Elizabeth's Journal

Two Items Recently Read

I have read two things today that I found most interesting, and I thought I'd share them via my blog, particularly since I don't feel articulate enough to add any of my own thoughts. Too much gardening. :-)

The first has to do with some science information contained in an article reviewing The Core, which opens today (Friday). In the movie, the earth's core has "stopped spinning, which causes a breakdown of the global magnetic field that has sheltered life from deadly solar and cosmic radiation for billions of years." In real life, however, it's true that "the earth's protective magnetism really is weakening, and it's happening 10 times faster than if the core had stopped spinning, as it does in the movie."

The article goes on to point out that "by one count, 171 pole reversals [when the earth's magnetic poles swap positions--north to south, south to north] have occurred in the past 71 million years", and that "in a sense, we are overdue" for a pole reversal, since the last one "occurred about 750,000 years ago--three times the average interval."

Apparently there is a spot off the coast of Brazil known as the "South Atlantic Anomaly"; "it's a giant pothole in the magnetic field", and it might mark a "reverse eddy in the flow of molten iron far below" in the earth's core, and possibly presage a reversal of the magnetic poles.

The second thing I read is from the March 3, 2003, issue of The New Yorker, in an article about the actress Frances McDormand. I laughed out loud when I read the following:

"Concerned that she was too small-breasted for certain roles, McDormand got herself a pair of prosthetic breasts--'lovely, big, C-cup, jiggly things'--which she would haul around with her, in a box, to auditions. (She wore them in Fargo, because her character was pregnant, and on that subzero set one of them froze and exploded. 'I advise women with silicone breasts who are going to Minnesota not to stand outside in the cold," she told W)."

Gardening Progress and Avian Friends

I am getting worn out--but I am making great progress in the garden, with the able help of my father-in-law, while my mother-in-law makes Jonathan giggle. Over the weekend I worked in 10 bags of garden soil into the bed, and my entire vegetable garden is now planted--a cherry tomato plant and a Better Boy tomato plant, a strawberry plant, a dill plant, a few sweet onion plants, and seeds for the following: falltime leeks, yellow crookneck squash, spinach, carrots, snapdragons, bush beans, and Texas hummingbird sage. Within a week I should know if anything is going to germinate. Pictures will appear within my blog soon.

I also weeded the area around my birdbath--cleared out the grass & weeds choking the roses and salvia and added a bag of dirt there as well. I didn't get many flower stalks on my red yucca last year and am hoping for more this time around. I have an errant daylily between it and the birdbath--we'll see if it sends up a flower stalk as it won't get any sun where it is.

In the front garden bed around the electrical box, I added some maroon bluebonnets in honor of Courtney, my cousin who is soon to become an Aggie. I also added some red salvia and moved a couple of plants into the back garden; I think the deer were eating the flower petals. Last weekend Joy planted some lantana, which looks very nice. It is so pleasant to be driving down the street and see all the welcoming blooms in the garden. Much nicer than a patch of dirt covered with weeds.

In a last-ditch effort to stop my live oak in the front yard dropping so many damn leaves, after Brian weeded it, I added three bags of Dillo Dirt and then some pine bark mulch. I also gave it some plant food. Perhaps that will stop the constant shedding of leaves.

Today I also added some edging to the bed in front of the study window and put a pot of bright red geraniums behind it--it looks so professional! I had intended the edging for my herb bed in the back, but didn't realize that it wouldn't work for reasons really too boring to detail here. Nice that it worked out somewhere.

The cardinals are loving my bird feeder, although the psycho lady cardinal still pecks at my windows, trying to intimidate her own reflection. They are also pleased that as of this morning, I have put out mealworms again. I am getting finches at my new finch feeder, and last week while sitting in my new deck furniture enjoying the approaching twilight, I saw a baby hummingbird visit every single flowering plant in my flower bed in the back. It was there long enough for Brian & Joy to come watch it. I've since put my hummingbird feeder out; it should be a good year for hummingbirds since it's been so wet--lots of wildflowers should be out. Also, although my birdhouse is currently empty, I do have a nest of Carolina wrens in my hanging basket of snapdragons. Yesterday there were four eggs in it. I love having baby birds around--hearing them in the nest is beautiful.

I have also seen some tufted titmouse at my bird feeder quite often, and over the last month I've seen quite a few cedar waxwings; the first time I saw them was the day Andy left to go back to England, and they swarmed all over the berries on my nandina bushes. Last time I've seen them was Saturday, however, so perhaps they have moved on to warmer or cooler climates.

For anyone who's made it this far, you can see some pictures of my peppermint peach tree, my son, and my in-laws at Dale's web page; the password is the first name of my child in all lower-case letters.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are to go to the Austin Rodeo. I am hoping that this year Jonathan will be big enough to go on some of the rides. He had a blast on the ones we did at last year's Victorian Christmas Festival down on 6th Street, and I would love to do some more with him.

Road Trip to Fredericksburg

Last Wednesday, we (Joy, Brian, Jonathan, and myself) took a road trip to Fredericksburg for the day. I wanted to take some back roads on the way out, partly because there was the potential we might get there quicker than going south of town and taking Hwy 290 all the way, and partly to show Brian & Joy some of the true Texas Hill Country landscape. You don't really get much of a feel for it driving on the highways.

I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams! As planned, we took 360 down to Bee Caves (2244), took that to Hwy 71, and then from there took the Hamilton Pool Road (3238, I think) out to 962. After that, my plan went awry as the little county road I'd hoped to take (CR 169) was unmarked. I think I know where I should have turned, though, so next time I might try it again (sucker for punishment). Luckily I knew from driving between the farm and Lawrence in Kansas that these county roads are often unmarked or go by many different names, so I was prepared for failure. Being stubborn and unwilling to retrace my steps, we continued on 962 and eventually ended up at Cypress Mill; as you can see from the link, it ain't a big place, folks. From there we took CR 301 to Hwy 281, which took us to Johnson City, and then we hopped onto 290 for the rest of the way into Fredericksburg.

The drive was wonderful. It certainly gives you a sense of how large the distances are here in Texas, and--I am not making this up--every single place we passed for miles on CR 301 was a ranch. And there was nothing else around. Not even any cars! Every now and then I grew concerned that I'd strayed onto someone's property and was going to end up at the front door of a house, but eventually we'd pass another residence or set of ranch gates and I'd be relieved for a while. The road was paved the whole way, which was a plus; no lane markings, though, and just barely big enough for two cars. We crossed the Pedernales River and a couple of times on CR 301 had to cross a stream. I looked very suspiciously at the water before venturing forth in my Honda Civic, but it was less than half an inch running over the road so I deemed it okay. But with any rain whatsoever, it would be unpassable for a normal car. The second area where I had to drive through water also had a big hole on the other side where the road was on its way to being completely washed out. Most exciting.

We had a great time in Fredericksburg: had lunch at the Fredericksburg Herb Farm, and then drove back to Main Street and went in lots of shops. Even I did! My tentative plan had been to find a local brewery with a beer garden and hang out in there with Jonathan, but we all ended up staying together. Jonathan had a great time all day and was a joy to travel with, and Brian found some new additions for his honeypot/bee collection. I found the best kitchen store--Der Kuchen Laden--I've ever been in (even found a coffee grinder there to replace mine that had packed up that very morning), and upon reflection I've decided that it's a good thing it's not any closer to Austin.

Gardening; Jennifer; Andy; Grama Sprong

The gardening work continues. Brian has now pulled out all four red-tip photinia stumps. Now he says there are just more rocks to pull out (seems that area was a dumping ground for the builder), then we can work in some good soil and get the vegetable garden going. Anyone know where I can buy earthworms to add to it?

I've been working on the bed in the corner of the back garden, the one visible from the windows. This morning I finished weeding the whole thing as well as pulling back the grass runners that were invading. I also pulled up two horrible spiky bushes that I've always hated and also pulled out last year's parsley plant, which had grown to a diameter of about 3 feet; I need that space for the bridal-wreath spirea plant. Earlier this week I used a coupon from Wild Birds Unlimited to procure a finch feeder that holds thistle seeds and a shepherd's crook, and that is now back in that bed, towards the fence; it's supposed to attract two kinds of finches, one that is here until mid-May and the lesser goldfinch that is here year-round . I'm not sure the shepherd's crook I got will be tall enough when the daylilies reach their full height; we'll have to see.

The peppermint peach tree will be in full bloom in another few days, and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm surprised more people don't have them in their gardens, but it seems to be relatively uncommon. I couldn't find a picture of it to link to, so I'll try to include one in my next blog entry, whenever that may be.

This afternoon I bought deck furniture, although not the same stuff mentioned earlier in my blog. It turned out with that stuff that you had to buy the cushions to be able to use the armchairs with the table, and there's no way cushions would survive in our household. So I found something else at The Chair King--a 48" glass-topped table with two swivel rockers & two dining chairs, sling-type (the Solaris Designs Monterrey stuff). I don't really care for the glass-topped tables, but they were the only ones in my price range, so I accepted the reality. The furniture will be delivered and set up on Tuesday, so Jfer & Stepan, get ready for an invitation! Maybe I'll even fire up my grill . . .

Speaking of the lovely Jennifer, Jonathan misses you and has apparently gone too long w/o seeing you. Twice today (or maybe once today and once yesterday), he pretended you were calling him on the phone or ringing the doorbell, and he said, "Is that my Jenny? Is she coming over? Is she here?" Then he said he missed you. We'll have to get together again soon.

Don't know why, but for some reason this afternoon while driving around in the Pathfinder, Jonathan had Andy, our recent houseguest, on his mind. He wanted to know if Joy liked him, if Mummy liked him, and if Grandad liked him (Dale wasn't present). We assured him that yes, we all liked Andy. Then he wanted to know something else, I think something about when we were all going out to dinner together. The difficulties of that were explained, which put an end to the subject. I personally think of Andy every time I look at the jar of Marmite still by the kettle. I keep on being tempted to try it, then I see the words "Yeast Extract" and decide to leave the lid on for another day.

For the first time recently my grandma Sprong sounded pretty good on the telephone tonight, although her speech was difficult to understand. Her doctor increased her dosage of the antidepressant drug Zoloft earlier this week, and it has sure made a huge difference. I had not realized how much her unhappiness weighed on me until I hung up the phone and walked in the house with a smile on my face.

Does Cayenne Pepper Really Work?

I felt like a real gardener today--jeans on with a hole in one knee and a T-shirt, gloves firmly on hands, with a big old shovel digging holes in the dirt. Woo hoo! I got everything done in the front that I wanted to--the weed bed around the electrical box was weeded and the earth turned, then after lunch, while Joy & Brian accompanied Jonathan to the park, I planted all the plants we'd arranged there. I've decided to get some white stone edging to put around the area, but that can be done next week. It should look quite smart. I also raked all the leaves (again, seems I just did that last weekend) and swept the sidewalk and driveway so that it would look particularly nice when Dale drove home--this was a surprise to him, as I hadn't shared our trip to Lowe's with him yesterday and we'd hidden the plants down the side of the house. He said nice things about it; he knows what's good for him.

Now, if only the damn deer don't eat it all! I was reminded by someone walking her dog this afternoon that cayenne pepper can be a deterrent against the deer, so I carefully sprinkled most of what I had over everything out there. We'll see if there's anything left in the morning. Tomorrow I shall be hard at work in the back garden, assuming I can still move.

Sad for Grama Sprong

I spoke with Grama Sprong on the phone this evening, and it does not sound to me as though she will ever get out of the "skilled nursing center"--i.e., nursing home. Her body (heart, specifically) just seems to be slowing down, but her mind has not yet done so. It makes me sad.

Plants in Darwin's Garden

Note--I have already written this entry once. Netscape froze upon loading a page and I lost my original entry. So this one will be little terse b/c I just HATE it when that happens!

Brian, Joy, Jonathan, and I went to Lowe's today, which had absolutely tons of plants to choose from. Don't know why it didn't occur to me to get there last week. I came away with a beautiful fuchsia in a hanging basket as well as some very pretty red impatiens (busy lizzies).

Around the electrical box in the front garden, I will plant a Texas mountain laurel on the street side, and on the other two sides I will plant some Carolina jessamine vines. I also have some African Sun daisies, full sun phlox, and other stuff I can't recall at the moment that will go there. All take full sun and arid soil; good thing.

To replace the mostly dead arborvitae in a container on my deck in the back, I found a beautiful pink jasmine and also got a plant trellis for it. Even with my clogged-up sinuses I could smell it in the car on the way home.

My vegetable garden now has a cherry tomato plant (I don't like tomatoes, but the ones Mom grows taste like a little bit of sunshine--glorious, and I resisted it until my last visit there), some Texas 1015 sweet onion plants, and a dill plant. I have a feeling there might be a few others but again, my memory fails me here.

To add to the flower bed back in the corner where the day lilies are, I got a spirea plant, which I have seen in other people's gardens here and it seems to do well in our summers. Fingers crossed.

I did get some spectacular pale blue violas too. They are labeled as annuals, but I still have some popping up in a bed where a hanging basket of them had been two years ago, so go figure.

We'll see how much I get done on Friday . . .

Finally, I saw a table and chairs for the deck that I liked and that are a reasonable price. I shall be taking Dale to view them this weekend.

Time Slows Down and Speeds Up at the Same Time

Ugh. Joy & Brian arrive this afternoon, and there is much to be done--but I have a cold that started yesterday evening. I must have sneezed 30 times today. Somehow, Jonathan didn't wake me up until 10:30 a.m. this morning! I couldn't believe my eyes when I prised them open to peer at the clock. So I have been plugging away at the cleaning, vacuuming, etc., but the minutes just keep ticking by. Guess things will not be up to my usual standard.

On the other hand, I feel as though I'm moving in a slow fog and can't speed up, even though I've had three cups of coffee. I also haunt my computer to see if anyone is actually reading this blog and also to see if the next version of my genealogy software has been put up for download yet; those of us on the mailing list for it having been expecting it since last Thursday. I remain yet to be fulfilled, however.

My child caused me to leave Whole Foods yesterday without purchasing anything and with him under one arm. He was a little whatsit, full of contradictions and pushing those boundaries. Finally we sat down in the rocking chair and got to the heart of the problem--he misses our friend, Andy. Either that or he misses Andy's bubble machine (his PDA, which has a Bubbles game on it). Jonathan often acts up when guests leave, but yesterday was definitely a new record. Good thing we're having new company today.

I've been watching the cardinals, Carolina wrens, and squirrels fight over my newly rehung bird feeder this morning, and I've decided that what I need is another bird feeder. Except where will I hang it? All my hooks are occupied.

Company Withdrawal Symptoms; The Pain of Gardening

Jonathan is off at his Bal Pals from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. today, and I am just wandering around the house wishing for someone to talk to. Where's my company gone? (Andy went home yesterday.) Luckily Dale's parents arrive tomorrow. I sometimes have an adjustment period when visitors arrive; the first morning Andy was here, he pulled up a chair at the breakfast table to talk when I had just sat down with my first cup of coffee to read the paper. I thought, "Oh no, I have to make conversation! Not yet!" But by the end of his visit, the paper happily went unread. (See, I can be a sociable human being.) At least he broke me in for having Brian & Joy around. It also helps that we knew each other much better by the end of the visit. Having people stay with us is fun! We are booked up now through May with Dale's parents here through 3 April and then Glen coming in May for 10 days, but our guest room is open after that . . . any takers?

Just came back inside from wandering around on the deck. Couldn't wander too far as it's cold and raining, but I admired the work done on the garden while trying to ignore the aches and pains in my body. Someone who shall remain nameless got me working in the garden on Saturday then went off with Dale to buy "toys" from the music store (one of them being a MIDI-enabled guitar--you'll have to e-mail Dale for any details beyond that), leaving me to finish up. So although by the end of the day many plants had been trimmed back (pruning is too kind a word for what I do) and the leaves had been raked and bagged in both the front and back, my fingernails caused me great pain for nearly two days from dirt being pushed too far underneath them, and my legs--suffice to say, they are sore. Somehow I always hurt the backs of my thighs when gardening, probably through bending the wrong way. I tried very hard to be careful with that on Saturday, but obviously failed miserably.

I need my body to recover quickly so that I can do the next things on my list, the first one being to pull out some horrible groundcover planted where some red-tip photinias used to be so that I can mix compost into the dirt and use it as a little vegetable garden. I bought some seeds last month to plant with Jonathan (Scarlet Nantes carrots; also rocket mix snapdragons and Texas hummingbird sage), and also I received from Jenny as part of my birthday present a seed kit for an edible flower garden (anise hyssop, signet marigold, johnny-jump-up, mixed nasturtium, and garland chrysanthemum). Perhaps she was inspired by the edible flowers I put on the cake I served at their wedding shower last year. I also need to turn over the dirt in my little patch where I plant my herbs so that it's ready for new plants, which I hope to put in while Brian & Joy are here. In the front of the house, we have absolutely got to plant something by the huge ugly electrical box to replace the equally ugly Texas sage plants we dug up last year. Right now all we're growing are weeds. It's just so hard to find something to cover those electrical boxes up! Especially something that can grow without being babied, since that doesn't happen with me. Suggestions are welcomed.

Ski Trip, Part III--Jonathan Meets Cousins and "Builds" a Snowman

On the evening of the day of his ski lesson, my cousin Carol and her family (husband Brian, kids Trevor (10), Maddie (8), and Nathan (7)) very kindly drove from their home in Idaho Falls to our condo in Park City to have dinner with us. I had never seen Carol with all three children, and Dale and I both were so pleasantly astonished at the evening--they were in our small condo for nearly four hours, after a long drive and skiing on the way, and everyone was perfectly behaved. With three kids so close in age, most families would have raised voices, fights over toys, tears over something, etc. But there wasn't even a hint of it, and they were all very sweet to Jonathan. Particularly Trevor, for whom Jonathan developed a great attachment; the next day when they all went to lunch together, Jonathan held Trevor's hand the whole time walking around the Main Street, and he even wanted Trevor to do a widdle with him (at which point Trevor finally balked, but according to Mom in the politest way possible, primarily with a look of faint panic in his eyes).

Now every day Jonathan wants to know when his cousins are going to come visit us in our house, or when we are going to visit them. Guess I shall have to check in to flights to Idaho Falls! Carol pegged Jonathan that evening, too, and predicted his future lies in commentating--he was so excited to have so many friends round the coffee table that he just kept observing what everyone was doing . . . "He's drinking his milk. She just had a cracker. That's my water." By the time they left, around 10 p.m. (no hope of getting Jonathan off to bed before then, and it would have felt mean to even try), he was so tired that he just crawled up on the couch and watched everyone, eyes glued to his cousins. It was a wonderful evening, and I only wish it was easier to repeat! (For those who don't know, it's probably a 3-4 day drive between Austin and Idaho Falls.)

Dale and Andy also built a snowman for little Jonathan to put the finishing touches on (would have taken too long to do the whole thing with him), and Jonathan loved it. It was just his size!

Photographer's credit goes to Andy for the pictures I've included in my recent blog entries regarding our ski trip. Ta very much. (For those who must know, he got a Fuji S602 Zoom digital camera in the duty-free shop on the way here, and it is a very fine camera.)

Ski Trip, Part II--Jonathan Skis

On the 3rd day of our ski trip, I took the day off to make sure Jonathan got a chance to have a ski lesson, if he wanted one. He, Mom, and I met Dale & Andy at the lodge for lunch, and Jonathan decided that yes, he would like to try skis. I duly arranged the lesson and we got him all kitted out with ski boots, skis, helmet (as per my cousin Carol's recommendation), and goggles. He had a one-hour private lesson with . . . Don. The lesson was somewhat shortened due to the convincing I had to do in order to get Jonathan to accept a man as his teacher. It went something like this:

"That's a man. I want a lady."
"No. Where's my lady?"
"Don't want a man. I want a lady."

I even told him he could call Don Donna if that made him feel better, at which point I'm sure, Don, who'd been a ski instructor for 23 years and had a great bushy mustache, wondered why in the hell he did this for a living and also why mothers insisted on giving little kids ski lessons. Finally Jonathan agreed to go with Mr. Don so that he could ride on the magic carpet in the learning area. After that everything seemed to be okay. They were in the learning area about 15 minutes and then skied out of it to the chair lift to come down the Snowflake bunny slope. After the first time, as they were heading back onto the lift again, I heard Jonathan say, "...Yay!"

Jonathan got tired after that, though, and started to sit down on his skis a lot. He did a final run down Snowflake between his teacher and Dale, which Dale loved. I don't think we'll be able to miss a season skiing now that Jonathan's been on skis. It was so much fun seeing families skiing down the runs together; I look forward to that for our family.

Ski Trip, Part I

Overall, we had a spectacular time in Park City, Utah, on our ski trip, and I fully expect that our next few ski trips will be there as well. It's only a 30-40 minute ride from the airport in Salt Lake City, rather than that two-hour slog in Colorado, and the Deer Valley resort--which doesn't allow snowboarders--is completely awesome. They really take care of you there (even have tissues in the lift lines so you can wipe your runny nose before getting on the lift!), the trails are all groomed every night and have lots of variety . . . it was worth every penny. Even when Dale has skied everything there, there are over ten other resorts in the area, so plenty of skiing to keep us occupied for years to come.

Our friend Andy did absolutely fantastic. It was his first time on snow skis ever; he started off with about two hours of private lessons in the morning of the first day, and in the afternoon I took him down a green run that was pretty challenging for him. But by the end of the fourth day, he skied better than I did, dammit! It was fun having him along for me to ski with; Dale is just that much better than I that the runs I ski at the moment are a little boring for him.

For me, this trip (my third skiing) was the first time I really felt like I was a skier. I got the hang of where my weight needed to be and some mental tricks to make sure I did it properly, and I just skated down those runs on the first day. It was exhilarating! As the trip went on and I got more tired, I lost a little of that confidence and ability to just glide down the runs, but when I focused I could still get it back. I skied my first blue runs at Deer Valley this time, and I cannot wait for our next trip (next year).

Eleven Yrs Went By Unremarked

On the way back from the Springsteen concert tonight, Dale asked me if I realized that 22 February had come and gone while we were on our ski trip; it happened to have been the day I took off skiing so that Jonathan could get a lesson. And lo and behold, I had not given it a single thought! I guess with having Andy here as well as the preparation for the ski trip itself, and Joy & Brian's trip coming up in a day and a half, I was just too busy and having too much fun to remember. How nice to know that such a thing can happen! I never would have thought that in those first few years after the rape itself. Thanks to all of my wonderful family & friends who have given me so much love and support through the years.

Unfortunately the further away I am from the attack, the closer I get to having to write letters to the parole board to argue against parole being granted (again), but that bridge can be crossed at the appropriate time. And with confidence in myself, I might add.

Now That Was Fun

Dale and I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert tonight at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. It was lots of fun to see good musicians who obviously loved what they were doing, even if the music wasn't my all-time favorite. The audience was also great--it's fun to be in an atmosphere full of good will.

At the beginning it sounds as though the band was getting booed as they came on stage, until we realized they were saying, "Bruuuuuuce". Duh. Dale even said, "This is a weird audience", until I told him what was going on.

Bruce is definitely sexy. Something about the way he moves and his hips, but possibly just the way his jeans fit well--no, it definitely has something to do with the way he moves. Maybe it's just watching someone having such a good time doing what they are doing, who knows. Not a very well put together sentence there, but hopefully the gist comes across.

I had lots of great insights into musicians and the pleasure from watching/listening to them, but that was a couple of hours ago and they're gone now. I just want credit for having them even if I don't share! Maybe in the morning . . .

And btw, many thanks to lovely Auntie Jenny for looking after the little guy for us.

Time Flies . . .

Sorry no entry for so long. I will fill in the missing days at some point in the future (notice I don't say the "near future").

Had a wonderful time on ski vacation in Utah 19-24 February. It was great to see my cousin Carol and her family. Andy (our friend from England, used to play bass with Dale in Deep South band) did wonderfully--his first time on skis at age 38, and I think he skies better than I do now, the b*@#!. As Jfer says, it must be a guy thing. He has ridden his motorbike at 170 mph so is clearly not loathe to go fast.

Andy leaves tomorrow morning, unfortunately--have been having a very nice time working in our garden with him. It's so much fun to have someone around who knows what to do in a garden! My deck is a very pleasant place now, as he put up about 5 hooks for hanging baskets and wind chimes, and also helped me select plants from a nursery yesterday. He also quieted some wind chimes I have that are very pretty to look at but were not so pretty to hear--tones were a bit harsh, and he fixed it by wrapping some casing from speaker wire around the thingy that dings the pipes. I told him we could keep him if he liked!

Dale's parents come on Tuesday afternoon for their spring visit (will be here until 3 April), and their arrival is much anticipated by all members of the household. It is really fun to have people coming to stay with us all the time (Dale's brother Glen is coming in May for 10 days--the fun never stops here at Sierra Oaks).

Congratulations to my auntie Kathleen for doing a METRIC century (about 62 miles) on her bike this morning, along with my ever-talented Uncle John. (This is assuming they both completed it--I heard from Kathleen at the second rest stop.) You guys are cool!