Oh those halcyon days
This past weekend, the Maya Society of Minnesota hosted one of my grad school professors. Nick Hopkins is the widower of Kathryn Josserand, my adviser. The both were dear friends. Kathryn died suddenly two years ago while in Mexico. OMG it's been nearly two and a half years. Guh.
Anyhow I took a couple days off from work to be Nick's cruise director. I picked him up at the airport on Friday at 4pm. He'd been scheduled on at least three flights from Atlanta (not to mention his origination flight from Tallahassee). I guess I shouldn't be surprised his checked luggage didn't make it. But we left my address for them to deliver his bag once it arrived on the 7pm flight.
But we met my Mom and the President of the Maya Society, Skip, for dinner at Black Sea. Mmmm turkish. Skip only stayed for half an hour, as he had to chair the board meeting. We showed up about 15 minutes later.
The board meeting went almost too easy. Hehhe. The calendar for next year's programs are pretty much set. The docket for next year's board members was ready to be presented. New changes to the bylaws. All of it. Sorted. My Mom and I set up the check in table (mostly my Mom, while I was in the board meeting). The person who normally helps me has rather imploded, so I doubt she'll be back for a while. But mom was a wonderful help.
Nick's lecture was about chol narratives (contemporary maya folktales) and how their coupleting structure is mimicked in the Classic Maya inscriptions. Of course I had a hacking, coughing fit right in the middle and had to leave the room, twice. My mom tried to help and gave me a cough drop that literally made me hork up a bit (after I made it outside, thankfully). ::shudder:: I hate throwing up. But I got under control. Nick got a cell phone call just after that, I told him that it was just his luggage arriving ::grin:: The lecture was really cool. Linguistics can be fun! Heheh.
It was like old home week. Had several long lost members show up. Todd and Lynda, Dorothy. These are people who helped run the show back in the 1990's when I first got hooked. It was great to see them all.
After the lecture, Mom, Nick and I picked up his luggage off my porch, and ran to the ghetto liquor store so Nick could pick up some beer. Then we went to the Guest House (a victorian house, converted to guest rooms for visiting faculty and university guests). The three of us sat around and chatted.
Saturday morning I picked up Nick for a quick breakfast at Perkins, before the morning "workshop." The workshop was so much fun. We took a hieroglyphic text (the Palace Tablet from Palenque), grabbed our colored pencils and got down and dirty with some decipherment. It was glorious. This is what got me interested in the Maya. One of these workshops, which weren't just three hours but two days.
First time I met Nick and Kathryn, 1991, I believe. Could have been 1992. I had just finished an archaeology class on Central America. The U actually paid the registration costs for any of us in the class who wanted to go to this hieroglyphic workshop. AND they paid for lunch vouchers as it was three days long (Friday night lecture, all day Saturday, all day Sunday). Unheard of. That was all it took for me. I started going to the Texas Maya Meetings by 1993.
But Nick did a great job of whittling down the whole text in the three hours. We had the "workbook" printed up overnight. Nick and I got there at 9am saturday, and the attendants where putting the booklets together. Heheh. But he has nice translations/transliterations and references in the back.
Of the 20 people there, five were students, a full 10 of us were veterans of the old workshops, and about five people were new to decipherment. Todd came back on Saturday. At one point during the morning we looked at each other and said, "just wets your whistle for more." I hope we can bring Nick back for a full workshop. I'd just LOVE that.
After the workshop, a couple of us took Nick out for lunch. Never had cambodian before. It was pretty tasty. Boy did we eat too much.
Nick and I met up with a Dakota (that would be the native american tribe, not State) guy at the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Arts). We looked at the Native American collection. They've just redesigned the collections, and it seems to have fewer items.
After the Museum closed, we had some coffee down the street (across from my Dad's condo). Then I drove Nick past the I35W bridge. Seems the construction firm is from Tallahassee and the talk of the town. We weren't very hungry yet, so we dropped by Byerly's and just grabbed some deli for dinner. We were both exhausted.
Sunday we did Perkins again for breakfast, and then I dropped him at the airport for his flight.
It was so nice to just be able to talk with someone and never having to worry about topics. Nick and Kathryn were always so easy to talk to. Chatting with Nick, you'd never guess it'd been over 11 years since I spent more than a couple of lunches, once a year. I miss the mid-90s. The height of a fluorescence in the field of Maya hieroglyphic decipherment. Before Linda died. Before Kathryn died. ::sigh:: "Remember when"s are fun.
Anyhow I took a couple days off from work to be Nick's cruise director. I picked him up at the airport on Friday at 4pm. He'd been scheduled on at least three flights from Atlanta (not to mention his origination flight from Tallahassee). I guess I shouldn't be surprised his checked luggage didn't make it. But we left my address for them to deliver his bag once it arrived on the 7pm flight.
But we met my Mom and the President of the Maya Society, Skip, for dinner at Black Sea. Mmmm turkish. Skip only stayed for half an hour, as he had to chair the board meeting. We showed up about 15 minutes later.
The board meeting went almost too easy. Hehhe. The calendar for next year's programs are pretty much set. The docket for next year's board members was ready to be presented. New changes to the bylaws. All of it. Sorted. My Mom and I set up the check in table (mostly my Mom, while I was in the board meeting). The person who normally helps me has rather imploded, so I doubt she'll be back for a while. But mom was a wonderful help.
Nick's lecture was about chol narratives (contemporary maya folktales) and how their coupleting structure is mimicked in the Classic Maya inscriptions. Of course I had a hacking, coughing fit right in the middle and had to leave the room, twice. My mom tried to help and gave me a cough drop that literally made me hork up a bit (after I made it outside, thankfully). ::shudder:: I hate throwing up. But I got under control. Nick got a cell phone call just after that, I told him that it was just his luggage arriving ::grin:: The lecture was really cool. Linguistics can be fun! Heheh.
It was like old home week. Had several long lost members show up. Todd and Lynda, Dorothy. These are people who helped run the show back in the 1990's when I first got hooked. It was great to see them all.
After the lecture, Mom, Nick and I picked up his luggage off my porch, and ran to the ghetto liquor store so Nick could pick up some beer. Then we went to the Guest House (a victorian house, converted to guest rooms for visiting faculty and university guests). The three of us sat around and chatted.
Saturday morning I picked up Nick for a quick breakfast at Perkins, before the morning "workshop." The workshop was so much fun. We took a hieroglyphic text (the Palace Tablet from Palenque), grabbed our colored pencils and got down and dirty with some decipherment. It was glorious. This is what got me interested in the Maya. One of these workshops, which weren't just three hours but two days.
First time I met Nick and Kathryn, 1991, I believe. Could have been 1992. I had just finished an archaeology class on Central America. The U actually paid the registration costs for any of us in the class who wanted to go to this hieroglyphic workshop. AND they paid for lunch vouchers as it was three days long (Friday night lecture, all day Saturday, all day Sunday). Unheard of. That was all it took for me. I started going to the Texas Maya Meetings by 1993.
But Nick did a great job of whittling down the whole text in the three hours. We had the "workbook" printed up overnight. Nick and I got there at 9am saturday, and the attendants where putting the booklets together. Heheh. But he has nice translations/transliterations and references in the back.
Of the 20 people there, five were students, a full 10 of us were veterans of the old workshops, and about five people were new to decipherment. Todd came back on Saturday. At one point during the morning we looked at each other and said, "just wets your whistle for more." I hope we can bring Nick back for a full workshop. I'd just LOVE that.
After the workshop, a couple of us took Nick out for lunch. Never had cambodian before. It was pretty tasty. Boy did we eat too much.
Nick and I met up with a Dakota (that would be the native american tribe, not State) guy at the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Arts). We looked at the Native American collection. They've just redesigned the collections, and it seems to have fewer items.
After the Museum closed, we had some coffee down the street (across from my Dad's condo). Then I drove Nick past the I35W bridge. Seems the construction firm is from Tallahassee and the talk of the town. We weren't very hungry yet, so we dropped by Byerly's and just grabbed some deli for dinner. We were both exhausted.
Sunday we did Perkins again for breakfast, and then I dropped him at the airport for his flight.
It was so nice to just be able to talk with someone and never having to worry about topics. Nick and Kathryn were always so easy to talk to. Chatting with Nick, you'd never guess it'd been over 11 years since I spent more than a couple of lunches, once a year. I miss the mid-90s. The height of a fluorescence in the field of Maya hieroglyphic decipherment. Before Linda died. Before Kathryn died. ::sigh:: "Remember when"s are fun.