That's a very interesting question Richard. I like to take a survey. Who among you out there reading this can honestly say your heart skips beat when your life partner enters the room?

there are a couple of tough questions that i believe are at the foundation layer. do two peoples' hearts stop when the other walks into the room and do the two people make each other feel like their hearts are smokin. for me, i would think about those questions if i wanted to know whether i was with a potentially great love or unfortunately with little more than a prospective bowling partner.

Hi Lori, no to all about work. I can't come back if I take time off unless there is a position open when I come. That's not too likely since the district is making cuts and money is tight. My position now is safe because it is not special ed and is a requirement given the number of students need detention. So as long as I want it I can have it.

We'll be spending a lot more time together over the course of the summer but it isn't going to be normal day to day unless I move in with him down there. Even then it really won't be. The plan would be to go to camp in NH for 2 weeks together then if I decide to stay there he'd come over on the weekends the same as he does now, coming up here. When I come home here then I guess he'd come here instead. It's a shorter ride back here from Bangor but as he says, he can go swimming when he gets there. Either way, it's an unnatural situation. Moving in with Dave means staying in some temporary quarters so that's weird too. Right now he has to have figured out his housing situation by June 26.

Patti, is there any way you can have a trial period together in Bangor without making things permanent yet? Can they hold your job for you for a year or half a year? Can you keep your house and just live in a rental apartment with Dave in Bangor for a while--until you're more clear on whether you want to be with him there or would rather be on your own in P.I.? It seems like a lot of extra stress to have to be buying a house and giving up a job at this point when you're not sure you want to be together. If you're leaning towards splitting up, is there any way you can cut your expenses so you won't be stressed financially--so that that won't be the reason you choose to stay together? I just have questions, not suggestions. Maybe Richard can answer you better. By the way, Richard, you don't have to just write happy blogs! I want to hear whatever you have to say.

I know you didn't mean to be mister freeze as you put it Richard. To be honest I've been reflecting daily on your post and I can't agree more. Parallel lives is where Dave and I have been for several years now. It's dreadful. Trying to bring our lives together back together is the part I don't get. It's enormously difficult to work on the relationship when we are only together for approximately 36 hours a week. What am I supposed to do when he has gone and wants me to follow? If I do, and i find it was not the right choice I'm screwed. I'm not 14 years old. I don't know how to break up with my boyfriend. I look forward to your responses.

well, i sure didn't mean to be mister freeze and i agree that the parallel lives one is a really bad choice. here is a good one to ask yourself if you are wondering whether to make the call for a garbage pick-up. you and your mate will paint a picture together. you have a large blank canvas in front of you and there you stand with your mate and plenty of paint. here is one response to this actual question. the wife said, "i would paint a line down the center and he can paint whatever he wants on his side and i will paint whatever i like on my side." definitely time for some work or change. i will only post happy blogs for the next six months, promise.

Yes, it looked like the blog was frozen in place for a few days after Richard's comments! I personally couldn't handle the second choice--living parallel lives in the same house. I'd rather split than stay in a loveless marriage--but I do think it's possible to work on the relationship, at least in some cases, and rekindle the love when it starts to get buried under the garbage.

Kathi, give my best wishes to Karen and her mother. I wish I could be there, too.

Hi everybody....its a very quiet week here!
I heard from Karen tonight. She asked me to tell all of you that her Mother's surgery went as expected with no complications and that she is now recovering at home. She will get her test results on Monday, so we will all send warm wishes that they will come back with good results!
We hope to get together next week!
Hope all is well with each of you....Happy Thoughts........Happy May Day!

there are actually three choices. to be or not to be- together is not the whole question. i agree with jane fonda who said that marriage to one person for life was a good idea when people died at age 50. for those of us who are still kicking at 54+, the choices are to live and love within an integrated life with your mate where you both bring something special out in each other that the other could not find or have without you, to live parallel lives in the same house, or to split. any new, and improved approach to the same old life together usually loses its shine quickly because we change at our age and the same old thing doesn't make sense anymore. i don't know if that gives you any perspective. it sounds like you are thinking, feeling, and not sure if the result is loving. a loveless life is not the right choice :-)

We are home from NC. We left last night at 5:45 and got home this morning at 9:00. Of course, there were a lot of pit stops and a stop for breakfast in CT. Neil was also conserving fuel and only driving 60-65....we averaged almost 30 mph with our Ford 500. It was 50 degrees and chilly when we got here. Not the 80s that we've been getting used to all week.
We had a great visit with our grandbabies...they are growing up way too fast. My birthday baby is almost walking...Caleb is reading up a storm...and Camille is the ultimate princess who likes to practice her posing. I so hope that they are really moving in June and that this will be our last long trip down to visit! I think we are getting too old to drive 14 hours at a time.
Pat, you have to listen to you.....not others! It has to be what you and Dave really want to do with your lives. Life is all about the choices that we make!
Sending only Happy thoughts to all and your loved ones needing it..........................

Patti, I love your Plymouth Rock analogy. I know exactly what you mean by that! And thanks for summarizing A New Earth for us! I think I'm resisting reading the book cuz I can't stand the guy's voice--not that I'll be hearing it when I read the book. Avi has it on disks, and he likes his voice. I also can't stand Deepak Chopra's voice, so I guess I have to just read the books and not think of their voices. I didn't realize you're still having a lot of doubts about the decision to move. Do your friends think you should stay married, but not move? I hope the counselor will help you get more clear on what's best for you. It must be really stressful.

Hi everyone, we're back from DC finally. Even though it was several days, we made a lot of running around the norm so it was very tiring, but exciting. I found however that I used my Plymouth Rock analogy a couple times though. Which is to say that sometimes I have a build up in my expectations that isn't met. If you've ever been to Plymouth Rock you find that it is not some huge boulder for the Pilgrims to step out onto but a basic looking rock by the sea that is in captivity for all of us to look at and wonder. One looks down at it surrounded by iron bars to protect it from being chipped away by enthusiastic historians. Nature will polish it off eventually. So anyway, it has become my way of saying I was a bit let down. Our tour of the White House (self led) and especially the Library of Congress met this description. Especially the library where I kept wondering where are all the books? It turns out they are in 23 separate reading rooms that are not open to the public. so what you go to look at is the magnificent architecture and art work. The fellow who toured us at Congress told us about The Capital Grill where we promptly became regulars for dinner. I highly recommend their beer Fuel.

I think A New World requires a particular willingness. I'm not sure I can explain myself. The classes are held too late at night for me to be part of but I've discovered I can download them through iTunes and watch/listen at my convenience. Though I haven't stuck with it I have very much enjoyed what I have done with it. I think it makes a lot of sense; isn't a new thought so much as getting back to knowing and acting on what we already know. In a nut shell, "play nice with others". There, that was easy. Really though it is a complicated process: I believe: of doing just that. Where it gets really difficult is the whole letting going of yourself and your beliefs about who/what you are or what you are supposed to be. I guess if you can do that it allows you to free yourself up to your "real" potential as a person without the trappings of expectations, real or imagined. Well that was awkward, just ignore me.

Happy belated birthday Lori! I'm glad so many good things happened for you and mostly that you say you feel you have got yourself back. I know precisely what you mean and I'm honestly delighted. It must feel wonderful to be able to feel that way.

I need to call my counselor this week and arrange to begin again. I need someone to talk with that isn't involved in anyway. Those folks who have weighed in here in P.I. think I'm making a mistake to go with Dave. I'm really quite freaked out about it and even had a bit of an emotional break out on our trip saying I just wanted to go home! We are looking at two places today and 4 tomorrow. I'd like the whole looking process to go badly and Dave to give it all up. I know I could stop this whole thing cold but I've been back and forth on it so many times I feel guilty. Not much chance of that changing. I've found it amazing how stress acts on my body. The fibromyalgia is remarkably reactive. Sleeping in my own bed last night was wonderful.

Karen I'm sorry your mom is ill. Having you there will help I know. You'll have Kathi and Janice's support too while you're there. Please know the rest of us are here and keeping all of you in our best and most hopeful wishes.

Karen, I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I wish her the best for a speedy recovery. She sounds like a really strong person, so hopefully she'll pull through it okay. I'm sure she'll be happy to have you there.

Patti recommended A New Earth a while ago, but actually I just started reading it now, so I don't have an opinion yet. My therapist recommended it, too. He said The Power of Now is more theoretical, and this one is more practical. I think it's an individual thing. Avi has been influenced a lot by The Power of Now, but it hasn't had as much of an impact on me. This week I told my therapist (the one I've been going to for individual therapy) that I think I can stop coming cuz I'm feeling really good about myself and my life now. Can you believe it??? Only took 54 years!!! I don't know exactly what happened, but I feel like something finally clicked inside and all the pieces of the puzzle came together and now I've got myself back. The self I want, not the needy, insecure one. I hope this doesn't sound too weird. We're still going for the couples therapy, but if this keeps up, I think I'm ready to stop that, too! By the way, thanks for the birthday wishes.

Glad you had a good day for your Birthday, Lori! Its always nice to get lavished with attention, love and gifts! We girls went shopping this morning....always interesting with two little ones...we tried leaving the oldest one with Papa but I think he really wanted some peace and quiet. Right now he is taking the baby for a walk...I am waiting for Caleb to get off the bus from school. 10 more minutes of quiet....lol....it has been showery, windy and in teh 70s for the past 2 days. I think it has been warmer up in VT....it'll probably change by Friday went we go back home.
Have a good trip to Florida, Karen...talk to everybody soon. Happy Thoughts....

The kids came over last night for my birthday. I got a lot of nice presents and cards from them and Avi. Avi also wrote me a really nice card this year, so I'm feeling really appreciated. Feels good! On Friday night his family will have a cake for me, and on Sunday my friend, Irene, is making me a meal. I've been hearing about her grilled salmon for so long and have never tasted it, so this is my chance. My sister-in-law thought I should be pampering myself more for my birthday (massage, etc.), but that's more her thing than mine. I could go up in a hot air balloon and circle the world, but family and friends are all the balloons I want right now.

We arrived in Durham about 8:00 Sunday morning...in time for breakfast. Spent the day with my sister-in-law. Went to the mall and had a cookout...except that it started raining (that they desperately need) just as we waited for the charcoal to get ready. Spent the rest of the day visiting ...sleeping...eating. This morning we left her house about 8 and drove 2 hours to our daughters. I knocked on the door...I could see Camille (3 yr old) sitting at the table drawing...I knocked again she looked up and good this big grin...ran over opened the door and just hugged and hugged. It is the sweetest thing. Caleb was at school so I waited for the bus at 2:30...he ran off the bus, up the driveway looking for us....He has gotten too tall.....he is almost up to my neck with the top of his head...We all went to the Golden Corral for supper....it also rained here quite heavily this afternoon. Another funfilled day. Going to school to see Caleb's kindergarten and to library storyhour....with Camille. Chloe has the silliest crawl...she pulls herself along sort of on her butt pushing with one leg and sitting on the other. Pretty funny. More details to bore you to follow....Happy Thoughts......

wahoo. i tested my first luv shak beam to see if my design will meet the building code. it is 40% stronger than required. that means i can focus on the look of the design knowing that i am structurally where i need to be. wahoo!

We are leaving late this afternoon...not this morning, like I thought, getting to my sister-in-laws for breakfast tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to have us arrive by 7 am....
I talked to my grandson this morning. He said that his teacher said I can come any time, so like I said before, I'll be Nana from VT for show and tell. My kids at school thought that was funny. It'll be interesting to see the differences of the two kindergartens.
Patti, have a good time in DC...relax and enjoy.
Lori, Happy Passover and almost birthday.
Karen, I've missed IMing this week....too bad you weren't closer and we could meet up!
Hopefully, this will be our last time driving down to NC...at least to see Grandbabies.
Stay tuned for all the excitement.....Happy Thoughts to all....

News from the AT. The boys are in Damascus VA which is approximately 543 miles from the start. They hear that 60% of the starting thru-hikers have already dropped out. I'm so proud of them and hope they can make it all the way.

I'm glad to hear the passover plans are going better Lori. It seems that family gatherings are always a trial. No matter what the reason to gather.

I spent time outside on our deck the last couple of afternoons. It has been wonderfully warm up here but quite sudden. There is much concern in the area for flooding. I'm high on a hill so no worries for me.

Dave and I leave for DC Sunday morning. We'll be post cherry blossoms but I'm betting with temps in the 70's all that "growing" going on will be just gorgeous even without cherry blossoms. We arrive back TH night and leave for Bangor the next morning. 5 more house to look at over the weekend. Yuck.

Doesn't sound like Richard is gonna dish. What a tease.................................

Travel safely everyone!

I like that--the Nana from Vermont for show and tell!

Thanks for giving me that happy end, Richard. I'm happy for you.

Good for you Richard...Good for you Lori for asking the questions we are all wondering!
It was almost 80 here today...amazing! Our class walked down to Riverside to the playground there for the afternoon. It takes 1/2 hour to walk down with 18 5-6 year olds...then we play for 45 minutes and walk back...which is always harder because they are hot, tired and have to go uphill. I am ready for a nap now!
Got to go find my warm weather clothes to pack for NC...we are leaving Saturday night...we'll stop in Durham at Neil's sisters and then head over to Farmville Monday morning. Caleb will be in school until 2:30 but we can play with the girls...it'll work out well...I get to be show and tell one day...how exciting sharing Nana from Vermont...I could be nice and get some maple candy...I can hyper up other peoples children...haha...

lori, that is vermont understatement to say that there was no progress since our connection was already fantastic from such a long time ago. i had a great birthday and we have a great relationship. you can be happy.

Maybe I'm just stupid or something, but I don't quite get how there can be no progress in the relationship if you adore each other--or is she not available to be in a relationship? Sorry if I'm being too nosey. I just want to hear a happy end--that it's working out great and you're happy.

The Passover thing seems to be working out in the end. The ones who were mad got over it and will be coming in the end.....

karen, what can i say? it was a great day, with a great person, and we went to a great show. there was no progress in our relationship because we still adore each other as much as when we were eighteen years old and that has never changed. actually seeing each other was pretty different.

I'm sure you'll find the right house eventually, Patti. Enjoy your time in DC. Don't think about houses while you're there!

Passover is coming up for us next Saturday. We're going to Avi's sister's house, but there's all kinds of family politics going on at the moment--someone is always mad at someone else in his family--so I'm not sure yet who else will be there. Why is acceptance so hard? We all want to change people to make them like ourselves.....

I'm so sorry Lori to hear that things are so difficult at the immigration office. It must be terrible that he has to go back to Israel and wait again. It doesn't seem like it should be this difficult to have the correct paperwork. Yet it seems as though this particular individual is being impossible on purpose.
Our house buying life is all screwed up again. We keep thinking we've found the right one but it doesn't turn out that way. I think this is the hardest move we've ever made and yet, we've done it many times before. There is a glut of available properties but not in our price range/desires.
I'm looking forward to spending a few days in DC in a week. It'll take our minds off all this I hope. We'll be right back into it though as I have to go down and see a house that we put an offer on, contingent on my having seen the house and consented to the purchase by the 26th. I've only seen photos you see. In order to protect the house from possible sale to others we put this weird contract on it. We've already starting walking away in our minds though. It's just not the right one. We come back on the 24th. Yikes.

Yes, I agree, that First Love story is one we need (want) to hear.

I don't have any boa stories, just another bad-ending story at the Immigration office. We went again this week without an appointment, but with the lawyer (or actually an associate of hers who works in her office). This woman managed to get us in without an appointment, which seemed like a good sign. We met with the same officer who made problems the first time. I was afraid to breathe, but it seemed to be going well--until he got to my sister's birth certificate and again found it unsatisfactory. The other time he complained that my parents' names weren't on it. This time my parents' names were on it, but it was from the hospital, not from the Civil Registry office, and a hospital certificate isn't good enough. I think it's ridiculous, but he wouldn't budge, and when we asked to speak to his supervisor, that didn't help either. She backed him up. They also didn't think we had enough proof that my sister lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years--despite transcripts, etc. It's such a headache to get citizenship that we feel like giving up. On the other hand, it seems stupid to stop in the middle. Anyway, Eli is flying back to Israel on Sunday. The Immigration dept. will send him another invitation to come in about 3 months. If he decides he wants to go ahead with it, we'll try to get all the required documents, and he'll come back for the interview. It's just really maddening that the lawyer didn't do a better job of making sure everything was ready. I feel bad that Eli came to the U.S. especially for this, and it didn't work out.... Oh well, enough complaining, I guess. I have a hard time accepting reality sometimes.

Okay, good story Richard. All the right elements were there; interesting subject, suspense, humor, imagry ..... BUT, you are talking to a bunch of women and you cannot just drop a tease about your FIRST LOVE and not give us more! We want to know about that tail, uh tale!!!!

Ever since I moved here I have been meaning to start a list of all the things that I have heard the traffic reporters say are blocking at least a lane of the highways around Atlanta. There has been a wide variety; refrigerators, ladders, mattresses, dead animals (and I mean a horse), truckloads of goods. Its just amazing how stupid people can be when transporting things. Well, today took the cake. There was a baby zebra found injured grazing next to the interstate. He had apparently fallen out of the back of a trailer, but no one had claimed him. He has now had surgery and is doing well. I guess its never too late to start that list.

One of my boys is coming home for the weekend. Unfortunately, its going to be cold and miserable.

kathi, thanks for taking the time to read my story. you are right that birthdays sure do beat the alternative. i will be spending mine with my first true love. how sweet is that?

Richard, I think you need to write a book. You certainly can weave a tale! I am glad that my cat and laptop triggered that memory. Are you preparing for the big birthday weekend? I know that Pat's birthday was in January...Richard and Lori in April...Mine in May...Karen's in August...
I love birthdays....a little old lady once told me...."It beats the alternative honey"....

how is a cat's head sleeping on a laptop like a boas head that is asleep on a life insurance salesman's lap? the answer is that it is not the same whatsoever. i will tell you why. a seventy-four year old man once sat next to me at a bar in a relatively deserted town. it was a town that saw it's last renovation during the california gold rush. that's right, not much new had happened since then. we were sitting in the bucket of blood saloon and i am serious. the delta queen was just next door and some other saloons you might have heard of were nearby. you remember the tv show, bonanza? at the start of the show the guitar played- bling da-da bling, da-da bling, da-da bling bling. bling da-da bling, da-da bling, da-da bling bling bling. then a map of virginia city would burn up in front of your face and the stars of the show came individually riding in on horse back. the gent and i were sitting in virginia city. it was a cold february evening and i could have tied my car up to the hitching post outside if i had a rope. the place really hasn't changed in its look. there were big nevada snow flakes coming down about horizontal to the ground and moving at about the same speed as the tumbleweeds that rolled along beneath them. no kidding. there were two things i found strange and one of which was just plain disgusting. as desolate as that town was, there were hundreds of dune buggies that rolled through town for a dune buggy luv fest scheduled for the weekend there. they all had that hotrod look and they have these fifteen foot fiberglass poles with a little triangular flag at the top. these are mounted coming up off of their bumpers. they swarmed like bugs and would then disappear. none of them were drinking at the bucket of blood. it was just me, the old guy, and the bartender there. the truly disgusting thing was that i went to the bar where the dune buggy drivers were hanging out to get the best steak in virginia city. that was long after my education in the ways of a boa and the heartfelt moments at the bucket of blood. i walked in to a crowd of smokers at the bar with super steaks. i ordered a beer and (of course) a steak. i like 'em medium rare, on the rare side. you get more flavor. every man, woman, and child in that bar was smoking cigarettes, cigars, or just breathing out a lifetime of smoking both. if someone asked my if i was in beijing, i would have said, "yes." i am telling you what. i could not see dick in there and that is when i still was one. well let me tell you the breathing in there was tough and the steak i ate was impossible to taste. at one point, i used one of those crocodile dundee knives and chopped it into a paste that i snorted up my nose hoping to find some soft tissue that still had taken sensory exception to all that damn smoke. disgusting. that's what. however, my evening had not started there. as i told you, a lonely man of seventy-four years of age sat next to me in the bucket of blood saloon and he told me most everything about his life. i bought the beers to show my interest and love for the guy. the bartender bought a couple, too. well, it turns out that the old guy immigrated from ireland about thirty years earlier. his irish bride came with him and they had settled in las vegas. his wife had worked in a vetrinarian's office back then. she had died about ten years prior to my meeting her husband and i could tell that he still missed her something fierce. well as it turns out, there was a time when a guy who had a snake act on the strip in las vegas came into the veterinarian's place with his anaconda and boa. both were sick. he dropped them off there to see what could be done, but he never came back. maybe he had hit the wall with his snake act. it is logical to think so. well, the snakes' health improved and my older friend's wife brought them home to there house in las vegas. the anaconda spent all his time in the bathtub and i have to believe they had a second bath where they could wash, because he basically just stayed in the bathtub. somehow, the anaconda grew from about 24 feet to 30 feet in length over the course of his visit with my irish friend. it may be as obvious to you as it is to me that jimmie hoffa was about six feet tall and one gulp of the anaconda could explain where his sorry ass ended up. this part is just not known. the boa entered my irish friend's house at fourteen feet stretched, muscles relaxed, with no constrictions. he was given the name of rufus. rufus grew to about eighteen feet as time went by and i know what you are thinking. hervé villechaize could explain the difference in growth, but i was told that rufus had a healthy life style that was built on rodents. well here is the thing. one day a life insurance saleman comes to the house. my friend did not notice that rufus' bedroom door was open. as they discussed the possible benefits of life insurance (and i am telling you that no money would have ever paid for my friend's loss), rufus came out of his bedroom. he cozied up to that life insurance salesman and he put his head where rufus liked to put his head. i had to ask for clarification here, because i was not sure where that might be. rufus likes armpits and a deep penetration of the crotch where blood comes closest to the surface and where human's provide a special warmth that is number one with reptiles. i was told that this has a soporific effect that had put rufus into an almost instantaneos state of sleep and relaxation. further clarification made it clear to me that rufus had not picked the life insurance man's armpit. well my friend was just barely becoming aware of all this and the life insurance salesman was all knees, elbows, and a shaking ass on his way out the door. so i think you can see that the effect of a boa sleeping on the lap of a life insurance salesman is quite different different than a cat with his head sleeping on a laptop. the laptop cannot run. as a matter of fact, my laptop sits patiently while i wrap this story up with a bow. love you all. peace. richard

My cat has decided that he likes me tonight...and is sitting next to me in my chair with his head on the laptop while I am trying to type...its a little difficult but amusing. Can you believe he slept through American Idol....haha.
It was a beautiful day here. Up in the 50s and sunny. The snow is melting out of my yard, except for the huge pile in my flower garden where the plower moved the snow....there is also this little river running through it and down the yard where we have never had water running. Finally, I think Spring is here in Vermont!
Happy Thoughts everybody.....................

I'm glad it went well, Kathi. That's pretty amazing that it's going to be in an Australian newspaper.

You go Lori!!! Isn't is amazing how we can now speak up for ourselves (of course, some of us always could) when we really need to. Sometimes people who think they have power and control just have to make lives miserable. I hope all goes well next time.
The interview went well....I think....the man was very gracious and sincere. He wanted to know lots about Springfield, childhood stuff...he was meeting with John Swanson who says he is the town historian...so I'll let him know all the important facts that I don't. It did get to be pretty emotional.....(I made him tear up....) anyways, the article is suppose to be in the June magazine portion of the Australian Financial Review....He is talking with my sister-in-law on Monday. He also watched the VT Fallen bio on Kevin.
I am going out to dinner tonight for our Support Staff Union.....

Let us know how the interview goes, Kathi. Good luck with that. And, by the way, I liked your daughter's music video. My 2 musician kids probably have a lot in common with her.

Happy Birthday, Richard. I hope the day goes exactly the way you want it to. Mine is coming up soon, too--the 22nd. Our 30th anniversary was on Thursday. All the big dates are in April. We went out to eat at a nice, quiet restaurant. I don't know if it's age or what, but I can't handle noisy restaurants anymore. Can't hear anything, can't hear myself think. So the emptier the restaurant, the better!

Patti, that's good that you reached a decision about moving to Bangor. It doesn't matter if it's the right or wrong decision; just having a decision gives peace, I think. You can always change your mind afterwards if it turns out not to be the right decision for you. Good luck!

Karen, I wish Curves was as exciting as your gym! We can't really talk much there, but I like watching women of all ages, shapes, and sizes dancing around on those squares, each one moving to her own rhythm. The whole thing together is like a choreographed dance. The fat ones barely move, but there's still something appealing about their tiny movements.

Last week I nearly killed an Immigration clerk. I went with my nephew Eli to get his citizenship, and we happened to get a bastard of a clerk this time. We had the exact same documents we used for Eli's brother and sister, so there was no logical reason for the clerk to make problems. But he did. Suddenly those papers weren't good enough, and he needs more papers. He said he'd send us another invitation to come in 2 months. It wouldn't be such a problem if Eli wasn't planning to fly back to Israel on Sunday. In the end, we postponed his flight another week. Our lawyer said we should just go back to Immigration without an appointment and take a chance that the clerk will agree to see us and accept the documents he asked for. She'll go with him this time, so it better work. If it doesn't, I'm under orders from my sister to curse him out completely.

karen, my hoped for date was opting out on me, but there is now a reasonable chance that it will still happen. she is special.

kathi, anything that you say will be fine, but the one word that you pick that tells people how you feel is the most important thing. it really is about how you feel. in the same way that many people who you know best have learned to care about you, saying the few words that explain how you feel is how many people, who you will never meet, will come to embrace you and hold you in their thoughts. love, richard

Such excitment going on! Richard with his travels and birthday fun, Karen at the gym, Pat moving, Lori wedding planner. I am doing an interview tomorrow with the editor of a Austrialian newspaper/magazine who is doing an acticle on the effects of war on a small community in VT...Springfield....I am very leary about doing interviews because I don't want them to misconstru for their own purposes ...so we will see how this goes. Hopefully it'll be a human interest story keeping the memory of lost ones alive..... He has a great accent..... wish me luck. Happy Thoughts....................

pat, the new dining room in presque isle did sound appealing. you gotta be strong to leave that behind for a man. i hope i never come between a woman and something like that. i would never forgive myself. i would probably try to make it up to her by being her sex slave or something like that. good luck :-)

Well, here's what I consider the Big News in my world. I've given my notice at school for the end of this school year. I'm heading down to Bangor later today, 6 houses to look at this weekend. I've told David I will give it all up and move with him. Somebody SLAP ME!

well, ya' know i also bought some pretty cool t-shirts when i was in memphis and i am gonna be back with the big nazo people next friday. they have a big party bash they will perform at in eight days on saturday, which is (that's right) the greatest day of the year- my birthday.

a man can stand on the banks of the mississippi and realize for the first time that the world has powers beyond what can be seen. ol' man river is what they call it- the mississippi river. the mississippi is cresting right now. it seemed to me that it must be the better part of two miles across ol' man river to arkansas and there i stood in bluff city looking at it all (memphis is nicknamed "bluff city" because of the high banks along the river on the memphis side as the mississippi flows past the city). i have stood on ocean shores and thought about men in boats that go to sea to find their living, but this was the first time that i thought that way about men who live their lives on powerful waters in a place that is away from the sea. three hundred miles down river is new orleans and still the biggest boats that you can imagine land at memphis as a major port and destination. like the river that has unimaginable currents, you can also feel that a powerful human current once existed when you stand in memphis. there is a rhythm in the air. three musical revolutions were born in memphis- blues, rock & roll, and soul music. people wonder what it could be that generated three revolutions in this one place over one hundred years of time and they come to see what it might be all about. when i say revolutions, i mean something simple that rocks our worlds. it makes you wonder about how that could be. you walk down beale street and the police have it well protected for three blocks. the rest of the downtown has less visible officers and it goes from sketchy to very sketchy to abandoned areas. and, this is the report after things have improved. what a story and what a place. it went from a cradle of music civilization to a dangerous and increasingly abandoned city to a theme park of itself and a diaspora of people that never left their city- the one they still call their home. these days, they are a diaspora because of what left them and not because of what they left behind. funny how the modern world and globalization can suck the air out of a room. blues is big in japan. rock & roll is everywhere. john lennon has said that the beatles would never have existed if not for elvis. elvis would not have left tupelo, mississippi and come to memphis if not for that sound that came from sharecropper's fields where carl perkins, buddy rich, and others came from too, i guess. soul music is black music that had blacks and whites standing and playing together, side by side, from day one. imagine that, great achievements that had their day and then faded away, and a river that stays strong. i realize that nothing is simple but i do have to tell you that the impact of memphis today makes me ask myself if there was something in their water, something in their music, and something that is still alive in all of us? god, i hope that all are true.

The hike will take until sometime in August at the very earliest assuming the boys complete the trail. That I know of they are not keeping journals though I know Colin talked of doing so.

Wouldn't it be nice if $$$ was no object....my daughter was up this weekend and we were talking to caterers, photographers and florist....along with trying her wedding dress....(amongst all the high school prom girls....these dresses are nothing like the ones we wore....cut down to the bellybutton, slits here and there....more like the red carpet stars..) I still keep looking out my kitchen window visualizing this wedding reception...hopefully, the snow will be gone by then! The city slicker soon to be son-in-law got to see the turkeys and deer...such excitement for them.
Here is the video of my daughters band, if anyone wants to check it out.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=30942012

Pat, glad that your son is enjoying his adventure...how long is suppose to take?

I also thought that Colin is the one on the left--though I kept seeing bits of both you and Dave in both of them! I think they're really brave.

Well aren't the one!!! You're right of course on all counts. Isn't he a cutie-pie???? Yes indeed they went through Stover Creek. I've been lucky that Jarrod's mom takes such terrific photos whenever she gets near the boys.

The boys' hike of the AT is going really well so far. They are coming out of the Great Smokey Mountains sometime today. although they are averaging "only"10 miles a day for this, their first month, the weather and terrain have been worth going slow in. They're getting a strong slow start which I hope will set them up well for the long trek ahead. We get weekly notices from them by text messages. The other set of parents is within a couple of hours drive from most parts of the southern end and hopes to make physical contact one more time before they get more than a days drive ahead. Hopefully we're going to get more photos. The last for a long time; probably until Dave and I find the boys either in Rutland hopefully or in the White Mountains for sure. Which one of these boys do you suppose is mine?

karen, it was just luck to be on that street in providence. anyone else would have just walked by. i walked in. that is the difference. i did not know of this shop. it was complete chance. i definitely plan on seeing arminio again sometime. the big nazo funk band is going to be playing at a party in providence on my birthday. i have tickets to cirque du soleil in hartford, ct for that night, but if my date bails i will give the tickets to my son and go to rock out to big nazo in providence. i don't know how i walk into these things. i just always love it when i do. i am off to memphis tomorrow. i hope i get the room with bobbie whitlock's piano in it. i will be playing the blues on it if i do- trying to touch greatness. otherwise it will just be blues, booze, and bbq out on beale street. you know i do work on these trips. sleeping is extraneous.

check out http://www.bignazo.com/resume/video/vid05.php i laughed my ass off with the big kahuna of this group.

it is early to tell, but i think it worked. thanks. i visited a friend who is struggling and maybe things are getting better. i hope so. then i touched down in providence and walked the city. walked and walked. i guess it is my own form of bikini bootcamp. yeah, feeling tight in the cheeks now. nice. well i knew that magic had struck when i saw plate glass windows lined with giant outrageous puppets. i was on a side street downtown. the door to this first floor studio was open so i walked in. i spent the next three hours sitting, talking, trying out puppets, and laughing my (tight) ass off with the puppet master who owns the shop. he told me where to get the hippest buritto in town and that is where i went for dinner. i walked back to the b&b where i am staying and all is well. love, r

Tomorrow you can tell us if our finger-crossing worked--if you got what you wanted. I hope it works.

Whatever you need Richard, we're on your side. - pat

I'm sure we'll all keep our fingers crossed for you today, Richard.....good luck in whatever it is you need it for!

hi. cross your fingers for me on thursday. thanks, i just need a little extra luck. richard

Those turkeys are around all the time now...when I came home at 5:30, they were about 20 feet from my garage. Males with their ruffled feathers strutting around..so I stood there making turkey noises at them and one male, really fluffed up, stared and started walking my way. He must be the protector....I was either saying the right thing to him and he was checking me out...or I was annoying him....wonder which. I didn't stay out to see. I'm actually hoping that they go away pretty soon so they don't rage havoc on the garden..... I remember Arlene coming as a visiting author a long time ago...she has more then one book. Cute stories. Our school is going to the movie Horton Hears A Who tomorrow, down to the movie theatre. Exciting fieldtrip walking down for the 10:00 showing...I'll give you a review ....haha.

We have possums walking around our neighborhood, and my sister-in-law said she saw a coyote, but definitely no deer or turkeys. Richard, you carry us all away on your adventures.

kathi, i am big on turkeys and i like your story. i can't say that i am a turkey porn dog, but i like ruffled feathers more than most. i am lucky to see three squirrels in my backyard. i suppose that my cat may have something to do with that, although the wildlife here does not seem too intimidated by him. on the subject of less than intimidating cats, do you remember tim dubanivich in our class. he has an older sister named arlene. (years and years ago) she wrote a great childrens book called- tom's tale. it is a about a cat that loses his piss and vinegar as he ages. eventually, he sleeps most of each day and mice actually start to taunt him while he sleeps. talking about great literature, i have to tell you that the mouse in 'tom's tale' who stands on the toilet seat yelling, "flush it again, sam!" is an all time favorite of mine. it seems much more eloquent than kafka's neighbor turning into a cockroach (talk about a wildlife story, please).

Richard, you weave quite the tale! Much more intriging then the turkeys in my backyard!

hi karen and travel lovers. i don't know how my last trip will come across. it was a lot of work and only moments of exuberant play. i flew to calgary about two weeks ago and moved in with a great guy that i work with for the next four days. we made sales calls on friday and then headed for the canadian rockies on saturday morning. we went snowboarding at lake louise, which is actually a bunch of mountains that have a view of the lake. it is a gorgeous place. my friend had the whole fam along so it was not wild back country snowboarding until later in the day. the largest peaks that i saw up until then were when the waitress bent over at lunch. they obviously do not have the same parental controls that are applied in the presque isle school system. i am only trying to point out cultural differences here. well lunch left me with a board that was ready to go straight down hill and we headed for the high terrain. after going up on some leisurely chairlifts, the last leg is done on a poma lift. let me tell you that riding a disk on a pole while you are latched into a snowboard is no small feat. this one has the added benefit of going up a 45 degree section where the poma just about pulls your knees out. after that, we hiked for about half an hour along ridges that led to really remote headwalls of snow. it was so steep that i had to put my back foot under my board to jack it up toward a level position that i could latch my front foot into. we sat and waited for the sun to light up the slope and then we jumped in. the views and the boarding were spectacular. i was completely whipped by the end of the run. it really was special. we did the apres ski thing and then i had my friend drop me off in banff. i spent the night and the next day there. there are sulphur springs in a cave that you can check out and there is a 102 degree swimming pool at about 1500 feet above the village that you can hang out in. i floated around listening to young canadian mothers (how could you not, they have loud crass voices that throw out the f-bomb every other word) talking about how they would be going to bikini boot camp to get their asses to tighten up. i am not sure that there asses are the only part that is effected by this protocol. maybe they should release the full nelson that has been placed on the intelligent parts of their brains. whatever. from there, i was on a non-stop schedule of meetings, plane rides and hotel rooms. it went from calgary, to vancouver, to portland, to san jose, to newport beach, to phoenix. in phoenix, i met my friend richard loveless for art, dinner, drinks, and a runway fashion show. we met in scottsdale at a lowrider car show. wow, talk about the extreme application of passion to a silly car that has been made oddly spectacular. you sure don't see that in vermont. after that we went into a cool place for drinks and dinner. i love talking to him. he has seen so much that is so great and his mind wraps itself around it all and takes it further. we met a young couple who are friends of his and the guy in the couple could not believe that there was a second richard loveless. he publishes a local magazine and shot a picture of us together. then an amazing sean connery impersonator joined our conversation. i swear you would not know he is not the man, himself. well, that meant more pictures and the possibility that a richard-sean-richard photo may show up in the "who is out partying" section of this guy's magazine. how funny would that be? after that we all headed to the lowrider bikini fashion show being held at the museum next door. i will spare you the descriptions of that one. it would be too much culture for one blogger post. the next night, i got stuck in detroit. i went to the henry ford museum to kill some time last saturday. that was nice. i made it home saturday night and that is the end of the story. richard

28 turkeys and 11 deer in one day? That's amazing! Will they be at your wedding celebration?!