A few weeks’ worth of stuff
Let’s get up to speed on what’s been happening. I’ve been here now for what I’ve just realized is something over three weeks. Besides staff training, I’ve gone on two trips, both four-days. The first one was just awesome. The counselor I went with was Walter, and over the course of the trip we discovered that we had just about everything in common. Such as: Edward Gorey books, Calvin and Hobbes, linguistics (he’s majoring in it; I’m concentrating in it), XKCD, and an odd sense of humor. I also believe he’s one of the only people in the world that I could have a “Revolution 9” sing-along with. We didn’t remember all of it, but we did sing together:
Industrial output.
Financial imbalance.
The Watusi.
The Twist.
El Dorado.
We had campers on that trip too, most of whom were pretty reasonable. They were all fiends for fishing, it seemed. One of them really wanted to catch lots of animals and then kill and eat them. Or just kill them. Another one was this very short guy who said his r’s as w’s, but managed to carry out an Italian-influenced accent from his Italian upbringing. The effect was that he sounded like a tiny mob boss – which is terribly stereotypical, but in the movies that is what all the mob bosses sound like. Incidentally, a weird number of the kids in Walter’s cabin (cabins have 10 kids, and half of them go on each canoe trip) had odd names. Names like Strange, Quaintance, Zak, and Wisdom. I would give you the first names that connect with those, but that seems like a bad thing to do on the internet.
The second trip, a few days later, was miserable. The weather was the main reason: it was overcast for six straight days here, starting the day before we left, and keeping up for a day after we got back. Also it was unseasonably and unreasonably cold all and every day and night. So the kids definitely had low morale, and we were all wet and cold. Also, the counselor was Jason, who wasn’t as interesting as Walter, and seemed not to care a huge amount about the kids or trip. He cared some, but to some extent he seemed along for the ride. I was glad to finish that trip.
I haven’t had much time to myself until today. I had one day off, which I used for reading and walking around. Today I had another day off, and it was one of my favorite days in quite a while. First I read my journal for a while, but then I got really hungry, so I went to town and looked for a restaurant. One wasn’t open yet, one didn’t serve food (only coffee), and one had a 45-minute wait for food bcause of the Independence Day crowd. Finally, I found a restaurant that I’m really glad I ended up at. I had my first pasty (that’s “păsty”) ever, and it was delicious. It reminded me that I want to learn to cook; I think I’ll look up a recipe when I get home, and make some. Not only do I want to know how to cook so I can make food on my own, but I also keep remembering when I went to Aaron’s house (this is Cincinnati Aaron) a few days before I left for camp. His dad was cooking, and he told me, “The reaction of a woman to a man who can cook is just amazing.” He illustrated with a dialog:
[Guy voice.] “Do you want to have some dinner sometime?”
[Excellent, sort of timid falsetto for the woman’s voice.] “Uh, sure… where do you want to go?”
“Well, I thought I would cook.”
“Reeeally?” [His eyes light up.] “For meeeeee??”
I remember these things. Anyhow, after I had that pasty and a cinnamon twist for dessert, I went up to see the parade. That was kinda fun. They had some cool old cars, including one with a horn that went “AHWOOGA”, and some Santa Clauses and a fireman on a unicycle. I also found a man selling fruits and vegetables from his pickup truck, and had a dollar’s worth of the most delicious strawberries I’ve ever had. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to store-bought.
Then I drove back up to camp and got ready to go on a wog. That means a trip where I jog sometimes and walk sometimes. I wanted to go find a geocache at Nichols Lake, and then swim in said lake. So I did that, and what’s more, I did it barefoot. It was nice to feel the ground under me for the first appreciable time in weeks. The swimming was nice, and I tried to offset some of the farmer’s tan that I’ve gotten recently. I don’t go barefoot in forests too often, though, so on the return trip my feet were a bit tender, and I was happy to get to camp and stop walking. I drove into town and got an Italian beef sandwich at the Ice Shanty, which is one of those places with a walk-up counter that you order from and then you eat outside. An Italian beef sandwich, apprently, is just like the girl at the counter said: it’s like an Arby’s sandwich, “only better.” It had some pepper and spices on it, and I got it with jalapeños. I had dessert, and then came back to camp. Then I watched the fireworks across the lake with a bunch of other people on the waterfront steps. And finally, since it’s my day off and I hadn’t done it for a while, I came to the computers and wrote a blog for you all. And now it’s over.
File under: barefooting, Manito-wish
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11 Comments
Anonymous
HistoryI used to make pasties when the kids were little. It's a good way to use up leftover roast pork. I know mine weren't authentic, as yours were, no doubt, but mine were darned good. If you are interested, I'll show you how I made mine, and you can play around with different ingredients to suit your taste. You'd better eat them now, because they're pretty fattening, and someday you may have to watch your weight, but you sure don't now. Ha.
We are getting things packed already. Everyone around here is counting days. I look forward to seeing you in Duluth. Grandma
Anonymous
HistoryA couple of observations:
1) You made the right choice NOT going to Miami and going to Grinnell.
2) Your life kicks some serious ass.
3) I think I want some fresh strawberries now……
Dave
Anonymous
HistoryDave is right and I want some strawberries also.
Think of this - a cool morning, you cast out a line and lean back in you chair just enjoying the singing birds and a lone eagle in the distance looking for a little breakfast, when suddenly you line becomes taut and a violent jerk pulls your pole down - you don't see the fish but you just know there is a HOG on the other end – The fish pushes up and is about to break water and ………………… (your a writer so you get to finish story).
I believe there is going to be a great time had by all. G.Pa. P.S. If you get up early enough I will teach you how to cook breakfast.
Anonymous
HistoryHahaha. Grandpa's breakfast will consist of bacon, bacon grease, and more bacon along with some bacony eggs and bacony fried potatoes with bacony onions, followed by toast slathered with butter and topped with homemade cherry jam. Not a calorie in it. But you get to learn the proper artery clogger Troxel special. Are you ready? Grandma
Anonymous
HistoryI'm on Jenny Craig because of too many Troxel AND Karl Shellman special breakfasts.
MOM
Oxtrox
History1) We have a strawberry patch, and I agree they are much better than store bought.
2) I am looking forward to some crazy games of Krokay at Crowduck.
3) I don't recommend catching hogs with a fishing pole.
4) This post wasn't as juicy as toddlers walking in the woods.
Anonymous
HistoryHa! The reason Dan cain't recommend catchin' HOGS is that he tain't ner ever catched one. He don't know what it is to catch a biggon''. That's the gosh darn truth. G.Pa
Chuck
HistoryI was going to try to come up with an ending to that story, but I'll do that later. Just got off a great trip, but I'm definitely looking forward to Crowduck. Not only that, but I'm looking forward to a piece of Nørske Nook pie, and being able to walk around freely without close-toed shoes on every minute. You may laugh, but it really is a cramp on my style. Unfortunately I didn't bring my krokay set with me to camp. If someone reading this saw fit to bring their set up, though, we could have some games. Oh, I'm also looking forward to picking blueberries and kicking all your butts in poker. And I just may well get up early enough to cook breakfast, since they've got us on a fairly early-riser type of schedule here - breakfast at 7:30, lights-out at 10.
Dave - what in this post made you say Grinnell was right for me? Are you saying that because I probably wouldn't have gotten hooked up with Manito-wish if I'd gone to Miami?
See you in Duluth on the 15th, Grandma and Grandpa. I'll be getting off of trail that morning, and leaving as soon as I'm back on land. I'll call you around the time I leave. Perhaps I'll catch a matinee of the new Harry Potter movie while I wait.
Anonymous
HistorySounds like a great plan. See you at the Econo Lodge in Duluth. G.Pa.
Anonymous
HistoryFrom Uncle Chuck…
A Wall Street Journal JULY 21, 2009 Article
A Font Designer’s Growth Curve
Typeface Creator Drew Inspiration From a Surrealist
By DENNIS NISHI
Richard Kegler has Marcel Duchamp to thank for a career in typeface design. In graduate school, Mr. Kegler did an art installation based on Mr. Duchamp’s work and used some of the late artist’s handwriting; it inspired him to design a typeface. Today, Mr. Kegler owns a small Buffalo, N.Y., company called P22 that designs and distributes typefaces online. The fonts have been used for books, magazines and album covers, as well as the walls of Starbucks coffee shops.
***
Q: What inspired your first font?
A: The Duchamp font began as a part of my thesis installation on Marcel Duchamp’s “Large Glass.” He’s a French artist known for his wicked sense of humor. I wanted his text to be part of the installation and planned to project it on the wall. He’s known for using found objects in his art, so I created a readymade [a found object] of his handwriting.
Q: You started your firm in 1994. When did you start seeing your fonts being used?
A: From early on, we started seeing them popping up on books, billboards, ads and CD covers. One also ran on the titles for a short-lived NBC sitcom called “The Single Guy.” We were just having fun with it while building a name for ourselves in the typography world. It didn’t sink in until a few years later. We started going to design conferences and people were saying, “Man, you guys are everywhere.”
Q: How did you transition to selling online only?
A: By 2000, our fonts were being sold by the Book of the Month Club and the Discovery Channel catalog, and we had to warehouse all these boxes. That’s when we decided to try an experiment by offering them online. Nobody seemed to miss the packaging.
Q: How has P22 grown?
A: We’re five employees now, and we have a partnership of designers and freelancers. We also took over collections from other foundries.
Q: What are you working on these days?
A: We recently put out our first simultaneous metal and digital font release. The response for metal type has been surprising.
Q: Is it due to the revival of old-style letterpress printing? More people are buying and restoring small printers.
A: Exactly. It’s part of the do-it-yourself craft movement. We originally thought we’d sell half a dozen. We’ve sold over 50 sets, and they’re not cheap. People are dusting off these old [letterpress] printers and doing wedding invitations, art printing and rough concert posters. It’s mostly one-person shops, typically women.
Q: How has type designing changed since Gutenberg?
A: Being a designer is relatively the same, though it used to be that this was a skill handed down and protected like trade secrets. With the advent of desktop publishing, everybody can dabble by popping open software like Fontlab and drawing Bezier curves.
Q: Is it a tough market with so many fonts being offered?
A: People always ask if there need to be more fonts in the world. But that’s like saying there are already enough wines in the world. Just like fonts, each has its own character and depth.
Anonymous
HistorySo –What is happening at Grinnell and how do you like living in Eco-house? It's been too long since yuor last update. G.Pa