wow, that was crazy. it's been just over a week since i last wrote, but it seems more like a year. even now i'm still essentially on the go, moving from room to room in my parents' positively palatial new home in order to make a bedroom available for my new "sister." my father's cousin's daughter, who has grown up entirely on kwajelein in the south pacific, arrived today for a year in st. cloud, minnesota. good luck, jessie.

...and before the room-moving, it was three days (tuesday, wednesday, thursday) camping with best friend anne, who has had what seems to me to be a tough sort of summer--so it felt good to just travel and relax with her, even if i occasionally felt like i was in that dar williams song "road buddy:" mild disagreements over meal venues and car temperature abounded. however, i redeemed myself entirely by making excellent veggie burgers over the (charcoal) fire, twice. companionable, deep-but-not-ridiculously-so conversations both nights of the trip really made it worthwhile. and i know it might not *sound* so impressive to label them simply "companionable," but non-confrontational conversations about things that are important to me have been in relatively short supply this summer. so that was great, even if we didn't get to the black hills. even, i suppose, if we didn't get to grand forks. i miss those folks a lot.

and before that, thursday night through monday evening, i was traveling with my mother. stayed thursday thru saturday morning in DC (at jury's--very nice place on dupont circle), then spent saturday and sunday, mostly, with friends from grand forks who retired to st. michael's, maryland and are living the complete country gentry lifestyle. he is consulting and making beautiful wood furniture; she is sailing. they have a circa-1830 house on the chesapeake, boats, chickens, crab traps, a garden and a nineteen-year-old cat. champagne, as he is known, has been everywhere: moved to GF with them, miraculously survived being MIA during the '97 floods, and now wanders the house in st. michael's, looking ancient and benign. so that was a nice visit--hopefully enough for mom, who gets to see these (her friends, mainly) folks too rarely.

sunday we moved my stuff out of the apartment and up to swat; monday we flew back to the north country where, i swear to god, the climate is completely different in every possible way. lovely. and....that's about that, i suppose.

three more days here (well, four if you count today, which i don't because it's almost over, and two if you don't count monday, which i do because i'm not leaving until the afternoon). then RA training, resume and essay writing, GRE's, classes...that whole set of concerns. that senior-year set of concerns. and i'm concerned! however---i'm trying not to be, too much. i suppose there are other things to consider as well--but no matter. i think that list is quite enough.

hey--is anybody still reading this tripe? comment and let me know.