So. We're into day two of watching Jordan for the week, and I've escaped to the Plano library to get away from the constant energy draining of the puppy game. He really wears me out. We kept it up all day yesterday till Chloe picked him up at 5:40PM. And then we started over again this morning. Just three more days after today and then Chloe, Jordan, Morissa and I all leave for Lexington to meet up with Marcey, Meagan and Corey and to visit Mom, Sally and Bruce and Aunt Elizabeth, then two days later we head back home. It'll be tiring, but I'm looking forward to it.

Zdravstvuitye! I'm excited about Russian again. I know I've forgotten many more words than I remember and my grammar is rusty to nonexistent, but I'm trying to get up to (at least minimal) speed again if I can. Is this interest (obsession) just another way to avoid sitting down and writing. Maybe (probably) to some extent, but who cares. I've rsvp'd to a Russian-speaking group that meets in Chicago that I'm going to be coming to their next get-together on September 1st. I'm excited! Oh. And I've found this really great url. It's www.rustran.com. It lets you enter a phrase or a sentence (or even just a word) and it translates it into Russian for you. It's a great learning too (if you know the Cyrillic alphabet and the rules of pronunciation). It's so cool.

Skippy and I are the only ones up so far. The loml is still sleeping. Skippy's curled up on the couch looking as though he could use a cuddle, so I think I'll oblige him.

I've got to learn to write even when I don't want to, when I have nothing to say, when I'm bored by it. I'm bored now. This feels so pointless and empty. I don't know where to go.

I went to Nicole's 2nd open mic on Tuesday. There was an okay turnout, ten people. Jason was there with Kelly. They each read a poem inspired by the other. I liked Kelly's best. I felt as though I read too much.

You may have noticed that I now have my current manuscript posted online. I guess this means I've given up on having it published. It's been downloaded just twice so far.

Oh. I talked to a cardiologist at the VA on Thursday. My nurse practitioner set up the appointment after the results of my stress test in May came back inconclusive. The cardiologist thinks that the results may (are even porbably) show a false anomoly, but she scheduled an angiogram just to be sure. Excitement.

Well. This is all I can bear for now.

Well. The foot bath was wonderful. Barbara took about 25 minutes on each foot, so I was thoroughly washed, rinsed and oiled. She insisted that I be the only one in the house while she was doing this, so Joe went home and I called him when it was over. I would do it again in a heartbeat. The loml decided against having it done though. She said she didn't know Barbara well enough to accept such a gift from her.

We had lunch with a friend today at The Tea House, a chinese/vietnamese place we used to go to when we lived in Austin. We'll have lunch at another friends home tomorrow.

The view from Texas

So we're starting the 2d week of our vacation.

We left Sandwich on 6/30, spent the night near Springfield, MO, and arrived in Garland, TX, on the evening of the 1st. We met our daughter Marcey at a nearby Chili's for dinner. After dinner we headed on to our friend Marge's house where we would spend the next four nights. Marge wouldn't be home until the 3rd, but she had left a key for us inside the grill in her backyard.

The next day we picked up our Texas grandkids, Meagan and Corey, and then went to lunch with my good friend Jackie from TRX (used to be TTG (which I helped to start)). After lunch we drove into downtown Dallas to go to our favorite fountain/water garden. Almost as soon as we'd parked the car and walked over to the fountain, it started to rain, so we all got wet without even going into the fountain. We then left Dallas and went to visit the loml's good friend Susie at her home. Marcey met us there and picked up the kids. At about 6PM we met Marcey and Esteban for dinner at Coquita's.

On Tuesday I had lunch with my good friend Bill Strahan at the Genghis Grill. The loml and I had dinner with two old ME flame couples. Marge got home from Boston about 10:30PM.

Wednesday Marcey and the kids came over to Marge's for lunch and then and then the loml and I went with Marge to her daughter's house for dinner.

Thursday we picked up Meagan and Corey and headed out for Austin where we spent the night at Joe and Suloni's.

The next day the four of us were off for a San Antonio adventure.

The first day we did the river walk and had an outdoor lunch at Casa Rio where we were serenaded by a band of mariachis. We had dinner at the hotel (The Tropicana).

On Saturday we went to Sea World where the kids got their pictures taken as they were being kissed by a beluga whale. We got back to the hotel about 6:30PM and had dinner there again. After dinner we played Yahtzee in the lobby lounge area.

Yesterday we met Marcey and Esteban at an El Chico in Waco and turned over the kids to them. When we got back to Joe and Suloni's we had dinner and then they took us to meet a found object artist they know. Her pieces were fascinating. I'm going to be going over to her house again late in the afternoon on Monday for a foot washing experience.

Right now I'm at a keyboard in computer lab that Joe manages at UT.

Now you're up to date.

Greetings from Ausstin, TX

I'm sitting here at our son's 2d computer (that has a very crappy keyboard, 1/3 of the letters are missing), the first time I've had any real time on the net since we've been on vacation. This will be a very short post. See.