REPORT FROM OUR TRIP TO DELAWARE AND PHILADELPHIA

March 31-April 5, 2005
for a combinatorics conference at the University of Delaware

Tuesday April 5, 2005


Here's a welcome mural we saw as we drove into to this artistic city!

We were so glad we made this stop in Philadelphia before we boarded the plane for home! The retrospective of Salvadore Dali's work, ending May 15 was stunning. We saw may early works we had never seen, and the 200 items made an inspiring and thoroughly impressive view of his life and work.


See the deep splash of color, the burgundy (plum) trees preceeding all the other still bare branches on city streets.


A wave back at our wonderful trip on the last leg of our journey, a half hour stop in Chicago...and our favorite "moving walkway"!

Sunday&Monday. April3&4, 2005


Rick gave his talk at the seminar on Monday
An Ax-Katz type theorem for congruences modulo powers of a prime


It was a delight to be visiting with our good friend and host, Qing Xiang


From Kathy's conference sketchbook


Above, Chris Godsil, University of Waterloo, has visited us in Pasadena. We enjoyed dinner together at our hotel our first night in Delaware.(You can see him above, in the background of the photo with Rick and Qing)


Our dear friend for many years, David Boxwell, drove from Baltimore on Sunday night to have dinner with us and have a few hours together. He is a liuetenant-colonel in the air force and teaches English literature at the naval academy.


A mathematical lunch at "The Trap"
"Newark's finest seafood restaurant", walking distance from the campus


Above after seminar beer and dinner at the "Deer Park Tavern"


We think the above trademark must be inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, who is said to have fallen out of his carriage in the mud in front of this landmark tavern, and said
"A curse upon this place! All who enter shall have to return!" Patrons found this so amusing that they carried him into the tavern to a hero's welcome.


Above two views of Aart Blockhuis, from the Technical University of Eindhoven. Aart gave two talks, one on Sunday, and another at the seminar on Monday. He looks quite different on each day, doesn't he? However Kathy says neither drawings look like him! The diagram on the right was copied from one of his illustrations during his Sunday talk.
Old and new applications of Lacunary Polynomials and...in Finite Geometry
Below see more sketches of the participants


David Chandler, Academia Sinica


Jenny Key, Clemson University


Roger Calderbank, Princeton University


The pool at the Courtyard Marriot at the University of Delaware where we have been staying.


A view from the pool

You can see the weather is improving, some blue sky above the campus trees...

We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) for Philadelphia, the Dali exhibit at the Art Museum and them to the airport to fly home to California. Rick teaches his class Wednesday afternoon.

Go back to Kathy&Rick Home Page

Saturday, April 2, 2005


The view from our hotel window is different from the watery view in Philadelphia. You can see it is not really spring here yet! In fact we were just out to dinner in a thunderstorm.

The signs that Spring is coming! Amidst bare branches, our favorite pink trees are in bloom all over town!

Here our friend Vladimir Tonchev gives his talk at the Combinatorics seminar session we are attending.

At the end of days talks we all went to "The Crownery" our host Qing Xiang's favorite Chinese restaurant.


These are not Chinese noodles. Jellyfish! It was delicious.


An unlucky delicious fish.


A luckier fish, in Kathy's journal. Drawn at the aquarium at Penn's landing's Seaport museum. You can't quite tell, but the fish on the right had buck teeth!


From Katyhy's journal, a view of the bridge at Penn's landing yesterday.

April 1, 2005

We had an afternoon at Penn's landing, a walk on the pier, and through the Independence Seaport Museum, including a fascinating tour of two ships, an 1892 Cruiser and a 1940's submarine! We plan be back in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon to see the Salvadore Dali Retrospective at the Philadelphia Art Museum before the flight home.


Kathy coming out of the control room...she got in no trouble...


Kathy was swimming in two states yesterday! This is the rooftop indoor pool at the Hyatt at Penn's Landing...one can look up and see the sky through skylights above, and ships on the river, and the city out the windows all around. Later you'll see the tiny but lovely pool here in Delaware...it is raining here...it's just like we were back in California the last two months...!

Philadelphia, PA
March 31, 2005


View from our room over the Delaware River 10 p.m.


from Kathy's trip journal


Our flight was perfect!