September begins

I've been in Berkeley two whole weeks now. The conferences at MSRI have been going on since I arrived, just about -- since August 22. That's a lot of lectures, tea-time conversations, dinners with mathematicians, and mingling. Good ideas and good experiences, but I am glad for a rest this Labor Day weekend! I am staying home to cook and do work and try not to get the illness that is making the rounds at the conference.

Almost every work day I have hiked up to MSRI and I thought I'd share some pictures from my walk. These are from sunny days:

Above is MSRI, where I work.

The second-to-last part of my walk there involves this trail.

If I turn around on that trail I can see this view on a clear day: the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.

We had a number of cloudy days earlier in the week. When cloudy, you can't see anything except cloud from where I live. I'll try to take a picture of that later.

Pluses for Berkeley: You can buy salmon at the farmer's market from a company that buys them from local fishers. You can buy avocados from local farms! You can eat fresh figs -- I really don't know much about fresh figs but they are really tasty. I am trying to eat out less and cook more this week -- I could go out to dinner every night with visiting mathematicians, but am trying not to do that all the time. It is good to cook and what you cook.

(Of course, I am missing the State Fair in MN and all the good apples available right now there... Tonight, though, I went out to dinner with my friend Greg and had a pretty good chicken liver on a stick, which will be as close as I get to the fair. It was at a very nice Japanese restaurant so I can't really compare it to the fair!)