Saturday, December 29, 2007

Chirstmas 2007 in Ripon, WI, and Chicago, IL

Christmas in Ripon, Wisconsin, and a MLA visit to Chicago

Chicago Shines at Night


I hope that everyone enjoyed a noteworthy Christmas.

For the past fifteen years of my teaching career at Peru State College, I have in the "off season" (and whenever circumstances allow) lived with my wife (Linda) and children Cary and Leah) in Ripon, Wisconsin--birthplace of the Republican Party and home of Rippin' Good Cookies--and so share some pictures from the snow-filled Holiday Season at my "other" home.

Clemente House in Snow

Here in Ripon, WI, nature provided a very white holiday, which attracted the following visitor to my bird feeders, a Sharp-shinned Hawk (I wish the picture were better focused) that dropped in to dine on the hungry birds gathered in the yard at Bill's Avian Restaurant.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Inside the warm house, while we all engaged in frantic present opening, Indy slept in Santa's lap.

I posted a few pictures from Christmas and posted them.
As the pictures indicate, I took a special interest in the pants my daughter bought me in India--and my son and I gifted each other with near-identical GFY shirts featured on Townie News, the home of Paul "Fitzy" Fitzgerald whose, ah, colorful Boston Red Sox commentary (and, now, football antics for ESPN) we both love.

Indy Enjoys Christmas

The day after Christmas, my wife, Linda, and I headed to Chicago and the Modern Language Association's annual meeting. And while Linda interviewed candidates, I visited for the first time the Field Museum of Natural History and the Shedd Aquarium.

I found fascinating the special exhibitions on Maps and on Charles Darwin; and, of course, Sue--the world's most complete and largest t-rex--dominates the scene.


Sue

As I discovered, Sue's head is too large to balance on the skeleton pictured here; to see the massive skull, one must go upstairs, which is fine, because Sue's head sits near the entrance to the exhibition on Evolution that features impressive dinosaurs.

I posted some pictures from the museum.

The images include a picture of the extinct Passenger Pigeon and the popular Lions of Tsavo that inspired the film The Ghost and the Darkness.

Lions of Tsavo


See you all back at Peru State College for the beginning of 2008.

Linda and Bill (Caribbean Shirt and Indian Pants)


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