Healthy

I just got back from a long hike along the trails in the woods near our home. The weather is fabulous and everything is in bloom. I was almost home and came upon some neighbors and we chatted for a while under a cherry tree and gorged ourselves on wild cherries! I felt like I was on vacation!

	M and I will be enjoying another treat starting this evening. We've bought a fitness station so that we can do strength training together. We've been thinking and talking about it for a long time now and decided to take the plunge-- I'm really excited about it!
	I just hope that if I keep up with the exercise and the wild cherries that I'll end up like my 94+ year old Great Aunt Irene who likes to show off her smooth yoga moves. When she's not too busy playing cards or hanging out with friends, that is....

Sand animation

This video has been haunting me for a couple of days now. I can't stop watching or thinking about it. The text at the end where they're staring at the sailor's ghost says: "You are always nearby".

Even this pacificst was cheering!

M celebrated Fathers' Day yesterday doing manly things like punching his friends in the gut and kicking them in the head.

He and S participated in a Taekwando demonstration at an outdoor festival here in town. They (and the rest of their group) did such a great job, and pulled it off with such aplom-- I was really proud of them!

Here's 9 seconds-worth of M being extremely dangerous...

Photo update

Don't have much to say. We're hanging in there, but are waiting for the other shoe to drop with M's employer. Nothing concrete, just a steadily growing feeling of dread that we will soon have to pull up stakes again and leave this place that we've come to love so much.

Some days I feel like I'm dangling out of a 10th story window, holding onto a windowsill which is starting to crumble away underneath my fingertips...

I haven't posted any photos over here in a while, so let's look at some pictures instead, shall we?

	My dad's twin sister is currently on a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. The boys and I drove out to Würzburg on Tuesday afternoon to meet up with her. We've always said that S strongly resembles my Dad, and here's more living proof!
	I guess our strawberry plant loves us as much as we do it! Can you believe this perfectly heart-shaped strawberry? We loved it, warts and all! And then we ate it! Mwah hah hah hah hah haaaaaaa!
	Here's S rustlin' up some cattle out at Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountain in Colorado.
	B's obviously a natural born rider. on a motorcycle...
	Cursus! Foiled again! B makes a narrow escape. for now...
	S and B and their Colorado cousins at the Denver Zoo!
	My favorite part of our trip to Colorado was teatime at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, which was actually built in Tajikistan and transported piece by piece to Boulder! I was lucky enough to get to travel to Tajikistan back in 1995 and have wonderful memories of the beautiful countryside.
	B relaxing after his tea. I think he'd actually consider moving to Central Asia if it meant he could have pillows like these at the dinner table!
	I loved the traditional artwork on the ceilings! This place was so beautiful, and the tea was fabulous! It's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the neighborhood!
	S goofing around with my sister-in-law / second cousin. Have I ever mentioned here that my cousin married M's brother? I always feel like a redneck when I try to explain our tangled family tree...
	I love this picture! This was snapped mid-chaos while visiting M's other brother and his family in Amsterdam. Those are actually real smiles on everybody's faces despite the fact that we asked them to pose for the picture!

Sad news

Chris H died at 3:15 this afternoon.

Dag lieve jongen. You will be sorely missed by all of us who had the pleasure of knowing you!

If only...

Just got back from vacation and found out that M's cousin, C, is going downhill fast. He fell unconscious yesterday and was so near death that his parents called his sisters and brother to his bedside to say goodbye.

Yesterday evening, however, he rallied briefly and suddenly woke up. When he saw the faces of everyone gathered around him he said: "It's like everyone's expecting something of me and I don't know what to do." And his mom said: "A smile would be enough." And he answered: "I left my last smile for you in the freezer next to the frozen lasagna."

The world is losing a beautiful, funny, wonderful human being...