The weather up here has been great recently. We think we were due some nice pre-Spring weather after the rough winter we had. Because of this beautiful change, we were able to walk to the neighborhood playground a few nights this week for some good playtime. We have just put up some pictures of Norah which we took on one of these visits. She was having blast. Enjoy.
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I moved a lot growing up. My dad’s jobs moved us up and down Louisiana. When he finally decided to become an ordained minister (UMC), we got to settle down in one home for four years at a time. This constant change in surroundings gave me many gifts. For example, I do not usually have difficulty meeting new people and forming a group of ‘chosen family’ in my new location. However, it also gave me a certain restlessness. When I stay in one place for very long I start to feel too settled.
I have been living in Denver now for about six years. For five of those years, my wife Katie has been here and our daughter Norah has been here since her birth a little over two years ago. There are ways in which this has been comforting, but I’m ready to move on. I think that one of the only reasons I’ve lasted this long is because we moved into a new apartment or house every year. So even though we were in the same city, we weren’t really settled.
This June, we are moving to Austin. There are several reasons for this. First on the list is that Katie is ready to go back to school and wants to attend UT for a Masters program there. The second reason is to be closer to family. Even though we moved a lot as kids, we were never this far from family except on vacation. This has become much harder on us since Norah was born. We want her to have the chance to know her family at times other than holidays. Finally, Katie and I are both ready for a fresh start in a new city.
From the sounds of it, Austin is a great place and I look forward to getting to know the area. I also hope that we can connect with the several friends from college and even high school who now live in the Austin area. This is going to be an exciting move.
Today, I put down my keyboard and put on an apron. For the second time since I have moved to Denver, I cooked gumbo for the Iliff (Iliff School of Theology) community. The first time was a few years back just before I graduated. That time there were at least 100-125 hungry mouths to feed. This time it was a bit smaller at around 40-60. I spent Tuesday night buying groceries. Then my ’su chef’, a.k.a. my wife, and I chopped and prepared ingredients last night for several hours. Today I started cooking at Noon and finally served the fruits of my labor this evening. It was a long hard day. Every time I do this, I gain a deeper respect for chefs and caterers. They have to love what they do to work that hard all the time. I don’t think I’ll make any more gumbo for a long time.
In the end I’m very glad I did it. It feels like it connects me to my heritage to cook like this. First of all, I grew up in Cajun country and food is such a part of that culture. When we gather to celebrate or just enjoy each other’s company, we cook and eat. This is a huge part of the joie de vivre of the Cajun culture. Wylma Dusenbery speaks eloquently about this joy in one of my new favorite old cookbooks, “Wylma’s La Trouvaille Cookbook: The Simple Joy of Cajun Cooking.” Wylma and her family found that cooking (and singing) for their community and eventually a growing loyal clientele was their way of sharing joy and love.
But cooking like this also connects me to my direct family heritage. We moved alot growing up and I can’t even think of a place we lived where my parents didn’t cook a couple of pots of jambalaya and invite the church or even the wider community to join us. My parents taught me this kind of hospitality. I have now begun sharing this with the communities in which we currently live. While it does wear me out and I have no desire to quit my day job, I am happy that I can share this little piece of my culture with my friends here.
The new site is coming together nicely. We have yet to update our photo albums. So, all that you will see in our gallery right now is a test album with a few pictures of the snow from Christmas here in Denver. We will be posting new pictures of Norah soon. Come back in a few days and check them out. We may not be reposting all of the old albums. If you want to see those, let us know by using the Contact page or commenting on this post.
We have again remodeled our website. I have decided to start blogging. So, our new site is more blog friendly. Don’t worry though. We will still have our photo gallery. It will be back up and functioning soon.
