20070126 :::
 

As the weather has remained clear (if still cold) we've been able to get quite a bit of work done here at the ranch. All in all, I've been really surprised just how much we've been able to do, since we started up only a fortnight ago.

Rusty, who does more than his fair share of the work, was in a bit of an ill mood last week. Knowing that he deosn't require close supervision, I consciously avoided him for about 4-5 days. When we finally reconvened yesterday, he seemed in a much better mood. I prefer not to ask. Heck, we even skipped our traditional Friday night supper.

Spoke with Achilles on the phone yesterday: he's had a bit of a bad week. He went bowling with some of his classmates Saturday night & ran into a friend he's been worried about. She was high. It upset him & his other mates. By Sunday, she was a runaway. The upshot is, she turned up again Tuesday night. Spoke with him tonight: other than those details, he knows nothing. But he is happy she's safe.

Got a card from an old friend of mine the other day: April. She called me a "friend & mentor" in her letter. Guess if I'd known these people were listening to me, I'd have paid attention to all the stuff I said. April currently works with youth in a Franciscan-centered community in Canada. She wrote that she's planning on either getting an M.A. in Public Service from Marquette or hiking the Appalachian Trail. I advised her to hike the trail, then go to grad school. If they want you now, they'll want you in a year or two, & it gets harder to do something like hike the Trail as the years pass & you become busier.

Maggie was gone for about 5 days, between the end of last week, beginning of this one. She joined her sister to celebrate her 22nd birthday. As she is so efficient, it was no trouble at all to let her go for a few days...anything to keep her happy. She returned Tuesday.

Have worked it out so Achilles, Artemis, & I can all go to our cottage in Malta over Holy Week & Easter. Mother may join us--sometime in April, she's flying to visit my brother in England. That should be later in the month, though she needs to work out the details with him. That may be the earliest I can get down there, as the old diary looks pretty full up to then. Improvements were made to the cottage over the Winter, so we look forward to seeing them.

Speaking of my brother, haven't heard from the Major since Christmas week. My niece has a birthday coming up next week: we got her a Pooh bear & a singing card with the "Word Up" tune. Figure if she cannot read it, at least she can at least groove to it.

Ciao!

::: at 05:16

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