The Realms of the Unreal

finger paint!

2010-08-10T11:47:00.002-04:00

Oona's First Ice Cream Cone

2010-06-04T08:03:00.003-04:00

Putting It All Together

2010-06-03T20:05:00.000-04:00

Family Cooking

2010-02-27T10:33:00.004-05:00

There is two feet of snow outside. After making a slide down the piled up snow in the parking lot with the neighbor kids, we came inside to get to cooking. Keely made wheat/rye/oat bread and miso soup. Oona made rice and beans, eggs, and toast. I made lamb ragu. It's family cooking.

Winter

2010-02-15T11:18:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Oona!

2010-02-05T07:26:00.003-05:00

Oona's birthday was on January 31 - a big 2! We love you so much little bug!

Massachusetts Snow Vacation

2010-01-07T18:24:00.005-05:00

We are back from a much needed break from the modern world. No internet, no phone, a cabin in the woods with friends. After an overnight visit to friends in Boston, we headed west to the Berkshires to a log cabin where every day was a regular cycle of cooking, sledding, snowshoeing in the preserve behind the cabin, and more cooking. Oh, and lots of good wine.

Pictures are on our Flickr site and we now have a new video site for the family at vimeo.com/mcphearson. Click the Flickr link for more photos from the trip or the Vimeo link for some fun videos.

Early Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T07:59:00.005-05:00

We are off to a cabin in the woods for the next week, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. It's time for a little get away. In the meantime, we've posted a host of new pics and vids to our Flickr site. Check out the Sets "december", "play", "walks", and "home" here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unrealrealm/

Tea after opening Solstice presents

2009-12-30T06:47:00.005-05:00

Oona's New Hat

2009-12-16T20:34:00.001-05:00

Sophie (one of Timon's students) made Oona a new hat for the winter. It's clearly perfect and Oona loves it. She wore it until bedtime. Thanks Sophie!!

2009-11-24T19:25:00.001-05:00

35 Reasons I Love Timon McPhearson

2009-11-18T09:16:00.005-05:00

1. You work really hard at everything you do. absolutely everything.
2. You have taught me more about compassion than anyone else.
3. You are comfortable with being vulnerable.
4. You always encourage me.
5. You are a once-in-a-lifetime teacher to many of your students.
6. You are actively making the world a better place.
7. You are a truly great scientist.
8. You are a good friend to yourself.
9. You are a good friend to all of us.
10. You love to snuggle.
11. You make fun of me in such a way that I laugh really hard.
12. You care about other people deeply.
13. You can do dog-whisperer things.
14. You are a fabulous cook.
15. You are an inspiring writer.
16. You have big dreams. The biggest.
17. You are attractive all the time. seriously. it’s weird.
18. You help people whenever you can.
19. You are always making yourself into a better person.
20. You love taking care of living things.
21. You are a philosopher.
22. Your knowledge and creativity are a powerful combination.
23. You are a leader.
24. You build stuff.
25. You look truly free when you play frisbee.
26. Your palate is ridiculous, and I'm always benefiting from it.
27. You know how to manage high levels of technology.
28. You make me feel that the way we live matters.
29. You are forgiving.
30. You know how to have a really good time.
31. You are the greatest possible father to Oona.
32. You take really good care of Oona, me, the kitties, our home, our neighborhood and our community.
33. You make beautiful handmade toys for our daughter.
34. You are honest.
35. You are always surprising me with new incarnations of yourself.

Happy Happy 35th Birthday Love!

have another reason you love timon? leave it in the comments!

november

2009-11-10T18:52:00.001-05:00

happy halloween!

2009-11-04T13:51:00.006-05:00

Oona was a woodland elf:

Mama was Autumn

Trick-or-Treating in Campwoods, in the rain

we've been spending a lot of time at the farm...

2009-10-13T09:43:00.005-04:00

some pics of friends and family at stone barns are uploaded to flickr.

oona photos

2009-09-28T07:26:00.007-04:00

we've uploaded some pics of oona and friends to flickr.

Teatown

2009-09-12T13:02:00.013-04:00

Mondays have been a bit difficult for Oona lately. They are transition days from the happy weekend of family, and from what I gather from other mamas, it's rather common to miss the papas especially on these mornings. So in an effort to make mondays special, and to get us outside, exploring and discovering, Oona and I have been making morning trips to Teatown. Its a short drive away, and there is a lovely trail around the lake, and Oona variously walks and rides in the backpack.

We stop to throw rocks in the creek.

And best of all, we have such wonderful friends to take these walks with.

Tea Parties

2009-09-11T17:50:00.007-04:00

With September all my love of organization returns. Spring and summer are a loosening of ties, of routine, of order and predictability. I like to stretch out and explore, march forward with bold strides, and see what the world is offering that I might not have seen, felt, heard, been before. But just at the end of August I begin to smell autumn on its way, and a deep rooting begins. Oh my, I can nest to no end it seems. The fall crops Order and Routine are ripening, and Nostalgia makes herself right at home, along with her brood: knitting, sewing, aprons, baking, cleaning, books, pies and tea. Afternoon tea to be precise. Oona and I now have a new daily ritual to mark that time between naptime and Papa's return. Which of course required a new tea table, for which an old campwoods tree obliged:

And of course, teatime with a dear mama friend (who makes such delicious squash muffins) is the icing on the cake.

Not all the summer fun was had elsewhere...

2009-09-02T19:57:00.009-04:00

Lots of it happened right here, in all its Hudson Valley goodness. The first Rockwood Hall picnic:

campwoods in snow

2008-12-24T14:18:00.001-05:00

flickr

2008-12-23T10:06:00.001-05:00

Hi all. No doubt it's been obvious that we post here much more rarely than we used too. There are a variety of reasons, the main two being my busy job and Keely having her hands full with Oona. Oona's site is updated more regularly. However, even that is often behind.

There is another reason: We have for a long time been disappointed with the low quality of photos and videos on Blogger. So, we'll keep posting a picture or two now and then but we'll be re-using our Flickr site for high quality posting. If you've used both Blogger and Flickr, then you'll know the ease of posting photos and videos to Flickr and the pain it is to do so on Blogger. So, head over to the photo sets on our Flickr site if you just want a little photo update.

Happy Birthday Ti!

2008-11-18T07:41:00.002-05:00

, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

Oona in October

2008-11-02T15:44:00.002-05:00

, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

We met Timon's dad, Debbye, Keren and Dan for brunch in the village.

bar pic

2008-09-29T20:35:00.000-04:00

happy birthday keel!

2008-09-28T18:17:00.001-04:00

with friends

2008-09-27T20:05:00.002-04:00

debbie's wedding

2008-09-26T19:07:00.001-04:00

We've had a few weddings this month. Some we couldn't make because of distance or scheduling, but Debbie and John's wedding was local and at noon, so we didn't have to worry too much about nap schedules. It was fun to get dressed up and crawl around at a fancy wedding.

Is this what they call "queer eye for the straight guy"?

daily photo

2008-08-15T10:55:00.000-04:00

New Plum pics are worth a look.

renovate

2008-07-30T15:41:00.003-04:00

We've spent well over a month remodeling our main bathroom on the second floor. As it sounds, this took longer than expected, involved more gutting and fixing than we planned, and cost more too. Not that we are finished, but let's say it's close. Only the sink is left, and I finally ordered a sink to sit atop the Ikea kitchen island that I'm going to modify for a sink stand. We are doing all we can to cut corners but cost just seems to rise regardless of my design choices. In any case, we've come a long way from the demolition pictures at the bottom of this post.

Built in removable shelving between the shower and the window holds basically everything we need.

We kept the original window but re-cased it, which sounds simple except the entire wall was rebuilt to be "plumb".

A new low-flow but strong flush Toto toilet is a welcome addition.

Josh, our cousin, did most of the actual work of the renovation and you can see his tile handiwork is superb. My favorite is the built in shelf, though we also added a bolted glass shelf as well.

We decided to go with a combination of a soaker tub and a nice shower experience by getting a deeper and wider tub.
We also took the door off its hinges and reconfigured it as a pocket door built into another rebuilt, re-plumbed, thickened wall. The interesting gadget above the outlet is the control for the hidden but likely best feature of the room, heated floors. Yep, no more cold tile in the winter. And that isn't the best reason, it will save us energy. We had a small radiator that did little but was using lots of energy by heating water in a dedicated pipe that ran over two floors from the basement directly to the bathroom. Now we are recycling that copper and only heating the actual part that needs heated, the floor.

Because it took so long, we spent many nights and mornings tubbing it ghetto style.

Oona got a kick out of the construction site too. She's waiting for bath time.

Here you can see how we went down 7 layers to the original floor to build a new floor that was actually level and well supported, not to mention insulated. Only one exterior wall was insulated, now the whole room is. You can also see the edge of a maze of pipe that we tore out and completely re-plumbed.

eugene lang

2008-07-30T15:08:00.004-04:00

Some of you I've already talked to, but for others, you will be glad to know that Oona is not going to go hungry. At least not this year. Why? Because I've recently accepted an Assistant Professor of Ecology position at Eugene Lang College at The New School, the first hire for a new Environmental Studies program that is intended to bridge Eugene Lang and the Parson School of Design.
A little info on the New School: It was started in 1919 by John Dewey and a few other noteworthy radicals who wanted a place for thinkers to meet up in a non-traditional academic structure. And the New School is definitely non-traditional. Since then it has grown to include a number of "schools" under its umbrella. The Environmental Studies program at Lang will be very urban and design oriented in a mission that intends to provide students with sustainability focused education. What this means in practice is that for the fall I'll be teaching a course on Urban Ecology, which will necessarily have a strong fundamental ecology component. I'll also be teaching an introduction to environmental studies called "Environment and Society" which will be the main introduction to the program and also be urban in focus. I am also helping the faculty shape the future direction of the program as we are trying to grow quickly but remain unique. Incidentally I am working with a professor who also did his Ph.D. at Rutgers University in Urban Planning and another professor from Parsons who is a close colleague of my mentor Steward Pickett at the Cary Institute. It is a small world.

In the spring I am planning a course on conservation and we are talking about another focused course on green building practices or possibly a critical theory/environmental history course using film as the text. That latter is still up in the air, but in any case I am doing my best to entrench myself with a new core environmental faculty group in what is best described as a liberal, activist institution. It's just my style. I can't wait to meet the students. And the faculty are great. FYI: I'm not up on the faculty website yet, so don't bother looking.

So, I'm happy about the new challenge though a little nervous about getting two new courses designed and launched in a month. Classes start September 2nd. I'll also be keeping my affiliation with Columbia University as a visiting professor for the Earth Institute considering I still have a summer/winter course and ongoing research there as well. Ok, enough work talk for today.

a walk in wellesley arboretum

2008-07-12T10:09:00.002-04:00

On our way to Portland we stopped to visit our friends Scott, Amanda, and their beautiful Colette.

More Oona photos here.

fairy houses and ghosts in the trees

2008-07-10T09:15:00.001-04:00

First Atlantic Ocean touch.

a little vacation

2008-07-09T08:14:00.001-04:00

Maine is a place we associate with a romantic ideal of old New England. So, the day I found out I got the professor job I wanted, we planned a week long vacation to Portland, Maine. Keely found an apartment on the water in a beautiful house near the old town and we spent our days meandering around the islands, beaches, and old streets of Portland.

We spent a number of late afternoons drinking locally brewed Allagash wheat beer and eating fresh seafood at this fish shack.

small town

2008-06-21T08:08:00.000-04:00

My dad's mailbox.

Notice the custom Hoosier tires on a neighbors truck.

indiana

2008-06-21T07:50:00.002-04:00

Taking the canoe out on the pond in front of my childhood home.

allen & jamie

2008-06-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

Our good friends Allen and Jamie left yesterday for the "other" coast, sunny Cali that is. And I miss them already.

This is a shout out to some of the best friends Keely and I have had since we met. Al and Jamie are road trippin' it for the next couple weeks before they settle in to their new digs in the Bay area. I'm sure Al won't stop updating his music blog, Soul Spectrum, but we'll miss having our own personal DJ to take over the job of spinning soul whenever we all go.

Jamie has a rockin' new job at Stanford so we can't really begrudge her that. So, Keely, Oona, and I are already planning our trip out to San Francisco to meet up. Naturally we'll have to do a little wine tasting, so I'm thinking we will coordinate with the fall harvest and/or the 2007 Pinot Noir releases. Mmmm, this move is getting better all the time.

Drive safe you two and we'll meet up soon.
And for a little nastalgia:

"One more please?" at the beer fest in Colorado with Al's brother Charlie.

Stylin' last summer at the Dickies before jumping off the cliff.

With our good friend Josh. When is the Dickies redo?

With our good friend Michael, visiting when we lived in Hastings-on-Hudson.

My last bachelor night on the beach.

DJing our wedding party.

And, of course, picking out records.

gardening

2008-06-03T11:46:00.003-04:00

We've been doing a lot of gardening this spring, trying to turn the land around the house into a layered garden with hiding places for little kids and herbs and flowers.

This stump sits on the edge of a small parking lot next to the house. It's been full of weeds and gravel. I'm fairly happy with the transformation, as are the neighbors.

The most work has been creating this raised bed herb garden. It took me a couple days and nearly 3000 lbs of Pennsylvania field stone to form a half circle rock wall to hold the soil. Jack and Shannon from Stone Barns supplied most of the herbs for us (3 kinds of basil, 3 kinds of thyme, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, sage, rosemary, and more). This spot gets maximum about 4 hours of good direct sun, so we've hesitated to grow actual fruiting vegetables. But Jack brought us a hardy tomato from the farm to try out and we are also experimenting with a small pepper plant.

We lined the edges of the stone with wild violets dug up around the property and moss from the stream behind the house. So far everything is healthy and growing.

Oona too!

daily photo

2008-06-02T12:12:00.002-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-28T11:11:00.000-04:00

teatown graffiti.

daily photo

2008-05-16T12:17:00.001-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-15T12:17:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-11T12:15:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-05T16:33:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-05-04T18:25:00.000-04:00

growing up

2008-05-01T18:35:00.001-04:00

Oona is getting older by every measure. I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise to any thinking person yet I'm still amazed to come home from a simple day at work to such consistent change.

daily photo

2008-04-29T16:20:00.000-04:00

happy birthday sedge!

2008-04-27T18:22:00.002-04:00

More photos of Sedge's birthday pals here (a hint for Oona pics).

daily photo

2008-04-27T09:46:00.000-04:00

More gratuitous photos here.

daily photo

2008-04-26T10:36:00.000-04:00

taking jane to the farm

2008-04-25T09:32:00.003-04:00

Naturally Jane, Keely and Oona met up with Shannon, Sedge, and Ojiah.

It's a baby party!

Farmer Sedge.

I believe all these pictures were taken by Jane on our camera. I had to get some work done when the girls went to the farm, so I shoved my camera into Jane's hands.

Click on video link for some great baby tail waggin'.

jane says

2008-04-24T09:11:00.002-04:00

Keely's good friend since high school, yes high school, visited this past week. The truly strange part is that she was not actually visiting us. It just so happens that Jane's best friend lives on the opposite side of Campwoods here in Ossining and Jane was watching her kids for a week. We can nearly make out the house from our porch it's so close. So, Jane hopped the fence every day to hang out. In fact, she's here right this minute.

The other night we made a roast asparagus soup and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner.

It's always nice when Oona goes down for the night because the campfire is back and all you need for a good evening is the patio, food, wine, and friends.

daily photo

2008-04-22T13:35:00.000-04:00

my commute

2008-04-08T17:05:00.001-04:00

daily photo

2008-04-07T17:07:00.000-04:00

sheep shearing at stone barns

2008-04-06T16:47:00.003-04:00

We spent most of the time this past Sunday in one of the Stone Barns farm buildings playing with Sedge and letting Oona and Ojiah get to know each other while Jack and Shannon took turns on the loom (part of the wool demonstration).

The little ones haven't grown enough wool so they were spared the ordeal.

This sheep was pregnant with twins which the farmers say are due in a couple months. I was amazed how relaxed the sheep were for their haircut. They certainly run a smooth operation at this farm.

daily photo

2008-04-03T10:56:00.000-04:00

We came on this recently (in the last couple days) split tree in the woods at Stone Barns. It seems to have had a previous injury just at the base of this split from a previous (years ago) lightening strike. Apparently the high winds we had a couple days ago blew it violently over.

daily photo

2008-04-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

we managed to squeeze in a short walk with our friends shannon, sedge and ojiah last weekend, our parenting role models.

daily photo

2008-04-01T10:48:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-03-31T10:47:00.000-04:00

daily photo

2008-03-30T10:46:00.000-04:00

mom and sam visit

2008-03-29T10:25:00.000-04:00

With a now standard walk at Stone Barns/Rockefeller State Park. Happy Birthday Mom!

daily photo

2008-03-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

colorado

2008-03-24T14:06:00.001-04:00

vail, co

2008-03-23T13:52:00.007-04:00

We were away last week in Vail, Co. And since Oona still isn't on the bottle, I was forced to do the skiing for the family.

One more gorgeous run down the mountain.

My apologies for this poor photo looking out over the infamous back bowls of Vail. I decided not to take a good camera and relied on my iPhone as skiing took priority over photography this trip. The brilliance of the sun does come through though.

Getting to the back bowls is always fun. Mika, Keely's sister, and I took a nice steep black diamond approach to this giant bowl of snow. Can you make out the skiers?

Old Man Winter is melting! Spring is coming, even to Colorado.

Keely and Oona managed to meet us out for an apres ski one sunny afternoon. Oona is hiding asleep inside Keely's coat.

daily photo

2008-03-13T22:18:00.002-04:00

daily photo

2008-03-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

this red-tail was caught red clawed eating a squirrel on campus this week. he hopped then flew away as i closed in for a shot.

daily photo

2008-03-10T08:37:00.001-04:00

daily photo

2008-03-09T07:29:00.001-04:00

daily photo

2008-03-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-03-06T09:36:00.001-05:00

daily photo

2008-03-05T06:26:00.001-05:00

daily photo

2008-03-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

surviving the shit storm of 2008

2008-03-02T09:41:00.008-05:00

I thought I'd be writing this post to describe one of Oona's record breaking poop episodes. Like the time a couple weeks ago when she shot her shit 4 feet across the room. Or even the daily episodes where she explosively projectiles out any gap in the diaper around her leg to soak through two layers of clothes, her diaper, whatever she is laying on, and if you are so lucky, your hands, arms, legs, pants. You can imagine this routinely wakes her up from what would otherwise be a nice 3-hour nap, important down time for her parents. This may also occur right after we've taken a shower. Oona is notorious for waiting until you get her cleaned up during a diaper change, then, taking advantage of that nice moment when you are letting her butt air dry, she lets it go. Squirt. Let's just hope we have it all covered up. Last night at 3 am, we didn't. She hit everything.

But none of this has anything to do with our shit storm this weekend. It all started Thursday morning when the sewage system started backing up through the downstairs toilet. And I should stop right there because it gets much much worse. You probably don't want to picture the whole floor flooded until it was seeping through the floor boards, ancient toilet paper stuck to the trim boards, soaked into the wall. After we gave Oona a bath I went down to the basement to find half of the first floor boards dripping and 3 inches of water on the basement floor. Needless to say, we had to stop putting anything down any drain. Picture the laundry piling up (I had to use our neighbors washer for a load of diaper wraps when Oona was running out), the dishes piling up, no showers, etc.

The first thing I did was rent a 25 foot snake from the local tool rental guys and spend 3 hours doing my darnedest to put the system right. No dice. All I did was crawl in yes, shit, for those three hours with my hands in the toilet bowl. I'll say no more on that score, but it was just about the worst experience this side of bathing in it. So, I called our local plumber (he lives 1 block over), Tommy, who called me back from the bar on Thursday night. He said he was out having a few cocktails with his buddies (which means Jim Beam and a string of Buds), "So is it alright if we wait until Friday after work?" "Umm, I guess so, we just have the plumbing to the whole house backed up, but sure." "And oh yeah, make sure you rent a larger snake, get the 1/2" or 5/8" and try to get it 100 feet long." So, we wait.

Friday afternoon and a morning living in a now very strange feeling house, I walked over to the tool rental guys. Nope, the 1/2" is broke and the 5/8" is rented out. Won't be back for days. Shit! I called Tommy. "Tommy, can you bring a snake with you?" "Nope, the one from work is on a truck up in Brewster, but if you can wait 'til morning I can get one then. I can be there after 8:30am." "Well, I guess, if you can get a snake." "Ok, see you first thing in the morning." More waiting.

Another long night. Sigh. It's 9am Saturday morning. Where is that no good plumber? 9:30, Tommy calls. "Umm, Timon, I have some bad news. I can't get the snake." "Uggh!" "I recommend you call CheapSnake." "UGGH (couldn't you somehow have told me this Thursday night)." Alright, thanks Tommy (but no thanks), bye." I call CheapSnake 3 times and leave urgent messages to get back to me ASAP. I still haven't heard back from them. Then I call back my rental guys just in case they have a snake this morning. Nope. Stress. I finally ask the all important questions, "Is there anywhere else you know of to get a snake?" Sure, you can check the Ossining Hardware because they rent tools too." Thanks for telling me that 2 days ago. I call them up, they've got exactly what we need. I call Tommy, he says he can be here in 30 minutes. I go to pick up the 100 foot snake but it won't fit in my car. So, 2 hours later Tommy finally shows up with the snake from the hardware and we get to work. And success! It came out with a flailing of liquid slick that flew all over my basement, my motorcycle, my wine fridge, and me and a ball of roots and hair on the end. But our system works now and it only took me another 6 grungy hours to get the house cleaned up. My coffee this morning in a clean kitchen never tasted so good.

Finally cleaning up on Saturday.

the hudson river: evening commute

2008-02-28T12:31:00.000-05:00

photos were taken with my iphone.

the hudson river: morning commute

2008-02-27T09:31:00.000-05:00

sing sing prison

george washington bridge

crossing the harlem river

daily photo

2008-02-25T07:06:00.001-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-24T13:02:00.002-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-21T13:24:00.001-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-20T06:39:00.002-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-19T09:37:00.001-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-18T07:33:00.002-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-16T07:53:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-15T07:53:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-14T07:58:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-13T09:08:00.000-05:00

daily photo

2008-02-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 30

2008-02-11T11:31:00.001-05:00

well, it's been a month and i've managed to keep up with the first month of the daily photo project even in the midst of our daughter, oona plum, being born. possibly because of our daughter being born. there is certainly no shortage of moments worth documenting. i'll continue posting daily pics as often as i can. possibly "daily".

we started swaddling her, which she is completely happy about. this is not a particularly good swaddle, but we are getting better at the tight womb-like wrap.

already a little devil.

daily photo: 29

2008-02-10T08:25:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 28

2008-02-09T11:15:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 27

2008-02-08T07:05:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 26

2008-02-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 25

2008-02-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 24

2008-02-05T06:45:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 23

2008-02-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 22

2008-02-03T17:56:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 21

2008-02-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to take any other pictures right now. Not that she will stop moving for a clear shot. In any case, if you are friends or family head over to her own site, oonaplum.blogspot.com (you need to log in), for more pics.

daily photo: 20

2008-02-01T08:23:00.000-05:00

daily photo: 19

2008-01-31T08:18:00.000-05:00