Today, 7 November in 1952, at 9:28 a.m. Bruce Parfitt was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Many of his people are thinking of him on this, the day of his birth in the year of his death. He would have been 57. ~CDorschner
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Birth Day
Today, 7 November in 1952, at 9:28 a.m. Bruce Parfitt was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Many of his people are thinking of him on this, the day of his birth in the year of his death. He would have been 57. ~CDorschner
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Couple of Links
Monday, September 7, 2009
AND ON THE THIRD DAY...
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Next...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Alces alces success via Bruce
Yesterday I posted about heading for a "moose hunt" after completing the bathroom vanity project. Well, the photo to the right shows the result of that drive to somewhere between Eden and Belvidere, Vermont. I conducted the normal ritual that Bruce and I had: drive slowly along the road searching for a dark hump in the marsh or along the edge of Long Pond, turn around at 'three corners' and repeat over and over again until a moose was sighted or darkness fell to the valley floor. Never before on my many trips to this location did I have such a good look at moose, or, for so long! This cow and calf were munching for nearly 30 minutes while a small crowd of silent observers witnessed their grace and beauty while slurping underwater vegetation. Bruce would have been thrilled! While watching them I imagined what our conversation would have been and well, was a bit sad he was unable to come this time.
Today I drove Bruce's neighbor and long-time resident of Johnson to see Bruce. I had offered to drive here there (because she does not like driving in 'the city' any longer). I printed this same photo and left it on Bruce's small bedside table; he slept during our entire visit (he sleeps much of the time now).
Maggie and I had a discussion about life and death today on the long (ish) drive back to Johnson and also discussed teaching and learning. Later I thought about that discussion and thought about how much Bruce has taught me over the almost 7 years I have known him. He showed me my first Moose, showed me the beauty of Vermont, taught me to appreciate and care for nature, and accompanied me on countless birding trips where we saw many 'lifers' together. We traveled from all corners of Michigan to Ohio, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. We had great discussions, we ate lobster along the Atlantic coast, we canoed, we laughed, we debated politics (of which we agreed mostly on everything), we even had the great chance to publish a few things together and one forthcoming article. My next thought was of how could something like that friendship ever be repaid. Answer: It cannot. One should just pass these things along; hopefully I can have students and graduate students who I can pass the story of Bruce on to.
J.C. Springer
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Bruce'sSuperMoM
Finally completed...and...a tradition
Today, after two days of planning and thinking about how best to install a vanity in Bruce's basement bathroom...it's complete! It was a tricky installation, cutting around pipes (you might be able to see some in the photo) and designing a new drain that would fit to the vintage 1950s design that couldn't be entirely removed. Although imperfect because it's a very old bathroom with slanted floors and extremely hard cement walls it would please Bruce, I'm sure; and NO leaks!
The vanity had been sitting askew, partially assembled since my last visit to Vermont back during my spring break in March. Bruce was unable to finish it because of lack of strength and pain while moving his shoulder. However, I was happy to finish it during my short stay in Vermont (I looked forward to working on projects like these; the tile in this photo was something Bruce and I completed during Christmas break 2008 and the nearby kitchen with Sommer Schons during summer 2008).
Tonight, as a celebration I'm going to continue a tradition Bruce and I had when I visited: Moose 'hunting' near Eden, VT. Although he and I have only seen two moose all these times I've visited "Mooseberry Camp" (about 14 times total now) we kept trying and I'll cross my fingers that a bull moose will grace me with his presence tonight.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"I'LL NEVER FORGET"
Friday, August 28, 2009
YOUR EMAILS ETCETERA
Thursday, August 27, 2009
FEELS LIKE FALL
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
CHANGE OF PLACE, CHANGE OF VASE...
...of garden flowers (This week it's 'Limelight' hydrangea and pendulous fuchsia).
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Changing plans
During my travels across the country the past few weeks I've had some time to think.
Bruce and I planned my upcoming trip to Mooseberry camp in Johnson around late May with the hopes of going canoeing, working on some of the many (zillions) of small projects that I always helped him with or, (our ambitions always ran high), even trying to get him out to the Atlantic coast again to have lobster (which we had been happily able to do over Christmas break, 2008 while we birded the New Hampshire and Massachusetts coasts).
Unfortunately we may not be able to do many of those things on this visit. However, I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing "The Bruce" again Monday the 24 or Tuesday the 25th. Hopefully we can get into one of our lively discussions on any number of topics and have a few good laughs and share stories of my travels to Glacier National Park and my research with "my brother from another mother" as I sometimes used to joke with him.
I still plan on checking a few things off the lists that he always had for me whenever I visited. He always had things that he wanted me to do that he was unable to do and we always sat down at dinner each night crossing the days accomplishments off. Hopefully I'll install the vanity in his basement bathroom that he purchased in March when I visited on my spring break. I will also see his neighbor, Maggie Miller whom I've known since I first visited Mooseberry camp in 2004 with Erin Harris.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Hospital Days
Girls' Night Out
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Parfitt Patchwork
Amanda mentioned the quilt (and two pillow shams) that arrived. Breathtaking. Beautiful wool, much of it from the famous Johnson Woolen Mill in town (makers of classic buffalo plaids and other traditional wools).
Friday, August 14, 2009
Mandy and Bruce
Hello Everyone!
So I've been here helping out Bruce and becoming introduced to Vermont now for the past week and a half, and it has been quite the experience. Bruce has done his best to show me as much as he can, while maximizing his energy. We've gone moose hunting (not with a gun of course,) driven up to Smuggler's Notch, went up Mt. Mansfield, and visited the town of Stowe. We stopped off in the town of Jericho and went to Elmore State Park. In the mornings I've also been hiking along parts of the Long Trail, which actually I think is the most beautiful (from Johnson, going north.) The Long Trail actually extends through the entirety of Vermont, and I've fallen in love with it. I can absolutely see why wonderful people come to Vermont to live, as it
has completely won me over as well.
As for Bruce, he's handling everything with his characteristic tenacity. He continues to go to PT three times a week, and just got set up with a new doctor, Julie Olin, and her sidekick Nurse Practitioner Liesl Steiner. These two are "a gift," as Maggie Miller has put it. And they are. They're doing a great job of working with Bruce to figure his difficult way through these woods that none of us have had to navigate.
On a side note, yesterday a surprise arrived for Bruce: a beautiful quilt that that Bruce's mother, Joan, had been working on for 5 YEARS! She and several other women spent countless hours on this thing. Amazing!
Which brings us to today, when Cheryl Dorschner's car died in the middle of downtown Johnson on her way to visit. The tow company wanted to charge her $200 to come from Williston to retrieve her vehicle. Could life get any easier? But she made it here! Thank goodness! We missed her! So after an evening of a lots of laughs, Cheryl was rescued by her wonderful husband Steve. I guess we'll be seeing her again soon, since her car is trapped in Johnson (harharhar.)
That's all for now I guess. Hope everyone is having a good night!
~Mandy Sheehy
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Bruce Parfitt's Research is Still Informing Taxonomy
John Ander-son, state botan-ist for the Bureau of Land Manage-ment headquartered in Phoenix Arizona, reported in June that it was discovered that a potentilla collected by Bruce is a new species -- Potentilla demotica. Formerly thought to be P. subviscos.
Bruce collected the specimen in 1979 in the northern Hualapai Mountains of Arizona when he worked as a field biologist for the Bureau
of Land Management -- helicoptered in to remote areas, hiking the rough terrain to collect, identify and preserve rare species.
That work still provides the foundation for research and identification today. The new species name was published by Barbara Ertter in the Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
In late July, col-league John Daniels took these photos of Potentilla demotica (above) and its setting -- the Hualapai Mountians where Bruce and Mary Butterwick collected the speciman. It appears from the terrain that Bruce was quite a hiker!
Bruce Checks In
Friday, August 7, 2009
Blitz Kåfer Flies In
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
CAN YOU CANOE?
THE WEEK BETWEEN
THE BROTHERS PARFITT
Arden Par-fitt, of some-where in Wis-con-sin, Sun Prairie perhaps, made plans months ago to visit his brother. Waiting and negotiating as he did, he got a completely different visit than he expected.