So we’ve started some holiday adventures. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day weekend – very quiet and simple – a much needed theme for our family right now. We missed our New Jersey, Utah, and Washington peeps very much, but enjoyed spending time with new friends and neighbors.
We shared our meal with a new faculty member in the dance department and her husband (who is from Burkina Faso in West Africa) and their adorable 15 month old daughter. eaw didn’t eat much, but he discovered fudge (he’s gonna love Aunt Carolyn this year). The following morning brought the first (very light) snowfall of the year so eaw and I set up a few holiday villages, decorations and stockings to get the holiday season started. 
On Saturday evening, we took Hathaway and eaw to the zoo to see the lights and even take a gander at Santa Claus himself. There were real live reindeer – and eaw got to touch an antler. Later Hathaway’s mom joined us at home and we were greatly entertained by the antics of two adorable friends.
A side note – eaw is wearing big boy pants and has stayed dry/clean for three days in a row! Granted he chose to celebrate by wearing his big boy pants on his head, but still – we are very proud of him.
Oh, and besides the quiet weekend, we painted our bedroom – “Lunar Eclipse” and mtw updated the electrical in the basement, filled in a cement floor, and made short work of cleaning the house. It’s coming along, for any potential visitors!
…just because we haven’t posted about her in a while. She is doing well – still adjusting to being an only dog. She had her teeth cleaned last week at the vet and recovered without incident. Now we just have to create a new habit to brush her teeth daily. She is as spirited and spunky as ever, although a romp at the park goes a lot further these days.
We had to remove a beautiful old silver maple from our property. It was rotting from the inside out due to long term suffocation from ivy and was just too large and ominous for our property. It was an amazing tree and I miss its presence – as does eaw. We are planning to plant something new in the spring to honor the tree. It was quite a process to take it down, limb by limb, with a crane. Then, the grinding of the stump left a labyrinth of fresh fantastic mulch. It’s amazing how different our house looks without the tree, and it’s still disorienting to enter the backyard and see it gone. I fear several birds have been permanently displaced.
Thumbs up on the incredible fall weather we've been enjoying– warmer temperatures, sunny days, and lush colors. We took advantage of the weather today and headed to the zoo (a favorite destination chez Wall) with our neighbor and friend, Colby and his mom. Here’s some shots of our cool boys. They are growing up so fast.
monkeys at the zoo
too cool for school 
Like Bob, we've been busy around here - so pull up a chair, and scroll down to catch up on the latest and greatest in the adventures of the Wall family.
Yes, I know, Halloween is technically on Saturday, October 31, but remember we are in the land of the O and the H and the I and the O, where everything is just a little bit Stepford. Our neighborhood was assigned to have Trick or Treating (or Beggar’s night) on Thursday night the 29th between the hours of 6-8pm. I’m not sure, but I think you can call the police if some adorable costumed child knocks on your door before 6pm. Other neighborhoods are assigned to Friday evening, and a few are granted the actual holiday itself. 
If I were an enterprising trick-or-treater, I’d hit each designated neighborhood and really cash in on the candy. Despite my sarcasm, it was a really fun night – beautiful weather, good turnout, and a nice chance to hang out with the neighbors. eaw chose to be Scooby Doo again, and was as adorable as ever. He was still a little unsure of the whole ritual, but Colby showed him the ropes and he hit the streets like a champ! 
Upon his triumphant return, mtw made sure all the candy was “safe” before allowing eaw to ingest any of it. I think the safety test required taste samples of each piece of candy. eaw helped distribute the rest of our candy to the many “customers” (costume – ers, I think) as he called them. We live very near the Ohio School for the Deaf so we had many trick-or-treaters who used Sign Language. eaw learned the sign for “Happy Halloween” and “trick-or-treat.” 
It was a fully successful evening, although our last trick-or-treater was an older boy with a very scary mask. Eaw completely freaked out and the boy quickly ripped off his mask to calm him, saying “it’s just me – just a regular boy in here – I’m just pretending, but I’m not really scary.” eaw was calmed, but not convinced and is still asking about the boy in the mask. It was a sweet gesture, but maybe next year, I’ll bring him inside once the older kids start their rounds.
Happy Birthday Grandpa Durham! mdw returned from Texas at the end of September (on her birthday) to two very eager boys who had planned a lovely birthday celebration. The gift of the day was a “sitting garden” in our side yard, complete with a stone bench, stone walkway and birdbath. mtw and eaw had worked on it (I think mtw did most of the work) during my time away and it is the sweetest gesture I have ever received
(and a lot of work - they had to pull out enormous bushes, build planter boxes, make a stone paver patio, paint the foundation of the house, and plant some beautiful flowers). eaw and walk in it every morning on our way to the car as he asks, “do you like your garden mama? I made it for you.” I’m grateful for such beautiful companions with whom I get to share celebrations. We have been enjoying it all season.
ps For the record, eaw has mastered the banana cake batter beater licking, a Durham family birthday tradition.
Here at chez Wall we have instituted a special occurrence known as movie night. Since we don’t have cable, television viewing happens either on the computer or via dvd and has become a rare activity in our home and lifestyle with eaw. We discovered that by adding popcorn and a friend, the 20 minute video viewing approaches holiday status. It’s really fun to hear eaw ask for movie night and to hear the excitement in his voice. One of mtw’s colleagues lent us the 4-disc series for “Wallace and Grommit” and we have been enjoying sitting as a family under the blanket with popcorn on movie night.
We enjoyed a lovely visit from Ama during the first weekend in October. She showered us with her grace, generosity, and grandma-awesome-ness. A pajama-clad eaw stayed up late to go retrieve her from the airport (I mean, one of his favorite people at one of his favorite destinations). 
She accompanied mdw and eaw on Saturday morning to a “Mud and Muck” Toddler workshop at COSI. The workshop consisted of stories and songs about mud and getting dirty, and provided hands-on (literally) engagement with all sorts of sticky, goo-ey, messy, slimy textures and materials. eaw liked the “clean mud,” the flubber, and the cornstarch concoction the best. The adults seemed to enjoy getting messy more than the toddlers. It was really fun. Grandma stayed with eaw and mtw for the remainder of the day while mdw had a tech/dress rehearsal for a performance that evening called “60 x 60” which was 60 one-minute pieces of choreography to 60 one minute electronic music compositions. Cool idea and very experimental. mdw was assigned to three different minutes and one of them involved 7 inch heels and a heavy down jacket. Mom came to the later performance (which was held at a gay bar) – so needless to way, she was a great sport! 
On Sunday, we went to Leeds Farm, a local farm that opens for weekends during the fall season only. It is fantastic, goats, and donkeys, a huge sandbox full of feed corn, a banana boat ride, zip lines, jumpy pumpkin, large feed tubes, hay barn, homemade pie, and yes, a pumpkin patch. It was so great that we returned the following week with colleagues from work. So fun to celebrate Fall, and to start off our celebrations with a visit from Ama! We love you. 
mdw has arrived safe and sound in Huntsville, TX for her five week guest residency at Sam Houston State University. I will be teaching technique and creating a new piece of choreography on the students. The drive was uneventful (Except for the truly "Motel 6" experience stating at Motel 6 in Texarkana, TX) and I arrived to a hot Texas afternoon. The apartment, arranged as part of the residency by the university, is beautiful! If feels a bit like being at a retreat in this stylish apartment "on the square" (meaning the hip block of Hunstville - lots of antique shops, consignment stores, cafes, salons - very Texas chic).
Hooray - a visit from the NJ side of the family. We had so much fun being with Grandma and 
Grandpa Ballis. 
They arrived on Friday morning and we met for a fun lunch near OSU's campus at "Eddie George's" where our own eddy ordered and consumed (in large quantity) edamame. The weekend brought many outings and adventures, including some work around the house (thanks pops!); a trip to the zoo (where we ran into our friends/neighbors); a tour of German Village with stops at Schiller Park and the famous Thurman's (where we waited for 90 minutes for an okay burger - oh well). I guess sometimes the wait is the famous part.
eaw particularly enjoyed the atmosphere of the burger joint, singing and dancing and entertaining patrons to his heart's content. Maybe next time, they'll seat us sooner if we drop his name.
mdw has entered acceptance and is investing in making a home here. As ghd2 often cheers, "bloom where you are planted." mdw gave some sweat equity this week, (FINALLY) painting the front room (with a bold dark brown accent wall-now we just need to hang pics!) and bringing her playful vision for eaw's room to life. Here is a photo of the blue sky and clouds that she painted on part of his ceiling. There will be a quote by Said Aql (translated from Lebanese) stenciled on the ceiling just adjacent to the sky that reads: "Once ... I heard a bird, an absorbed, ecstatic bird, eloquently telling its child: 'Fly away, soar high: a few bread crumbs will suffice you, but the sky you need ... the whole sky.'
eaw on the fairgrounds with the Ohio state bird, the cardinal
We secured our discount tickets and headed to the fairgrounds at 8:30am, a full 30 minutes prior to the gates opening. Turns out , this is the best time to head to the fair. We parked mere yards from the entrance, and missed the crowds entirely – enjoying the attractions, rides, exhibits, animals and food kiosks almost all to ourselves. It was a gorgeous morning – clear skies, mid-70’s, with light breezes. We literally ran into our friends (who we had hoped to meet up with at some point) at the first exhibit, and traveled through the agriculture, horticulture, cattle, natural resources, and dairy exhibits with much interest and interaction. eaw and his friend Nate planted flowers, rode tractors, 
milked a pretend cow, danced with a talking chicken, fed many goats
, measured the age of trees, rode a pony, enjoyed milkshakes and cheese sandwiches, saw a 3 day old calf, and of course, rode the rides! Unfortunately, our lil’ man is not yet tall enough to ride most of the rides, but we found a few he could do by himself and some he could do with mama and papa, and even one he could do with Nate – definitely a highlight. mdw showed her true colors, trying to talk eaw out of a ride he was very interested in by saying “this ride only goes around in a circle on a flat track.” mtw stepped in and reminded mdw that eaw is the child – and we are the parents and that maybe we should support him in his interests – boring amusement park rides and all☺!
mdw and eaw set out on Wednesday, July 22 with choreographer extraordinaire Ashley Thorndike for a road trip to perform Ashley’s work (in collaboration with composer Peter Swendsen) at the Goose Route Arts Collaborative in Shepherdstown, WV. Faithful readers will recall that mdw took her choreography and dancers to this festival in July 2007, and had a fabulous time. True to form, this visit to the Goose Route was very satisfying – it’s a delightful festival. 
eaw was a trooper and mdw was thrilled to have the opportunity to see what “touring” would be like with him in tow. Of course, mdw had the help of some amazing women (the cast just happens to include three 30-something baby-hungry single gals so it might not be completely representative of a typical touring experience). Still, we drove from Columbus, OH to West Virginia to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Maryland (to pick up one of the dancers at BWI) to West Virginia. Yes that’s right, we drove to West Virginia three times to get there as our final destination. 
eaw was a rockstar in the car and loved our hostess’s beautiful home deep in the woods of WV – almost heaven, indeed. mdw loved reconnecting with Kate, one of her dancers in Philadelphia. mdw and eaw enjoyed a change of pace, hanging out in the dressing room, walking along the Potomac river, and hanging out (literally) in Siri’s (our hostess) indoor hammock. The end of the tour brought the most delightful treat in that mtw and Samantha beat us home, returning from their gig at ADF. It was a sweet reunion all around. mdw enjoyed the change of pace from teaching at BalletMet and returns for a week of rehearsals and setting a repertory piece on the pre-professional dancers. Glad to have the better half home!
