We’re down to the double digits until the wedding! In the past couple of months I have found that time seems to be doing strange things. When I think, “99 days till the wedding!” it seems simultaneously like forever to wait to get married and an extraordinary short time until the wedding day.

Gilbert finds it very easy to keep track of how many days we have left because there are large digital signs around Lexington which are counting down the days until the beginning of the world equestrian games, which happens to start the day before our wedding. Very convenient.

This past week we had a consultant come out to talk to us. We took him out to the wedding field where we stood in the blazing hot sun talking about tent sizes until Mogie suggested we sit at the picnic table in the shade. It sounds like it’s all coming together. He’s supposed to be sending me some more information and layout plans soon.

We are also supposed to be meeting with our caterer sometime soon, probably next week. Now we need to investigate flowers and music. I’ve had some wonderful offers of help from various people that are going to make the wedding so much more special. Three cousins are playing the wedding march, multiple friends and relatives including my grandmother are making cookies, a cousin is making the little cake and cupcakes as my wedding present, my former FFA chapter is going to loan me an arbor, cousins are doing my hair and makeup and their mom is going to help with the sound system and music. If you think it sounds like a lot of cousins are helping out, let me remind you that I have 24 first cousins alone and live within five minutes of numerous second, third, and fourth cousins. I like it that way.

It is a sunny spring morning and Mogie and I will be going on a walk in a little while. These days our walks often take us around the hayfield where the wedding ceremony and reception are going to be held. One day I told Mogie I was very excited at the thought of having so many of my friends and family together in the same place, both sides of my family, college friends, Mt. Eden friends, Peace Corps friends... Mogie thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yeah! When else does that happen besides your funeral?”

Gilbert is being a good sport about my long rambling tangents about mini-sandwiches and first dance song options. In fact he recently told me he never imagined planning his wedding would be so fun. As long as he feels that way I think the process is going quite well.

This afternoon we are going apartment hunting. The place we found online that we like the best is having a winter sale. We like it because it has a fireplace and a washer and dryer, not to mention a little lake and some green space. If we get our names on the waiting list before Wednesday we’ll still be in on the winter sale deal even if we don’t start moving in until September.

In non wedding related news I have a job grading tests at UK for the next month or so. That’s very exciting news because I’m taking another grad school class starting this Thursday. My last two classes went well. I hope we get our grades sometime soon.

Campbellsville’s satellite grad school program is a bit on the strange side. Classes run just about all year long. There is a trimester system and then there are summer classes offered as well. The whole idea is to get through grad school as quickly as possible which is nice but a bit intense.

It looks like it’s about time to go on our walk. I hope you all have a bit of sunshine to enjoy wherever you are today!

Quote of the Day:

“The brownies were made with butter so eat up!”- Mogie (after a lunchtime discussion about why butter is better for you than margarine)

I’m engaged!!!!!!!!! I should probably have led up to that in some sort of sneaky fashion. But when I am so excited I’m out of bed at 6:45 in the morning I care nothing for sneaky and want to get straight to the heart of the matter.

Here’s the story: Yesterday morning Gilbert wrote me and told me that he woke up groggy and wished he had some more of the chai that my parents gave him for Christmas. At lunch time he e-mailed again and said that the only place he could find that had chai was the Indian market next to the restaurant where we met for our first date. See it coming? I didn’t!

I go to Lexington every Tuesday so we can watch LOST together and we were excited because yesterday it was nice enough to go for a walk before we ate supper. After some debate we decided to have Italian and after we ate we went to Target to run errands. I had a headache so I was looking forward to getting back to Gilbert’s place where I could close my eyes for a little bit before LOST started. He asked if I felt well enough to go get some chai. I said I was (although I really just wanted to stay in the car.) I did perk up a little as we drove into the parking lot because it always makes me happy to remember the first time I saw Gilbert. I reminded him of it as we pulled into the shopping center, “See that’s where I first saw you, leaning against that window.”

We went into the little Indian market and got the chai. I was looking forward to being able to sit down and rest my eyes but as we walked out to the car he said, “This is where I first saw you!” He stopped in the middle of a parking space. I stopped too and gave him a hug and kiss and then kept walking toward the car.

“And one other thing,” he said from behind me. I turned around and there he was on one knee with the ring box opened. I was so shocked! I was expecting it to happen sometime in the next couple of weeks but I really was not expecting it right then and there. I’m really ridiculously happy.

Preemptive answers:

The ring is beautiful and is being sized right now but Gilbert is going to bring it to me this afternoon. There will be pictures!

We haven’t discussed dates or anything specific yet but I will be posting here to keep you all updated.

Other questions? Let me know!

Other things that make me happy:

Cooking a Hawaiian themed meal at Gilbert's apartment and then watching LOST with him.Getting an "awesome" on my mid-term. (Yes, there was a number grade as well, but "awesome" is always the best way to be graded.)Going to a counseling seminar for two days with a bunch of friends from school.Having a job interview for a job I would actually enjoy.Having Boo home for the weekend.Listening to books on CD in the car.The fact that Eloise is still running. I think this may have been the longest she has ever gone without having to go to the garage. *knock on wood*DId I mention Gilbert? Ok, just checking.:)

I’m listening to the London Philharmonic play “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” I accidently bought it from iTunes while trying to purchase the original Queen recording but now I have to admit that I really like this version as well. It’s a cloudy January day but it is not supposed to rain and happily it is going to be a very warm day, almost 60! I know we’ve still got over a month of winter left but I have to say I am already looking forward to spring. I think I may celebrate by going for a walk.

I have various things to report including my enjoyment of both of my classes. How fun to be learning things that I know I will be finding ways to use for the rest of my life. I’ll be giving two presentations one on crisis care with a few other students and another on ethnicity and the family all by myself. I think I need movie clips!

Yesterday Mogie and I went to Lexington for our weekly tutoring session with the Nepalis. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. They get to learn a little English, Mogie practices her Nepali and we all get amusing cross cultural experiences. Sometimes one man will be so overwhelmed by the absurdity of trying to say, “What is your name?” that he will start to laugh first a chuckle and then a breathless chortle. The rest of us rock with laughter as well as he wheezes for breath trying to ask the question again.

Today through a random chain of links I found out that the US ice skating duo of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto have preformed a routine based on Moldovan folk dance. It makes me so happy whenever I run into a mention of Moldova even if they call it “Moldavia.” I want to cheer and say, “Hurrah! A few more people found out Moldova exists today!”

I wouldn’t blame you at all if you had given up on this little blog. In fact I have given serious consideration to the idea that my blogging days may have run their course. But I have realized with serious shock and dismay that in this time that I have not been writing I have also not been creative in any other aspect of my life.

Sure, I’ve cooked a bit. (There’s a whole story about failed fudge making attempts that should comfort anyone else facing what has always been their own personal cooking Waterloo.)

I’ve renewed and refreshed long and valuable friendships. Lamai came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we spent three days talking almost non-stop while housebound by a whole 2 inches of snow.

Grad school has begun. My first class was Monday night. I enjoyed the whole four hours and am looking forward to tonight’s class which is an introduction to Family Studies. I am thrilled to be pursing my dream and more than a little anxious to get a job so that I can pay for it.

Most importantly I’ve spent time with Gilbert, with his family and with my family, on weekends and on weekdays. We’ve played countless games, watched ridiculous movies, and read each other’s book recommendations. We’ve gone to church together and to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in Rupp Arena which was spectacular in every sense of the word. Big events and little moments, we share them and that makes me incredibly happy.

But, I am a creative person and all of these activities and people and stresses and joys have added up to me ignoring that side of myself. Fortunately I am a devoted reader of some very creative people’s blogs. Kyle Cassidy is a photographer who is always in search of creative things to do and creative people to collaborate with. He took advantage of the fact that he had not heat in his house during the snow storm in Philly to have his wife (a stage actress) pose for some pictures. That’s what I mean, some people think, “My house is freezing! I must snuggle up to the heater and not move until it get warmer!” Then there are those who think, “My house is freezing! Let’s go outside and take pictures in the snow!” Kyle often ends his posts with an entreaty that his readers, “Go be awesome!”

I’m not sure I’m up to claiming that I am pursuing awesomeness but I am definitely going to make putting the creative and extraordinary into my life a much higher priority in the coming months.

Let’s see what happens!

(We're doing this in segments to keep me posting.)

If my family’s Thanksgiving reunion will not inspire you to open up your laptop and start writing then I am not sure what will.

Every other year over 30 of us meet up at my family’s church camp for a few days of ridiculous games, lots of food, laughter, and a murder mystery. I arrived at camp on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving with a car full of bedding and food. I kinda enjoyed having the camp by myself for a little while. I spent so much time there as a child and teenager that I have a nice comfortable familiar feeling when I sit in the dining hall. Although, I have noticed that the dining hall has shrunk considerably since I was seven years old. The walk from one of the back tables to the kitchen used to be a long one. That’s not so true anymore.

I spent a while hanging out and unloading Eloise and then the Fosters arrived to keep me company. Uncle Jeff and I hunkered down by the radio and listened to the UK game, alternately cheering and glaring at the radio. It went into overtime but then we won so Uncle Jeff and I felt that we contributed something to the team’s success.

I was awakened about 2:00 in the morning by the Waggoner’s arrival and Tesha swooping in to hug me and then I was out again.

The next morning was full of catching up with various relatives. I brought a bunch of pictures of Caleb and he was duly admired and praised. (As he should be!) There were stories of trips to Ecuador, school plays, grad school interviews, art projects, college classes, strange counseling experiences and much more.

My December calendar is filling up at an alarming rate. I have three job interviews in the next three weeks. Somewhere in there I will also have my grad school interview. I’ve been playing phone tag with various people at Campbellsville for the past week or so. In fact I’ve been calling and writing so much that Thursday when I spoke to someone she said, “Oh Rachel!” Like she knew who I was and had been expecting me to call. At least they know I’m very interested.

In addition to interviews I am going to Gilbert’s work Christmas party this Friday and have find some shoes between now and then. Of course there are family Christmas events as well and the fact that I have yet to buy a single present. Not good. Last year I knew what I was getting everyone and had ordered everything by the beginning of December. Not so this year. But, I’m not stressing. I enjoy giving presents and I’d rather wait until I find the perfect thing.

I am getting ready to work on the great Thanksgiving update. Hopefully it will be up today or tomorrow.

Alright folks... I’m back and with a little encouragement from kpinyork and Ashley I am ready to blog again. In fact I think I am going to try to blog at least every other day this month. I really need to be working my creative writing muscles which have been very underused recently. There is much to talk about, including murder mysteries and teaching English as a second langauge. But first I think I should introduce you to my primary distraction of the past couple of months. He will henceforth be known as... Gilbert! (Yes, that is a not so veiled homage to Anne Shirley’s “Gilbert.”) Gilbert and I met on eHarmony in the middle of September. We had our first lunch together on a Saturday in the middle of October and have been virtually inseparable since. I say virtually because he has a job and lives in Lexington. Considering those slight inconveniences we manage to see a lot of each other. He proved his bravery by joining us at the Jordan Family Thanksgiving Reunion this past week. I would like to say that I have been able to prove my own courage in some comparable manner but I can’t think of anything I have done that comes close to that level of dedication.

I have a feeling that Gilbert will be around as a character in this blog for a long time to come and I have to say that makes me very happy.

This time change has me all messed up. I woke up at 7:15 and couldn't get back to sleep. Of course some of that could have to do with fact that there are 29 calves being weened in the pond lot right now. My window faces the pond and the calves keep up a fairly constant barrage of bawling. This will be their second full day in there so hopefully things will improve.

J and E came down for the weekend which was super! We had a birthday supper for Grandmother on Saturday night and sat around for ages afterwards while telling stories. E, Mogie, and I worked on a puzzle while watching The Princess Bride and The Emperor's New Groove, two of my all time favorite movies.

I am busy with grad school stuff and the job hunt. No really great job leads yet.

Ahh! I can’t believe it’s been this long since I’ve written. I haven’t forgotten this blog. I’ve just been... distracted... with things... Like going on dates. I KNOW! I didn’t know I dated either.;) I still don’t really have anything to report in the romance department. I’ve just been eating out rather more frequently and seeing lots of plays. But I won’t go into those details.

I will tell you about the play that we went to see in Indianapolis though. J and E are now in Indiana and we all (with the exception of Boo who is at school) met up with our Indiana relatives. Uncle Jeff got us tickets to, “The Heavens are Hung in Black.” The play centers on Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the Civil War and his struggle to keep the Union together while dealing with the loss of one of his sons. We all enjoyed the play and since it was opening night we got to walk up on stage and look at the props and examine the mechanics of the stage. Pretty cool stuff. I've always thought that I would enjoy working behind the scenes of a movie or play production. There is just so much that goes on to make a production work.

We went out to eat together after the play where one of our main topics of conversation was this book, http://www.thecandybombers.com It's an incredibly touching and inspiring story. Daddy heard the author speak while at a conference where he was honored as the “Kentucky Middle School Social Studies Teacher of the Year.” He got a paperweight. We are very proud (of him).

Mogie, Daddy, and I drove up to see J and E the day after the play. We helped them unpack in their new little house and admired their enourmous garage. We ate Mexican for lunch and drove around Muncy in an attempt to find the Ball State campus. Eventually we did find the main drag and even drove by the archetecture building where J will be taking many of his classes. t looks like a nice school and J and E are feeling very welcomed by their neighbors. Hopefully they will be down for a visit before too long.

Last week I got an e-mail from Campbellsville informing me that I don't have to take the GRE because my undergrad GPA was over 3.0. That is thrilling news. I also learned that the major I am interested in is offered at their Louisville campus which means I will only have a 50 minute commute! I’m really happy about that.

I have much more to tell and will tell it soon!

I got on my computer determined to write an update for LJ when Vanya called me on Skype. He went to Chisinau last weekend and bought a new computer. This means that for the first time in two years we were able to talk online without the majority of our conversations being spent yelling, “Hello??!!?” and “What!?!?” at our computer screens. This week will mark the two years since I left Moldova. Lamai called this morning and she was talking about how we measure stuff as “Before PC” and “After PC.” I have to say that these past two years have not gone precisely the way I imagined that they would but they’ve been good years all in all. They have definitely been the fastest two years of my life. Is the rest of my life going to go by at such a crazy pace? Yikes. The Side Hallway by the Sisters of Perpetual Remodeling (sounds like a rock band, yeah?) is just about done. The walls are painted a lovely banana cream and may be the reason I’ve been wanting to make banana pudding this past week. Mogie claims that if you want to stay in a bad mood you should run through the hallway because if you linger your spirits are bound to be lifted by such cheerful suroundings. Yes, we do tend to wax a bit poetic about our remodeling efforts. I will take pictures soon. A week ago Mogie and I went to Lexington and took Grandma to a meeting at the Kentucky Refugee Ministries office. We are going to start volunteering with them. Mogie was looking for some sort of volunteer opportunity which would give Grandma a chance to mix with people and we are really excited about it. We are probably going to get to work with a Bhutanese refugee family. They are ethnically Nepali, which means that Mogie’s Nepali skills will be of great use to us. On the way to Indiana this weekend Mogie practiced teaching me Nepali to refresh her own memory. I’m afraid I’ve already forgotten how to say, “This is my book.” Right-o. There is more to be said but it will have to wait till a bit later in the week. Quotes of this Past Weekend: Is he talking your leg off?-Emily The cheesecake is in the little doodad!- Mogie That was very planful of you!-Daddy

Well, the internets (meaning the people who’s blogs I follow) seem to have come to life again and that makes me feel like I should be posting too. So, here’s a general life update. I have been staying in close contact with Sally and my other New York friends. I've talked to Sally, I've talked to Trisha, I've talked to Patrick. They've all given me dramatic and sometimes contradictory reports of life at Windy Willow Farm. Two nannies have quit since I left and this past Thursday Sally called asking if I would think about flying up to help her out until the newest nanny arrives. I did give it some serious consideration. I want to stay a part of their lives, especially Caleb’s life. But I am only now feeling acclimated to life in the real world. Going back to the Catskills for two weeks isn’t exactly going to help me get on with everything that needs to be done like finding a job and getting into grad school. I think I made the right decision and yet it is hard not to rush to Sally’s aid. Friday night I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with a friend. I really enjoy going to the theater. I love movies, I really do, but seeing a story acted out in front of you by people who you could touch if you just got close enough makes the experience something completely different. Today Mogie and I went to Lexington to help Grandma celebrate her 85th birthday. We at lunch at Applebee's with Aunt Mera, Uncle Martin, my cousin Joel, Grandma’s would-be-boyfriend Al, and a family friend named Jason. We made a pretty lively bunch and although Grandma will forget it quickly it’s nice to know that for a little bit she was reminded of how much we love her. Grandma’s memory is really very poor now. She was certain Mogie was Aunt Mera. Mogie: Do you know who I am? Grandma: Of course! You’re my baby! Mogie: Noooo... who do you think I am? Grandma: You’re Mera... you can’t be Cathy. Mogie: SURPRISE! I am Cathy! *laughter all around*

A couple of weekends ago I went up to Indiana with the Grandparents and Uncle Lennie and Aunt Doris. We spent two days at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lisa’s making sorghum. It was so much fun. I have heard stories of various misadventures connected to the annual sorghum making but this year everything seemed to go smoothly. We got there by just after 10 o’clock Friday morning and started stripping the leaves off the cane that was standing in its own little patch. When the cane had its leaves it reminded me of overgrown corn but when we stripped it the stalks began to look like a small bamboo forest. After we got the leaves off Uncle Jeff and Granddaddy chopped the stalks down and we loaded them onto a wagon where Aunt Doris cut off the seedheads. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we ate lunch outside under the trees. After lunch everybody took a little time off and I laid down in the hammock. When Sophie came home from school I went with her into the house. I came back outside to find that Grandmother and Aunt Doris had usurped my place in the hammock. I joined them and we were all sitting and talking when all of a sudden we found ourselves sprawled on our backs. The hammock had flipped backwards and dumped us unceremoniously onto the ground. We lay there and laughed. I wish we had a picture. We started running the cane through the press that afternoon. The press squishes the cane up so that the juice runs out. It is turned by a hard-to-describe set up involving a sassafras tree with one end weighted on top of the press and the other tied to a rope which is tied to a lawn mower which travels in a circle around the press. We pressed most of the cane that evening and then went in to eat supper. Sophie, Abby and I all share a love of Harry Potter so we were happy with our bedtime story which consisted of Emily telling us in detail all about her trip to the Harry Potter exhibit in Chicago. We were also very excited to hear that a Hogsmeade theme park is being built in Orlando. Em-o and I are very much alike in our desire to get every bit of good out of a story. We have been telling and retelling some of the same stories since we were less than 10 years old. There’s the saga of the Pirate Boy with whom we fell in love at the ages of 5 and 7 respectively, the story of how we were mistaken for piano playing proteges at a hotel in Florida, and now there are more recent stories of lost luggage and strange food in Barcelona. But, we are working on topping them all by becoming co-script writers of a romantic comedy. We have the plot pretty well worked out. If I can get some of the script together I may post some of it here just for kicks. Saturday dawned bright and beautiful and after breakfast we got to work cooking the sorghum syrup. The juice looks like thin pea soup when it starts to cook and gradually gains a brown color and syrup like consistency. The main things to do while the juice is cooking down is to keep the fire hot and skim off the green gunk that floats to the top of the juice. It was mid afternoon by the time the syrup was hot enough and thick enough to come off the fire. While we were waiting some of us went and gathered buckeyes. Did you know that buckeyes explode with a noise like a firecracker when placed in hot coals? Well, they do. I don’t know how much syrup we ended up with but I do know that it was yummy. Everyone enjoyed helping clean up and sneak little tastes from the pan. All in all it was a lovely weekend. Thanks go to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lisa for keeping the sorghum making tradition going and for letting us all share in it. Hmm... just writing about this is making me hungry. Biscuits and sorghum sound really good right now.

A slight delay but here are the rest of the first day demo pictures. We now have a professional on the job. I don't think I'll take any pictures of him but maybe of the work in progress.

Here I am in my room, on my macbook, feeling pretty happy and content but without anything of real interest to write about. So I have decided to document the demolition and subsequent remodeling of our side hallway. We have been living in this 120 year old house for 13 years. Every couple of years we remodel a different room. The last and most notable work was done on the kitchen. But 13 years ago we had only one bathroom and the floor of said bathroom slanted in so many directions walking in felt like stepping onto a storm tossed ship. This year's project is the "side hallway." The "side hallway" faces the driveway and gets a lot of traffic. Mogie has grown tired of the water stains and ancient wallpaper and decided it was time for a change. So we rented a dumpster and went to work....

More pictures tomorrow!

Quote of the Day:

Always take the first opportunity to have ice cream!- Mogie on our trip home from NY

You know those moments when you feel not only lucky to be alive but lucky to be living your life? Well, I was just having one of those and thought I'd share.

YEEEEHAAAAW! I am so happy to be back home in beautiful Kentucky, where the hills are rolling, the weather is humid, and everyone at the bank knows your name. Mogie arrived in the Catskills last Tuesday, we spent the night at Sally’s and hit the road Wednesday morning. Yes, it was sad to say goodbye to Caleb and I know that in a couple of weeks I may have a bit of a freak out about it. But right now I am focusing on how nice it is to be back with my family and friends. We had a great trip home. It was a good transition time for me. We spent one night at a bed and breakfast in Lancaster County, PA and ate supper with an Amish family. The next morning we were passing by Gettysburg and decided we should take advantage of being so close and visit the battlefield. After much driving around with me grousing under my breath about the “auto tour” signs which seemed to be leading us on a tour of the parking lot we finally found what we were looking for. To say the battlefield is a giant field or even to say it is a whole valley just doesn’t convey the size or the place. From the giant Roman styled monument to the sons of Pennsylvania it is hard to make out the the statue of Lee on Traveler dedicated to the sons of Virginia on the opposite ridge. The view of miles of valley that was once strewn with over 7,500 bodies is sobering but I was not depressed by the visit. I am proud of what the US has become in the 150 years since the War Between the States. After Gettysburg we headed through Maryland to West Virginia. We took kind of a back way through Maryland which was really pretty. It reminded me that I know next to nothing about Maryland but I liked what I saw. Mogie had looked up various places to eat on roadfood.com. We decided to try Julio’s in Clarksburg, West Virginia. When we got off the interstate we were unsure which direction to head in. So we stopped at a Panera and asked a couple for directions. They were so nice and helpful and told me that it looked strange but had great food. Off we went through town and into an increasingly run down area. We made our final right by the railroad tracks and pulled up in front of a tall brick building with blacked out front windows. Eloise was the only car parked in front of the building. We got out with a little trepidation and opened the restaurant door. We were greeted by a view of a long shiny wooden bar on one side of the room and a row of plush red leather booths along the other. To say the inside of Julio’s is in direct contrast to the outside would be putting it lightly. A smiling waitress came up and asked us if we’d like to eat in the bar or in the dining room. We opted for the dining room just to see what it was like. It was very nice with a large screen painted with a Venice scene on one wall and a fireplace. We were the only patrons all night long but we enjoyed our food (lamb for me, pasta trio for Mogie) and chatted with our waitress. We managed the whole trip without once eating fast food, mostly stopping at little diners. Julio’s was definitely the most upscale of our dining experiences but they were all enjoyable. For the most part our drive went smoothly. The only real problem we had was in Charleston where we got on 64 East instead of 64 West. There is a rather long explanation for why this was an easy thing to do but the best part of the story is that Mogie was reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to me and we weren’t paying as strict attention to the road signs as we might have been otherwise. We arrived home Friday evening and got up bright and early Saturday morning to get ready for our family reunion. That story will have to wait for another time as it is late and I am ready to get some sleep.

I can’t even explain how busy I am. I’m not sure why I am taking the time to explain how busy I am but I think it has something to do with blogging withdrawal. I’m at the garage right now listening to Scott aka The Most Awesome Mechanic Ever explain tire problems to a woman and her daughter. Sally met Scot years ago when her old station wagon broke down on the way up from the city. Since then she has been driving her cars 45 minutes just to get him to take care of them. Once, in my excitement over having The Most Awesome Mechanic Ever, I told Mogie that everyone should have a Scot but she thought I was referring to people of Scottish origin and the whole conversation got very confusing. It’s my last day off and I woke up at 5:30 and could not go back to sleep. So about 6:00 I got up and continued my packing extravaganza. I had to move out of my room this morning so Trisha could re-paint the floor. So it’s goodbye to my lovely room and its beautiful view. I’m moving down the guest room which may not have a view but at least it will be cooler for sleeping. I don’t think I wrote at all about Caleb’s birthday. We had a little party with some of Sally’s friends. Sally made sure that we wore color coordinated clothes and we took lots of pictures. Much to our delight Caleb actually ate his birthday cake. He eats everything, pasta, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots... but he doesn’t like bread or things that have a bread-like consistency, even zucchini bread or grilled cheese. Anyway, I will have pictures when I get home for those of you who will be at the family reunion. In other news, the job hunt is on hold while I rush around like a maniac getting ready to go. I have a pretty good possibility lined up. If something comes of it I will let you all know. Last week Caleb knocked my TV off its stand and onto my foot. My first reaction was, “Is Caleb OK!?” second, “Is the TV OK?!” and then, “OUCH!” Both Caleb and the TV were fine and my foot was making a good recovery when I left for the city... and preceded to walk all over lower Manhattan. Not a particularly brilliant idea. I’ve been limping off and on since then and periodically treating my foot with an ice pack which I balance on top of a suitcase while sitting on the floor sorting through clothes and various scraps of paper. Seeing Mary and Matt in the city was a lot of fun. It’s nice when two of your friends get married, you get two for the price of one when you see them. We went to Sally’s former bakery. It is TINY. Let me tell you! I mean, I knew it was a bakery not a restaurant or even a cafe. But there’s barely room for one tiny table with two chairs. We got cupcakes (which Sally is famous for) and they were tasty but the icing was perfectly delectable. Then we walked through the Village to SOHO and down to Little Italy and Chinatown which are scrunched together in a way that I find delightful. Any place where you can find lobsters swimming in murky green tanks of water next to exotic Asian spices on one corner and tables with red-checkered table clothes presided over by Italian men in crisp white shirts on the other is alright by me. It drizzled off and on all day. I read in Julie/Julia the other day that in Chinatown it is always raining. Is that true? All I can say is the only other time I have been in Chinatown (as an 18 year old) it was pouring and my long baggy jeans syphoned the water off the streets until they were soaked up to the knees. My favorite part of our day was visiting Ellis Island. We’d all been to the Statue of Liberty before so we skipped that part of the ferry tour and just stayed on the boat until it took us to Ellis Island. I have to say though, the Statue of Liberty is really very beautiful. I remember climbing up the crown as a senior in high school and being kind of underwhelmed. It’s small and crowded in there. But that’s not really how the statue is mean to be appreciated. Seen from the shore line or better yet, seen from a boat in the harbor she is simple, beautiful, and inspiring. But, I digress. Ellis Island was great. I’d always kind of thought of it as a quick pit stop for immigrants bound for NYC. Instead I find that it was a major operation. There were hospitals and dormitories, a cafeteria. There were medical tests and mental ability tests. Single women who were traveling alone were not allowed to leave the island until they were married so lots of marriages were preformed there. So many people came through who had to be diagnosed, translators found for them, they had to be housed and fed. It was really quite impressive undertaking. I will write soon, probably from the road.

Sally has some beautiful roses blooming in her garden. I went to take pictures this afternoon and my camera was out of bateries. My room looks like a tornado hit it, in part because it was not terribly tidy to begin with, part because I'm trying to pack a little. But mostly because Caleb is like a Tazmainian Devil... or a Whirling Dirvish... or something...

Anyway, I just dropped by to say if I don't post much (or at all) in the next two weeks, DON'T GIVE UP ON ME! I think I lost some of my readership during my radio silence after Moldova. I will be back! There will be more adventures. It's just that I have friends to meet in the city, Eloise needs new tires, I'm trying to do job applications.... so on and so forth.

Please stay tuned.

Mogie bought her ticket for the 25th of August. I have to say I’m really excited about going home. Sally’s friends have often asked me if I’ve been homesick and I’ve always been able to answer truthfully in the negative. I know what homesick is and this is not it. Really I’ve felt so close to everyone because I’ve been able to call them whenever I want. Still, it’s not the same as actually being home. I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by myself on Monday night. I’ve never gone to a Harry Potter by myself. Paige and I started going to see them together when I was 17 and she was 11 and we’ve only missed The Chamber of Secrets while I was in Moldova. This brings us to: My thoughts on HP and the HBP. It was the cliff notes version of the book. I don’t know how I would have done it better. It’s just that you can’t take a book of that length and complexity and turn it into one movie, even one that is over two hours long. It was a lot of fun though. I was glad they gave Ginny a more prominent role and I liked watching the unfolding of Ron and Hermione’s awkward teen romance. I have generally approved of the casting in the HP movies and none more so than Alan Rickman as Snape. Even in this movie which is named after him Snape still doesn’t have a lot of screen time. But, Alan Rickman has this sort of gravitational field around him that turns everyone else into side characters whenever he appears. It was after Dumbledore’s death scene (let me tell you, hearing the “killing curse" gave me goose bumps) that I realized the story has gone a bit beyond the PG level in terms of violence. They don’t show the “sectumsempra” curse to full effect because it would be too gruesome and I really don’t know what they will do about the death, destruction and mayhem of The Deathly Hallows. One of my favorite parts of this particular movie going experience was that the median age of the audience was around 35. It was fun to share in the excitement, fun, and sorrow of Harry Potter’s world with an audience of adults. Favorite quote in many months- edenlass to small boy with Batman t-shirt- “I like your shirt!” small boy giving her a hug- “You’re beautiful and I love you!”

As I was just telling Pip, in a quick Facebook note, I tend to do the less important chores before the important ones. I consider posting to LJ fairly important so it waits till the end of my morning on the internet. This is fortunate today because in the process of checking e-mails and LJ I found (or was sent) two great links of no relation to each other.

The first is serious and IMHO (in my humble opinion) great news from Moldova. See more here: www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/world/europe/31moldova.html

The second is not serious and made my day in a LOST fan girl sort of way. See more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=014itDIxqH8#

We finally had our barn sale last Saturday. We have been talking about the barn sale since last August. There is a whole collection of vintage kitchen ware, white kitchen table chairs, a chandelier, various knickknacks and baby clothes. It also appears to contain anything and everything we might possibly need. Usually our conversations go something like this:

edenlass: I wish I had some stationary.Sally: I think there’s some in the barn sale!

Sally: I wish I had another baking dish... edenlass: Maybe there is one in the barn sale!

It got to the point that I wondered if we’d actually have anything left by the time we had the sale. We ended up combining the barn sale with the garden tour that Sally gave for the local “Slow Food” organization. Both were a great success. Sally says that the flower garden will be in full bloom by next week and then I will take pictures. It is already beautiful and every morning she goes outside and returns to report on which flowers have new blooms. Sometimes I take Caleb out for a ride in his wagon before anyone else is up. We take a tour across the dew soaked yard, around the flower garden and then down to the vegetable garden where two white rose bushes bloom in wild profusion against the picket fence.

Caleb is seeming less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy with each passing day. I was home alone when he took his first steps and I was so shocked and excited I yelled and the dogs came running to see what was the matter. He is now walking about half the time and is very proud of himself.

Speaking of Caleb, we think we’ve found him a new nanny! It’s a great relief for Sally to have found someone and I am happy because I think we would get along really well. She’s very into fantasy and movies and loves cats. It’s nice to know that Caleb will be with someone who shares my love of fantasy and imagination.

This morning I’ve spent a while running around the internet in circles trying to decide what it is I want to be doing next and how I plan to do whatever that is. It’s too bad nothing I really want to do offers a any decent salary.

I am on line trying to fill out a resume and I keep on getting caught up in conversations with various different people. First Angie-my high school best friend who now lives in Philly, then Efe- who was on her lunch break and now Vanya-who only just got up and is upset because the internet doesn’t work at his job. I’ve started writing a couple of things for this blog but they will have to wait until next time because they obviously aren’t getting done today.

Quote of the Day:

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest.- E.B. White

I was thinking about this blog this morning and realized it has been over four years since my first inspiring entry. This has been so much fun and I hope it continues for many years to come.

It’s raining, again. Last Friday we had a hail storm. I was at home with Caleb (who slept through the whole thing) and the dogs (who were very nervous and stayed under my feet the whole time) but Sally had gone out to buy sand for Caleb’s sandbox. When she got back she discovered that flower garden was covered in ice and the vegetable garden had flooded in a mixture of mud and mulch. She was naturally very upset by the whole thing and she and Tim (the handyman) spent a good portion of the afternoon fortifying the garden against future flooding. Friday morning I discovered a snake by the front steps. I don’t mind snakes but Sally feelings towards them are comparable to my feelings towards spiders. So, the snake had to go. I had never killed a snake before and so I didn’t manage to cut it in half with the first blow of my shovel. This led to me basically bludgeoning the poor thing to death while saying, “I’m sorry, snake! I’m sorry!” We had a good time in NYC on Thursday. We dropped the dogs off at the groomer, Sally went off to her hair appointment and I wandered around SoHo looking at exorbitantly priced artistically ripped jeans. What I really love about the city is the variety. The variety of stores, of food, of styles and of people. I walked about two blocks and just wanted to sit down and write about everything I saw. Then I went and got a pedicure. I think I will go into the city one more time before I leave and that will be in large part just so that I can get another pedicure. Gosh. My feet were so happy. After that I took a taxi to meet Sally and we ate an early supper at Balthazar. Since it was my first French meal Sally felt I should get steak and I did not argue. We had belinis and roasted beat salad and steak frites with this amazing bearnaise sauce. Then we had a scrumptious caramelized banana pie sort of thing with homemade banana ice cream for desert. YUM! The strangest part of the day was when we were waiting to get the car out of the parking lot and I smiled at this girl who took her phone away from her ear and yelled, “Michael Jackson just died!” I was so shocked I made her repeat herself. Not having a TV as a child I missed out on the growing up to Michael Jackson’s music thing. But Efe did not miss out and she was reminiscing about it with me last night. Even though I wasn’t a fan it does still seem strange to know that such an icon isn’t around anymore. Sunday we took Caleb to the Farmers’ Market where he flirted with all the ladies and where we finally got some fruit. It has been such a rainy spring we think we may have missed the strawberries entirely. Monday I drove the the airport and picked up Gerry (Sally’s mom). It was a beautiful day (until the thunderstorm on the way home) and I drove Sally’s Jeep with the windows down listening to ‘90s country music on Sirius Radio. Late ‘80s early ‘90s country music is my guilty pleasure. It is sooooo cheesy but it makes me feel good, reminds me of my childhood and I know the words to almost every song.

Now I must go do something productive. Quote of the Day: Chuck: [regarding Emerson] Is he upset you brought your childhood sweetheart back to life? Ned: He barely knows you're here. Narrator: In fact, Emerson had finished knitting a sweater vest and two handgun cozies in the week since Chuck's return. -From the ever so wonderful (and sadly cancelled) Pushing Daisies

The sun shone for a little while this morning filling me with incredible glee. It’s been such a cloudy rainy month and we are ready for summer- which was supposed to begin yesterday. Sally and I are going into the city on Thursday. We’re taking the dogs to get their baths while Trisha stays with Caleb. It will be his first time staying with anyone besides us. But, he and Trisha love each other so I think they will have a good time. Sally and I are pretty excited about going out for the day. She will get her hair cut and I will get a pedicure. Then we will go eat French food. Speaking of food, I have found a new favorite pastime which is to ask two chefs how they liked the meal they had at a restaurant. Jay and Sally went out to eat this past weekend and when they got home I received a full report of their meal, all the components of their salad and how the steak could have been improved. I also received these most basic and most important cooking tips, “Serve hot food hot and cold food cold!” and “Make sure to season things well.” It seems that restaurants mess these things up quite often. Quote of the Day: “We are not chefs! We are Enthusiastic Home Cooks!”- how Jay describes himself and Patrick while barbecuing

Toward the end of my 7th grade year I remember my favorite teacher giving our classroom full of restless 12 and 13 year olds a knowing look and saying, “How well you handle transitions is a sign of maturity.” Since then I’ve been slightly concerned that I may never really grow up into responsible adult. I dislike transitions. They give me a distinctly antsy feeling and although I try to handle them with maturity, really I just want to get them over with. I have started doing a bit of packing - just some books and winter clothes but still it gives me a slightly disconnected feeling and I can’t help it. I know I am leaving and so part of me has already left. But, there are nice things about this transition back to Kentucky and one of them is that I will get to see that teacher again. He’s teaching US history these days and every time I talk to him he has a new bit of Civil War trivia to share. I know he’s going to Utah and Boston this summer and will have plenty of stories to tell. He’ll be busy with a new school year and farm work but I’m sure he will take time out for his daughter and we will sit around the kitchen table with Mogie and Boo and talk late into the night. It will be good to be home. Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!

Somebody should really stop me before I use my hard earned money to buy a ticket to Scotland. It has been 9 years since I was first there and 7 years since that day J and I spent there on our Great Britain winter vacation. I really can’t describe what Scotland means to me except that it is like home. The first time I got off the plane in Glasgow I had the same feeling I get when I get off the plane in Louisville. So, it’s like home except with castles, bagpipes and kilts. Also Scottish accents. It’s hard for me to ask for more than that.:) Anyway, Neil Gaiman and his girlfriend (singer/musician) Amanda Palmer are going to be at the Edinburgh Literary and Fringe Festivals respectively and I was thinking of how I’ve been wanting to go to the Fringe Festival since I was 16 and how Pip is living in Glasgow now and how I have the money...

Never go to the library intending to get a lot done when you haven't eaten any breakfast. Still it's worth it because I got an e-mail from Phyllis which brightened my day. (Hi, Phyllis!)

I am in much more of a writing mood today. But now I have too much to cover. Let’s see if I can be succinct.

Food- We had a scrumptious chicken stew this past week but my favorite meal recently was oven baked fried chicken. Yummy!

Caleb- Is hallarious playing with the dogs. If they are laying down he gets so excited and goes speed crawling over to them to pound pet them and give them kisses.

Nadea- Is going to Sacramento at the end of the month. She sent me a copy of their schedule. It’s jam packed with activities. I think she is disappointed that there is not more time for exploring on her own. But I think once she is here she will be glad to have a real schedule.

Nanny hunt- Sally really wants to find an American nanny but they are few and far between and in general very young and not likely to be excited about hiding out in the Catskills. We did get one e-mail from a girl who had made her own extensive questionnaire when we got to the part where she outlined what she would do in case of a volcanic eruption we decided that we had more than enough information.

Plans- If I stare hard enough into the future I’m hoping something will reveal itself.

Restaurants- On Monday I at lunch at the Main Street Cafe in Narrowsburg. The waitress took me out to the back patio and gave me instructions for which trees to watch to see the nesting bald eagles.

Three Cups of Tea- One of the most inspiring stories I’ve heard in a long long time. It is good to be reminded of what one person can accomplish. threecupsoftea.com

Slumdog Millionaire- Loved it. Great story, amazing locals, beautiful filming, excellent soundtrack. Dirty, painful, and full of hope.

Vanya- Vanya is working with customs and having trouble with all of the corruption he is facing among his coworkers.

Visitors- Katie’s dad, Mike is up here fishing with his brother. We are meeting up at a diner in town and I think he is bringing us homemade sausage!

Weather- Rainy. Very rainy. Drowning out seeds. Tornado warning. Makes us go out to the flower garden and move 37 pots and planters full of flowers back into the shed.

Quote of the Day-

It took me several years of chicken stewardship to get to this point.- Jennifer (on deciding to eat some of her chickens)

Am supposed to be writing something... something about Slumdog or nanny hunting (this could be funny) or my planned trip into the city or Caleb’s new fondness for biting or rain (there’s been a lot of it) but am feeling decidedly uninspired. Will work on that and get back to you.

I saw Slumdog! Finally! Loved it. Have much to say. But am going to eat pound cake now.

In my family we go by nicknames. Some are logical derivatives of our given names, others have origins so obscure that explaining them takes up half of a dinner conversation. If you happen to become part of our immediate family one day you will find that you are called Roy or Nicoleta or E. That’s why I realized I was in trouble when Trisha asked me, “Why do you call Caleb, ‘Baby Bear’?” He has become a part of my family.

Uncle Jeff asked me a while ago how I was going to handle leaving Caleb and I explained to him my practical approach to the whole thing. First off, I’ve known all along I would only be staying for a year. That means I have always tried to focus on the present and not on the future when it comes to Caleb. Secondly, if I ever thought about staying longer I reminded myself that leaving a two year old would be so much harder on him.

But, as the time gets closer (we started the nanny search yesterday) I realize that leaving my Baby Bear is going to be extremely hard. A couple of nights ago I jerked awake, my heart pounding, from a dream that Caleb had fallen down the stairs. I lay there and talked to myself, “He is in his crib. He is not near the stairs. He can’t get out. Everything is OK.” I do not like the thought of leaving him.

I am thankful that I have been able to be the one to cocoon Caleb’s first year in love and see Sally and Caleb become a family. He is going to have a wonderful life, full of love, beauty and opportunity. I am just a bit sad I will not be a part of it.

Lace curtains are blowing in the breeze and tickling my toes as I set on my bed. I have finished one long overdue letter and found another, half finished, behind my nightstand. Caleb is napping and Sally is in the kitchen. I can hear pots banging from two stories up. We are having steak tonight with ice cream for dessert. This morning I had rhubarb custard pie for breakfast with my coffee. It is late spring now. Fall is sharp, bright and beautiful; winter is soft, cold and shadowy; summer is rich, intense and ripe; but it is spring that I love the best. I love the nice little breezes, I even love, if only for a little while, dandelions showing off against green grass. I love the promise of spring, the way it makes it seem like anything is possible. If you haven’t tried something before, now is the time to take the plunge. If some dream was thwarted last year try it again and this time it may be realized, may reach perfection. That is what spring says to me.

Quote of the Day:

"The coffee of champions!"- cashier as she hands me my Mt. Dew

It is a beautiful day and I am sorry to have to be inside. But at the same time I am just so excited to be on the internet. I love feeling connected to the rest of the world for one day. I just had a fun little video chat with Katie. She talked and I typed my responses since I'm in the library. Other things on my agenda today include depositing my paycheck and doing a bit of job hunting on line. I also need to look for plane tickets for Mogie and Daddy to go and see J and E in June. I was hoping that they would be able to come up and see me as well, but school will have started by the time my year here is up. So, I'm hoping that Mogie can just fly up and then we can drive home together. I just want share this beautiful place with somebody else before I leave. I got my weekly bacon, egg and cheese bagel (no biscuits) this morning and for once did not run into anybody who thought they knew me. Once I met a man coming out of the cafe as I was going in and he said, "It's not often I see you out alone!" "That's true!" I said and then then thought, "Who are you?" But really I am always so happy to be greeted cheerfully by people at the post office or on the street that I don't bother to worry about who they think I am. Maybe they do know me and I'm just being forgetful.

AAAAAhhhhhh! There is more to my life than LOST, there really is! But this is what happens when my day off is the day after LOST. There is so much to talk about I don’t even know what to say and I’ve gone over most of it with Efe, Meggan and Patrick already. We saw Jacob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was just sitting there like a normal person! Then there was that dark guy! Who is he!?! You want to know my answer? Of course you do! It’s Esau! Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. One a shepherd, one a hunter. Jacob cheats Esau out of his birthright and that sparks a feud that lasts for years. Jacob has to run for his life and has all sorts of adventures which eventually lead to him wrestling with God until God blesses him. Consider the Island as the birthright and I think that there are some pretty serious similarities going on. There’s really so much to talk about, Locke not being Locke, Jacob’s interaction with the future Oceanic survivors, Juliet falling down the shaft, Sayid being shot.... Really, there’s enough to keep us speculating for the 8 1/2 months we have until the primer of Season 6. Quotes of the Day: “They come, fight, they distroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.”- Mystery Man “It only ends once, anything before that is just progress.”- Jacob

Efe and I watched LOST's 100th episode together last night. It was a good one although as Efe points out it is basically impossible to surprise us after 5 years. That does not stop us from theorizing however and Efe pointed out that she thinks the religious symbolism has been getting stronger recently. Then Ari and I spent a while on line this morning talking about what make the Hostiles so hostile and he brought up religion as well. He thinks that they are protecting their religion/Temple. From there we talked about Adam and Eve and the Fall and what that may or may not have to do with the Oceanic survivors. It was very much fun. It is interesting to see where the show may be headed with an attempt to change the fate of Flight 815. I have to say although I understand why the Oceanic survivors want to fix things so that the plane never crashes I hope it doesn't happen. I have always felt that these people NEEDED to be on the island for one reason or another. If the plane had never crashed Kate would have gone to prison, Claire would have given Aaron up for adoption, Sawyer would never have turned into the leader that he is now, Locke would never have walked again.... I know it wasn't an easy three months for them and that the three years after that weren't that easy either. But I still think that Top 10 Ways You Know You are a LOSTIE 10. You have made your own "Dharma Initiative Fruity Floats" because you are hosting a LOST viewing party. 9. You find yourself noticing "the numbers" in your daily life, "Oh look! There are 23 people waiting for the #42 bus!" 9. You feel an increased fondness towards bunnies and polar bears. 8. You know much more about the philosophies of Rousseau, Locke, and Hume than you did 5 years ago. 7. While standing in line to board a plane you analyze your fellow passengers to decide if they would help you survive on a tropical island. 6. You have read, The Island, Watership Down, The Third Policeman or Our Mutual Friend because they are referenced on the show. 5. You wonder if the economy is being manipulated by Charles Widmore for his own evil ends. 4. You spend your free time debating free will vs predestination with your friends, using Desmond and Daniel as examples. 3. Listening to Willie Nelson or Patsy Cline makes you think of LOST. 2. You consider keeping a notebook to keep track of the constants in your life. 1. You can't wait for Wednesdays. Quote of the Day: (Happy 90th Birthday Mr. Seeger!) "Prestige is much overrated. The celebrity business is for the birds. Respectability is nice, but consider: whom do you most want to respect you? Money is like air or water. You need a certain amount to live. Beyond that, who wants to be a dog in the manger?"- Pete Seeger

I was driving home from the library when I started thinking about The Villages and suddenly exclaimed, "That was the strangest place I've ever been!" I was a bit startled by my sudden outburst and paused to consider. I have been to Dracula's castle, wandered London's back alleys at night past the "Torture museum", and driven across Iceland's lunar landscape but I've never been anywhere quite as bizarre as The Villages, Florida. It's so hard for me to figure out exactly what it is that I find so disturbing about a bunch of retirees living in a perfectly manicured town in central Florida. The whole city seems to be part of someone's imagination, very much like the world where Truman lives in, The Truman Show. It is a cross between a film set and a summer camp. Ms. Perdew drove me around displaying the "town squares" with their themed buildings. One square has a nautical theme and the other is Spanish. The buildings are weathered to make them look old and around the squares you can find "historical" markers. The markers tell the stories of the town's fictional founders. Everything looks perfect and therefore, fake. I can't imagine ever wanting to live in a place like that and I've spent some time trying to figure out what would make 10,000 other people decide to go live in a completely prefabricated world.

If I were hearing about The Villages for the first time I might say that it is a place for people with no imagination and no sense of adventure. But that is not true. We attended a dinner party with friends of Sally's uncle and aunt. There was a gentleman there from Argentina (it was his wife who thought Caleb was a "splendid baby") and a lady from Crete who worked all over the Middle East as a flight attendant. So, what attracted them to this "Disneyland for adults"?I've decided that for these people place has little importance. No one needs to feel connected to the place where they live. I think that is what is so foreign to me. "It's not a real place!" I want to say. "It doesn't have a history of more than 50 years! What do the Villagers know about the rest of Florida? Are they really happy to get up and go golfing every day?"

I see what is appealing about a warm place where you don't have to mow your own yard and have a bunch of other people to play board games and softball with. These are successful people who gave a lot to their communities through their work. But then they left. I hope that I never get to the point where the appeal of an easier life outweighs the connection I feel to my home. I know lots of people don't have the connection I feel to my hometown and my family's farms. But, they still have communities. If you don't work the land then you work in your community. Yes, I think that is what is most sad about The Villages. It is sad that the Villagers didn't have closer connections to the land they lived on, the people they lived next to, the churches and synagogues they attended. Their communities lose so much when they move away and the Villagers lose the richness of a real life.

Two Quotes of the Day: "...and in some of the people of the town and community surrounding it, one of the characteristic diseases of the twentieth century was making its way: the suspicion that they would be greatly improved if they were somewhere else." — Wendell Berry

"To farm is to be placed absolutely."- Wendell Berry Imagination in Place

Here I am in the library and I have to tell you I'm pretty happy about it. I just realized that I'm bouncing a little as I listen to iTunes on my headphones. This is the first chance I've gotten to work on line on my with computer. It has been a busy month. Caleb learned to stand and got his first tooth in the same weekend. He is EVERYWHERE at once these days. He pulls himself up on every handle and tries to open every door he sees. Fortunately we've had a couple of warm days and we got to spend some time outside. Caleb didn't know what to think of the grass at first. He sat very still and then carefully placed his hand on the ground, only to jerk it back up as soon as he felt the prickliness of the grass. But he got over that quickly and now he scoots around picking up sticks and sharing them with Honey, he chews on them for a little while and then gives them to her to finish off. Sally and Tim have been hard at work on her new rose garden. She had a wonderful rose garden at her old house and she's excited about starting one here. She is the type of person who can't survive without having a project to work on. Tim has built a low stone wall around the garden space and they are planning on bringing in topsoil this week. I didn't post last Wednesday because Trisha and I went shopping. We went to the mall in Middletown and I got to shop at H and M, my favorite clothing store. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I loath clothes shopping. H and M is the only clothing store that I look forward to visiting. I made a pretty big haul and feel much better about my clothing options for the spring. Trisha and her fiance have set a date for their wedding so we spent our lunch time discussing wedding logistics. I haven't heard a lot more about the protests in Moldova since I last posted. I wrote Vanya to see what he knew but he just stays in his room studying for the customs exams so all he knew was what was on TV. This past Sunday was Eastern Orthodox Easter and I e-mailed Nadea and tried to call my first host family. Remember them? In Danceni? I'm thinking about Moldova a lot these days. It's hard to believe I've been home for so long. I wonder if a part of me will always feel a slight disconnect from the American world that surrounds me. Sometimes in the middle of a discussion with a friend I will suddenly feel a need to say, "But in Moldova they would think..." I never thought of myself as having an island mentality but I think that most Americans do. It's something we can't really help unless we are willing to step out and look at the world from a different angle. There is a man setting in a chair across from me. He has a bushy white beard and two plastic grocery sacks sitting at his feet. Every now and then I feel him glancing at me. Probably because I am appearing rather oddly delighted to be sitting in a library on a Wednesday morning.

Quote of the Day:

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy." Wendell Berry Economy and Pleasure

It's late and I don't have a lot of time to type but it's been a rough week in Moldova and I thought I should write something about it. Paliamentary elections were held this past Sunday and the Communists won which lets them pick the next president. There have been acusations of voter fraud and mass demonstrations at the parliament building. Of course most of my Moldovan friends on Facebook are up in arms calling for an end to the communist rule in the country. I've been trolling the internet trying to find a decent article about it but without much success. I don't know whether or not the election was fraudulent (although I have a good guess) but I understand the helpless rage that fills those protesters (most of whom are college students) at the thought of another 18 years like Moldova's first 18.

Since I couldn't find a good article I'm linking to a film about Moldova made by a PC friend. calamoldova.com

"Ca La Moldova" translates as "Like in Moldova."

We are having a very mellow day here at Windy Willow Farm. Sally has gone into the city, Caleb is napping, and the dogs are lounging on the couch. I’m writing on Sally’s computer but listening to music on my new laptop. Yes, that’s right! I am now the proud owner of a beautiful silver Macbook. I ordered it last Wednesday. I was so excited about it but while calling the bank to get them to raise the spending limit on my debt card and waiting for an interminable amount of time for dial up to work through the order process. But when the order finally went through I felt queasy at the thought of all the money I had just spent. Then the computer arrived on Friday and I felt better right away. My Berea Dell laptop has served me well, it is seven years old and I hate to say goodbye to it. But I am excited about having a nice new reliable computer.There is more coming soon, I promise. I’m just having a hard time writing anything these days. Not that I’m not constantly thinking of new things I should be writing about. *see! That’s the way all my sentences are sounding these days.*

I'm making lists in my head of all the things I need to write about. I'm just not sure where I will find the time. Here's my list:

-The Villages

-Macbook

-Caleb

-Three Cups of Tea

-Hair cut

-Springtime

-LOST

I'm sure there are other things but that's all I can think of at the moment. I will post as soon as I can.

I'm feeling better today. I'm in the library listening to a LOST podcast, checking e-mail, and I'm going to pick up Three Cups of Tea. If you remember, Three Cups of Tea is the first of our "All the countries" bookclub, books. I wanted to get my hair cut today as well but there were no appointments availiable. The old hair salon shut down a couple of weeks ago and new one has opened up across the street. I was impressed by how chic this new place is but at the same time I miss the old salon with the two middle aged women, the mini frige and the mirrors covered with Christmas cards and Dale Earnheardt mementos.

Before I go off on a LOST tangent. I did want to post a link to the inn where we spent a night on our way back from Florida. So here that is, http://www.meander.net/. It was such a cool place. Thomas Jefferson used to visit there and Stonewall Jackson marched his troops across a nearby stream. I was wishing for Daddy and Ashley to share in some serious US history geek love. That whole area is just overflowing with places of historical interest.

And now for those of who who care... LOST!

These last few episodes have been espcially enjoyable for those of us who have been watching since S1E1. For example, as soon as Lapidis says, "Is that a runway?" I was like, "Oh my gosh! That's why they were building the runway in Season 3!!!!" Do you all remember that? When Sawyer and Kate were chopping rocks while being held prisoner in the bear cages? Later in the season Sawyer askes Juliet, "What did you have us chopping rocks for?" And she says (like the cool smart alec that she is), "A runway for the aliens." Then she goes on to explain that she doesn't know why they were building a runway, they don't tell her everything. But now we know! They were building the runway because somebody knew that that plane would be landing there. SEE! It's all coming full circle. I'm so excited! And filled with such admiration that they are really tying up all these lose ends. Also, Sun was awesome! Efe and I were cheering her on when she knocked Benry out.

Wilson is teething and he got me up at 6 this morning. Then he proceeded to scream through most of the morning irrigardless of what I did. The only thing that made him happy was to be held but I can't hold him and fix his food at the same time. Today was supposed to be my day off but I switched it so that Trisha could come and clean today. I wish I had just said, "No, sorry" to Sally's request that I take Thursday off instead. If I had I would be happily in the library listening to watching Neil Gaiman on the Colbert Report and chatting with Vanya.

I think I have a bit of cabin fever. I feel increadbily grumpy and even though I try not to show it I know that Sally senses it. Thankfuly Trisha is having me over on Sunday and cooking her favorite venison recipe. I also have LOST with Efe tonight which cheers me up just to think about it.

It is a beautiful day today and Sally and the handyman are going to go walking in the field and figure out how to fence it off so that the dogs can be free to run. They already have a three acre fenced in yard. I’m telling you, these dogs are to be envied. We’ve talked about getting a cat this spring. I would love that. I like the dogs but my time here has totally confirmed that I am a cat person. I miss Sloopy sometimes and hope that Nadea, Vasile, and Vlad are taking care of him.I called Grandmother and Granddaddy last week to get their help with a story I’m writing. I needed Granddaddy to refresh my memory of some of the stories he used to tell us. They were so excited to help. They are going to write up some stuff and mail it to me. I’m happy about that. Even if I don’t use much of it in my story it will be great to have some of their memories written down. I wonder if there comes a time for all of us when we realize that if we don’t tell someone our memories they are going to disappear with us.Speaking of stories, I’ve read a couple of interesting books recently. A couple of days ago I finished, My Antonia by Willa Cather. I enjoyed it. It was a nice portrait of life in a prairie town long ago. The other book is called, The Film Club. It’s an autobiography written by a man who agreed to let his son drop out of high school if his son watched three movies a week. The movies were of the father’s choosing and they spent three years watching movies and talking about life together. I thought that was a pretty nifty idea. Not for everyone obviously but it worked for this kid. In other aspects the father’s parenting style would not be my own but their love for each other shines through and that is a nice thing to see in today’s father-son relationships.

It is ridiculously foggy today. But, at least it's not freezing. In fact it seems as if spring may be on its way. Sally keeps on telling me not to get my hopes up but I can't help it. Snow is nice but I am ready for March flowers. I suppose they can't call them March flowers up here. I have noticed some maple trees that have been tapped though and I know that means the trees think spring is coming. I don't know if I'll ever live this far north again and I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to go snowmobiling or ice skating on a lake or make maple syrup.

I'm getting ready to watch the LOST episode from two weeks ago. Efe gave me a blow by blow synopsis but I still feel the need to see it before watching last weeks episode tonight. I've managed to stay almost unspoiled for that one although Mogie and Meggan both made interesting references to Sawyer and Juliet. hmmm...

I also have all sorts of things to say about Benry but I guess that will have to wait till I get caught up.

I was thinking last night that I should give a PC related update. All the Dancenians are doing well. In fact we are planning on getting together around the 4th of July. Since Dan, Ari, and I are all on the east coast it sounds like Lamai and Larson will be flying here to meet us for a few days. I'm so happy about that. It will be like a family reunion.

As far as Moldovans go, I called Vanya just before I came to the library and he was at Nadea's doing some remodeling work. So I got to talk to both of them which was nice. Nadea is coming to California for a training of some sort in June. She is very excited about it. I only wish it was somewhere reasonably close to me. Cristina is doing well, singing, dancing, and playing basketball. Vanya is farther than he has ever gotten in his quest to work for the vama. Gosh... I can't think of what the equivalent of the vama is in English. Like the police but dealing mainly with people and packages coming into the country. It's a long process and he's done it once before so we're really hoping it works out this time.

My host mom is still in Italy. Oleg, Galia and Iura went to see her not too long ago. There has been a new addition to their family in the last few months. Galia had a baby girl! I was so excited and surprised to learn about that.

Alright, I'd better go finish this episode so that I can get to doing more productive things.

Quote of the Day:

"Pardon me for not knowing they had a sonic weapon fence!"- John Locke

Here I am writing again just for the heck of it. If I don’t get to write for a few days I start twitching or something and that is not good.

I thought I’d jot down a few things about this book I’m reading. It’s called The Air Loom Gang by Make Jay and it’s about James Tilly Matthews. Mr. Matthews was locked up in the Bethlem (Bedlam) insane asylum just a few years after the French Revolution. He suffered under the delusion that a machine (Air Loom) was controlling him and that he was the center of a giant political conspiracy. Crazy, right? Yes, but it turned out that he was telling the truth about almost everything! He was involved in some major political intrigue between France and England in an attempt to prevent war between the two countries. (Which obviously didn’t work and gave rise to Napoleon.) But he was still crazy and most likely had what we would call schizophrenia. He's also the first person ever recorded to have believed he was being controlled by a machine.

It's a really fascinating book if you are interested in mental illness and conspiracy theories. Matthews was so lucid and yet so clearly removed from reality. He was kept under house arrest in France for a couple of years and after ranting and raving and trying everything he could to get himself released he suddenly wrote an extremely meticulous paper on how the French could avoid starvation by the cultivation of cabbages.

I find it increadibly interesting how a person's mind can work in so many directions at once. From one angle a person can seem to be compleatly out of touch with reality, living a world of their own creation and then from a different angle you can see the factors that made them believe that and suddenly it seems not so crazy after all.

Speaking of imaginary worlds, I need to write about The Villages. Talk about a collective fantasy.

Greetings from sunny Florida! I get antsy when I don’t get to post regularly but this past week was exceptionally hectic. Sally’s mom, Geri, lives in a retirement community in FL and she has been begging Sally to fly down with Caleb. Sally doesn’t like plane rides and especially doesn’t like the idea of flying with a baby so she has always turned her mom down. However, driving is a different story and although we like snow we were tired of the cold and of shoveling and wanted a change of pace. Wednesday we packed up and headed south. Friday morning Sally called Geri and told her to be expecting a perishable package from FedEx. That way we figured she would be at home when we showed up. It was about 5 o’clock by the time we rang the doorbell and she got the surprise of her life to find us on her doorstep. It’s been fun to hear her on the phone all weekend saying, “And there they were! I couldn’t believe it!” My favorite part of the trip so far was getting to see my high school English teacher, Ms. Perdew. I remembered that she spent her winters in a retirement community in Florida and when I discovered that it was where Geri lives I e-mailed her. We met up yesterday and had a lovely afternoon driving around and catching up. I told her about Moldova and we gave each other updates on former teachers and classmates. We’ve had a nice visit and are planning to head back tomorrow. Patrick is watching the house and the dogs but Sally really hates to be away for over a week. Saturday the sun was shining and it was about 80 degrees and it made me so happy. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven from the dead of winter to late spring in just a couple of days. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed the sun. Caleb really likes it as well and especially likes being able to hang out wearing only his diaper. Speaking of Caleb, he is a joy and I feel like I don’t talk about him often enough. The problem is I know that I sound just like anyone with a small child. I am constantly amazed by how quickly he learns and constantly amused by watching him learn. He wants to touch everything, potted plant or pie tin. If he can touch it he grabs it, if he grabs it he brings it so close to his face he is nearly cross eyed, stares at it with knit brows, and then tries to fit it into his mouth. He is learning to crawl and has mastered the art of moving forward in the past couple of days. He is also incredibly cute and outgoing which leads us to our, Quote of the Day:“As an unbiased objective observer I have to say he is the most splendid baby I have seen since 1973!”- A lady complementing Caleb I promise it won’t be so long before my next post!

It’s another Tuesday night and I am trying to get some stuff written before tomorrow. Let’s see… what has been going on? Our washer is fixed! And there was much rejoicing and we haven’t stopped using it all day.I’m trying to get a couple of stories written before I turn my attention to studying for the GRE. Friends tell me it’s not really necessary to study; it’s not like you have to get an amazing score to get into grad school. But, I figure with my serious lack of mathematical ability a little studying won’t hurt.Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Boo’s birthday!Efe just called and we talked for a half an hour and she tried to sing both parts of a Norah Jones/Dolly Parton duet. It was amusing.Ashley put in a special request for the Pirate Boy story as a Valentine’s Day entry. I started it but was unable to finish so either it will have to wait till next year or we’ll have a surprise Pirate Boy entry in the future. Vanya called to wish me a happy Valentine’s Day, proving once again that as a friend he is a keeper.Lamai, Katie and I have picked the first book for our “Every Country” book club, “Three Cups of Tea.” It is set in both Afghanistan and Pakistan so I’m not sure if it counts as a book for each country or only one.I am procrastinating by working on this list and not working on my stories.