loyal opposition......

ok, so i have just been handed a treasure trove of gifts from india.....thoughtful things brought back by one of my favorite people......the loyal opposition.......a woman with whom i have traveled to continental europe more often than i have with my spouse........candied fennel......a large container of saffron....and lovely onyx earrings.....such thoughtfulness....and now she heads out to strasbourg for a semester at centre college's european campus......not to stay where we stayed 3 years ago.....but with a family......my favorite memory of rachel in strasbourg is the day she skipped out on the tour of the cathedral with ivan.....to get her hair streaked in red.........in my imagined rachel-in-strasbourg image she will again have red-streaked hair...........it seems fitting, actually...bon voyage..........should i win the loterry we will be over to see you.......maybe have some vegetarian raclette.......