Study abroad

Another priceless gem from the annals of running summer study abroad to Russia. One of this year's students is a very timid, very unworldly young woman for whom this is the first trip to anywhere distant. nothing like jumping in at the deep end. Convincing her parents to let her go was a three pronged assault: the student herself and me and Yulia who is there leading the group. i was not pleased to see the mom's return address in my email box this morning... She doesn't want to interfere, and her daughter would be mortified if she knew that she was writing to us, but, well, some of the things she has told mum over the phone have left her worried. And I quote, because, paraphrase cannot do it justice.

Incident #1:

The room she is staying in seems to belong to her hostess (N's) dad (I assume divorced?) Her boyfriend (R) let a man into my daughter's room one evening (she was lying down) and introduced him as N's dad who is staying with neighbors for the duration of her visit. He proceeded to remove his trousers and took a fresh pair from the dresser and put them on. My daughter thought this was very unusual and said the man talked to her throughout as if it was a normal routine thing and he left immediately after.

Incident #2

My daughter also told me that one evening she was asked to stay in her room until N and R called her to come out. Well she was sick and lay down but after what she said was a long period of time, she became thirsty and thought she would just pop into the kitchen to get a drink. She found R & N in a compromising situation on the kitchen floor and fled back to her room. Afterward, they took her to get her cell phone and helped her set it up before bed-time.

It came with the alternating text colors and everything.

We're thinking this might be the best thing that has happened to this girl....

summer slipping by

Tomorrow is July 1st and it already feels as though the summer is slipping away. The glorious days of not having to be anywhere and most of all no meetings. I am planning to move to the office next door to mine in a couple of weeks - it is bigger and although my cute triangle shaped office seemed appealing 3 years ago, I do not have the personality to keep it in any kind of order so on to bigger space. Which undoubtedly I will also quickly fill with chaos.

This evening we did one of our Millcreek Canyon picnic dinners with Ellen and Lars. The boys got a fire going for the hotdogs and we enjoyed sitting in the cool canyon breeze and chatting. The days are in the 90s now so that voyaging up 1000-2000 feet higher is a real respite.

My veggies are growing like mad. I put in four different types of tomatoes so we could have variety and a better chance of something tasty. They are flourishing - the Black Prince is the biggest... I also planted brussels sprouts. I don't know when they actually produce the sprouts - so far they are just leaves. Then there are two cucumber plants, one is huge and the other probably a goner. We also did a lot of basil and some cilantro. Pictures tomorrow.

Bad blogger

Have been a bad blogger. I actually wrote one post while in the Phoenix airport but the wifi was wiggy and it went nowhere. Vegas was followed in quick succession by two work trips and it has been hectic. I am now really enjoying having no plans to go anywhere for the rest of the summer. Friday I cleared Ryan's room which since he moved out a year ago has looked like a bomb went off. Furniture here and there, piles of junk and us just throwing things in there that we "don't know where to put." I painted the ceiling and steamed off the wallpaper beach scene that adorned one full wall. Our plan is to recarpet the whole basement and I will paint Ryan's room as I did the family and guest room. The paint in Ryan's room will inevitably cover up some of my favorite Ryanisms. He took to writing motivational things directly on the wall - our favorite is the large lettering entreating him to "Do Something!"

Then it was outside to help Craig with day five of his sprinkler repair project. Sam mowed. Oh and we managed to unload our trampoline on freecylce yesterday. Yay. No one was using it and it was a serious eyesore. A month ago we replaced the tree that we planted last summer that died with another one (free from the nursery per their guarantee) and it already looks dead. Not sure if we can go for a second replacement although I don't see why not. For now it just stands there looking pathetic.

A couple of pics from my trip to Colorado Springs:

This is the view from the top of Pike's Peak at some 14, 000 feet

The chapel at the US Air Force Academy