Columbus Day

A day off.  Kind of.  Mary had school, and John went to work for a while to plow through e-mails and get ready for the week ahead.  But he still managed to squeeze in a nap.  And a long bike ride, since he rode back and forth to work.
 
One of the modern day conundrums is checking in on all the mail one gets.  First there's the real mail, then there's e-mail and now there's mail on facebook and other connecting sites.  So here's a sampling of today's haul.
 
-- On Facebook Janet wrote about the Springsteen concert and her close encounter with the Boss.
-- Margaret sent an e-mail from the Onion, which had a story on how to stay "Goth" past the age of 50.  We especially like the black lipstick on the guy.  Something new for retirement.
-- Joe sent a text message saying he left his Patriots hat here, which must explain why they lost yesterday.  Did anyone else notice the "Who Dey" Bengals, or the Cardiac Cats?  Makes you kinda forget baseball season.
-- David sent an e-mail with a concert of finger-snapping and thigh-slapping which sounded like rain.
-- Annie got a ticket home for the day after Thanksgiving!
 
We spoke with Grandma by telephone (how last century!)  She is well, and we talked about what I imagine people across the country were talking about from Friday on - Obama's Peace Prize.  At a conference on Friday for a group of women from Latin America, the sentiment was summed up by one woman:  I feel like we won this award, since what Obama stands for is what the whole world stands for.
 
We also spoke with Andrew, who had called to give Mary advice on her back.  Looks like Mary is going to postpone the idea of surgery on ehr back.  She's returned to exercise and it doesn't bother as much; still bothers her a little, but not as much.
 
Saturday, we went down to the Mall for the solar decathlon, where universities compete in the building of a solar and eco-houses.  There were universities from Canada, New Zealand, Kentucky (is that at foreign country?) and California.  The people from California had been invited by our Embassy in Chile to take their house down to Chile for an exposition.
 
This week, John finally got to see Hillary Clinton at the State Department.  He had missed out on about ten different occasions, due to travel and meetings, but finally did.  She was giving a talk before 500 people and even mentioned a project we have been working on in Mexico!  She was terrific, confident, articulate and surrounded by bodyguards and aides.  What a life.
 
That's all she wrote from down here!  Love