ok, so mm is up and sipping hazelnut coffee, despite the 2:45 am bedtime..........the past 24 hours have been more than a blur........my mother and i arrived at the cincy/northky airport in time to meet jon, the belgian boy at the delta luggage claim. we had his picture, and thought it would be no problem to pick him out of the crowd...........he has lost weight since that picture was taken....or rather...he appears to have lost muscle since he is not in gymnastics season.......anyway, the realtime jon looked much smaller than i expected.......he whipped out his english phrase book within 5 minutes of meeting me....i must remember to speak more slowly and to use fewer slang terms.......anyway...with 5 hours to kill, we got back in the car and headed toward mecca......the joseph-beth store in norwood (less than 1 mile from where ecw grew up, and our first apartment).....we had dinner in the cafe before browsing.....and emerged from our meal to find that it was a booksigning evening.......david eggers who wrote the book' you(they?) will know us by our velocity' he sounded quite interesting.....he was reading aloud from one of his books........but they must have stockpiled all of his books near the signing table as i could not find any away from the crowd.......we made out way through tjmaxx, steinmart, homegoods, and other stores until they closed at 9:00, then went back to the airport, where we sat and watched cnn until scw emerged, looking taller, more european, and much older than when he left.........we could not leave just then, as a girl from lexington who had been on most of scw's flights appeared to have been forgotten......her parents had not shown up.......we waited with her, then started asking for them to be paged, then finally sent her and scw off to search other terminals (they arrived on united...) in case the parents thought she was on delta........bingo, her mother had been in another terminal, waiting and worrying.......we finally left for home at midnight.......there is something surreal about driving late at night, with all of the truckers.........trying to stay awake......we listened first to allison kraus, then to wilco's newest album........several tracks reminded me of dark side of the moon, especially against a night sky and a van full of sleepy passengers.......we will surely here snips and snatches of the belgian experience over the coming days and months.......though there is less to tell given the day-by-day commentary we were blessed to read thanks to blogging......less to explain.........i feel much more prepared to be a host given all that i have read about the gillard family and how they dealt with a 4-week houseguest.......still, it will be a challenge.........and then there is my baby boy...back home again......praises be....

ok, so i want it noted on my permanent record that many of the numerous emails sent to a certain student staying in belgium were forwarded news articles of interest rather than actual word-for-word written notes sent electronically........well, yea, i did write a lot of notes, because it is so easy to dash off a few lines to a loved one and press 'send'........these days writing an actual note and affixing a stamp seems to require an entire time slot in my day (this does not even include the time it takes to select the perfect note card........), whereas sending an email seems to take only a few minutes. of course, the lack of permanence is a shortfall.........i hold dear a letter that my grandmother crown sent to me while i was in college.......it wasn't very long, but she took the time to write it and send it, and now i have a record of her handwriting, her word choices, and the bits of news she chose to share with me in 1975......emails come and go, with little reason to use valuable storage space in their keeping.......unlike blogs, by the way, which can be archived and downloaded......if one could find the time.........when this student goes to college, i must make an effort to write actual notes on occassion, just in case he is feeling sentimental and wants to keep a little written record of my voluminous (sp) correspondence........

ok, so in a fit of boredom i set off in search of new reading material in my own home.........i have reread all of the harry potter series this summer since reading the new one, so that i could reread it fully reminded of all that had transpired prior.......i reread all of jane austen last summer........all of agatha christie on previous summers.....all of colette more than once...........i have read most of our list for book club...and those that i have not read i do not yet own........soooooooo, i ventured into the room of our only absent child to see what splendors lurked on his shelves........i selected running with scissors, a memoir likened to the style of david sedaris....supposedly this is a true story of this person's childhood....even looking at the picture on the back, i am unclear whether it was written by a man or a woman, as there is great gender conflict..... and serious wit......and, i am certain......some gaps in memory versus made-up memories........for example.....he/she is recalling an instance when the crazy poetess mother is getting ready for a poetry reading...she is wearing pucci and high heals....and feels like there is 'something missing'......she reaches for her box of feminine supplies and takes 2 pads, peels off the backs...and makes her own shoulder pads........now......this instance was supposedly late 60's/early 70's.........30 years ago at least........if my memory serves me, peel-off sticky technology did not come along until much later........wonder if there is a peel-off sticky sort of web site to prove or disprove this memory........ of course, i may be just being mean about this tale, which strikes me as both contrived and over-the-top to be as true as purported........i will just put the book back, and wait for comments from the book's owner..........

ok, so my boy just called from belgium, and he seems ready to come home.......we are ready for him to come home......the cat is more than ready for him to come home......we have equipped the guest room with the portable tv/vcr and all of the non-juvenile vhs movies....this child reportedly likes movies.........so when he gets bored he can hole up in his room with a good flick.......if he gets really bored, we can always bring up the disney movies........

ok, so my world traveler comes back in 3 days............

ok, so i am personally relieved that my boy abroad has made contact...after his last blog we became quite concerned about his safety.......and somewhat amused about what our guest will think about our family......there are times when most of us has(have?) a book in hand.....not often 100%, but at least 2 or 3 out of 5 at any given stretch of free time......people unfamiliar with the concept of a leisure-reading family culture could see it as strange, i suppose.....or quite boring...certainly nothing to be suspicious about.......well, yeh, we do spend far too much money on books, but that is a discussion that i will not begin to get into at this time.........

ok, so it turns out the little boy sexually assaulted at the bcfair last sunday not only goes to my church...his mother is in my sunday school class........she was still emotionally distraught this morning, but felt compelled to tell of the experience to warn parents that pedophiles are in danville and we must warn our children about them.....as well as how they can avoid these dreadful encounters.....last sunday after church, this mother and her 2 boys (both under 7) were setting up her booth at the fairgrounds.....only 3 trailers were yet there at that time...they were playing on the swings and the teeter-totter...within clear sight of the mother.....with no one else in the play area......the older boy fell off the teeter-totter......and immediately a man got out of his car and rushed over........he not only checked out that nothing was broken, he pulled down the boys pants 'to check for damage'.......and it went on from there until the boy said 'stop...i want you to stop'.......by the time the mother noticed the boy on the ground, the man was walking back to his car.....my friend noticed that he was a pleasant, good-looking man.....but at the time she had no idea what had just happened.......of course, by the time the police had arrived, the man was gone.....the mother was able to give a description, and the police artist was called in........that same day, another boy was assaulted in the mercer public library, so poliuce believe that the man just moved on to another place where he might find unwitting children.........these sort of things scare me terribly, as a mother of a 10 year old girl with little sense of personal safety.....the very first time i met her was at brookcove gas station, when she asked me....a complete stranger...to buy her a candy bar........the list in the paper, for parents to read to their children with hints for avoiding dangerous encounters covers the buying of treats by strangers, as well as other ploys used by sexual predators to entangle little ones for evil deeds..........i was reminded of 2 instances in my past.......one when i was maybe kindergarten age......my two older male neighbors (both surely under age 10)paid me 10 cents to let them look under my shirt.......i do not remember telling my mother, because i had the dime and i was afraid i would have to give it back.......the other incident happened much later, when we lived in mt gilead, and i was maybe a freshman in high school.....our cousins, aunt and uncle from texas had stopped by for lunch, and my brother and i were in the basement with the cousins playing pool, and somehow, the older cousin grabbed me by my chest from behind, and then tried to kiss me..........i was horrified, and cried and ran upstairs, but did not tell my parents what happened until the cousins had left........i was so ashamed........i have no idea if my parents ever said anything about it to them or to other family members....these were my mother's least favorite in-laws.....but it is safe to say that they never came back.........i want to tell this mother that her child will be ok, especially if she does not dwell on this as pivitol......keeps bringing it up.......if she drops it, he will soon drop it from his memory bank...file it away...until a much later date........it will be an unpleasant memory.....but it will not ruin his life..........

ok, so the elements of an idyllic sunday morning are as follows..........an indefinite period of lounging under the covers semi-sleeping to the npr's sound and spirit.........a nice not-too-strong cup of coffee on the back deck with both newspapers.....with mist rising from the creek and the sound of scw's fish pond bubbling softly in the backround........sitting at the french-style cafe table and chair.....which has a perfectly matched tablecloth and seat pad.....(yeh,yeh,yeh....this so martha..but this its MY idyl and i'll match if i want to........)....no one has turned on the television.......birds break into song from the limb of the tree with the owl-hole.........yep, this just about sums it up..........

ok, so i have read my boy's latest blog, and i am distressed because he seems distressed with dealing with emotional and eratic strangers...........my french is so poor, that i would only have it on this woman's body language that she was so upset, and i don't know what i could have done to calm her down.......i do so hope that i do not lose it completely in front of this poor belgian lad.........i may take to hiding his shoes....you just never know when it comes to the meanness i am capable of........

ok, so maybe i, too, have adult attention deficit disorder......i am frequently distracted, fidgetey and impatient when i must wait, and have a difficult time finishing tasks..........like finishing putting up the last 6 feet of wallpaper border in the upstairs bathroom.......or getting around to putting the mulch around the bush by scw's fish pond..........or putting 4 years of photos in albums..........yea.......none of these failures are my fault...it is organically impossible for me without proper medication........i new there had to be a reason.........

ok, so i was clearing tables today at trc, when i noticed that someone left a LEAFLET under their plate.........now, come on.......this is america, the land of free speech, but this leaflet is crazy....with sections about 'are you sure that there is heaven?' what point could they possibly want to make by dealing 'is there heaven?' as their first card? if there is no heaven, then why bother with the rest of the leaflet.........i do they really think that they will 'convert' people based on disrupting faith in the hereafter? and if there is a heaven, how can they be so sure how to get there? ........


on a different note, i was coming home from work, and found a suburban from texas in my driveway.....a traveling book/educaitonal software salesman......well, i was not even kindly in telling him that i was not interested and to get his vehicle out of my driveway..........'educational books/software are useful only to those who will use them....and in this family those who will use them already have hundreds of books in their personal collections, and those who don't use them also have hundreds of books in their personal collections.....so no need to buy more at this time.........the weight of our collective books will cause us to slide into the lake at some point'...........this man looked both stricken and afraid...........and he left..........

ok, so we are in the stephan-coming-home countdown.......less than a week........the logistics of meeting scw and jon at the airport will be interesting......we have accessed the airport website to try to pick out a meeting place for us and jon, as he will arrive hours before scw........we are also tidying up the upstairs spare bedroom so that scw can have personal space again........this means that i will have to make a curtain for the window.....it has had fabric just draped over the rod for at least a year (when acw went to college and the bedroom swaps began in earnest.....) the old curtain didn't go with the new william morris-style wallpaper, so i took it down.......the closet of this room is filled with bolts of fabric (this room was intended to be my sewing room....) but they will just have to stay there.........

ok, so this morning was my last 5:30 am wakeup call for a few days....breakfast catering jobs are overrated...when i arrived at trc at 5:45 am......a marauding band of young punks on bikes (approx age...10 to 15) came roaring around our corner from walnut street....and then through the papa john's lot onto main street...my first thought was 'why are they up so early'....followed by my second thought..'have they even gone to bed yet...?'

ok, so my book club picked its selections for next year tonight......the balloting took three votes..... oh my.......my 1st choice...the secret life of bees made it in.....as did to kill a mockingbird, the sun also rises, the quiet american, absalom,absalom......and a thriller whose name escapes me.....i am fixing dinner for the secret life of bees.......so many choices on what to prepare......and i would have preferred the sun also rises, even though i did not choose the book...i really like this book........

ok, so i have gotten up at 5:30 the last 2 days to go into work to get a catered breakfast together.....i am back home by 7:00.......today i took advantage of the early hour by taking a walk around the circle as an act of piety prior to the newspaper and a cup of cafe creme........curious, the things one notices when sleep deprived........

-the blue rental house appears to be empty
-the neighbors who are expecting their second baby appear to have traded in their monster truck for an suv
-there was a pile of green rubber bands at the circle's stop sign.......maybe tossed from the window of the
paper person?
-the next door neighbor has at least 24 tomato plants in wire cages in his front yard (circle people have no
back yards...the lake IS the back yard...) none of the tomatoes are yet red.....
-the new neighbors get up early to sit on their front porch and smoke, along with a cold canned beverage......
the pop of a top is unmistakable.....
-there are numerous weeds between the bushes in front of MY fence.........maybe i should go right on out
there and take care of them......
-i really like the smell of my boxwoods and rose bushes on misty mornings.....the eglantine rose bush smells
like green apples......marvelous

ok, so i really enjoyed this cnn.com piece.......

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A high school teacher, fed up with the Bush administration's playing cards featuring Saddam Hussein, "Chemical Ali" and other most-wanted Iraqis, is now selling her own deck, "Operation: Hidden Agenda."

Kathy Eder's 55 cards show pictures of the president, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others along with quotes, mostly from journalists, questioning the rationale for the U.S.-led war. The backs of the cards feature a 1983 photograph of Rumsfeld shaking Hussein's hand.

Eder, 42, said she decided to create her own plastic-coated propaganda in March as a comeback to the "messages of hate" contained in the cards the Department of Defense issued to help U.S. troops identify suspected war criminals.

The $9.95 deck of cards are being made by Texas-based Liberty Playing Cards, one of the companies that prints the government's "Most Wanted" cards.

Once the product became available online and at a few bookstores, Eder said she sold 3,000 decks in three weeks. She's already placed a second order for 5,000 decks.

Eder has pledged to donate half her profits to five nonprofit organizations that promote nonviolence and provide aide to Gulf War veterans and Iraqis.


the best part....both decks are printed in texas........

ok, so my mother taped yesterday's tour, on the back end of the cbs tour broadcast from sunday...........and the tape ran out just after the crash.............ecw was distressed, obviously......to be unable to see the rest of the race, and unable to hear lance's interviews about his luck in avoiding injury.........maybe tonight's broadcast will include a replay of yesterday's big moments........

ok, so it IS all abut the bikes.........i check scw's blog daily, then i check on the tdefrance results........even though i will sit and watch the tape on oln courtesy of my mother..........knowing and watching are two different things....and today i know about a crash that lance eluded.......and must keep quiet about until we watch it this evening......i did see on-lne where a person can pay $2500 for a week of riding the our course either before or after the tour has been there....and see the stages for that week from a vantage point.........this is precisely the event that would get my spouse to travel to france again.........

ok, so ky's historian laureate turned 100 years old today.....dr. clark is currently working on a book about the governor's mansion......quite fitting that a historian lives to be 100, or older.........i am starting to know all about old.....by the way.........or rather, ancient......last night we went walking, and we starting talking about the new playset in a neighbor's yard, which is right about where the original owners had their playset 21 years ago.........21 years isn't that long......i suppose, compared to 100.......the good news is that i am not quite ready for the rocking chair.........

ok, so a little lady came for lunch today with a bunch of other blue-haired little ladies......and she exclaimed......why kathy crown..i remember when you got married..........i just smiled and said......yes, that was a long time ago........what i didn't say was that this lady was not there.....and that the wedding had not been in our church here in danville as this lady proceeded to tell others at her table.......my wedding was not even in ky........but it was not worth interupting the curious story that this adled lady was telling her table.........i wonder if there was a tornado at my presumed danville wedding?

ok, so it is saturday.......a day that i no longer have off on a regular basis.........so hard to get out of bed on saturdays.........that desire to sleep in is ingrained.......but so is my desire for a cup of coffee and the newspaper, so i drag myself out of the bed and into my morning routine.......which now includes reading a certain foreign-published blog, email, and the tour de france news.......sometimes i even have enough time to read for awhile in an actual book....not today..the two books that i selected yesterday at the library seem pretty insipid.......and i hate to waste my tme finishing pointless fiction.........

ok, so the book that i really liked from the library was by trisha ashley.....who has written 3 books, 2 of which are not available at the library, at bn.com or amazon.com or half.com........the name trisha, i find interesting, as a neighbor in millersburg was named trisha dando....i could do flips off of her swingset, and her brother was retarded, and she had purple glass ballerinas in her room.......i really wanted to have a room decorated with ballerinas..........i lacked the nerve to do front flips off anybody else's swingset after we moved............a critical moment lost........

ok, so cayle and i sped down to the dock after work to swim.....and there were people there.....not ON our dock....but about 10 foot from it.....on a pontoon......with at least 6 children of ill-temper.....we could clearly hear the whining as we approached......there were 2 maternal- appearing women...and a husband-like unit boated up in a skiff not long after..........they all seemed taken aback that anyone lived here, despite the dock, and our quite visible grey deck amongst the foliage........i know that we live in paradise.......but i am unprepared for strange women to 'gun it' when they see us coming.....these 2 women gunned their motor like cayle and i were convicted felons on the loose.........they were drinking coke products, by the way.......pepsi peopl would have acted more civilised..........

ok, so i have to admit that i find a certain joy in bush's current situation with regard to iraq.......yes, i do not wish ill on my countrymen who are being sniped daily......but i do find joy in the fact that bush may be caught red-handed in lying to the american people about the womd/uranium/terrorist threat in iraq that he used to start the war in the first place..........yes, and sars is now in texas.....now isn';t that interesting.....

ok, so i have enjoyed a few library books of late......one is very strange...the new one by tom robbins.......a curious writer whose book even cowgirls get the blues was quite erotic and profound and memorable...........this one is based on the premise that some mias from viet nam went missing out of choice, and that they are still in southeast asia doing whatever they please.......the other book is about a woman who defines herself after her controlling husband asks for a divorce......i did like this novel....though i could not empathize with someone who dressed like a goth just because her husband wanted her to do so.......but i liked the writer's style enough to want to know if she has written any other books in a similar tone......good books sometimes are the best parts of my day.........

ok, so a racoon has been getting into our garage, and into our garbage..........and our birdseed, and our recycling..........last night we closed up the garage....we usually leave the side door open as the big yellow dog sometimes sleeps in their where the concrete floor is cool........but no more....now that the racoon is making a mess of things..........

ok, so etienne will be home 2 weeks from today........not that we are counting down the days........a huge storm passed through last night.....with the boneshaking lightening that makes one wonder if the house will implode....us postal won the team time trial yesterday.....they were awesome to watch as they rode in formation and with precision for ultimate drafting, aerodynamic advantage, etc......lance is #2 overall, with a teammate pena wearing yellow jersey.......the top 8 riders are postal.....which makes one wonder just which team member got left behind somewhere that he is out of the top group..........

ok, so mm watched tv in a certain exchange student's basement bedroom last night, because the tour de france tape was far from completion upstairs, and we only have 2 tv's on premise, and keen eddie was on realtime broadcast........i really like that show, enough to bear (?bare) the wrath of the hatted one, who does not like people in his room........keen eddie is a hoot for bond fans, as many of three actors in the last 3 or so bond movies are regulars on this show.......

yesterday, cyle and i went swimming for the 1st time since the boat has been extracted from the deep.....the water was wonderful......not quite bathwater temp...but fine just the same......not much chance of a tan/skin cancer at 5:00 and after.........event was marred by the failure of time magazine to show up (it was a tuesday........) these are idylic conditions, you must understand....a nice swim, time magazine and a beer in the beach chair on the dock.........maybe time will arrive today.........

ok, so here is my personal top ten list for favorite towns/cities.......i am still working on my top ten list of favorite places....in no particular order, except for #1

1. paris
2. barcelona
3. harlaam
4. amsterdam
5. chipping camden
6. williamsburg, va
7. colmar
8. amboise
9. strasbourg
10. jackson, wy

favorite places.....in no particlar order except for #1

1. paris....especially the museums, restaurants, parks, and stores.......
2. monticello
3. williamsburg, va
4. grand teton natl park
5. chartres
6. neuchwanstein
7. moet and chandon in eparnay
8. the gaudi parc in barcelona
9. giverny
10.V&A in london...the costume exhibit

well...i could go top 20 but........

ok, so it is tuesday, and we were busy today at trc for no reason.......quite cosmic if you ask me.....

ok, so i am saddened at the news that the cojoined twins in singapore died after their separation operation........the operation was risky...no doubt.......but the need for us all to have personal space would be quite a draw for taking the risk.....i do not think i could survive sanely with someone strapped to my head 24/7...especially if she is my blood kin........

yesterday i had a few moments between finishing up lunch and catering 2 suppers, so i drove on out to the goodwill to see what treasures awaited.......they had french-style bistro chairs for $7.50..still in the boxes.....you know...the green ones that fold and sit ever so quaintly below an outdoor table.......the rungs are resin rather than wood......but that is actually a draw, since i intend to put them outside.....2 by scw's new fishpond and two up by the mulberry tree.......i like it when cute is reasonably priced..........i also bought cayle a dress at peebles.......marked down from $45 to $18........bargains really make my day.......i bought a size 14 because she has grown so tall of late.....and because she is filling out of late.........she may be getting to the point where she can ride up front despite the airbag........

ok, so we are already starting to get copies of the article (amnews.com under sports..father/son.....) i was grateful that the lady who said at church while i was catering a meal.....'i brought a copy...it is on my front seat..the doors are not locked.....well she is still sporting her gore/leiberman sticker...i am so thrilled to not be th eonly one to be a democrat.....

ok, so a veil of secrecy has settled on our household...........it is tour de france time.......my mother tapes each night's broadcast on oln, then ecw picks it up next day and we watch it before bed, with a beer...the secrecy comes in on the side of pre-knowledge......i read about every day's results online before leaving work.....and i cannot tell ecw because he does not want to know...he wants to watch........so...right now i know that tyler hamilton wrecked and fractured his collarbone........and is disappointed that he has worked so hard for this year's tour........but wait......he rode a fabulous time today despite the injury................i will know this when we watch yesterday's race tonight...but i will not be able to tell it........this secrecy thing is not in my genetic makeup..........

speaking of secrecy/restraint......today i checked out a few books (we are so slow at trc in july...) and someone who works there was telling me about her daughter who is struggling to finish the last of her ap books before leaving on vacation...blah...blah......and how she will have to take a test on the day they leave before they can actually leave .....i smiled and said nothing..........this is BIG......i did not feel that i needed to tell of the entire ap reading and testing thing before scw's trips.....i just smiled......surely God has this on her permanent record.....................

ok, so i negelcted to mention that my brother-in-law who hosted this gettogether not only had karioke set up in hte basement, the system wasn't even rented........ironically, his ex-wife and her new husband (attending for the sake of their daughter/guest of honor who recently got married) were obviously well-practiced in karioke...........my table of in-laws pronounced that none of us were drunk enough to get up and sing..........(true, as i am no fan of white zinfandel nor of bud light...........)one in-law laughingly said that maybe when she retires she will sing karioke out in her garden to try to scare away the deer who eat her rose bushes........we told her that she could amend her adt (security?) sign to read......this home guarded by adt and karioke.........i guess you had to be there......

speaking of all of my in-laws......ecw and i, as well as his little sister and her husband.....were the only attendees not discussing retirement dates.......his siblings are either in their 60's, or teachers who can reitre before 60, or professionally unemployed (don't ask.....) one sibling plans to be a walmart greeter when his wife retires in 2 years.....at this rate, when ecw and i retire, that whole crew may well be in longterm care homes..........

ok, so we have just returned from a quick trip to a weber family gathering at my brother-in-law's summer/retirement home in tenn......a few observations from the trip down, the experience there, and the trip back.....when we were stuck in a traffic jam for 45 minutes between london and mt vernon due to an accident......

1. ohio is celebrating both it's bicentennial (1803-2003) and the anniversary of the wright brother's flight ......
2. indiana's web page is located at www.IN.gov..........both of these facts were gleaned from liscense plates....
3. the voyager has very little back storage space.........those wild children ahead of us for 10 miles at close range seemed to be right on the back window......
4. the new ky liscense plate with the smiley face sun is quite lame......
5.the black jetta is one of my favorite cars for looks on the highway.........
6. too many people own and travel with three-wheeler vehicles pulled on trailers.........
7. almost all motorcyclists have visible tatoos......
8. the pine mountain area of ky is lovely....when you overlook the flea markets, the mobile homes, and the litter.......
9. my nephew mitch is a genious...he remembered me from last november and he is not yet 3.........
10. i really like my sister-in-law roseanne.........
11. i am really glad that my brother-in-law nick retired from the fda 2 days ago........he needs to enjoy like due to his brain tumor...........
12. i have never watched more james bond movies in a single 36 hour time frame than this weekend........my in-laws have the entire catalog on dvd...........
13. i do not like greasy-granny wedding cake........

ok, so mdaddy was kind enough to weedwack the brick walk yesterday, and water the hard to reach places while i was at work...the walk was looking like a weedwalk, a bushier and far less attractive alternative to a thymewalk.........i have been watering faithfully every morning, as i am determined that the garden will still look good when our guest arrives..........many plants are beyond hope or beyond their bloom cycle, but phlox remain and a few other perennials.....and maybe the trellis roses will rebloom if they get enough water........we travel after work today to morristown, tenn, where ecw's next oldest brother has a hiltop home....all of ecw's siblings will be there........it should be interesting.....or amusing, which ever comes first is good enough for me.......

last night our neighbors set off numerous large fireworks.....they must have cost a bundle as they were sizable and impreessive and could not have been legal in this state........i have heard tales of trips to tenn for illegal fireworks.....i don't undertsand the desire for explosive pyromania.........i saw the first one, then decided i needed a hot bath more thna i needed pyrotechnics.........another 4th come and gone.......speaking of patriotic things.....i heard on npr yesterday that igor stravinsky was once arrested after a performance in boston because his orchestration of the star spangled banner changed the phrasing.....and the ploice considered him in violation of a statute that forbids tampering with patriotic/historic artifacts.........only in america

ok, so this could only happen in america.....

AUSTIN, Minnesota (AP) -- Hormel Foods has filed two legal challenges with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeking to prevent Spam Arrest, a Seattle software company, from using the Spam name Hormel has used for decades on its canned meat.

The trouble began about six months ago when Spam Arrest, which specializes in blocking junk e-mail or spam, filed papers to trademark its corporate name.

Hormel sent the company a warning, telling it to drop its use of Spam, which is trademark-protected. Spam Arrest refused.

"If you ask most people on the street, they're going to say junk e-mail as opposed to the luncheon meat as their first description of what spam is. I think they're overstepping their bounds," said Brian Cartmell, chief executive of Spam Arrest.

What are Hormel's chances?
Cartmell says his company's use of the word has nothing to do with Hormel's product. Hormel officials disagree, arguing that the company has carefully protected and invested in the brand name.

Hormel also argues that use of the name by other companies could potentially harm its business, and that the public could confuse the meat product with the technology company.

Douglas Wood, who practices intellectual property law in New York, estimates Hormel has only a 50-50 chance of prevailing. He points to a recent case involving Victoria's Secret and a male adult novelty shop called Victor's Secret. Victoria's Secret sued, using the trademark infringement argument. But Wood says ultimately the company lost in court.

"The court in that case was saying, even though they may have a famous mark, Victoria's Secret, and may have a particular association as soon as you hear it, Victor's Secret was not enough -- the confusion or potential damage to their mark -- to constitute infringement," Wood said.

Don't use pictures of Spam
Hormel acknowledges one of its most famous brand names has taken on new meaning, and in the past has made efforts to accomodate the Net community's use of the term, which was derived from a skit on Monty Python's Flying Circus. On its official Spam Web site, the company outlines what it considers acceptable use of the word. Its guidelines include referring to the potted-meat product in capital letters.

It says it doesn't object to the use of spam to describe unsolicited commercial e-mail. But the company does object to the use of pictures of its product used in association with the e-mail term.

Hormel's trademark lawsuit against Spam Arrest will be heard by the Trademark Trial and Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. No date has been set.

ok, so the rotary people in danville were delighted that scw has spoken to the 'sister' club in charleroi......dr. valhkamp is in charge of arranging scw's talk with the danvile club.......i have been getting up early and watering the garden(as well as the weeds therein.....) the weeds have gotten out of hand....i have been getting home after dark the past few days, so they will have to get a tad larger before i am able to start weeding the brick walk and pulling out the most offensive vegetation......grandma is organizing the july 4th grill-out...there will be corn on the cob....there will be no mm at this gathering, as she is working against her better judgeyes, fridays are good days for us, but this is a national holiday not associated with going out to eat.....i am bringing along a book........

happy fourth of july to our special traveler.........

ok, so my boy called this morning from belgium......his voice was so clear he could have been next door...........ain't technology grand????? didn't win the 165 million...maybe i will win now that it is up to near 200 million.......

ok, so we are getting closer to the july 4th weekend, which will not be much of a weekend off for the mean mamma.......i am working friday........as friday night is our biggest night and we hated to shut down operations on a high volume evening.........we could be wrong, and the place could be empty...........we will see......saturday after work we are driving to tennesee to a pseudo-weber family reunion...it will be nice to see ecw's brothers and sisters......i get the impression that the second generation will not be attending....only 1 out of our 3 will be there, if that is any indication.......given that 1 sister has breast/uterine cancer and 1 brother has a brain tumor, such get-togethers are a good idea........we will get back sunday night...luckily grandma is back from her trip north, so she will be available to deal with any 'parties' that may break out in our home when some of us are gone...............

i broke down and cut back the rose bush that fell during all of the rain in june.......it had completely blocked off the path beneath the deck.....and looked somewhat like the bramble in sleeping beauty.......i am sure that it will recover by next year...so much cut away.........thankfully it was done with blooming before it fell in the first place......i also watered the garden usng the new spray nozzle that i got at big lots of 99 cents......it IS the small things in life that add sweetness.............

ok, read this and weep....my baby pictures do really look like ecw\s.......

LONDON, England -- The theory that opposites attract is a myth, say a group of U.S. scientists who have found men and women are more likely to choose partners who are similar -- or they believe are similar -- to themselves.

Both sexes are most likely to attract individuals who look like them and have the same wealth, social status and share the same outlook towards family and fidelity, the new research suggests.

Previously, it had widely been thought that women who saw themselves as very attractive preferred socially dominant men, and men who were confident socially and economically looked for the most attractive women.

But the new research indicates that an ideal match is more important and marriage between equivalent people has the best chance of success, say the scientists from Cornell University in New York.

They believe too many differences between a couple causes instability. If one partner is better looking or has a higher social status, they may be tempted to "trade up" and find a better quality match, say the scientists.

Between similar matches there was less chance of breaking apart and therefore more stability to bring up children.

The results were based on questionnaires by 978 students aged between 18 and 24. Respondents were asked to rank the importance they placed on 10 attributes in a long-term partner.

The students were then asked to rate themselves based on the same attributes.

The attributes were grouped into four "evolutionary relevant" categories which were:

• Wealth and status

• Family commitment

• Physical appearance

• Sexual fidelity

The scientist found men and women who rated themselves highly were more selective than those who did not. Attributes that individuals rated highly in others, they also rated as important in themselves.

"Human mate choice in Western society seems to be based on a preference for long-term partners who are similar to one's perception of self across a number of evolutionary relevant categories of traits," said Peter Buston and Stephen Emlen who carried out the research.


Tennis stars Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf.
The findings explain why marriages between similar matches were more widespread and successful that non-matching couples.

"From the public's perspective, our results suggest that individuals seeking stable long-term relationships should not seek the highest quality partner available, but should simply look for partners who are similar to themselves," they said.

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists Monday.

ecw and i have baby pictures that are almost identical....we have been asked if we are brother and sister......yet, there is an atrraction that goes beyond social class, expectations, etc..........22 years is quite testament to a familial relationship.......

ok, so my mom is back in ky, and upset that the bush 'bells' section of the crown family declined to attend my dad's only sister's 65th wedding aniiversary party in toledo........my dad's youngest living brother lives in amarillo, texas.......and his family is long been know as bush followers............we hve never visited on any trip out west.....because my mother so dislikes ronald's wife naomi.......this sounds so biblical.....but grudges are often so biblical.........ronald's oldest cherub tim tried to feel me up in our basement years ago....and his mother said her boy would never do anything like that...............yeh, right..........he actually grew up to name his first child graham marshall crown.......gmc.........get it??????????thankfully, i was visited today by some local liberals, at trc, who asked first about scw, and then asked if they could arrange for bush and his entire family to be exchanged for less noxious people........such a tender thought..........

ok, so..........there is a deli that has opened up at tjhe top of 4th street hill......that has decided to landscape with fake sunflowers and fake red petunias.........all around the electric pole.......do they think we cannot ell that these plants are not real???????????the first storm will wash it all away anyway...........

ok, so madame gibson dined at trc at lunch, along with lou cheese, who said she knew me, but whom i swear i have never met........she said she also knew of both my sons from subbing at bate and/or dhs......anyway....it is always a pleasure to see madame gibson.......she requested and received certain email info so she can be supportive of our exchange student......speaking of which, i am trying to arrange 2 sunday/monday trips out of town.....the first to mammoth cave/corvette museum/graceland......the other to wash. dc via southwest through louisville.........the flight is the cheapest, as well as the most direct.......if i could convince aunt roseanne to pick us up at bwi and drop us off at the nearest metro stop, then we could see lots on both sunday and monday before going back monday night.....plus, maybe we could stay with nick and roseanne...and see their roses still in bloom........there is a gem exhibit at the natural history museum that i would like to see, along with the usual stuff like the white house/capital hill/monuments/declaration of independence.... etc....... I am unsure which day jon goes back.........

ok, so the big news this mornng is katherine hepburn's passing at age 96..........she won 4 oscars....but never had children, possibly because the love of her life was married to someone else the whole time he lived with her......that is so hollywood, i suppose.......i do appreciate hepburn's fashion influence...she wore on and off-screen trouser suits, which caused them to not only catch on but to take on a life of their own.........i liked her best as eleanor of aquaitaine in the lion in winter.....the library has this film...........it is best viewed by people expecting history rather than entertainment...yet hepburn is so entertaining playing a bold and forceful woman trying to beat her manipulative spouse and sons and rival at their own game.........

ok, so we are bummed out that we missed scw's call........he may just have to give us his phone number there so we can call at will.........we really miss him......i suspect even his brother misses him at his point.......today is low-key......if you don't count the breakfast at church that i catered for all of the baptist governor's scholars.....50 or so........i fell asleep on the couch whilst watching the replay of andre agassi's wimbledon match from saturday......lovely to fall asleep in broad daylight .........then i sat on the back porch with a book and enjoyed the sunshine, good prose, and 2 coronas.....i did use sunscreen.......and now that i am completely overheated/dehydrated......i may just (just may?) lay down again for a proper nap.......the gossip at church had to do with the hospital....the new ceo has swept away an entire level of upper management positions, stating that the organization was too top-heavy.....they are now moving on to middle management, and the scuttle-but is that my nemesis may meet her waterloo in this houseclean.........

ok, so the boat has been resurrected.......it was standing on end, completely submerged, like an anchor was holding it down...........ecw carefully dragged it arond the dock, then used a winch to pull it out of the water.......it is already slimey and artifact-looking.......

ok, so i found this bit from the new yorker from the shouts and murmurs department to be hysterically funny......

SUMMER RECIPES
by HENRY ALFORD
Issue of 2003-06-30
Posted 2003-06-23
Seasonal cooking is anyway better suited to those who live in sunnier climates. The rest of us need to make the most of what warmth is offered, and much of the time this has to emanate from the kitchen rather than from the skies outside. Summer, then, is an idea, a memory, a hopeful projection.
—Nigella Lawson, “Forever Summer.”





Sun-Dried Tomatoes

8 tomatoes
6 c. olive oil


Unscrew a 100-watt light bulb while it is still gorgeously warm. With a rubbing motion, thrill the skins of the tomatoes until they start to pucker and tumesce. Uncork the oil; drizzle onto tomatoes until lubricious.




Skinny-Dipping at Dusk

8 c. water
25 lbs. cocoa


Store the water in a cool place, allowing it to bio-ripen for a period lasting months or even years. Meanwhile, fill your largest roasting pan with cocoa. Roll in cocoa.




Gone Fishin’

1 telephone
1 couch


Unplug the telephone and assume a position on your couch which suggests an odalisque or any late-career Ingres portrait. Should people or problems present themselves, bite into a nougatty chocolate and say teasingly, “I can’t help you. I’m very Ingres-y with you.” Let the slipcovers puddle around you like a light vinaigrette.




Summery Chinese Toboggan Salad

1 can bamboo shoots
1/2 c. sesame oil
4 stalks celery, chopped
Juice and zest of 3 lemons
1 wooden toboggan


Put the toboggan in a food processor and pulse for ten seconds on Eviscerate. Remove the splinters from the processor and toss with other ingredients. Arrange on a plate with your bare hands, letting your fingers burrow into the mixture as they do when encountering the rich loam of the earth. Strike your gong.




August Romance

2 c. high-quality vinegar
10 toffee caramels


Unsheath the caramels laughingly, unconcerned of outcome. Fork-prick to soften. Using the soft pads of your thumb and index finger to palpate the caramels, tease them into the vinegar, saying, “Mummy knows what’s best.” Put the whole concoction away someplace dark. Have a glass of Prosecco with a friend, displaying blitheness and a tendency, when food has been dropped on the floor, to plop it back onto your plate with a soulful, sensuous expression.

Can you leave the vinegar alone for between three days and three weeks? Try to, darling—what you’re doing here is tempering yourself as well as the candy. Enjoy this. Because when you return to the vinegar the caramels will be gone.

ok, so it is saturday, and i have to go to work.......maybe i will get lucky and win the lottery so that i will not HAVE to go to work next saturday........i fully realize that i have a better chance of getting struck by lightening than winning $110 million dollars.......

ok, so the new yorker had a frightening short story by stephen king....no idea if it is by THE stephen king.......but it was scarey just the same.....about an aging couple, the husband has a dream and the wife can only look at him in his skivvies, as she listens to his dream, and wonder if this is all there is to life...........

Ok, so the data-line is being used by another c-w, so I am typing on word with the intent to cut and paste…….atop my blogging agenda today is the issue of blogging…..the herald-leader ran a canned article today on the ‘dangers of tell-all web logging’ which mainly focused on people who disclosed extremely personal stuff like gender-identity and pregnancy-test results and/or anti-familial religious tendencies on-line………I have had my fill of this sort of thing…..my oldest child refuses to read any family blog on general principle……even though his sibling is blogging from belgium………he sees only the underbelly of blogging………I, on the other hand, can say confidently, that since I have started blogging I have not once felt hopeless or depressed………the catharsis of blogging has a tremendous healing power…….just like a written/private diary might have in another age……..i discovered on my vacation that writing in a journal with pen and paper is now quite difficult and foreign……… on to better humours…..the new yorker reviewed a set of biographies of Ben Franklin…so many tidbits to quote……..’there are no bad biographies of Franklin for the same reason there are no bad three stooges films….’ The gist of this article is about how we will ever know what Franklin did or did not do…Did he really discover electricity? Or does it really matter?………. The last paragraph is classic……..’The moral of the kite is not that truth is relative. It is that nothing is self-evident. Scientific truths, like political beliefs, , are guesses and arguments, not certainties. Dr.. Johnson’s great, comforting gloss on the Christian funeral service comes to mind: “In the sure and certain hope of a resurrection” did not mean that the resurrection was certain, only that the hope was certain. “We hold these truths to be self-evident” similarly, means that we hold them to be so. We hold these truths as we hold the twine, believing that, without being sure, that the tugs and shocks are what we think they are (referring to electricity felt whilst holding the kite). We hold the string, and hope for the best. Often there is no lightening. Sometimes, there is no kite.

It is Friday afternoon, and that statement sounds so-Zen-line for a Friday………..

For what it is worth, Princess was here when I got home………….

ok, so last night i made a quick delivery to the danville doyenne, through her back door, of course..........she was ensconced on a chair/ottoman wrapped in a wool, plaid blanket......it was 90 degrees outside but her air cond. was turned down low.....she was listening to both npr and the television at full volume, and she was wearing sunglasses.........her first words to me were ...'where is jerry?' well, obviously he suckered me into bringing your supper....was what i thought to myself, but i did not say this..........when i amold, i will be doubly cranky and unusual.......if that is possible to be that mean...........

ok, so we have had a canine crisis.......i made a quick trip home in late afternoon before i was due to do a supper delivery to a local factory.....we rarely do suppers, by the way.........i wanted to check on the pup that grandma left here til tuesday..........i parked outside the gate so she would not get out while i carried my stuff into the house.......the first thing i see is that our dog has made a bed out of the planter with the calladiums and coleus.........he had completely flattened/uprooted them all so that he can squeeze his mangy, good-for-nothing self inside.....while i was dealing with our dog's carnage, princess disappeared...........i saw her for only a fleeting moment and then she was gone.......i looked everywhere inside the fence...nowhere....i checked all the gates...the one under the deck was not locked......she could have gotten out.....so i walked every yard int he neighborhood in 90 degree swamp-like heat....yelling for that dog.....no princess............i went back to our house....looked under every bush and behind every plant.....there was that dog.....behind a rosebush...shaking like a leaf.......hiding from me..........she had seen me yell at oscar about ruining my plants, and she was afraid of mm............so now she is sitting on andrew's lap....chilling out....and trying to figure out who this crazy woman is that yells at dogs..........

ok, so cayle's first swim meet was last night......i was somewhat surprised by the absense of the williams family...........i was soon brought up to speed......they have joined the country club, and will swim for that team for this summer and all summers to come.........they never struck me as clubbers.......but i suppose the level of competition for that team would be greater than for the dart sharks.........we wish them luck.....

afterwards, i got a wild hair to clean out my 'files'....boxes of stuff in a corner of our bedroom that have threatened to take over.....i threw away a substantial trash bag full of stuff, and reshelved books, restowed stuff that used to be under the loveseat before it was taken away to be recovered, and finally put away the stuff left in the vacation suitcase....and now the bedroom looks nearly picture perfect, with the newly recovered loveseat.........look quick, because my cleaning modes tend to be brief........

ok, so my alma mater is one game closer to winning a national championship. Ohio State beat Michigan 14-9 in a nail-biter game yesterday afternoon in its signature horseshoe stadium. so sweet. of course, i did not see the actual ending, as i had to go to work- that is probably why they won- because i wasn't watching. i hadn't watched a game all season (mostly because osu games aren't aired around here......) i musn't jinx the team by watching jan 3- regardless, a national title would be abittersweet memorial for my dad, the ultimate osu fan. i have many fond memories of attending osu games with him- stopping for mcdonalds lunch on the way, which was a treat then- we NEVER stopped for fast food unless we were on vacation or going to a football game. we would proceed from the parking 'field' to st john's arena where we would listen to the band warm-up- then on to the game. i remember seeing the osu-michigan game with my dad when woody hayes was still coaching, and the stadium was going to astroturf- after the game (osu won...) the students took down the goalposts and carried them down high street- and the alums took out shovels and trash bags and literally scooped up the playing field as souveniers(sp)...........everybody wanted a little bit of osu turf for their own yards......remarkable. i did get to see osu beat michigan in ann arbor- when i was in grad school and dating a boy who went to grad school at michigan.....michigan has a bottle law- so after the game- people got out trash bags and started picking up cans and bottles to get back the deposits- it was a remarkable thing to see........

ok, so i thought this was interesting......plus i still can't figure out how to link..........

Gibson's Jesus film called anti-Semitic
Wednesday, June 25, 2003 Posted: 8:57 AM EDT (1257 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Continuing to raise concerns over "The Passion," the Mel Gibson-directed film about the last days of Jesus Christ, the Anti-Defamation League of America (ADL) charged Tuesday that, based on a study of an early version of the screenplay, the project could be "replete with objectionable elements that would promote anti-Semitism."

The ADL embraced the findings of an interfaith committee of scholars that has raised objections to the unreleased film -- even though the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has distanced itself from the same group.

In its statement, the ADL contended that Gibson and his collaborators "must complement their artistic vision with sound scholarship, which includes knowledge of how the passion accounts have been used historically to disparage and attack Jews and Judaism. Absent such scholarly and theological understanding, productions such as 'The Passion' could likely falsify history and fuel the animus of those who hate Jews."

"To be certain, neither I nor my film are anti-Semitic," Gibson said in a previously released statement, which his spokesman provided in response to the latest allegation.

"Nor do I hate anybody -- certainly not the Jews," continued Gibson, who is a devout Catholic. "They are my friends and associates, both in my work and social life. Thankfully, treasured friendships forged over decades are not easily shaken by nasty innuendo. Anti-Semitism is not only contrary to my personal beliefs, it is also contrary to the core message of my movie."

Gibson directed "The Passion," which he also co-wrote and produced through his Icon Entertainment banner, in Italy earlier this year. Filmed in Aramaic and Latin, the project stars James Caviezel as Christ and has not yet been shown to potential distributors.

The ADL first began to raise concerns about the film in March, in both a letter to the New York Times and a letter addressed to Gibson that the organization posted on its Web site.

The controversy erupted again earlier this month when a report was leaked to the media that had been prepared by scholars, associated with both the ADL and the USCCB, based on a study of an early version of the script and containing a long list of objections.

The USCCB, however, quickly dissociated itself from the report, with Mark Chopko, general counsel for the USCCB, saying: "We regret the situation has occurred and offer our apologies. ... When the film is released, the USCCB will review it at the time."

In its current statement, the ADL says it "fully stands behind" the scholars' report and raises a series of questions such as, "Will the final version of 'The Passion' continue to portray Jews as bloodthirsty, sadistic and money-hungry enemies of Jesus?"

Myrna Shinbaum, a spokesperson for the ADL, said the group issued its first official public statement on the subject Tuesday in response to repeated press inquiries.

"When these kind of issues are raised and we feel concern, we speak out even before the film has been made," she said, acknowledging that the concerns are based on an early version of the screenplay. "We haven't seen it yet, so we can't speak to the film itself.

"In expressing our concerns," Shinbaum added, "we hope we can have a dialogue with Gibson and Icon to allay the fears of the Jewish community."

ok, so mm and md are both relieved that our boy made it safely to charleroi/gilly. it never crossed my mind that he would be traveling into the heart of famous vodka ads....hopefully he will find numerous new ones while is is away.......a group from centre came in for lunch, including some from the admissions/recrutiment office....the comment was made that it was a shame that a certain someone was not going to be coming to centre this fall as a freshman with his good friend, l.o....well, they called her by name, as the speaker is probably unaware of her many pseudonyms.........

anyway, we have had a busy lunch today.......people are still asking if scw and ecw are back from biking..............let's keep up, people..........

ok, so mm is starting what will certainly become second nature over the next four weeks.......if it is 7:30, what time is it in belgium.....or rather copenhagen, as scw should be in denmark as we speak awaiting his flight to brussels......i starting missing him this morning when i walked out to ge the newspaper........he loves to peruse the paper almost as much as i.........it will be a long 4 weeks.........luckily for him, both the lexherald and danadvocate are available online.........

ok, so i got to watch keen eddie tonight....a show on fox that i like almost as much as monk........which is the kiss of death for both....shows that i like tend to cancelled.......shows that i like are few and far between...which is why we don't get cable...i would watch just about anything to be sure i got my money's worth........

andrew is out, and scw is on a plane somewhere over the atlantic, and cayle is asleep.......at somepoint the nest will be empty.....i am not ready for this prospect..........

i am reading a book called on rue tatin, about a food writer who buys a house in normandy...you know the formula...she and her sculptor husband spend loads of time and effort, and experience mapcap adventures turning their delapidated former nunnery into a wonderland.......... with a professional kitchen so she can test all of her recipes at home......of course, i am so envious, as i would love to have a professional kitchen in which i can just dabble with recipes.........my own personal professional kitchen is a mishmash of equipment bought secondhand...i would love to have a kitchen decked out the an aga........and a double clearglass doored reachin.....and a really cool copper sink, and a wine cooler......and a real woodburning stove in the corner......what else....maybe i am not dreaming large enough.........oh yea,,,,,copper pots hanging from the beams.......except copper never looks good for long........but in dreams it will gleam..........i suppose i could ive in normandy....close enough to paris for short trips to town but with a country feel.....well, not really live.....just visit several times a year and rent it out the rest fo the time........

ok, so for those of you who lkeep track, scw made it to the plane, with his hat, which i presume he will wear on the plane just to be on the safe side....there was at least 1 other exchange student on his flight to chicago, wearing the telltale logo shirt.......

ok, so my mom fixed dessert in honor of scw's departure for belgium..using black raspberries from the bushes she put in last summer....it used to be a crown family standard.......graham cracker crust, cream cheese middle, and black raspberrys in a gel on top...luscious........we don't seem to make dessert very often these days.........

ok, so mean mamma is back to work........begrudgingly....i could have just stayed home with my newspaper and coffee...........i am also dreading the departure of #2 son to belgium...he has already been gone too long, and will now be gone longer........

ok, so i am really into my hand cream......lavender beeswax-based stuff that i bought at the herb festival......it smells wonderful, and it really softens all of the hard to soften places.........it costs only about $6, which is a bargain when one considers value.............that's it....a week away, and i am down to discussing handcream...........i fell jaded about western vacations, i guess.........i have been west nearly as many times as i have been to paris....my parent's best friends from college live in boulder, co,...........so we visited many times growing up........they have entertained my children when i attended workshops in denver.......and entertained my spouse and my middle child whilst biking through colorado............they are good people...speaking of my dad.....i really missed him in grand tetons.....he was the family photographer....and there have always been so many good shots to take in that park........or watercolors to buy......one visit years ago my father disallowed my mother permission to buy a watercolor of jenny lake....and she mourns the loss of this painting to this day..............it cost only $50 at the time.......and they came back with more than $50 to spare.........i brought her a signed book of yellowstone photos (the author was in the lobby of the yellowstone inn.........) and a photo-print of jenny lake....suitable for framing.......the watercolor incident was before charge cards...if it happened today she would have given forth the plastic without hesitation.........

ok, so in the past 24 hours i have read an exceptionally long book, highly touted,,,,,and now others may read it before getting on a plane for foreign lands...........there are nuances that i may have missed in my haste,,,,,but basically i read that book even though i get no credit, no points, no ffmiles........nothing but the knowledge that i know the plot.....................

ok, so this is my last day off before going back to work.......i plan to use it wisely...weeding...and finishing the new harry potter book that i bought at the airport.........i was halfway through by the time we landed in lex.......it is so much better than the last book...less macabre.....and wittier......yes, i will have to weed, as the undesirable vegetation has gotten out of hand..........

ok, so we are home, sweet home...........my spouse kept a written journal during his 21 days away.........just like he kept on the last 5 installments of this bike journey......i didn't even consider writing things down.....i have been spoiled by computer diarying..... so here is what i have had on my mind during the 6 days that i have been away..... i will be adding to this, so keep checking back.......

high points:

1. being at the welcome to rawlins, wyoming sign when my guys finished their 6 year...cross-america ride..........taking the requisite photos..........

2. driving 75 mph legally for 6 straight days on extra wide wyoming highways in a ford expedition......i felt like quite the yupster........

3. the smells.........warm pine forest, cool,moist pine forest, extra-warm sulphur hot springs

4. the wildflowers........gentian, cinquefoile, yarrow, indian paintbrush, wild mint, saxefrage (sp) lupins, larkspur, harebells, just lovely..........

5. the thai noodle dish carryout from jackson hole.......with fried tofu

6. the geothermal features.......geysers....old faithful, anemone, the grotto.......the hot springs...... the chromatic spring, especially......the bubbly paint pots.............

7. cable tv..........the newest monk, al tv on vh1 with his pretend interviews with avril and eminem and his weird al videos/lyrics....the spoof he does of dylan is so funny...........

8. the beauty of the tetons...........just breathtaking

9. the hike to taggert lake...............

10. yellowstone canyon....especially the hike down to the lower falls overlook

11. people watching.....the couples in matching outfits, the couple's in catalog gear- straight outof orvis/llbean/eddiebauer...........the overdressed women out for hikes....in wedges, etc.........the overweight couple who were still hiking up out of yellowstone canyon as we went down, and came back up........


the low points:

1. cayle's fit at the yellowstone canyon lookout about taking guides without paying for them......

2. cayle's fit about not wanting anything on the kids meal.at the restaurant in jackson.........she announced that she no longer ate the following.......cheeseburgers, hamburgers, corndogs, grilled cheese, pasta and sauce, chicken strips, or macaroni and cheese.........just so she could order an adult meal which she proceeded to dislike as soon as it arrived.......

3. seeing 47 out of 50 state liscense plates.........never saw new hampshire, south carolina or delaware.........

4. poor radio reception except for gospel stations and country..............luckily i brought along children's books on tape, which i enjoyed more than the intended audience

5. not being able to blog daily.....we never saw an internet cafe.....like we thougth we would see one.........

6. cayle's bag being searched by armed guards at lex airport...they found scissors....why she brought scissors we will never know..........

ok, o i am blogging from denver, aboutto fly to detroit then to lex........had a good trip...ready to come home..............will blog more athome......peace......

ok, so i am off work for the next 7 days......blessedly, we fly out of lex at 6:40 am, so i have a few more minutes to sleep in the morning than expected.........life is good.....i celebrated early quitting time today by completing the porch paint job and by weeding......the garden is overrun due to rain....i do not feel like i made a dent....they will still be there next week........

ok, so i am totally exhausted.........mostly because i cannot sleep for worrying about all i have to do....if i could cook in my sleep i would have this weekend licked......though i know that lying awake at 5:30 am will do nothing toward feeding the 5000, i could not seem to get back to sleep.......alas, tomorrow morning we must get up at 4:15 am to make it to a 6:00 am plane to denver.......and we may find scw and ecw already in rawlings......they cruised into jackson yesterday, and will travel on to dubois today, and could rawlings by monday evening......this is good news, as we will reach rawlings by about 6:00 pm monday, as it is at least 2 hours closer to denver.......

ok, so we lived through band festival saturday, and the herb festival, and every sort of chaos in between......we served 150 lunches at the herb festival......and over 200 carryout boxes at the band festival, not counting people who ate in, including a tour bus that arrived 1 hour late, as the rain drove many extras in to find a dry place to hang out and get a bite to eat.........about 7:30 i was so frustrated, i called ecw on his cell phone just to hear a pleasant voice......he and scw were walking their bike up the last mile on grand teton pass....at 7000 feet.........no word yet on the long downhill that followed.......they should be in jackson hole 2 days early........we will meet up with them on monday night, see yellowstone together on tuesday, then proceed to rawlings by friday.........fly back on saturday from denver........cannot wait.......

ok, so i have to get dressed and get to work, but there is always time to blog, even if briefly..........this morning was perfect for sitting on the deck with coffee and the newspaper.......quite pleasant........especially bucolic with the mamma duck and her 8 ducklings taking an early morning cruise around the neighborhood........(that mamma is presumably mean, as well).........it is moments such as those that sustain me during the craziness that is my working life.......just 2 working days left before i fly to denver.........cannot imagine how i will get out of the bed monday morning to make a 6:00 am plane flight.....

ok, so scw tried to blog from bozeman, montana today, and found that atomic-muffins has been 'suspended/not found'.......he did read all 2 weeks of my blogs, and expressed concern that i worry.........he also explained that i have misheard most of the place names along their route.......i am just so old and addled..........ah well........my guys rented a pickup truck, and drove themsleves and the bike to bozeman to visit our friend mary riddlemoser...about 130 miles........so appropriate....ecw driving a pickup truck to montana............we will see them monday....i cannot wait.........

ok, so today is our 22 wedding anniversary, and we are not together again til monday...........so sad to be alone on an anniversary...........

ok, so this band festival/herb festival catering both at once thing is craziness...............

ok, so my guys are nearing the tetons, from the other side than we have ever seen them.........ecw says that the tetons loom ahead...great word....loom.........he is trying to figure out how we can hook up with our friend mary, who lives in bozeman, mt.......she may be able to meet up with us on our day in yellowstone.......just 3 days of non-stop work until i fly west.......today we made 12 tons of potato salad (it seemed like it), grilled and baked 120 pounds of chicken.........lots more to do tomorrow........i just hope it doesn't rain..........

ok, so i have figured out that the two different versions of blogger have to do with the kind of computor being used....at home i get a different version due to the age of this machine.........

ok, so the blogger page is different again from this morning........i did go through the help page, and still cannot figure out how to do links......i really like how l.o. does links to favorite sites.......

ok, so blogger changed overnight, and i am verry confused..........

for the record, my guys are in avis, idaho, and have traveled over 800 miles thus far......they plan to bypass yellowstone and tetons due to crazy vacationers in rv's and other distracted visitors looking for bears that clog the park roads, and meet up with me in jackson on monday night.......we can then drive back up to yellowstone in the rented van......this plan is but 4 days away......i have many things to do before then.............yesterday i made 9 gallons of gazpacho, and made dough for 24 dozen lavender shortbreads.......today i have to clean and cook 80 pounds of chicken breast (it will be marinated in lemn basil then grilled)......bake cookies, and make both seafood pasta salad and a rice salad........

ok, so today the mormon missionaries stopped to chat with my wait staff as they smoked outside the restaurant.........'do you want to learn more about the book of mormon?', they asked....'no.' replied the group...........and they kept on trying to engage these smokers in conversation, until finally they turned and said...'we have got to get back to work'......i only know this because i was resetting a table on the other side of the window, and could not help overhearing........i guess i could have gone out and 'saved' the staff from the mormons....but it was too much fun watching them squirm...........it kind of remeinds me of the foolishness of christians trying to convert muslims....the leap is too farfetched.......

ok, so i have been alone since may 30, and i am tired of this madness..........i miss my husband and my child, and cannot imagine another 4 weeks without him while he is in belgium.....at least he will blog on a reg.basis while he is away...........the good news is that i have had a fairly good stretch with the 2 children that remained at home......just the business of the sunken boat and the dock as blotches on our permanent record...........i have 4 full days til i leave for denver.......so many things to do...today i made 9 gallons of gazpacho...and will make 10 dz. lavender shortbread cookies before i leave tonight........tomorrow has a whole list of it's own...........

ok, so my guys rode down the salmon river valley yesterday 113 miles, bypassing sun valley and avoiding climbs........scw came up with the route that varried greatly from the one that daddy had originally planned........they had a tailwind, and the 113 miles took less effort than one might think........thus, they are a full day ahead of schedule, which might mean that they will be this side of yellowstone on monday..........alas, the joy of their success was soon dampened by our news that the dock is still in the tree due to the high water and that the boat is still sunk and that the rain continues...........

ok, so mm has entertained herself today by taking free iq tests on-line.........with varying results..........the lowest was 116, with two 145's and a 151.............now, we all know that mm does not really have a 151, nor hopefully a 116, so she will simply be happy with a 130......i did learn from this bizarre experience that one can learn how to take these tests....know what questions are likely and what the likely answer is even if i don't know the answer...........

ok, so there were two rather good letters to the editor in the paper tonight........one in which a guy named goodlett talks about being a good witch having to deal with all of the christian psychopaths in what should be a free america....the other is from a woman who lambasted bush for being a semi-illiterate idiot........great stuff.........i hope to save them for those who are riding out west...those who are merely out of town can look them up on amnews.com.............

ok, so no applause is necessary................mm has gone from being just plain mean, to a bonafide mean genius.........last night fox did a 2-hour special program called testing america. or something like that.....they had a studio audience divided into groups......scientists, teachers, blondes, bodybuilders, students, construction workers, and celebrities........and these folks, along with those of us at home, and those on-line....took a 60 question IQ test.......there were sections on memory, logic, reasoning, math, etc.....with analogies, word meaning, number sequences, addition of strings of numbers, and stuff like which pattern folds up into what shape.......the celebrities were pretty lame.........talk show hosts i had never heard of, an olympic athlete, and yes.....heidi fleiss, the ex-madame turned author.......the computor kept tabs on how each group was doing in relation to other groups........the scientists pretty much kept op top the whole way......in fact, the host randomly picked one to talk to...and he turned out to be a rocket scientist.........he joked that he thought about being a brain surgeon..........anyway...........in the end, they averaged scores from all who particpated on line and in the audience.........and the results were as follows......the state of washington topped the list as smartest state.....boston as smartest big city, chantilly, vs as smartest town overall (averaged 134.......).........men averaged 113, women 111.........one of the scientists had an IQ of 138...the highest in the audience, so they gave him a trophy....no word on who, other than the bodybuilders, had the lowest.........ok, so mm had a score of 130...........just barely enough for mean mamma to join the mean mensa society............obviously, this test is no measure of sense........scw asked me on the phone last night when fox was going to have the test for 'lick of sense'.........., asserting that i had little of that......now that is in itself a rather mean comment......that's my boy, a chip off the old block..............

ok, so mm and company here at home have a fresh problem......there has been so much rain in the past 2 days that our rowboat has sunk, and somehow gotten itself under the dock, which is up so high as to be in the sycamore tree............ecw could not believe (on the phone) that acw and i could not manage to undo this situation.......frankly, i do not want to risk life and limb to rescue either the dock or the boat.....as it is, acw gave a valiant effort.........on the other hand, i did manage to repaint the front porch, and redo the upstairs bathroom curtains, and take a wonderful 2 hour nap....all on sunday...........i still have shortlist of home projects i want to complete before i leave for wyming.........

speaking of wyoming, i woke up in the middle of the night with a fresh worry.......our plan for meeting our guys calls for us to drive up through tetons and yellowstone after it probably closes...................when the road will be blocked off.........i may have to book a room in jackson hole for monday night and plan on meeting them on tuesday...........

ok, so my guys are in idaho......mark one more state off the list.....they are heading toward the sawtooth mountains......

the following article was online this morning...makes me want to go back to barcelona.....

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- More than 7,000 people gathered at daybreak Sunday and shed their clothes in the morning chill to take part in artist Spencer Tunick's largest work yet -- an installation featuring a sea of nude bodies covering a central Barcelona avenue.

The New York native has achieved worldwide renown for his work, which often features large numbers of nude people posing in urban settings. Though he refers to his art as "temporary site-related installations," he is best known for the photographs he takes of these events.

"I want people to feel uncomfortable that they've demonized the body," Tunick said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before staging his Barcelona installation. "I want them to feel uncomfortable at first and then realize it's just skin. Yes, the body can be a shape."

He called the Barcelona installation a great visual success. "I created a river of bodies like I've never made before. It was an amazing pink and tan carpet."

At 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) people began arriving at Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina, a broad thoroughfare lined with fountains. They undressed in a nearby building and were naked for more than an hour as Tunick had them pose four ways: standing, lying down, curled up in balls and hugging each other.

"For me this represents the fragility of the body," said Joan Alexandre Betriu, 53, a participant who called it a "vital, aesthetic and moral" event.

Irene Mohedano, 34, posed with her 5-month old daughter Irene. "This is a work of art," she said. "It may be my only chance to pose for something like this, so I have to take advantage of it."

Tunick said he uses people as raw materials to change perception of space. "I'm using the body as a substance, an abstraction. If the body is nude in front of a background, it creates a new meaning for the background. It makes you think about the background in a different way."

Barcelona joins London, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Santiago and many other European and South American cities in hosting Tunick.

Sunday's spectacle was his largest yet. Until now his grandest project of this type was an installation involving 4,500 nude people in Melbourne, Australia in 2001.

"In the U.S. they consider the body a crime," said the artist, who has been arrested five times in New York City for working with nudes in public. "In other countries it's celebrated as something special."

Barcelona was particularly accepting of his work, Tunick said, citing praise from Mayor Joan Clos.

Though Tunick insists his work is far removed from commercial nude photography, he recognizes that the fact that he works with nude bodies is a major factor in his success.

"My work is about form, the shape of the body. I'm not creating a provocative photo, I'm saying this is the body you shower with, the body you go to sleep with," he said.

"I've gotten a lot of global recognition because I'm making compelling work that's doing something new with the body. I'm bringing the bodies closer together as substance."

ok, so mm brought her portable tv to work, and watched the women's final of the french open.........i was pleased to see justine henin-hardenne win, because she beat serena, and because she is so small, and because she hyphenated her name......she dedicated her win to her mother, now deceased, who took her to see the open 11 years ago, and said she thought she could win it some day........quite sweet......i enyoyed listening to justine accept her prize in french.........we have seen serena accept so many time sin english that we often forget that the world does not speak english as the first choice....... the opponent kim clysters, spoke in flemish............

ok, so they did not call last night.....a fact that i did not realize thoroughly until i woke up with the rain and cold at 3:00 am...........and then i cold not go back to sleep for all of the worry about every worst case scenario........i went to a party after work with the running community.......everybody wanted to know how they are doing.........gentle readers, be aware that most of these folks see my husband as much or more than me when you add up his running and biking time........they miss him as much as i do..........at the party there were people who had not heard about the grapes of wrath testing debacle, and ecw's refusal tolet scw take along the 2 full-size books in the bike bags, and the buying of the cliff notes.......one friend looked incredulous that we had failed to simply download both books on our palmpilot.........and then even more incredulous that we have no palm pilot..............having the internet is a big step for the c-w's....lets not be too hasty about technology.........

ok, so my guys are tired and they are taking a day off.......they rode 82 miles yesterday, including 3 climbs.......they are somewhere in eastern oregon...when they call after i go to bed, i kind of blank out on just where they are..........ecw spoke of renting a car, and sightseeing for the day........

ok, so my guys visited the john day fossil beds national monument, near john day, oregon......they rode 75 miles yesterday, and are beginning to sound weary....i would not have gotten past eugene............i am so proud of their effort.......

ok, so my guys are in mitchell, oregon, which looks to be halfway to idahol.......they say it is hot, with a steep climb ahead today.....they have mailed back their dirty laundry, so that i can bring it back to them all washed and ready to go the third week.......

ok, so this bit fo news was on cnn.com this morning......doesn't it make you proud to be an american?

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Talk about what you can do for your country!

In an unusual act of patriotism, a Nevada brothel is offering free sex to troops returning from the U.S.-Iraq war.

The Moonlite BunnyRanch in Nevada, a legal brothel, also plans to extend 50 percent discounts to the military for the next few weeks, proprietor Dennis Hof told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Hof hit on his unique gesture for honoring U.S. troops when BunnyRanch star and former Playboy magazine centerfold Sunset Thomas was flooded with letters from the front lines.

"We were receiving about 20 letters a day," Hof said. "We thought, when these guys are done we'll do something special for them."

Thirteen men and three women in uniform have shown up so far to claim their gifts. All told, the free and discounted sex will cost Hof about $50,000 -- a worthy sacrifice, he said.

"We want to feel patriotic and feel we are doing something for our servicemen," he said. "If we owned a Dairy Queen we would be giving away free ice cream, but ... we own the sex capital of the world. What better way is there to give back?"

ok, so ......i am home absolutely alone.......acw is at work, ccw is at swim practice.....to which kind neighbors gave her a lift......and my guys are abike.........i got to read the new time cover to cover without anyone trying to steal it........i might just take a nap.......

ok, so my guys rode in to sisters, oregon a little ahead of schedule, and opted to ride on to redmond (sp)...for an 80 or so mile day.....they are making good time, which should give them some leeway in case of bad weather.........food was their main issue today......there were no restaurants/gas stations/groceries for the first large chunk of their ride, so they were forced to survive on powerbars and water for much of the day......

ok, so let the madness begin......scw received his first bit of bizarrely addressed mail today...to stephan crow-web..........like the computer couldn't handle either end of the hyphenated name, yet retained the hyphen........we in the c-w family are well-versed in hyphenated-maladies.............we go to pick up film ,and are told that no film exists...so we must remind the clerk that c-w begins with a C.......not a W.........and..lo, the film is found and all is well..............there are times, when callers ask for mrs. w,....or worse, mrs. webb.....that i briefly wish i had a name like smith......but even that name can be smith or smythe...so there......but even crown should have been an easy name...one syllable...........so why not keep the n...why does it end up as crow..............counting crows,...black crows.........such a shame that a name gets such little respect..........

ok, so today we catered a funeral wake........which turned into a lot of fun after the family left and the funeral director stuck around to help finish off the buffet.....seems that the family, who ironically insisted on a lavish spread, balked at the cost of an urn........and showed up at the funeral home with a teapot from the deceased's china cabinet...........the funeral director could only fit half of the ashes in the teapot, and told the fiuneral director to dispose of what did not fit........so friends of the deceased turned up with yet another teapot (one that the deceased had admired) , and presumably the deceased is now literally...in two places at once.........as the friends are not sharing their half of the ashes with the family...........whooooo.......one of the daughters of the deceased alledgedly accused one of the friends of stealing the deceased's mink coat, which is laughable, as the friends outweighed the deceased by at least 100 pounds and could not have fit her arm in the coat........so the friends did not come to the lavish wake at our resaurant, and are instead, mourning in private.......and then there is the story the funeral director told about the booking of our restaurant in the first place.......one of the daughter-in-law's had called us, at the suggestion of the mother of the deceased.....and ordered an extensive array of food......then the church holding the memorial let it be known that they had already taken care of booking a buffet at another downtown caterer's dining room......so a daughter called back to cancel......until she saw the room....... then she called us back to reinstate the previous buffet order.....ouch........the mother of the deceased left several large flower arrangements in our lobby....asking us to make use of them somehow........while we were talking to the funeral director, a latecomer breezed in the lobby, grabbed up one of the arrangements, then walked back out.....it was quite bizarre........and then there is the story the friends tell about the mother of the deceased, who, within hours of the actual death, was seen in the deceased's yard attempting to pull down her wrought iron fencing.......'because she would have wanted me to have it' the mother said when questioned about the taking of the fence.......she ended up calling in workman to do the deed....... presumably before the deceased's children arrived in town...........posession IS 95% of the law, is it not?

ok, so my guys rode about 80 miles yesterday, along the mckenzie river. they phoned last night from a phone booth in front of their 'log cabin', part of a rustic 'motel'.....you used to see those places, with clusters of tiny cabins that didn't look big enough to have bathrooms.....i forgot to ask if my assumption was correct.......today they ride over mckenzie pass, their first big climb.......they have to take an alternative route that is longer but with a gentler rise is elevation....as their original choice is snowed in.......they seem in good spirits.........scw was most concerned that i remember to water his bonzai...............

ok, so mm will come clean with the sanitized gossip........last night, at a graduation dinner for an unnamed dhs senior, mm was hugged more than once by someone she believes now to have had her breasts 'done' ......mm has never before been so certain of something so unexpected as this.........and she is further convinced thatr it is pure stupidity for women to have their breasts 'done' if they feel like that in a hugging situation.........further irony......mm plans to have her breasts 'reduced' whenever her ship comes in.......why women desire bigger breasts is beyond me......fir at least 1 week a month, you cannot sleep comfortably on your stomach..........blouses gap annoyingly.......why would anyone in their right mind desire this misery? clearly, this woman did.......i hope they will not burst on her any time soon........

ok, so we have clear signs of the coming of the apocalypse.......mm has spent the morning cleaning........not just picking up...i mean the cleaning the baseboards beneath the supper table and scrubbing out the showers kind of cleaning.........i am soaking the little pans that go under the stove burners as we speak.......because i was born without a cleaning gene, this behavior is frightening, even as i discover that the tub and tile spray removes the water stains on the dish drainer.............maybe this is just guilt from having skipped church................regardless, i am on my 3rd load of wash and will soon begin to recover the deck-table bench cushions...........

ok, so mm has added another m....for miserable........mm has either a summer cold or a sinus infection...either way, she may just go back to bed rather than to church.......having just peeked in on the l.o.'s new format, i guess that if jesus is coming soon, i had better rest up............