The PJ³ Times

On the road again

My heart’s on fire-a for Elmira

The “grande voyage” from here to there took place in the middle of July. We packed all our worldly goods into a truck, got JJ into the car seat, and headed off on a ten day trek over 3,000 miles to our new home. We got to see much of the path taken by the Ill-Fated Donner Party, the monument to the middle of nowhere in the salt flats of northern Utah, the mountains of the West, the rolling hills and flatlands of the Midwest, and just about all of I-80. We got to visit a few friends and relatives along the way, and except for having to remain in her carseat for 300 miles a day, JJ enjoyed the trip-especially the chances she had to swim.

Julie’s new job

Julie had been disappointed in her job at SC[I]³. Although her colleagues are good people to work with, working at the Patent and Trademark library was not what she had hoped it would be. That together with our wanting to live in a smaller place than Greater San Francisco Bay led us to start looking for a place to relocate to. Julie applied for an Electronic Resources Librarian position at Cabrillo College back in Santa Cruz and a similar position at Elmira College. Unfortunately, Cabrillo didn’t hire Julie, but fortunately, Elmira did. Thus, we had to move across country [:-(] and we had to uproot ourselves from our friends in Santa Cruz [:-(] but we are closer to the center of gravity of the entire set of our friends and family [:-)] and we don’t have to worry about how JJ will get a good education in California’s Proposition 13 ruined public schools [:-)]

Julie started her position as Electronic Access Librarian at Elmira College on August 3. Elmira seems like a beautiful small city that has been down on its economic luck but is now beginning to recover, It is in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York amid trees, rivers, and hills. The college is notable for its connections with Mark Twain and for its campus which is painted gold & purple-especially purple-wherever possible, even if improbable.

Linguistics

JJ acquiring language

JJ is beginning to speak a new language: English. She has been understanding what we say to her for quite some time now, but recently we have started to be able to understand what she is saying to us. “Up, down”, “uh-oh”, “what’s that?” “Mommy” (seems to mean either Pete or Julie), “Daddy”, and “D” (any letter or digit) were among her early words/phrases. She now uses some short sentences as fixed expressions.

Pete is househusband/child care person, so he gets to observe JJ’s language acquisition first hand. In Sunnyvale he took care of JJ 3 weekdays/week and JJ was in day care for the other 2. That seemed to be good for her-she was happy to go to daycare and played well with the other kids, so we’ll be looking for a similar arrangement in Elmira. Our new place is just across the street from a park, and JJ really likes that. She often goes off to the park with Pete to swing, slide, play in the dirt, and sometimes play catch with the other kids there.

Dance

No Morris in Elmira ... yet

Seabright Morris and Sword in Santa Cruz was finishing up its dance season when we left California, and Julie passed over the reins to new leadership. This year at Berkeley Morris’s “Roll out the Bear-Ale” Seabright gained the attention of the west coast Morris community with two rather distinctive dances: Bledington “Lilibulero” and Adderbury “I Can Hew”. The sword dance side has also really come together with a credible rendition of Kirkby Malzeard.

Unfortunately, there is not yet Morris in Elmira. We’re hoping that there is a niche there for folk dance of some sort. Also, there is a Morris side in Ithaca, not too far down the road.

Last modified
 Friday, October 28, 2005
 5:54 PM EDT
  PDS

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