2009 was a pretty good year at K-Haus! This is what my friends and I have come to call my little apartment in Columbus, Ohio, though I spent less time at home than usual this year. I traveled a lot for business and pleasure in the winter and spring, making stops in Long Beach, Middletown (to meet Clare!!!), San Diego, Illinois, Iowa and Cape Cod. Over the summer I visited Long Beach one last time to visit Jeff before he moved to Columbus in September. It’s wonderful to finally have Jeff and his little dachs-huahua Seymour in the same town! It was also fun to have Sissy and Brayden visit Columbus a few times since they’re closer than usual while living in Erie for the year. I love being an Aunt and can’t wait until Clare and Brayden are old enough to understand everything I have to teach them! The most out of the ordinary trip of the year was to Arizona with friends for my first vacation that didn’t include any plans or activities. I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do with myself, but I managed to sit quietly by the pool most of the time and loved it. In October I talked some pals into checking out Ohio’s Renaissance Festival. I was teased a bit at first until we ended up having an awesome time - though I’ve decided not to pursue a career in ax-throwing. By November I was off to Iowa again for Sarah’s fabulous wedding where I reconnected with lots of old friends and met a lot of great new friends. I’m proud of progressive Iowa and was thrilled to help Sarah with her amazing day. Madge might have preferred less travel-time this year, but I’m grateful for a job that allows me to travel and the opportunity to visit friends and family all over the country. The daily news keeps telling us that the world is falling apart, but I’m thankful that mine has remained intact and is filled with so many blessings. I wish the same for you in 2010 and beyond!



As one who doesn’t really plant flowers or maintain a garden, I can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted to spirit away the blooms of another (wo)man’s labors…

I’m fairly certain that someone is working hard to frame my coworker as a crazy person. At our sleepy museum in Monmouth, the burglar alarm was set off once - supposedly by the wind. Another time my coworker found a set of keys (from a Ford) in the center console of her Chevrolet Impala. Just this summer two concrete pavers were stolen from the side yard and the gardener asked why two daisy plants were now planted in their place. The most recent incident of Tom-Foolery is the exchange of mum plants. Two maroon mum plants were purchased and planted in the urns on the front porch. Two days later they were each replaced with a yellow and orange mum plant. Apparently there was no time to actually re-plant the yellow one; it was simply balanced on top of the soil in the urn. I myself have never been witness to these odd occurrences, but that doesn’t stop me from firmly placing my suitcase in front of the haunted door of my bedroom while visiting in Monmouth.

During this most recent trip we celebrated the 157th birthday of Founder Minnie Stewart, shot the breeze with locals at the American Legion spaghetti supper, and traveled close enough for a quick drive by Norma Jean’s (the ill-fated circus elephant) grave.

Thankfully the packing plant wasn’t in full odor-producing mode, but I did feel the burn in my lungs and eyes from the Tuesday leaf-burning smoke. Apparently it’s only legal to burn on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I’m pretty sure the burning sensation in my lungs was from the leaves and not the asbestos tape or mold in the basement – where I spent much of my time working to move all the computer and office equipment upstairs.

I always enjoy my time in Monmouth and especially appreciate the self-reflection that the 7.5 hour drive affords. It doesn’t get much better than satellite radio and the open road…

I really don’t like summer. I’m polite about it and casually say in moments of small talk “Gosh, where did the summer go?” Feigned disappointment aside, I’m glad to see it gone quite frankly. It’s tough going into hiding during swimsuit season. I really hate sweating outside of normal sweating circumstances (like walking, the working out that I rarely do and running which as a matter of course I never do.)

In early September, fall arrived in Ohio. We had a few hot days sprinkled in, which I guess we deserved on account of this whole global warming thing, but all in all we’ve had a very cool month. Indian summer is for the Indians and I’m thankful for the opportunity to finally layer. Madge doesn’t sleep on the bed when it’s hot out and the air conditioner is pumping, but in September she began bunking with me once again.

Perhaps the greatest arrival of September was Jeff. Within 3 weeks he was officially offered a job at OPERS (Ohio Public Employees Retirement System), found an apartment, gave his southern California short-haired dachs-huahua Seymour a pep talk and hit the road for Ohio. He starts work on Monday and I think he’s ready to get back into a routine. He had two weeks off to settle in and get things unpacked which was a nice opportunity to ease into things back here in Ohio. Yesterday he purchased a new wardrobe for Seymour to help him battle the cold and last night he wore a wool coat when we went out for Rodney’s birthday. Oh those California boys.

I suppose I shouldn’t totally write the summer off. It was a great summer at work with excellent interns and lots of fun projects. Sissy and Ren moved two hours closer to Columbus, which I’m pretty sure will work in my favor since Erie is kind of a hole compared to Columbus (no offense Sissy.) Brayden turned two and says my name clearly – as long as you preface it with the inscription I wrote in one of his books he has memorized: “Happy 2^nd Birthday Brayden, Love Aunt Kylie.” And my baby niece Clare told me she thinks I’m one of the coolest Aunties.

All in all, despite my penchant for autumn, the summer was pretty good. But I just know the fall is going to be even better!

Somehow I got out of the habit of blogging. Not a day goes by that I don't think "ooh, I need to blog about that" but then there's a disconnect between the thought and the actual doing. I've also gotten out of the habit of reading other people's blogs, so I need to get back on the wagon catch up! Several things in the last few months...

1. I have a niece! Clare Rose Towers was born on April 14th at 3:59 p.m. and weighed 6lbs. 4 oz. She's gorgeous with a lovely personality - I should know, we've spent a few late nights together! I saw her when she was just a few weeks old when I dragged my entourage to D.C. for a long weekend. Farrah, Hattie and I drove to Maryland on a Thursday night and then we picked Jeff up at Dulles on Friday. We watched a friend's dog and enjoyed fabulous accomodations in Falls Church - close enough to the city for plenty of sight seeing! On Saturday night, Jeff and I saw "The Civil War" at Ford's Theater and had front row seats. Awesome seats in a jinxy old theater - box seats? No thank you! I was slightly annoyed by changes since I was last in town - everything now requires some sort of timed ticket for a tour and my grand plan was interrupted several times. Ah well, we had a good time. We then spent Sunday and Monday with Clare and her entourage - my parents came to town as well, so Kevin and Jess had a full house! I was lucky enough to make a return visit over Memorial Day weekend with Sissy and loved spending the time with K, J and C.

2. Summer finally arrived in Columbus. I of course hate it. It makes my hair frizzy and I sweat in the most uncomfortable and disconcerting places. To make matters worse, the air conditioning went out in my car. Not one to fret for too long, I quickly gathered up some headscarves and decided to reinterpret the Winnie Cooper as a zippy little convertible. I've also become obsessed with looking at other cars with their windows down on the hottest days and imagining why they're not running the AC. I work hard to look comfortable and pretend that I'm simply driving with the windows down to save on freon and improve my gas mileage. That's me, just doing my part! With summer comes the summer internship at the Museum. It's a great help to have an extra set of hands around the office, but it makes it nearly impossible to travel - which is why I gallavant across the country from August to May. In a way, it's nice to have June and July to recharge a bit.

3. Jeff zoomed into town two weeks ago and we agreed that he needs to work on his airline karma a bit. I think since we began dating back in September every single one of his airline flights - either to see me, his family or for work - has been delayed significantly. He was a trooper and took a red-eye through Vegas so that we could spend all of Friday together before going to visit his family on Saturday and Sunday. His nephew's graduation party in Massillon on Saturday was a lot of fun and his parents and siblings were fantastic! We headed back to Columbus on Sunday and took it easy before I had to head to work on Monday. I introduced he and his parents to BlackCreek Bistro over lunch and then just barely got him to the airport ontime for his flight. Next trip - LA in July!!

4. This holiday weekend is gearing up to be pretty fabulous. We got out of work early yesterday and I caught up on some Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a new fan. Today I'm headed to Hoover for some kayaking and might check out Red White and Boom with every other hillbilly in the state. Tomorrow I work at Barnes and then will head to see Sissy, Ren and Brayden! I'm in B withdrawl a bit - I haven't seen him since Easter and it's far too long. I'm afraid he won't remember me and all of the amazing things I've taught him in the last two years. We're going to have to cram a bit tomorrow and Sunday to bring him back up to speed. Our favorite song "Poker Face" is so April 2009, so I need to quickly find a new song for us to sing together.

That's all the news that's worth knowing from KHaus. Sorry (or perhaps you're welcome) for the extended silence!

In a staff meeting today we were discussing Twitter. Their recent marketing campaign seems to be working since every news outlet has splashed their recent morning and evening programs with stories about Twitter. The question during our meeting was whether or not we should “Twitter” on behalf of our non-profit Foundation. None of us are experienced with Twitter and there were several furrowed brows wondering what exactly it means to “Twitter.” One coworker exclaimed “why would anyone use Twitter?” and I shared the brief explanation I found online: “Because even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends, or colleagues—especially when they’re timely. And they help to fill in the blanks that may be left when catching up by phone.” Even I don’t fully get this explanation but I understand the general appeal. Her response was an exasperated “but who cares???” My exasperated response was “yes, we don’t care, but millions of others do.”

I get frustrated with discussions like this because they simply turn a moot point over and over and over. Let’s follow the timeline of modern achievements and the everyman’s reaction:

1775 – Franklin establishes the United States Postal Service. Reaction: “Why in the world would I write a letter to someone on the other side of town when I can simply see them in church on Sunday?”

1828 – Harrison Dyar invents the first telegraph in the US. Reaction: “Who needs dots and dashes when I can write a letter?”

1876 – Though occasionally argued by historians and competing inventors, Bell invents the telephone. Reaction: “Calling is creepy, I’ll just send a telegram.”

1965 – MIT starts using MAILBOX to send electronic messages via computer, and by the 1990s it catches on in the mainstream. Reaction: “E-mailing is hard and confusing, I’ll just call.”

2003 & 2004 – In 2003 Brad Greenspan and some pals at eUniverse started the MySpace as a competitor for the newly launched Friendster website. In 2004 Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook with several friends on campus. Reaction: “MyFace and SpaceBook are a waste of time, why wouldn’t you just e-mail people?”

2004 & 2006 – Twitter is developed at Cornell to transfer files and by 2006 is publicly marketed as a text transfer program with the limit set at 140 characters. It is used in the same manner as the status updates made popular by MySpace and Facebook. Reaction: “Who cares? Who has time to check multiple websites for an update on hundreds of friends?”

2009 – My 62 year old mother is on Facebook and I’m pretty sure that my toddler nephew will soon have an account.

My coworker’s exasperated response is nothing new. I’m sure she’ll sign up for Facebook the minute she realizes that her Granddaughter would rather “Twitter” than write Grandma a letter or e-mail. On that note, the organization I work for has eventually embraced all of this technology – but not without some pushback. We could argue that it’s entirely unnecessary to send letters, e-mail blasts, offer Twitter updates and keep our website current since we have a quarterly magazine that mails to every single living member (who gives us an address update J) But that’s the lazy way out. And who reads magazines anyway? I was recently called an elitist for reading a magazine that had a higher ratio of text to pictures than the average celebrity magazine. Imagine, an article with no pictures…*GASP*

I find that I’m often conflicted in my professional job and education and my personal interests. I love electronic social networking, e-mail, texting and really anything that allows for faceless and voiceless communication. But I also wish that instead of an e-mail folder filled with newsy correspondence from my Mom, I had a packet of letters tied with a ribbon in my letter box. Sometimes I miss her handwriting and the homey feeling that I remember from the typed letters on carbon paper that my parents received from my Grandparents while I was growing up. As an archivist I crave hard copies. Pouring through a messy box of photographs is far more nostalgic than scrolling through a messy digital file of photographs. But nostalgia only gets you so far. Nostalgia also makes us think that WWII would have been a better time to live than now. Victory Gardens are fun, but rationing and worldwide terror is not.

In 2009 I have decided to take up calligraphy and am teaching myself to illuminate things. I’m not sure what I’m going to illuminate with my little paint set, but whatever it is, I’m sure it will be lovely and give me a feeling of old-world values; values that seem to be born of nostalgia, personal connection and untimely updates. Nevermind the awful plagues and poverty that was rampant during the heyday of illuminated manuscripts. The only trouble is that it’s hard to find time for such activities when I have so many updates to check on my social networking accounts.