December Greetings 2014

OMG! Did you know these people? This photo was taken by Pamela's mother around 1971. Fred the Dog is long gone, but Eliot and Pamela Smith are still enjoying one another's company in Bloomington, Indiana and sending you our warmest holiday greetings.
There's no resident dog now at this address, but there are cookie-loving critters to be seen in the back yard...
...and a surveillance-oriented chipmunk in the front yard. A box turtle cruises through every June to take care of the wild strawberries...
... and from time to time there are unexpected indoor critters as well.
Resistance is futile.
This year Eliot has kept right on working in the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, marked by The World's Largest Anatomically Correct Limestone Brain. These, by the way, are our above-average grandchildren, Iona and Griffin.
Tending the affairs of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition is pretty much a daily commitment. Here Eliot, 'on vacation' in Leiden, is working away on the journal. As a result of snarky comments about a picture from an earlier year, we have partially hidden the wine bottle and prominently placed a water bottle.
Eliot sings in the local choral group, Bloomington Chamber Singers. Here is a photo from their fall concert of (mostly) 20th century French music, with pieces by Poulenc, Martin, Ravel, and Fauré.
Polishes up well, doesn't he!
Another choral adventure, at our church: an Advent concert featuring the Vivaldi Gloria, with two fabulous soloists and a great group of players on Baroque instruments. Eliot hassled Pamela until she joined the church choir with him, where she is a restful source of comic relief.
Here, Grandpa surveys with great satisfaction his children & grandson making music together.
Also, Eliot had a fine garden this year - these pattypan squash awoke deeply joyful and protective feelings in the gardener/photographer.
Pamela's second knee replacement surgery was on December 19, 2013, just about a year ago, so 2014 has been a year of recovery and rehabilitation. Pain was a demanding companion for a number of years and she is mighty happy to see it go, but she is still finding her way out of long-term disability. The second half of 2014, she's been reconstructing the personal infrastructure needed to lead an interesting, creatively productive life.
bird
She's been pain-free enough to walk around and enjoy the energy of urban landscapes in transition - this is in Groningen, Netherlands.
She's had the energy to engage with and respond to music - this is the Egidius Kwartet in Leiden, Netherlands. We have managed to see this group in concert for 3 of the last 4 years and they are always superb.
She's been open to and happy about wonderful new art - this Tim de Christopher installation is at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
She's been able to focus again on interesting ideas and projects - reconnecting with her lifelong love of hymnody -
- and latching on to new ideas and passions, including Latin American Baroque music, theological agrarianism, and [finally] making her peace with the Gospel of John. She's facilitating a book group on Ellen Davis's Scripture, Culture, & Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible.
And will you look at that hyper-organized file closet? Watch out, world - Baba Yaga's back!
On a museum visit this summer our adult children, independently and without consulting with one another, each bought Pamela one of these pleasant souvenirs. It's good to be known by the people who love you.
An utterly gorgeous May morning in Groningen, a smallish city and former Hanseatic port in the northeast Netherlands. The Rijksuniversiteit Groningen had Eliot come over for a couple of weeks to offer two short courses, and Pamela came too. They have invited him to do this for several years, and we have treasured getting to know the place and the people.
Our apartment in Groningen gave us a view down into these lovingly tended private spaces. It's a wonderful town, a wonderful university, and a wonderful department. If you're looking to study abroad, we'd love to tell you more.
back yards
A tiny sculpture park in Groningen - street art and street sculpture are a specialty there. While Eliot worked, Pamela stumped around and looked at things.
Canal-side street art outside our apartment - the life cycle of the frog.
"Het bijna 400 jaar oude monumentale Goudkantoor is een café restaurant die u de hele dag wat te bieden heeft." The nearly 400-year-old historic Gold Office (where gold bars could be stamped with a hallmark proving they were real) is now a bar-restaurant where all day you can get what you want. Pamela is trying to invent a new craft to respond to the embroidered beauty of this building - nothing she knows how to do seems sufficiently over-the-top.
This dual-selfie was taken in Leiden, The Netherlands on a bitterly cold May day - we spent a few vacation days there after Eliot's short courses in Groningen.
In the glasshouse at the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, Europe's first botanical garden. Want to know how old it is? It's REALLY old.
While we were away, Thomas's friend Jessica graduated from IU - we missed her graduation party, but we hear it was quite a deal.
At the end of July, Thomas and Jessica moved to Washington, DC so Jessica could begin graduate studies at George Washington University in museum studies. Just before their departure, friends gathered for a living room sing.
One of Thomas's last concerts with Voces Novae
Thomas's last Bloomington concert was outside the near-west-side Bloomingfoods. There were birds. It was raining. Pamela got all verklempt.
It was about 8 am and we were all saying farewell for some unspecified duration of time... hence some shaky smiles... but here's the whole bunch. Front row, Jessica, Iona, Griffin. Back row, Phil, Miranda, Thomas, Eliot, Pamela. We are so very lucky and so very blessed.
Thomas at his new job - he's part of an IT team redesigning the information architecture of the national genetics database, working on-site at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. We think he might be the first man in our family in four generations to hold a job where he's expected to wear a necktie.
At home in Woodley Park, Washington DC. We're amazed that Jessica found this place on the Web. She has serious Craigslist-fu!
Disco, Thomas and Jessica's urbanely taupe rescue dog, getting comfortable.
Jessica's sister Jen, in DC for a visit, explores the city with Jessica & Thomas.
Thomas and Jessica, polished up for an IT party cruise.
Sunday morning at Saint Dunstan's Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin - there's our daughter Miranda, with her husband Phil, greeting folks. It is a strikingly beautiful contemporary building - check it out at http://stdunstans.com
Miranda with her daddy - a longstanding alliance. Dress bought by Pamela in Groningen!
What can we tell you about our son-in-law? Stay-at-home dad, tech geek, permaculture geek, musician, urban homesteader, community organizer, working as local as it gets for justice and reconciliation - and also, it turns out, The Flamingo Ninja. Who knew? And where did he get this inner drive to make the world a more whole place for human flourishing? We don't know. Maybe that's the way he was raised?
Our hipster grandchildren. Griffin, age 9, continues to be ingenious and compassionate. He's getting way more articulate, too - plus, he's an acolyte now. Iona, age 5, is growing into her own considerable strengths as a reader, writer, polemicist, and fairy princess.
hipsters Photo Stream
Griffin leading songs at Thanksgiving. Life is better with a red electric guitar! He played & led a song for everyone to sing at his school talent show this year. We are so glad that he's finding his own path into music and that he takes joy in inviting others to share it with him.
New worlds to conquer!
Griffin's interests also include Lego, cooking, reading, and practical chemistry.
Iona will still let herself be read to, but that window is closing fast. There's a point when they figure out they can read to themselves faster than you can read out loud - and she's almost there.
Charming the socks off her Uncle Thomas...
... she even got him down on the floor for some tea-party action. Iona is a student at Badger Gymnastics although, sadly, there are no badgers in her class. Lately she's been making hats -
- which is something of a family tradition, as Pamela's grandmother was an milliner.