Devon

Mary and Devon, who is a great kid. Devon is the oldest of three and these days his favorite sport is downhill racing which he does about every weekend in the Connecticut mountains nearby Mary and Amado's second home. He is also a swimmer and footballer, which he and Eitan bond over. Devon BTW is Eitan's self-proclaimed BBF and with brother Simon they have a blast rocketing about (there is a bit of a thing against girls right now but this will pass, oh boy).

I'm pretty much out of touch with the news and the world which is heavenly. I did see that Max won his libel case against News Of The World which I guess is interesting. Fleet Street is world class, God bless it, but goes too far on occasion - this why we love it dearly, Brother.

Mary's Boys

Mary and Devon and Simon. Devon, the older one, has turned eight and Eitan looks up to him for all that he is - and especially his age. Devon plays football (check), is on the ski team (check check) and lives in New York City (check! check! check!). Simon bops in and out and the boys amuse themselves by "hiding" from us during our walk. Devon and Simon attend a primary school for Columbia profs where Amado teaches maths to 13 and 14 year-olds. He is well respected and serves as a confident, I understand. Without doubt those kids are in good hands.

Tops

Devon and Eitan square off. The kids pick up without a missed beat. We arrive yesterday and within moments a water fight. Then game of tag followed by football, that is, soccer here on terre firma. Despite Eitan and Madeleine's jet lag they are buzzing along post bed-time which is fine with us as we are asleep by 8PM. This morning Devon makes a vat of oatmeal and we head for the lake to water ski while I sneak in my long-run. Amado plays a mixer tournament. From there, the swimming pool and now more shenanigans at the house as the children tasked with watering the plants. I think 50% makes soil and we know where the rest to be. Unfortunately for Madeleine, fortunately for Eitan, Kuman follows them to here and they now work away. Devon notes that Eitan lucky: "I have, like, six hours of homework to do. And I am going to do it tomorrow." A boy after my own heart.

From the jacket of "Frankenstein": "Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was the daughter of the philosopher and writer William Godwin and of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of "Vindication of the Rights of Woman." In 1814 she eloped with the poet Shelley to the Continent, marrying him on the death of his first wife. Frankenstein (1818) was written during a stay in Switzerland when she, Shelley and Byron each agreed to write a supernatural story."

Madeleine: "Dad, will you itch my big toe there? No, there .. up a bit ... ahhhh."

Exeter

We awake at the Barcelona Hotel in Exeter and there is only one thing on the kiddos minds: buffet! Sonnet goes for a run on the River Exe and I stumble downstairs with the Shakespeares to have breakfast where they load up three or four times. Me, I drink coffee and watch them stuff their happy little faces. Speaking of stuffing, we will do so again shortly celebrating Thanksgiving. I hope beforehand we will do some walking or visit the seaside - Devon offers some of Britain's most scenic pictures and we have gotten to know it well. In fact, Sonnet and I walked the Northam Burrows in Dartmoor when she was seven months pregnant with Eitan. In fact, Devonshire is home to part of England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dorset and East Devon Coast, known as the Jurassic Coast for its geology and geographical features. Along with its neighbour, Cornwall, Devon is known as the "Cornubian massif". This geology gives rise to the landscapes of Dartmoor and Exmoor, both national parks today.

Go Pro

Skier

Devon is into skiing. He is a skier. Last year he won the Buddy Warner Pacific Northwest Championships for 12-13 year-olds  on Crystal Mountain - there were over 100 competitors.  He qualified for the Jr Olympics this year but crashed out (Nb, Devon's worst crash occurred when he was free skiing and came over blind noll into an inadequate grooming job and flew 40 feet into the trees, hitting tree branches but, fortunately, no trunks, and walked away, more or less. The ski patrol thought he was dead, he tells me).

Devon's long-term ambition is to make the national ski team and ski competitively in college.

Me: "Maybe I will stop my blog."
Rob: "Why? It's your journal."
Me: "It's mainly about the kids, and I can no longer write everything that is going on."
Eitan: "What can't you write?"
Me: "Stuff that will embarrass you."
Eitan: "There's nothing that would embarrass me, Dad."
Me: "Puberty."
Sophie: "Ag, don't say that."
Eitan: "OK, OK."

North Devon

Shaka dude

We spend the weekend in North Devon for some surfing and both kids enjoy the beach (picture tattoos, sunburn, babies crying and parents smoking).

The North Devon Coast Area is known for its outstanding natural beauty and Woolacombe Beach chosen as"Britain's Best Beach in 2015  and 13th best in the world by TripAdvisor which says a lot about them. Yes, it's sandy and the water salty but it is not a place I would return to, dear reader. There is no California sunset. I will come back for Madeleine, not doubt. She is committed to the waves.

The beachside chippy, however, totally legit - a line forms along the block from 11AM. Inside, the Brits order fish and chips or sausage and chips or just chips. The order, doused in salt and vinegar, arrives in a card-board box, complete with small wood fork.

Server: "Order please?"
Lady: "I'll be hav'n those chips. And the cod please."
Server: "Order please?"
Lady 2: "Two chips. Make it three chips and the fish."
Server: "Order please."
Man 1: "Chips and a sausage."
Server: ""Order please."
Man 2: "Oy matey, I'll get a double portion of them chips."
Server: "Order please."
Man 3: "Chips and the beef burger."
Server: "Oder please."
Lady 3: "Hmmm. Yes, I'll have the chips and the vinegar, if you don't mind."
Server: "Order please."
Me: "Anyone ever not order chips?"
Server:
Me: "I'll have the chips."

MO in 24

Cousins Di Di and Devon

We touch the Missouri River and the Mississippi River in the same day, pretty cool, and now it is St Louis.

We visit Moe's side of the family and cousin Di Di organises a re union at Aunt Ida's Jewish retirement home (next to a Chinese restaurant, of course) which includes Liebermans and Orensteins and Seniors. Ida is 103 years old and sharp - she recalls everybody's face and where they are on the family tree. A highlight is Joy's photo album which takes us back to the 1920s.

Moe's cousin and childhood pal Al is with his wife Alice, a freshman at University City High School when Moe was a Senior. This area was predominantly Jewish until the '70s and so where my Orthodox great-grandfather Horen landed in the late 19th century, speaking only yiddish (Joy tells us). Horen left Russia to escape the pograms of the 1890s and entered America via Ellis Island. Alice tells me Moe was school President, and "very important and so handsome. We all looked up to him."

Devon is a great kid (head connected to electronic toy) and son of Shavon and Danny, who was adopted by Joy and Larry in '72, before mixed adoptions were stopped (says Joy). Danny is 6'4" and Joy 4'11".  Shavon is from Oakland and, remarkably, was a Freshman at Berkeley High School when I was a Senior, though we did not know each other.

Me: "What do you think of the Liebermans ?"
Madeleine: "Huh?"
Me: "Did you know that you had all these Jewish relatives in St Louis?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: Pretty cool."
Madeleine: "Yep."

The Jew Crew

Mercer

Here is the inside of Mercer Caverns. Without lighting there is complete darkness. Initially Madeleine wants nothing to do with the caves remember Wales but she joins in the end. The children as all sorts of interesting questions: "where do the rocks come from?" (Madeleine); "Why does that look like chocolate?" (Maya); "Is there any gold?" (Devon); "Is there any gold pylate? (Devon) This last question flummoxes our otherwise informed guide. From there we descend 208 steps - despite this depth it is not the bottom, where a breeze enters the caves providing oxygen and cool air. While there is general curiosity where the air source originates, it against California law to dig or damage the pristine below for discovery. Various methods BTW were used including blue smoke which, it was believed, would exit somewhere outside Mercer and provide the source. Fat chance, as the current kept the smoke inside and smoked everybody else out. Eitan BTW reports that there are only 192 steps to the bottom and if there was a bet I would put it with him.

Happy Returns

Halley and Willem

Halley and Sonnet spend the day preparing early Thanksgiving. Big things are happening in their family: Willem is heading up the Oxford's mindfulness center having built up a similar program and first of its kind at Exeter University. He is two weeks on the job. He is also taking up a Chair at the Univ of Oxford as Prof of Clinical Psychology in the Dept of Psychiatry and notes "that I feel like a young Turk again" and one should always feel on the up and up. [Dad's note: One of the major research programs Willem is working on is mindfulness at secondary schools and Hampton School was one of the first to sign on].

Zoe is in her AS levels preparing for her exams and running cross country (she recently won a race in East Devon) while Ava continues to pursue top level football with the Oxford United FA Center of Excellence. Halley keeps it all together and moving forward in a most forceful direction. Halley is also involved with CIC which offers mindfulness courses in Exeter.

Me: "Give me a quote."
Zoe: "Lower your voice and strengthen your argument." 
Willem: "I can respect that."

Freedom And No Freedom

Spring has arrived and how quickly life cheers up. Here I am before an Anish Kapoor.

Since Sonnet in Devon with the kids, I spend my evenings with Tommy, drink red wine and read books. Does this make me an alcoholic? Probably so. My clothes piling up in the corner or on the bed post. The mornings are luxurious - two hours peace before going into the office .. whenever. The sunlight floods our bedroom from 6AM and, I must admit, I am feeling pretty good with myself. Last night I am out until past Midnight with Arnaud and his fiancee- we have dinner at a trendy Brazilian-Sushi restaurant in Chelsea - did you know that Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan? According to the IBGE, there is somewhere around 1.5 million Japanese in Brazil vs. 1.2 million in the US. Go figure. So .. Arnaud is from Paris and a fund investor whom I was with recently in Chantilly. He is clever and I respect his judgements of people and their situational circumstances. While most (and especially MBAs) consider themselves a good "read" of character, Arnaud is.

The Times reports that President George W Bush knew that hundreds of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were innocent, but covered the fact up for political reasons. Retired Army Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has testified that officials "knew that they had seized and were holding innocent men at Guantanamo." and "They simply refused to release them out of fear of political repercussions." The Times reports that Wilkerson's assertions are supported by General Powell. This inglorious period will not be remembered kindly by history. I sometimes wonder what it was like during McCarthyism or Vietnam, Watergate or other self-inflicted dark periods. Now I know.

"I discussed the issue of the Guantanamo detainees with Secretary Powell. I learnt that it was his view that it was not just Vice-President [Dick] Cheney and [Defense] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld, but also President Bush who was involved in all of the Guantanamo decision making.

--Lawrence Wilkerson

Sea Snail?

We spend the afternoon at Exmoth - here the kids and Zoe and Ava scream "the tide is out!" racing from the boathouse onto Lyme Bay. Due South is the English Chanel and West, across Devon, is the Atlantic Ocean. The high-tide is perhaps six feet above Madeleine while the sea comes in fast and hard: high-tides today are 7:38 and 19:57 while the low-tide now 13:30. In February, 2004, 23 Chinese shellfish hunters drowned not far from here at Morecambe Bay's cockle beds. They were eight miles out on foot. The other thing about this time of year is the bitter cold, not helped by the kids lack of wellies which I fail to bring despite Sonnet's urging. Within moments Eitan - who refuses jacket and scarf - is pink from the cold yet he refuses to relent: "I will not wear that jacket," which is a shame because not only warm but rather fashionable it is - I bought the damn thing in Paris. What can I do? After several hours of snail and crab hunting we end up at a true-grit caf which is one of the only locals remaining in an area undergoing rapid development. Willem tells me that most of the condos going up own by Londoners who spend little time here - consequently, the old fishing yards being deserted.

All In The Gang

I take this photo the only moment the kids are without motion - watching "Spirited Away". The first night, all share a bedroom with double-bunk beds and lay away mattresses making for a Late Night. There is too much energy to go around and at least half the crew chattering away at midnight despite threats and extortions. The adults, for that matter, are not too much better off and happily lubed with adult drinks and conversation (I groan at the morning after). The order from left to right: Devon, Jaimes, Sophie, Simon, Maya, Madeleine and Eitan. There has been a little jockeying between ages and sometimes a younger kid or opposite sex is (purposefully) left out but overall they entertain themselves nicely and with good compromise and cheer. It is fun to observe their size and change plus we have a good few years before they are teenagers.

Butcher

Here is a local butcher (though not ours) on the high-street whose strangely creepy figure captures my eye. The chicken rotisserie takes me back to Park 'N Shop on Salano Avenue in Berkeley - its delicious smells bring good memories of shopping with mom and sometimes sugar cereal which broke the household rule. As Berkeley upscaled from its hippy roots, the grocery taken over by wonderful Andronicos in the 1980s; Andronicos offers yuppie fruit and veg on par with anything in France. Maybe better in fact - during season, there must be >25 varieties of tomato. Andronicos also absorbed The Berkeley Co-Op whose '60s ambition to return profits to the customer - kinda like communism maybe? - but that business model failed, oh boy. Nobody complained though I did miss the sugar-baked cookies. Sometime later Starbucks took over Ortmans Ice Cream, Eddy's became Peet's Coffee; Hinks a Ross and now closed... this be progress in the East Bay.

Mary is in town and we dine with her, Dana and Nathan at Racines - a favorite French bistro in South Kensington that actually is... French! The waiters from Paris or wherever with attitude and all that and most of the diners French-speaking. I get to stumble through a few words impressing really only myself but hey, I enjoy it. I learn Devon a top notch skiier and now competing at high-levels; I am sure he and Eitan will absorb themselves in sports when we are with them in May.

Red, White and Madeleine

Katie's friend Cara from the Columbia International Affairs school arrives last night for dinner and a stay-over. Cara lives in Burlington and consults world organisations like UNDP and CARE on their H.I.V. policies to eradicate the horrible disease. Gracie, Moe and Katie return to New York today leaving us by ourselves for the first time in a month. Wow. Tomorrow we drive to Connecticut to visit Mary and Amado's lake house and to see their kids Devon, Simon and Maya - a Paris re-union! Rob and Sloan will join us from San Francisco and everybody is way excited for the weekend.

I ask Eitan if he wants blueberry pie for breakfast. He, bug-eyed: "really?"
Madeleine goes the extra yard: "can I have chocolate cake too?"

"It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from his nose to tail with curiosity."
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, by Kipling

Connecticut!

We arrive Friday at Mary and Amado's house on Woodridge Lake not far from Litchfield and less than two hours from the Upper West Side door-to-door. Eitan and Madeleine peel out of the car to hug Devon, Simon and Maya who they last saw in Paris. Stories of the four hour line to the Eiffel Tower are gleefully recalled then an afternoon free-for-all takes place in the backyard. Adding to the excitement is the arrival of the Sloan and Rob, who flew in Thursday with their team. Sophie and Jaimes join in the melee while us adults grin at each other and our kids. Our afternoon is spent catching up, jogging, canoing, dining and drinking vodka cocktails and beer. Rob has a go on the jumper - pictured.

Rob and I spend some afternoon discussing college football. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, so the Buckeyes are a Big Deal - he frequently joins his friends at College Bend to see the important games. The Bears are ranked a place or two ahead of Ohio State in the pre-season polls and about ten below USC who again is #1 (ho-hum)

Group Photo

The kids line up for their last responsibility. Sure, there is some grumbling but mostly they are cooperative. Devon earns a note of interest for his self-made mask and weapon of galactic destruction. Blast shield too. The kid is ready to rock and roll.

Today is Memorial Day observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly Decoration Day and commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service - something Sonnet and I debate since she felt it honors all military personnel. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. I have never been to a Memorial Day celebration - parade, service or remembrance. It makes me wonder if anybody, other than those families touched, considers this anything other than a long week end and nice lie-in. In the last ten or twenty years, we the people have failed to prevent unnecessary conflicts and of course Bush disastrous. Our job, whether via Congress, protest or otherwise, is to ensure that our fighting men and women kept from harm's way unless there is no alternative. Obama pledged this at Annapolis several weeks ago but then every President, excluding el Presidente, has spoken the same words. So how can you and I make a difference? Well - vote, for one. And write letters. Support newspapers and blog your opinions. It might not work, nor reduce military spending by one cent, but something has to change and how else if not via communication and scale?

And while we are at it - why are Obama-Binden being such pussies regarding Guantanamo and its closure? The 200 odd prisoners should be brought to the United States and tried. If not convicted, set free (and forget deportation). This is the law, and what sets our country apart. As for America's safety - come on. There are certain things more important than our comfort and security.. like freedom, which is what we are honoring with this three-day week end given that tens of thousands of us have died defending this ideal ("give me liberty, or give me death" said Henry in 1775). Americans remain traumatised by 9-11 nearly eight years on and this fear has inflicted grievous harm on our constitution. Bush and Cheney, unlike Obama, may have been too righteous or arrogant or stupid to understand their actions.. but today's Senate no excuse for their lameness - 92-4 against shutting Gitmo. What the fuck? Rather than protect our lazy, obese, asses with airport security and Star Wars, the Government should be guarding our civil liberties and maintaining our moral compass. This is what I and most of us voted for in November.


Is't death to fall for Freedom's right?
He's dead alone who lacks her light!
-- Thomas Campbell

Fozzy

Fozzy here belongs to Halley and Willem, and was bred to chase foxes down holes, Willem tells me. These dogs travel with the hunt and when the fox makes a break for it down a tunnel, in goes Fozzy. Not surprisingly, he is irrepressible and chases everything from rabbit to dog, sometimes resulting in a a nasty growling or worse - a pit bull, for instance, recently got a clamp on Fozzy, who almost lost his front leg in the exchange. Eitan and Madeleine argue over the leash and it is questionable whether dog or child has the lead.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, Halley prepares a 20 lb bird for our belated Thanksgiving - the meal is fabulous, with all the stuffing. I'm impressed as Halley and I have joked about cold turkey sandwiches on Wonder bread with mayonnaise so my expectations were, ahem, low. Any case with us are two of Willem's colleagues at Exeter University, who have joined Willem this fall from Duke and Michigan. In total, we are four PhDs, and seven MA's. Since it is Thanksgiving, I ask for a count on the Star Spangled Banner. There is some shuffling, but I think most of us can mumble our way through it. On the U.S. Constitution, it is dire: nobody is able to list the first ten amendments. If not this crowd, I wonder, then who? Bush and the Republic fight for our so-called freedoms, but how do we know when they have gone? In England, we will surely have identity cards and I am photographed 300 times a day in Central London - soon, no doubt, this data will be linked to the police, my medicals and etc. England has a parliamentary democracy and the Magna Charta instead of a Constitution - the politics therefore work, but our civil rights are greying. In America, perhaps it is the the reverse - for now, until your phone is generally tapped and habeas corpus gone, thank you Gitmo. But hey, man, if nobody knows what they are missing - what the worry?

Madeleine loses her second front tooth in the car-ride to Devon, and promptly loses it. It is somehow retrieved in the seat-crack otherwise, I tell her, "no Tooth Ferry." Those are the breaks, kid. Sonnet awakes at 5AM in a panic, remembering to put two pounds under Madeleine's pillow.

Bank Holiday Weekend

This being Easter and England, the country shuts down for a four day bank-holiday weekend to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Amen. Our ambitions our a bit more modest and Sunday finds us at the Hampton outdoor pool for some fun-in-the-sun once the morning chill burns off. Madeleine spends no less than two hours in the H-2-O until I drag her out, fingers white and pruney. We sun-bathe and Eitan finds a couple of new friends to play make-shift footie. From here we go to Dana and Nathan's for an afternoon BBQ. Before the meat, Dana hides Easter Eggs in a private garden nearby her house in Primrose Hill and the kids go wild for it. We say our farewells to Mary and Amado who return to New York the next day. Eitan declares that Devon is his best friend.

Our good weather this weekend prompts a flurry of bets on a record-breaking summer. The book maker William Hill reacts by trimmming the odds of temperatures exceeding 100F in 2007 from 10-1 to 8-1. Further, Hill offers 12-1 that the higest record temperature of 103.5F will be beaten this year.

Exuberence

Madeleine at Hotel Barcelona in Exeter. We drive to Devon yesterday afternoon, just nipping the weekend traffic. The journey is about three hours and we amuse ourselves with Willie Nelson and Twenty Questions, which I enhance with a £1 promise to the winner. Both kids go for it with varying degrees of interest and success. Our weekend will be spent with Willem and Halley, Sonnet's dear friend from Smith and their two lovely girls (Sonnet is the God Mother to the youngest). We have been here many times including this hotel which is funky, has a cool art-deco bar and kids friendly - what more could one wish for? In 2000, months before Eitan was born, we rambled through the countryside visiting small villages each with a 500 year old church and a few gravestones, a red mail box and phone booth and of course a cozy pub. Sonnet huffed and puffed. This morning following breakfast (Buffet! the kids shriek) I arrange several "time trials" so they may burn off energy before we start the day - pictured.

During 20 Questions, Madeleine: "It is a person."
Me: "Is it somebody I know?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "How can I guess if I don't know the person?!"
Madeleine, after a thoughtful pause: "Well, I know her."

One More From The City

Queen Victoria St and Cannon St

Sonnet back from Devon and not without drama as she has to add oil to the car en route. I take her through the steps to open the hood.  We re-union with hugs and kisses and my peaceful long week end comes to an end (I would be lying if I told you, dear reader, that I did not enjoy it. Madeleine: "Nice, Dad.").

Simon, the father of Billy, in Los Angeles to win an Oscar for the sound work to 'Les Mis.'  He has already won the BAFTA.

Fauja Singh, age 101, completes his last race, the Hong Kong 10K, in 1:32; in 2011 he celebrated 100 by running the Toronto Marathon (his eighth since turning 90).  Says he: "I am happy that I am retiring at the top of the game."  And there is hope for us all.