darius

now at all of nine months and on the move ...

christmas at mohonk

the mohonk mountain house, built by quakers and stephen king's inspiration for the shining (mohonk also appears in the regulators and thinner).


skytop and more skytop.


the grandparents with the great-grands.

a good time had by all -- except those who could not join us and were sorely missed. [some additional christmas pictures]

hunting season

is well underway in billings. click here to read all about the ibach family (and to see some more pictures with dead animals).

my new head

mt turns 115

as a state at least. montana become the 41st state 115 years ago this month. after two decades and three constitutional conventions, mt finally achieved statehood following the passage of the enabling act of 1889, which split the dakotas, and allowed montana, washington, north dakota, and south dakota to enter the union. mt's population was 110,000 then. a century later, it's grown to a whooping 910,000.

according to the new york times (as quoted by the billings gazette):

There is little or nothing moderate about Montana, the fourth-largest state, stretching 650 miles across the northern plains and the Rockies, a region beautiful and grim, parched, windbeaten, lonely under its big sky and in its seemingly infinite distances. It is indeed an uncommon land.

i can't say i disagree.

thanksgiving in miami

no snow here ...



the family - my sister tanya with the kids at breakfast

florida was great. we all had a wonderful time, with beautiful non-northern weather. on the return home, however, thanks to the trusty service of united, i was able to take an 18 hour cross county tour of midwest airports in my journey from miami to billings. next year i'm only flying out of la guardia.

grove isle

here a few pictures from grove isle, where we stayed this year (in a room with a view of the bay).

[we also saw yoko ono, who checked in our floor two days after we did, presumably promoting her new release (and number one song on the u.s. dance charts), available in two versions - “every woman has a woman who loves her” and “every man has a man who loves him.” she re-recorded the songs to show her support of gay marriage.]


on the beach -- siddiq, amani and the grandparents


poppop and siddiq


mighty siddiq -- my elder nephew (click here to see more monkey boy in action)

first snow

has finally hit billings.



[in between bars -- going from our local martini bar to the loft (1/2 of montana's gay bars).]

blue skies

election tallies

for some fun with maps, here are my current favorites:

• robert j. vanderbei's purple america, explained here, which gives a more accurate representation of how the country voted than the pure red/blue map.
• some fascinating cartograms from u.mich -- maps skewed so that area correlates to population.

the bluest of red states

the success of montana's democrats, as told by the new york times.

signs of montana

now that i'm back in billings, i can start posting mt pictures again. here are a few sights from a recent night's drive around billings. note the prevalent themes.

gay marriage in mt

montana was one of the eleven states that passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage last tuesday -- along with arkansas, georgia, kentucky, michigan, mississippi, north dakota, ohio, oklahoma, oregon and utah (joining the merry company of alaska, hawaii, louisiana, missouri, nebraska and nevada). thirty-eight of our states, including montana, already had laws banning gay marriages, but apparently those were not sufficient.

[i am rapidly compiling a lists of states in which i plan never to live (it's a shame about alaska).]

in big sky country, the amendment passed by a "resounding" 66 percent (as compared to 86 percent in mississippi and 59 percent in oregon, which i guess makes us moderates).

now mt's gay couples that married in oregon are worried about losing benefits. montana state university is reconsidering its policy allowing gay couples married in other states to stay in family housing. in a fit of eternal optimism, however, four montana legislators have proposed bills that call for civil unions, next-of-kin partner rights, and changes to montana's human rights act and hate crime laws to include sexual orientation. so we'll have to wait and see.

san francisco

and some of the folks i got to see there. anthony, melvin and i in the mission:



ice cream with aunt cynthia

aftermath (in s.f.)

heading to water

nancy drove us down to san diego to surf on halloween, going as tree, superhero, flapper, and sea monster. (i took my cape off before getting in the water.)


out in the surf -- we're the little black dots.

doyle is back in billings with kate, but as you see, i still got to bring him with me (you may have to make it bigger to tell).


after my freckles came out (as compared to my face the night before)

city of angels

i spent the weekend staying with estelle (here's the two of us). estelle and chris (and their beautiful little house)


some things never change (even after ten years)


trying out long hair (it's been a while)




cousin free with daniel, dressed for halloween

life at the office

looking for divine inspiration (according to kate), or at least something to get me through this memo.

preparation

live from tashkent

dylan and ella are alive and well in tashkent and they've even sent the pictures to prove it. so here are two select shots of my littlest nephew. so cute and yet so far away.

moren state park, orcas island

the fourth largest state park in washington and it all fits on one small island. there's even a mountain peak.

fungus and more

i got to spend the weekend between san francisco and seattle on orcas island with geddes and mary anna at their inn at ship bay.

sunday, i went mushroom hunting with geddes, avery and claire. due to the recent wet weather, the mushrooms are all out in full bloom. here are a few of the different kinds we saw (but did not collect nor eat). [as always, click on the picture if you want to see it better.]



claire with a choice mushroom.

part of our haul -- the before and after shots.

seattle

kate and i working hard in seattle


some highlights to our pacific northwest adventure

• on alaska airways (a.k.a. horizon), there's only one class and they give free alcohol to everyone -- microbrew beer and unlimited refills
• at hotel monaco, you get your own goldfish, free highspeed internet and a new york times every morning. it doesn't get much better than that.
• there are still airports in the u.s. where you can fly without identification and check in two minutes before departure, at least when flying san juan airlines. the airport makes martha's vineyard look like a bustling metropolis. (unfortunately none of this does any good when you arrive after the plane has already left.)

my fish henry (curtsey of hotel monaco)

the pike market

some more on our seattle trip

batman and the penguin versus the sentencing guidelines

an interesting piece by the always insightful dahlia lithwick. we'll all waiting to see how this one plays out. [the new york times article is also informative, though not as much fun.]

weekend update

as much as i've been enjoying montana, i'm excited to going farther west. tomorrow kate and i leave for seattle, for what is sure to be a hectic trip. we'll be staying at the hotel monaco. we're particularly excited about the "guppy love" program.

after seattle, i'll be in orcas island for the weekend, to see cousin geddes and all the fam.

then i go to san francisco for orientation -- clerks converging from all over the west coast. we'll be at the marriott, the only place we could get to house our crew.

doyle, however, is staying in montana. in fact, he's already left town. he's gone with malin for a weekend in missoula (here they are setting out), then is off to camp later this week. i suspect he won't miss me in the least.

saturday in billings

billings has a pretty active farmer's market -- or at least it did; today was the last day. now we have to wait until it reopens in june. there's a good collection of jams, pies, vegetables, etc. i've become particularly found of the kettle corn. it's a mixture of average local montana farmers, as well as numerous hutterites -- which for you easterners, are somewhat similar to the pennsylvania dutch, at least in appearance. they wear the same clothes -- button down shirts, suspenders, dresses, bonnets, everything -- only in iridescent colors. additional pictures here and here.


traveling pets at the market (doyle's in missoula or else he would've gotten to come today).


and what would a country festival be without some racist imagery?


for more on the farmer's market and everything else kate and i have been doing, check out her excellent blog.