Holland Farmer's Market

Holland has a great Farmers Market.  We spent some time down there

Fresh Veggies

last Saturday, as we usually do each Saturday from the middle of May until
the end of November.  There are lots of great things on sale from local
producers.  This time of year, of course, there are lots of plants for sale - both all kinds of veggies for people like me who love eat our own produce, and flowers of all kinds both to plant and to simply put into a vase and enjoy.  We, of course, had to buy lots of both kinds.
Other times of year are marked by when certain items come into the market.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is here now, and in a few weeks the local strawberries will show up, followed by lots of other great things - peas, corn, blueberries, apples, etc.
There are of course also lots of other things for sale - several good bakeries hawk their fresh, preservative-free baked goods, handmade wooden and metal items.

Fresh Bread

Lots of plants and flowers

 It will be interesting when we compare the local markets in Mumbai to the Farmer's Market here.  Of course, here in Michigan, the Farmer's Market is sort of a quaint throwback in some ways.  Most people still do their shopping in supermarkets and department stores. The farmers market is a place where a few folks go for what we can't find in the supermarkets and department stores.
In India, I think, (and will soon find out for sure) most people still do most of their shopping in local markets and it is the supermarkets and department stores where a few folks go to find what they can't find in the local markets.

I imagine and hope to see and post much more about the markets.

Nancy in the rain

My favorite musician at the market - great blues guitar.

Logistics

So we've started the employment visa process.  It requires assembling a number of pieces of paperwork, photos, passports etc.  As usual ASB has been very helpful in the process, providing us with all the appropriate letters we need.  But of course once we sent in the info, we were informed that there is one letter still needed.  So, we have to take care of that issue.;-)
This is just the start of all the logistical things we've got to think about - now we have to work with: The shippers - and we have to decide what to ship and what not to - how do make those decisions. the banks - whihc bank accounts do we stick with ? Can they do international wire transfers? the insurance companies - Etc. Etc. and ???

Nature

Every year since 1980, with one one-year break sometime in the mid nineties, I have gone camping with a group of eight graders involved in a gifted and talented class I developed. This year was no exception. We headed up north (35 people in 7 vehicles) for a great three days at the Lake Michigan recreation area between Ludington and Manistee. During those three days we pumped our own water, cooked our own food, slept in tents, used the outhouse,  and greatly enjoyed the world around us. I love the West Michigan area  all up and down the Lakeshore with the varied environments of hardwoods, pines, dunes and grasses.

Tim & Nancy hiking by Lake Michigan

One of the things I especially love doing is taking all the students on a night hike without flashlights. Many of them have really never experienced the dark.  Walking in the dark this year was especially memorable as it was a dark night: the moon had not yet arisen, but it was very clear. We stopped in the middle of the night and lay on our backs in a field looking up at a glorious sky full of stars and the students, (now mind you these are eighth grade students full of life) lay quietly without words for 10 minutes looking at the sky full of stars. When I aroused them and said: "It's time to go", several of them said; " can we stay little longer?  It's so beautiful."

Another thing I always do with the students is spend some time listening. We don't allow any cell phones or iPads or any other technological audio devices up there for the brief time we're camping up there in order to allow the students to see you and stop and listen to the world around them.  I think for many of these kids it is the first time they've really been in place where they don't hear man-made devices. Simply hearing the sounds of the wind, or of the animals scurrying, birds flying, and even their own breathing is magical.

I know I will miss my camping trips up north with kids as I think about the future in Mumbai. I also wonder if the students in India like to go camping, or  if there be opportunities for me to go and how I will connect with nature while living in the big city.   Nancy and I love to go walking in the woods or down by the lake.  We will be looking to find ways to connect to nature in Mumbai.

Richard Louv has written several books, including his best selling Last Child In The Woods, about what he calls the "nature - deficit disorder". It makes a lot of sense to me. I often think about how we will deal with it when we move to Mumbai - both for ourselves and for our students.

Rain in Michigan

It's been raining for a couple of days now. It's not the monsoon, because we don't have the monsoon here. It's just a good soaking spring rain caused by a slow moving front that kinda stalled over the great lakes.
I like the rain.  Everything is so green and the promise of growth is so strong. I can almost see the grass on the lawn getting longer by the minute and the peas in the garden stretching for the sky.
I love being out in the rain.  I love to hike in the rain and run and used to really like playing soccer or football in the rain. Nancy thinks I'm nuts, but I'm going camping later this week with the Quest class and as usual, I hope it rains on us sometime. I also have to go ref a couple of soccer games in an hour or so and that will be fun too.
I wonder if I like the rain so much because we used to play in the rain at the boarding school in Kodaikanal, India, when I was a kid ?  Or maybe it was because when we were in Kuwait and Oman the rain was such an infrequent and welcome visitor? Or because I love to garden and the rain just makes the garden so fresh and clean and alive.  I love to go graze on the green stuff - pop rain-wet peas or beans or lettuce into my mouth.
I wonder what it will be like Mumbai during the monsoon ?  Will I still love the rain so much, or will I tire of the humidity and the mold and damp?
Of course, it's Tulip Time here in Holland and it usually needs to rain at least one day during tulip time, just to keep us honest.

Detroit 2012

I'm in Detroit for another conference. I think it's the fourth or fifth time I've been here just this spring. The last few times I was here I stayed right downtown and was able to walk to restaurants to eat in the even Ing and go for jogs along the riverbank and past the sports venues and old buildings. I love Detroit. There is a solid determination to the town, and lots of great people working hard to maintain the city in the face of tough times. I ran my first marathon here in Detroit and I found out about some of the great neighborhoods and hidden secrets of the city as well as the supportive folks. But it's hard to be here in Detroit sometimes, especially after having just been in Mumbai. There is a striking contrast between the two cities. Mumbai teems with life - traffic and noise and people everywhere. Detroit seems empty by comparison. I took several jogs through Detroit at five in the evening and found that I often did not even have to wait for the light to change to cross the street: there was no traffic coming !

Both Detroit and Mumbai have empty shells of buildings - but in Mumbai they are shells of buildings being constructed, while in Detroit they are shells of building not longer used.

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Click here for more: Demise of Detroit:

The biggest difference is maybe in the open lots. In Detroit most are just empty spaces covered with weeds and litter. In Mumbai they are locations where squatters move in and create their homes. I love Detroit. It is one of my favorite cities, and I see hope. With the good folks working hard to bring their city back, I trust it will reemerge as a vibrant place. But now, it's just a little hard to be here. I think I will love Mumbai too. And I'm sure there will be times when it will be hard to be there too. We'll see.

CROP Walk

This last weekend was our Holland Area CROP Walk. Nancy and I have been involved with raising money for hungry people through Church World Service and CROP for a lot of years.  I think some of it is because we have both been in places where we've seen hungry people and people without access to clean water and good food.  It was odd to think that for the next couple of years at least, we will not be involved with CROP walk here in the Holland Area.
What we have been thinking about a lot, however, is how we will be involved with trying to reach out to those less fortunate while we live in Mumbai.  On our recent visit, we encountered only a few beggars asking for a handout, but we know there is a huge amount of poverty and wretchedness there.  The school has a few charities that they work with, and one of the things we look forward to is getting involved in seeing how we can perhaps make a difference in the lives of some of those around us.  We know we can't help everyone, and we know we will be living in unimaginable luxury compared to some around us, but we will try to find a way to care and share responsibly.