After the Christmas holidays, it was straight back to business as usual. We actually had a pretty awful trip back to San Diego from Idaho. We got caught in a snow storm between Twin Falls and Ely, Nevada, which was the first leg of our trip. That slowed us down, so that we didn't arrive in Ely until about 6pm, where the snow was falling thick and fast. We still had at least another 9 hours to go, with the most dangerous part of the journey just ahead. We also also started having car trouble with the beetle, which, as it turns out, is a very spoiled California car which does not like cold weather. All the warning signs were on, so we decided not to risk it with the snow and the potentially malfunctioning car, and stayed overnight with my sister Julienne's in-laws, Don and Rama Robertson. They were so good to put us up for the night. After some pretty fervent prayers and a good night's sleep, we got up early the next morning to find that the car engines had not cracked in the -15F weather, the beetle had now decided to behave, and the snow storm had passed! Within a few hours time, we were in Las Vegas, well on our way home.
Anyway, as soon as we got home I had to prepare for an academic conference in Denmark which was taking place on the 7th and 8th of January. The conference was entitled 'Happiness, Well-being and the Good Life: Applications and Perspectives.' I thought that it might be a good opportunity to develop some of my ideas on a philosophy of parenting that I had been thinking back for a while. Looking back, I'm not quite sure what made me think this conference would be a good fit with some of my ideas, and I'm thinking now that I must have been inspired to see that I could mold a philosophy of parenting into a conference on happiness. Of course, there is a connection, because my ideas on parenting that I have been writing about in my Philosophy for Parents blog have been focused quite a bit on the idea of the 'human good', which in Aristotelian philosophy is intricately connected with the idea of happiness, or what can also be translated as 'flourishing'. But I am still grateful that I was able to see how to develop some of my ideas regarding parenting and 'human flourishing' could fit into the framework of the conference.
So, I went. Tim was very good to let me go. It was a big investment in terms of time and money. The conference was in Odense, Denmark, which is actually the hometown of Hans Christian Anderson. My paper presentation went well. I met some very smart, generous scholars and was able to have some helpful and encouraging discussions with them regarding my work. I presented on the Thursday, and attended the conference dinner at a restaurant called Bacchus that night. I had an excellent Jerusalem artichoke soup topped with a poached egg for my first course, and a delicious roasted quail with root vegetables for the main course. The dessert was delicately stewed prunes with chocolate mousse, and it was fabulous.
When the conference was over, I spent the next two nights with the lovely Holmbone family. Lars Holmbone is an old friend of Tim's from when they were missionaries together in Manchester, England. Lars very kindly picked me up from the conference and took me to their home. The next day he cleared his schedule to take me around some historical sites in Denmark. First, of course, I had to see the world headquarters of Lego!!!
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| World headquarters of Lego ... in January! |
And then Lars took me to see Legoland, Denmark, which as you can see is very snowy and very closed in January.
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| It doesn't actually snow as much as you might think in Denmark ... |
We then set off to see a little village in Denmark which is known as the 'birthplace of Christianity' in Denmark. It is apparently the place where the Danish king Harold Bluetooth accepted Christianity. So there is a beautiful old church on this ancient site, as well as a very famous stone which bears an intricate carving of a picture of Christ on one side, and a rune inscription on the other stating that Harold now was a Christian and therefore a Christian king.
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| The ancient church, on the site where Harold Bluetooth accepted Christianity |
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| Rune inscriptions describing Harold's conversion |
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| Carvings, now faded, of Jesus on the cross and other Christian images |
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| Lars Holmbone, my fabulous Danish host! |
Then it was back home to face the carnage that always awaits me whenever I return home, although Tim had done a very good job managing while I was away. I had a new course to prepare for, as well as another conference in Hermosa Beach later in January, plus 3 birthdays to plan and execute!
Samuel's is the first birthday of the year, January 22. Samuel isn't much of a planner and we aren't loaded with cash, so in the end we agreed that he could take a friend to the movies and that would be a great party. So he had his friend Ian over for a family pizza party, then it was off to the movies and we were good.
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| The minimalist birthday party |
To commemorate Samuel reaching the milestone of officially being a teenager, Abigail took this lovely photo.
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| Samuel at 13 |
Two days later, Eleanor has a birthday!! She decided to follow suit and also have a movie party. Yea!! So we had friends Katie and Rachel over for a birthday lunch, and then took everyone to see The Good Dinosaur.
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| Eleanor's 9th birthday party |
Every year, Eleanor always asks for a horsey cake. I don't do it often enough to get very good at it, but I do try.
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| Eleanor the horse lover! |
The next day was Sunday, Eleanor's actual birthday. As per usual, she got the Bleakley birthday breakfast and presents in bed.
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| Happy Birthday Eleanor! |
