walking Lidet to school the last time

rhodendrons of various colors

Lidet and Ray admiring flower

beautiful gardens in front of all the houses

The air conditioning just kicked on, meaning it did not get down to 78 in the house overnight with the windows open. I was sure it was going to rain, the air felt so hevy, but nothing, jutst the promise of more 100 degree temperatures today, like the last 2 days, and the need to water the garden almost constantly. Our electric and water bills will both be high. My back is hurting. I don't know if it liked Polly's bed better (I didn't think so at the time), or it's what I am doing during the day that makes it so sore. I thought swimming was supposed to be good for it, but now I am not so sure. We have been to the pool both days.

Other than that, I have spent some time at ALT, sending out some thank yous and clearing up details from the bike ride mainly, but getting ready to read the volunteer handbook. I have had to switch desks several times because the ones I usually use are taken. Yesterday was mostly taken up with a presentation by a man originally from my hometown, Glens Falls. He graduated 10 years before me so we did not have any friends in common. His manner was a little odd. Part of his "schtick" was to refer to himself repeatedly as shallow and superficial--the idea being that we (ALT) are too serious and need to consider being more flashy to attract web viewers, for instance. A lot of what he said made sense. I was a little jealous that he could set himself us as a consultant and make money telling people how to do marketing. Could I go around telling non-profits how to do things? Maybe I just need more chutzpah--or maybe a degree.

In the Seattle airport, heading home

The garden is a source of great pleasure. I picked about a pound of yellow beans yesterday. Perhaps my back did not like that... And there are more to pick today. The lettuce are bolting, beets, potatoes and onions ready to harvest. There are still a few peas. The chard looks great. Summer squash beautiful and delicious. There will be lots of tomatoes soon. Blackberries are starting to ripen. The two hens are still pretty much broody, so we are only getting one egg or less every day.

Our bodies are still adjusting to the dififerent time here, hungry at the wrong times, and not falling asleep. We were about to go to bed last night, when we started watching Salt, a very exciting movie starring Angelina Jolie as a woman working for the CIA. She is always running and kills bunches of people. She never slept the whole time. Needless to say, when it was over, I did not fall asleep for hours. The weather didn't help either.