I picked up a nice little bit of youth fiction, "The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill. I really wasn't sure what to expect but it was exactly what my self needed. 

It's a really simple read, an Alaskan girl's account of getting a new teacher at their small school and basically, just a narrative about what she learned at school, how her teacher taught, things going on in her community, what life is like, her family, etc. The kind of thing you'd write in a journal, minus the angst and the "My little brother is always taking my stuff" type of thing. There isn't really a big plot, like a mystery to solve, or a major problem to overcome, or anything like that, it's just a narrative about a year in a girl's life. And it was just beautiful. With just a little tiny heartache for a moment in time that no longer exists, both historically and in the sense of a point in one's life where you are innocently young but also growing up.

I think I sometimes get caught up in the need for a lot of action or plot or problems with resolution--with books, with movies, with TV. It's easy to forget that you don't need a lot of drama or anything to really enjoy something. 

Drama can be overrated.

It's about time

I think shower time runs differently than other time. The shower has its own particular temporal reality. I say this because it never seems like I've been in the shower very long, but when I get out, my clock says otherwise.

To be honest, I think there are lots of these little independent temporal realities. Some are pretty standard, always found in the same place (maybe it's not just my shower, maybe it's my whole bathroom!), or the same time of day (mornings. I think my body is just in its own temporal reality in the morning). And others just pop up randomly. Some meetings seem to last for years. Others go way too quickly. The same is true for days, weeks, months, and years. 

And then I think there are loops and whorls within the independent temporal realities, which explains how, after returning from my last trip, it felt simultaneously just a day since I got home and also 10 years. 

I really think someone should explore this phenomenon. For too long we have just chalked it up to our perception of time, but have we even considered something else might be going on here? It seems to me we need some definite answers. 

And also a way to manipulate them, because I'd love to find a way to have my sleep time seem longer than it is. 

A little bit of fall

Yesterday I visited a state park. It was a nice day for October, and I figured maybe it wouldn't be too late to see some fall colors. Which, it wasn't, hooray!

 

The itsy bitsy spider went up a water spout--but with a cat (?) and my car

I think I may have mentioned the layer of dust that constantly shrouds my vehicle. Well, there's been a new twist: paw prints on the front and rear windshields.

I went out to my car the other day and noticed some prints in the dust on the back window: 

And later, I observed it on the front windshield too (which was hard to see in daylight, too many reflections, but you can see here):

I feel like I have the perfect clues sans one really good mystery but I also I really want to see what I presume is a cat climbing up my car. 

And a dust free neighborhood.

Immigration and customs

It's always entertaining to go through customs and immigration when I travel for work, especially when we visit multiple countries. First, because we are traveling as a group but don't go through as a group, we always compare notes, and I can tell you, it is kind of ridiculous how inconsistent the officials are. Second, because we hit so many countries (on this trip, 6, including one that we entered 3 times), you get to compare notes across multiple locations, and again, it's kind of ridiculous.

Someone pointed out that of course they won't ask the same questions, because then you can plan for them. And a TSA person said something that hints that that is true. Still, it seems that at least some of the questions should be consistent. "Are you bringing in any plants?" What is the advantage of not asking that some of the time? If you don't ask me, cool. If you do ask me, I either lie or get caught. But, if I'm a liar, I'm going to bring those in if you don't ask. Aren't I?

Anyway, this last trip was full of variations. In some places, half of us would get grilled, the other half nothing. Here are my favorites:

• In one country, we passed through security (I believe it was customs), and the people watching the monitors were young and flirting with each other. I watched the whole time. They didn't look at the screen with the scan of my bags. Not even once.
• In Perú, there were no employees, no officials. Just a big doorway that said, "If you have something to declare, go this way. If not, go that way." No x-rays, no people. Just our call. 
• Which got us into some trouble later, because the camera set up we traveled with got confiscated in Uruguay. We really should have thought about that and had forms filled out, and one of us did reach out to my organizations international office to see if we'd need to and was told no. But it was definitely a far cry from Perú. And we got our equipment back, and know what to do now. No fault to Uruguay. But we definitely weren't prepared.
• Driving over the border into Brazil, we got out of the vehicle and walked into the Customs/Immigration office. There were signs saying, "Silence" and others with pictures of someone with their finger to their lips. We literally said nothing. And they said nothing to us. NO questions, not even about our camera setup. Just a stamp in the passport and away we went.
• I had one immigration official who was kind of younger, and had his AirPods in. I think it was the flight where we were going from Uruguay to Argentina and then on to a different place in Argentina where we'd cross into Brazil. He asked like, 3 questions, and then was satisfied. Everyone else got grilled, because there was nothing on our itinerary showing we were leaving Brazil (no flight). But not my guy. He just wanted to get back to whatever he was listening to, I guess.
• I think my all time favorite was immigration in Atlanta. I don't think the guy even looked at my passport, but his computer showed that I'm an archivist, which led to a 5 minute conversation about what exactly it is that I do for a living. Not where I usually have that conversation. (Everyone else in my group usually puts down historian, but I stubbornly refuse. Thus, explaining to an immigration official what I do for a living). 

I will say, I spent waaaay too much time in customs, immigration, and security lines on this trip. But, at least it was entertaining.

Cataratas de Iguazú: The Argentine side

 In reverse order of being taken:

So many butterflies!

The Devil's Throat

The Devil's Throat

The Devil's Throat

The Devil's Throat

First glimpse of the Devil's Throat

Yes. The people are in the cage (to prevent the coatis from stealing their food)

Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, Brasil

The thing about Iguaçu (or Iguazu, or Iguassu) Falls is, pictures don't do it justice. You really have to be there to appreciate the size, and the sound, smell, and feel of the water. Even just to see what it looks like actually moving--I don't think photographs or video can ever do it justice. And, they definitely don't let you experience butterflies landing on you and hitching a ride, or the feel of a coati brushing against your leg (they are very soft).