Marilyn from her visit

dear friends -

i was born in indiana.  one of the great joys of my life has been eating fresh nuts.  as a young child in indiana i went with my parents, older brother david and perhaps my younger sister christine to collect nuts.  a shellbark hickory nut is a treat and i was never fortunate enough to find a good hickory tree anywhere outside of indiana.  obviously they must exist.  (david might recall a time we climbed a fence to collect hickory nuts and were chased off by a bull.)  betsy took me to dinner the other night at a nice little local restaurant.  for dessert we were served a monastic cheese, trappe ergourgnac, a cheese flavored with hickory nuts!  i was immediately transported back to the sweetness and simplicity of childhood.

calvin played hooky and spent the day with me earlier this week.  among other things we visited an old parisian museum, arts et metiers.  the original sight, but of course, was an abbey founded in the 6th century, st. martin of the fields.  over the next centuries it evolved into a newer and newer church, but was eventually slated for demolition.  this would have been in the 1790's.  but science was all the rage then, and arts et metiers museum was established in the church and adjacent buildings.  a royal collection of precision instruments was the beginning of the exquisite collection.  calvin and i loved the measuring devices.  sextants, time pieces, measuring sticks, scales, thermometers, barometers, ...  one thermometer, for instance, is nearly a meter high.  instead of a bulb at the bottom, there is a glass spiral about two inches wide which turns in on itself six times.  the instruments are breathtakingly beautiful.

the floor of the newish adjacent building has a small trolley track built into the floor.  models and cases were moved hither and yon for demonstrations.  it is enchanting to have a little trolley in the building.

there is a marvelous collection of counting devices.  everything from abacuses to the ultramodern 1985 cray supercomputer.  the cray isn't nearly as much fun as the brass calculators which are two and three feet across with tubes, rings and dials.  calvin was much intrigued with the simple and intuitive display of the binary system.

but most wonderful of all is the display in the chapel.  foucault's pendulum (his 3rd or 4th) is suspended from the ceiling.  also suspended from the chapel ceiling are an airplane and autos!  four recently renovated see-through levels zigged and zagged by stairways take you past the first pint-sized statue of liberty and more very old motorized vehicles up to spitting distance of the chapel ceiling.  it is incredible.

chris' mother grew up in a big family as i did.  glennell, like my mother, is a very good cook.  and cooks without fussing.  when we vacation together, glennell always impresses me with her calm and efficiency at helping get one good meal on the table after another.  chris, betsy and the boys all also cook with aplomb.  it is fun to cook here; everyone has something to contribute.  the boys and i have made a few batches of fruit sorbets.  i always tell the boys the recipes are old family secrets, though my guess is that not many in my family other than alan, my grandsons and i make sorbets.  but here is the secret recipe.  put two parts sugar (perhaps 2 cups) into a saucepan with a bit less than 1 cup of water.  bring to a boil, then cool.  add fruit (juice, grated zest, pulp, puree, whatever) to a portion of the syrup.  add more syrup, water or fruit extract to taste.  freeze for at least 6 hours.  remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.  we have finished the lemon and pistachio sorbets and are working now to finish grapefruit and nectarine.  tomorrow carter and i will make mango.

perhaps when i get back to baltimore, i'll make sorbet with victor.  only three, he is already a passable cook.

love,

m