Back and forth

This seems to be the semester when my teaching job and my leftover WA research job coincide.  Li'el and I have been back and forth to Wenatchee twice in the last two months, and we'll be back there again in May.  It's for a series of working group meetings, so each time it means one day of flying, one day of prep, one day of meetings, and one day of flying back, with time changes and class prep and flight delays smushed in between.  Meld that with a couple of classes which are heavy on the field trips, and Mike's continuingly intensive school program, and needless to say it's been a bit nutso around here. In February, chocolate class had a trip to New York (did you know there are tons of little chocolate factories that have crept up in Brooklyn over the last couple of years?) and this coming weekend we all head east for a meat class visit to a pig farm/processor and to Hershey, PA for chocolate class.

One side effect of these trips is that they bring the whole professional versus personal life/location questions back into the foreground... because whenever I go to Wenatchee, I'm a bit sorry to come back to Pittsburgh. I like Wenatchee -- with the exception of a few things I could do without of course -- but overall I like being there.  On the other hand, my job here is still a huge improvement from what I had been doing before (except for the time commitment), even if the rest of life isn't necessarily.  So, basically, I'm in the market for a good teleporter, if you know of one.... i.e., if I could cut my current job's workload in half and move it to North Central Washington, I'd be in business :)

Meanwhile, here are some pictures...

...of kiddos

 

(this one is Rocko, the buck we borrowed from Ohio)

 
and a train of chairs in the living room

...of more chocolate making

(one of those hipster Brooklyn chocolate factories)

...of meat class

 fileting fish

and cutting lamb

and the chicken coop we fixed up...

And then a video for good measure :)