 What’s the deal with the black & white saddle shoes?  Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa. Here's looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm  Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat! Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series Iowa Hall of Pride netINS, Inc. Butler House on Grand B&B Sam's Barber Shop Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show'' Barack Obama story & coloring book The Monks of New Melleray Abbey RELATED LINKS About Offenburger.com Biographies Want to Reprint? Want Updates? ARCHIVES Chuck Offenburger's columns Christie Vilsack's columns Carla Offenburger's columns Carla's book reviews Jared Strong's columns Guest Columns The Simple Serenity Farm columns Farm Photos, 2006 - 2008 Our Iowa News Digest Along Our Way 
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 Listening to the conversations of Yale students stretches where your mind’s edges usually are By CARLA OFFENBURGER September 19, 2007 NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN BIG PLACES, YOU FIND YOURSELF THINKING BIG! My husband Chuck and I are spending time in New Haven, Connecticut, where son Andrew, daughter-in-law Maria and little granddaughter Lindsay Lee make their home – right smack in the middle of downtown, close to Yale University and close to plenty of diversity, green space and coffeehouses. (By Andrew’s count, in the square mile around their condo, there are 10 coffeehouses, three of them Starbucks, and all seem busy all the time!)  A few days later, on another of our walks around campus, we overheard what appeared to be two younger men, obviously undergraduates since one was wearing a ball cap cockeyed on his head, discussing the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as they walked into the bookstore. Said one to the other: “Nietzsche’s belief is that there is no morality, that the strongest make the morality.” I suspect there are similar discussions happening on the Yale campus day after day. But I should tell you, too, “Yale students can drink beer,” as the New Haven Register observed in an article the other day. We saw evidence of that last Thursday night about 10 p.m. when we were walking back to the condo after dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant. Suddenly, it seemed, the whole Yale campus was emptying out, and the downtown bars were filling up. Mornings-after here in the bar district smell just like other campus-town bar scenes across the country – like stale beer. YOU’VE GOTTA LOVE WHAT’S AVAILABLE TO DO IN A UNIVERSITY TOWN LIKE NEW HAVEN. Chuck and I have been talking how, if we lived in New Haven, we would never spend any time at home with all of the interesting lectures, concerts and events happening. Here’s a short list – all found in large advertisements in the Yale Daily News – of what we found ourselves wanting to do this week: -- A reading by Anne Fadiman, who is Yale’s “Francis Writer in Residence” this year. She is author of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” and “Ex Libris.” Her reading is from her new book “At Large and At Small,” which has already received this rave from National Public Radio: “She’s such a stellar writer that if she wrote about pencil shavings, you’d read it aloud to all your friends.” -- The 2007 “Stavros Niarchos Lecture” featuring Mark Mazower, a professor of history at Columbia University, who is to speak on this topic: “The Virgin Mary and the Collapse of Ottoman Rule: Revolution on Tinos, 1821-1830.” -- A program called “New Haven & The Constitution,” held as part of the “Constitution Hour” at Yale, saluting the 220th anniversary of our nation’s guiding document. The event was to include “commentary, a reading of excerpts from the Constitution and its Amendments, and a musical tribute.” -- A fall reception welcoming “the community of International Students & Scholars at Yale,” with “food, music, & dancing!” -- As part of the “Poynter Fellowship in Journalism,” the New York Times’ personal technology columnist David Pogue speaks at a “Master’s Tea” and then is presenting his “Mobile Gadget Show-and-Tell.” And those were just the programs featured in the large advertisements – with the public invited to all of them. Now, how enriching is all of that? I think you could probably get a bit of Yale education every day here and never have to pay a dime in tuition. BUT THE BEST PART OF NEW HAVEN IS LITTLE LINDSAY LEE OFFENBURGER. Oh, how hard it was to wait! Granddaughter Lindsay Lee was born clear back on July 9, and it wasn’t until last week that we got to pick her up and hold her. What a joy that was. And what a joy she is. Everyone has been telling me how great being a grandmother will be. They were right, because when you get to hold your granddaughter, and snuggle with her, hear her cry and watch her diligent parents take care of her every need so lovingly, you realize what a precious thing grandparenting will indeed be.  I figure by the time we see Lindsay in Iowa at Thanksgiving, she’ll be able to reach out and grab things, her smiles will be bigger and brighter, and she just might be letting all of us sleep all night. I’ve been reading books to her, taking her on long walks in the fresh crisp fall New England air, and generally holding her every chance I get. What a precious baby – the cutest one in the room I always tell her! And I bet you think the same about your grandbaby, too. Send your comments to carla@Offenburger.com.
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