Email Quote of Note
A correspondent says, "It annoys me more than I can say that the airlines won't let me take knives on carry-on. I mean, look at me! What's the point of being a little old lady if you can't be trusted to carry kitchen knives with you onto an airplane?"

Site Seeing
Without a doubt the most exciting news on the Internet recently has been the discovery of an Earth-like planet in the constellation Libra. The planet, Gliese 581, was obviously named by scientists rather than the Romans. Its sun is a kind of star known as a red dwarf, and looks to Gliesers to be four times larger than our sun. The surface temperature is estimated to be between 0 and 40 degrees celsius (32 - 104 F), perfect for liquid water.

Thanks for clicking on our page. Check it out. After you look at our latest news, send us email and tell us your news. As you probably know, our address is: snydder -- that's with two d's, one for Dan and one for Dave -- @earthlink.net. Of course, the stuff in italics isn't part of the email address, it's just in there to fool email address scavengers.

Winter is long gone, and spring is making its way to the high mountains. The rhododendrons were in bloom at the end of April when we were honored to host Takashi and Tomoko Kawamoto. Kawamoto-san is my friend from Kyoto who has taught me about gardening in the Japanese style. The Garden Tour page is dedicated to him and his generosity.

The Kawamotos came by float plane from Victoria BC. After touring the garden we enjoyed Champagne and hors d'oeuvres on the patio! The day was delightful, as the Master well knew it would be,

And is it not delightful
to have friends of kindred spirit come to visit from afar?

- Confusius, The Analects

News and Notes

• Tomoko Snyder is working. Earlier this year she received approval from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Illinois State Licensing Board and all of the other paperwork-generating agencies to be allowed to be a nurse. She is now working at Cottage Hospital in Galesburg IL.

• Dave's poetry continues to be published. He was published again in Bailliwik! This time, his poem is number 19. Also, the e-zine Cadillaccicatrix published a neat poem called Mint. Where do they get the names for poetry magazines???

• When Kawamotos visited they brought wonderful gifts from Japan. Takashi brought me a tanuki, the impish Asian raccoon from Shigaraki, the famous city where they are made.

  

  Also, Tomoko Kawamoto brought Julie a lovely box of Kyoto candies, and they made a great picture!

  

  They are as tasty as they are beautiful!

• We went to Chicago to visit the boys (Tomoko was working ... see above). Dave took us to the annual "Iron Pour" for the Sculpture Department of the School at the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

  

  Watching people play with molten iron is lots of fun! We should have a brief page on the Iron Pour shortly. Check back..

• Also at the School at the Art Institute of Chicago, the graduating Masters of Fine Arts students showed their master's work. This is always a wonderful exhibition filled with spectacularly creative art, and this year was no exception. This installation, which looks like two pictures, one of a construction site and one of a study, is really one room!

  

  Move your mouse over the picture to see two rooms as part of one physical space! The artist cut everything in half and aligned it just perfectly ... if the photo had not been slightly off-center you wouldn't be able to tell.

Directory of Pages

Recent Pages ...
Iron Chef	Fun with Brie, Scallops and Avacados, 1 page
Page Parody	Dave, Tomoko & Dan Spoof Our Oct. 30 Page, 1 page
Tee Shirts	Help us fill out our World Tour tee shirt archive, 1 page
Solid Gold ...
Wedding	Tomoko & Dan Celebrate Their Marriage, 1 page
Fishing + Fire	When the fish don't bite, we watch the fire, 1 page
Cutting Trees	Our family meets in MT on US Thanksgiving, 1 page
Garden Tour	Join the tour with Takashi Kawamoto, 1 long page
Shanghai	The most populous country's most populous city, 4 pages
Antipasti	Julie & Shelley reveal their recipe, 1 page
Garden News	Moss, compost & building the garden paths, 1 page
The Gates	A quick trip to NYC to see Christo's Gates, 1 page
Haida Gwaii	Exploring Canada's Queen Charlottes Is, 4 pages
Freedom Trail	Tour of Western US in our red Jeep, 5 pages
'Round the World	The 2001/2002 sabbatical, 43 pages