What's this blog?

Neil's first sabbatical is taking our family (Neil, Maren, Kielan, and Innes) to Europe for half a year.  This blog will chronicle some of our adventures and observations to share with friends and family.  Feel free to offer feedback and suggestions!  

Just below this bit of text (and above the blog entries) is a slideshow that connects to our Picasa photo site.  There are captions for many of them, so it's kind of like a blog in itself (you can look at images individually, or go through them as a slideshow -- for manual advance, set a long time interval and use the arrow keys).  There are many more images at the Picasa site, because it's much easier to upload them.  Just click on the slideshow below to find that site.  Enjoy!

Fasnacht

Here we did at last have a little snow, which was warm and just right

for dragon-building:


And the last week has been full of Carnival, or Fasnacht (which officially runs from November 11 to somewhere around Ash Wednesday). Here in Bad Zurzach, it begins early on the morning of the Thursday before, when all the children parade through the village making all the noise they possibly can:

Then there's a costume parade through the town, culminating in a children's party:

Evening activities include indoor & outdoor performances by Fasnacht bands in amazing costumes, political comedy by several local troupes (some in drag), and a funeral procession for Prinz Carnival who ultimately floats, burning, down the river that divides Switzerland and Germany.



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About Me

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Maren Cooke is a planetary scientist by training, but now concentrates on environmental education and activism on climate, air quality, plastics, food, and justice. She serves on the board of GASP, 350 Pittsburgh, PASUP, and ReImagine Food Systems, and works closely with other organizations including CCL, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Sierra Club, Grow Pgh, Transition Pgh, CMU’s Institute for Green Science, and the City of Pittsburgh. She volunteers as an Urban Ecosteward, a Tree Tender, and a Master Gardener, and co-founded a nature education program and a school garden at a local K-8. She has helped create science curricula and train teachers, and has taught physics, astronomy, environmental science, and permaculture to people of all ages. She has operated an urban microfarm, supplying organic produce to a local restaurant and a food pantry and garden plants to the surrounding community, and has been rebuilding her family’s home as a demonstration site for green building and green living. Maren also organizes and hosts Sustainability Salons, a monthly environmental education forum and community gathering now eleven years running.

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