Gladioli

Gladioli bloom at the end of the summer. They start appearing in stores and flower markets in mid August. Gladioli back in the Soviet Union did not behave differently.

For as long as I can remember Grandma always got a bouquet of bright gladioli on her birthday. I assume my grandpa gave them to her, because the flowers were always already in the vase when I got to their house.

If anyone asked me what Grandma's favorite flower was, I would say "gladiolus" in a heartbeat. Yet, when I think about it, I do not remember Grandma ever saying that she preferred gladioli over other flowers. Did she? Or did I make that assumption because she always got gladioli on her birthday? Or did she get gladioli on her birthday because she really did like them a lot? Hopefully, members of my family reading this blog will kindly share their memories on the subject.

Watching Olympics All Night Long

Do you wonder why this blog has been quiet? Too much TV watching, and I blame the Olympics. Every night, there is at least one or two sports that I just have to watch. Here are the results of my Olympic TV watching marathon.

First the bad:

• I have been exercising patience in order to ignore NBC’s incredible bias in their commentary of almost every event in the Olympics. However, I am losing my patience and will start foaming at the mouth any minute now.


• And why do NBC reporters want to tell the TV audience the results of what NBC is about to show? For example, I was watching the women’s team gymnastics. “And this is where it all went wrong for the Chinese team,” said the commentator, while the Chinese gymnast took a deep breath preparing to do a vault. Sure enough, she landed on her butt. Later I caught a glimpse of the qualifying rounds for 110 meter men’s hurdles. “You are about to see a false start,” pronounced the commentator about 3 seconds before the gun fired. Why do we, the TV audience, have to be told what we are about to see?

And the good:

• While everyone seems to be in love with Michael Phelps, I am in love with his dog.


• Synchronized diving mesmerized me, while other people I know found it absolutely hypnotic. (Maybe I did too.)


• Women’s marathon: 1) what happened to Deena Kastor, and 2) what happened to the fastest pregnant woman on earth, also known as Paula Radcliffe?


• Did you know that women’s beach volleyball uniform requirements are specified down to centimeters, and restrict the maximum coverage the uniforms can provide! In other words, these women cannot wear more clothing if they wanted to, not even tight shorts!!!


• Figure skating should be a part of all Olympics games, because gymnastics, the seemingly equivalent summer sport, is just not the same.

Chocolate Truffles by the Spoonful

Like many women, I love chocolate, and chocolate truffles hold a special place in my heart. The bitter taste of cocoa powder on my tongue turns sweet as I bite through the rich chocolate center. Only special occasions deserve such special desserts.

When I was little, living in the Soviet Union, I remember both my mother and my grandmother hiding chocolates. They did not hide them from me. Rather they saved these difficult-to-obtain chocolate covered wafers to serve them to guests.

While there is no shortage of chocolates in the United States, I still save the particularly fancy desserts for a special occasion. Several years ago, when someone gave me a box of chocolate truffles, I put it away. I wanted to treasure it until a particular gathering warranted such a fancy dessert. Unfortunately, no occasion seemed important enough, and nearly a year later the treasured truffles still lingered in the back of my pantry.

It is indecent to serve a year old dessert to anyone, let alone special guests. So one night when other chocolate supplies have dwindled in our house, I opened the box on my own. Instead of pretty balls of chocolate ganache covered with cocoa powder, thick brown liquid spilled out of the box. I almost threw this chocolate mess away, but I could not bare to part with it. Instead, I indulged in liquid chocolate truffles for the next several months—one spoonful a night.

Eating chocolate truffles with a spoon is not something people imagine often, and even Nick found it a bit odd. So next time someone presented me with a box of truffles I was determined to use it while the truffles were still in a solid state.

Alas, it was not meant to be. A few days ago, I opened the box only seven months after receiving the gift, and it revealed the familiar sweetly bitter thick chocolate liquid. So I am back to eating my liquid chocolate truffles every night, this time out of a glass jar—still one spoonful at a time.

Fascinating Train Scheduling Logic

Last Tuesday morning the Framingham/Worcester line was a tremendous mess due to a communication failure. Trains in both directions were significantly delayed, and some were cancelled. I watched an inbound train with no lights or air conditioning arrive at Back Bay, carrying two trains worth of passengers. People, wide-eyed, open-mouthed gasping for air, and flushed with heat and anger, jumped off that train like lemmings off the cliff in their staged suicide.

When I finally boarded a Framingham train, the initial excitement at the prospect of finally getting to work quickly turned to frustation. The train was moving very slowly, making all the Newton stops. According to the schedule none of the outbound trains stop at any Newton stops before 11am. Yet, here was our train traveling well before 9am, and making all stops. Why?

I went to talk to the conductor, and his explanation was, “just in case.” Just in case what? In case any people were waiting for a train or any passengers wanted to get off the train… at an unscheduled stop? In case anyone was at the platform 2+ hours early?

Would any sane person wait for or get on a train “just in case?” The conductor did later concede that his superiors ordered the train to make all stops. However, I am not sure if this extra information made me feel better.

At the MIT Museum

Nick and I visited the MIT Museum on Saturday. For me the highlights were the strobe/flash photography work of Harold Edgerton and the whimsical sculptures of Arthur Ganson.

Most of Arthur Ganson's sculptures involved a motor moving a series of objects. There was a definite "thinking chair" theme throughout the exhibit.

At Mount Washington

Another trip to the Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire.

This year's activity of choice was a group hike up Mount Webster.

Through the Battlefields of Gettysburg

The battlefields of Gettysburg are beautiful. Some say that even during the severest droughts they stay lush and green. The fields used to be all farmland—wheatfields, peach orchards. Many barns and farm houses remain, maintained by the park service. Some are even lived in. The land is no longer farmed, and wild grass grows high across the fields interrupted only by wooden snake rail fences. Everywhere memorials and monuments rise above the grass to honor regiments and generals who fought on these grounds.

Following maps we tried to imagine different stages of the battle from different viewpoints. We tried to see the ground the same way General John Buford saw it when he first arrived at the Seminary Ridge. We walked to the Little Round Top and looked down its south slope, where Colonel Joshua Chamberlain’s men fought off multiple infantry charges coming over the rocks. We walked along the tree line where General Longstreet’s men would have been forming lines before their march towards the high ground on the last day of the battle. Without coming and seeing the land, it is impossible to imagine the tragically large scale of the battle.