MaineCourse

Lickle Rum Shop

No word from the peripatetic pair.
I assume they are squirreled away in the hold of a cargo ship bound for a life of white slavery in Shanghai, or too busy to write.

In the meantime, from the August issue of Poetry Magazine:

Skin Teeth

One good Friday night I come home-
tired bad-and I can’t find me children
or me husband. The house quiet like somebody dead.
I call up he best friend. He say the children
wid the woman up the road, but he don’t know where
they father be.
Or maybe he just don’t want to tell me.
So I jump in me car and drive up Monkey Hill.
I gon catch him, the bastard. I park behind he jeep
and take me blessed time an let the air
our of one--two--three tires.
Then I walk in the stupid lickle rum shop
as if is me who lay down the foundation
and is me who pay the rent. And I see him
holding some girl hand. Laughing like the world can’t end.
As soon as the little squeng see me
she up like she ready for war.
But I is a big woman--can’t bodda fight
wid pickney who don’t understand what is mine is mine,
I smile broad wid alla them.
Then I pour he drink over he head, and tell him never
leave me children with nobody again.

Neisha Tweed

News From Managua

Now that Chris religiously leaves his autodialing phone in the truck, when I ask him for the time he’ll respond by saying, “I don’t have my cellphone.” Never, “I don’t have a watch.” Before the dynamic duo departed for Managua, Diane asked Matt to please send her Betha’s last name. Instead he sent her Bertha’s cell phone number.

At 2 AM last night, Diane blurted out,”They got pictures with the president.”

Assuming she was blithering in her sleep, I replied, “ That is fantastic.” I was tempted to probe her unconscious with more questions, but before I could, she added, “Hil’s sick. When I got up to go peeps I checked my email.”

Here is Hil in full:

he stopped ignoring me as soon as i sent that. every now and then one of us gets cranky, which is just fine. nothing’s wrong or anything.

the last name is cuadra.

i´m not going to write a long email, but here’s what has happened so far:
i felt sick during classes, took a cab home afterwards. made it into my room and puked my brains out. matt called saying he´d be there in a few minutes. packed. got picked up. came here. hung out here a little. went to the presidential building. got inside. told bertha i was going to throw up. she told me to wait. i told her i couldn’t. her sister got me to the bathroom. threw up (JUST FANTASTIC, NO!?). waited for 2 hours to get a picture with a present. talked with him and got a few pictures. left. came here. hung out. ate (i had a jello. everyone else had yummy looking nica food. jealous). now i´m here. so ya. that’s life. i haven’t been sick at all and NOW i get sick. wonderful. the jello seems to be doing ok. even though the second time i only had water. whatever. i´ll get better. or something. i didn’t tell my dad i was sick sooo.... if you want you can pass along the message but tell not to worry, i´ll be fine, and if he calls i´ll be VERY ANGRY.

i love you all, Hilary

Equilibrium

Dear Matt,

Dad and I would strongly prefer that you pay Egdelina et al for the last week, as she and they were expecting you and these folks count on these fees for their lively hood. But you do need to cancel Jose Luiz Lopez.

Sounds like you're doing a good job on planning, but you need a safe place to stay before you go to Managua, and it needs to be in a neighborhood known to be safe, so maybe you need to get back to Berthe to clarify,

Love, Mom

*****************
Howdy,

We are leaving for managua on thursday afternoon, because that is when Bertha’s chauffeur is going to be picking us up and bring us to her house... yes you heard that right. We have been invited to stay with them the whole weekend, and that includes going to San Juan Del Sur with them. They seem very nice and very well off. We are going to hang out with Bertha and her friends in Managua on thursday and friday, and then we will go to San Juan Del Sur and to the beach there with them on saturday, and i think spend the night in their house. I am pretty excited about all this and it sounds like a blast. If you have any more question feel free to ask, but i would suggest sending them today as early as possible, because im not exactly sure what time we are leaving tomorrow. You can ask me to call and that would be fine as well, call you that is.

Anyway, much love
Mateo

*****************

Dear Matt,

Mom forwarded me your latest email and it sounds like you two have hit your stride. Take advantage of it all, and have a wonderful time. I just said to Diane that you've crossed that fine line between, "How many more days left before I get to go home?" to, "Do I have to go home?"

Love Dad

*****************

haha,
I think we definitely hit the jackpot with whom i make friends with. I mean, who knew striking up a conversation an airport could lead to a weekend in San Juan Del Sur and Managua. It should be a wonderful time and i will definitely take advantage to it.

Haha, i was just thinking about that line to tell you the truth. 8 more days does not really seem like all that much time. Although i do miss all of my friends a lot and look very forward to seeing everyone once i return home.

*****************

*Note: No more “much love,” or, “miss you a lot, mateo,” which illustrates every parents dilemma. When they are homesick, they write effusive, lapdog letters. When they aren’t homesick, parents disappear from their radar. Which means I have to take it upon myself to reestablish that tension.

Dear Matt,

That’s the funny thing about distance and time and friends. When you first left Chris asked about you all the time. Lately, I’ve heard about Robby, Cel, Kristin,Daryl, Laura, etc., but nothing about you. Yesterday I asked Chris if he had written to you and he said,” Who? Matt? Oh, Matt, I remember him... .” I’m thinking with you charging all over Nicaragua, and our basement freezer empty of Hot Pockets, you might be looking for a whole new gang of friends when you return.

Love Dad

P.S. We have two prospective renters for your room coming today.

---

Yesterday morning it was raining when Chris and I arrived to finish the deck/condo work. We both pushed through that let’s-go-home-and-go-back-to-bed barrier and ended the day with a feeling of satisfaction. All done, except for the removal of a temporary interior wall we built to prevent the ceilings from sagging.

As Chris stood for a final photo-op, I exclaimed, “Chris, we did well.”

To which Chris answered, “No, we did good.”




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Time Shifts

This Weekend

i like letting you guys know what we´re up to, and it helps when it’s on the blog -- we dont have to tell everyone individually! and i think matt and i realize that all our friends and family friends are here with us in spirit. when we get emails from cortney i can practically see her sitting there giggling and nodding, as she says she does. sometimes when i read emails to matt from her i sit here cracking up, matt pretending to not know me. its sweet.

Travel plans have totally changed. bertha called matt around 9 our time to tell us that they were sending their CHAUFFEUR TO ESTELI FRIDAY TO PICK US UP. let me repeat... CHAUFFEUR.... PICKING US UP. why are they doing this, you want to know? o right, because she wants to take us out to a nice restaurant friday night before we leave for their other house in SAN JUAN DEL SUR where we will swim and i´ll stay in bertha’s room and matt will stay in bertha’s brothers room. i´m flabbergasted, i dunno about you. It’s their kindness. they barely know us and yet they´re doing all these things for us! i checked with our teachers -- mine said ¨wow! dont pass up this opportunity! thats amazing! we can reschedule our class for tuesday. then you don’t lose any days of school and you can go and you dont have to pay for class next week!¨ soooooo, i think that’s what is happening. matt isn’t here right now cuz he´s taking a shower and then in 30 minutes berthas calling to tell us when we´re getting picked up. its concievable that we´ll get picked up thursday and go to the beach friday, but i dont think so. either way, we´ll check in again before we leave. we didn’t wanna call with this news until we were 100% sure about what was going on, but i think my parents will be fine with this -- a safe place to stay with people who both know how to speak the language here and who are not going to let the stupid gringos (that’s us) out of their sight. i´m excited.

if you REALLY need to talk to my parents i can understand, but i am also checking in with them. i may not be homesick, and you may be sleeping like a log, but i have a feeling my dad a) misses me and b) is sleeping a lot less than you.

alright, i´m off. i havent seen the blog since thursday, i need to email lillian (the woman we know who lives in managua) about things in granada, hotel name, cost, etc, and email my madre as well.

much love, and i´m happy we´re both doing fine again, Hilary

**************

Next Week

Yes yes indeed leon was a good time, and i would tell you about it now but we have to go soon to do volunteer work, maybe later today once we get back. We do have to run something by you though. We are thinking that next monday will be our last day of class and that after that we’ll go to granada, massaya and then finally to managua, where we will stay in the quaker house on thursday night so we can get to the airport on time for friday morning. We dont want to do a three hour car ride friday morning. Anyway, just have to run this by you so that we can talk to egdelina about it tomorrow morning. It would be helpful if you could respond tonight, before ten, thanks a ton.

Love matt

**************

Yesterday

“Oh My Gawd, did you hear that?”

Had Chris looked at that back of my neck and seen those suddenly, at-full-attention neck hairs, he wouldn’t have asked.

“The thing is, we have to hear sounds like...”

“Like we’re going to die!”

“Yes, like we’re going to die. Lowering this deck pops nails, stresses joints and compresses wood, so it’ll sound as if it’s gonna fall right off the side of the building, when it won’t. At least I hope it won’t”

We had stacked enough lumber under this deck to build a suburb, and we lowered it using two jacks (one from my truck), and by removing that lumber, stick by stick. It was harrowing, but mostly because of my memory of a roof that almost collasped on me. Chris wants me to tell that story, and I’m working on it now. The point is, memories only hang around and haunt. All right already, they might also serve to spare a teenager a gruesome death.



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Leon & Talking Pockets

As Matt drifts back to his normal, parents, I have parents ? attitude, we’re even more grateful for Hil who writes in the kind of detail that almost satisfies our hunger. Whereas Matt now throws us shoe leather, “Chillin’ today, planning our three city tour for next week ending in Managua...glad you aren’t here, bye, “ Hil serves up this:

Leon was really what matt and i needed. we needed a weekend to relax, be comfortable, sleep in, go shopping, have no obligations, and that's what we got. we went to a hotel called ¨hotel los balcones¨ (balcones means balconies) which was under construction but very beautiful. our room had two very comfortable beds, air conditioning, hot(ish) water, and a television that had movies and shows in ENGLISH! that was really quite exciting. (it also had the news which we avoided like the black plague). we got there friday morning (after i realized that i had forgotten our list of hotels at home. ooops! but it was fine. we got in a cab, found Hotel Europa with lots of Dutch people and decided to try another place -- balcones) and walked around a little. that night it poured cats and dogs. the lightening flashed every few seconds and the thunder was louder than i could´ve ever imagined. the street looked like a river. it was really quite beautiful.

that night we went to this great restaurant that (we thought) was called Taquezal. apparently our cab driver took us to someplace called Allante, but we didn't figure that out till saturday. the restaurant was great, and had a wonderful atmosphere. they took their time with the food but it was nice to not be rushed and to just sit and wait and talk for a while. the food itself was amazing. matt got steak minon, or however you spell it, that had a delectable sauce while i got pork kabobs with onion and red pepper and we both had french fries on the side.

saturday we went for a walk and looked around at the shops. for lunch we went to a place next to the park, where the cathedral is. fairly simple food (i got a hamburger, he got ham and cheese sandwich) but it was delicious. afterwards we went to this little hole-in-the-wall jewelry place where we got some beautiful things, and then it started to rain. just a little, not much. when it stopped we went out again and then took a cab to Taquezal. except our cab driver dropped us off at a different place. it looked EXACTLY the same except 100% different. the walls were the same color. the doorway was the same. the huge windows had the same grating/fence. the room was laid out in the same direction. there was a place to sit without a ceiling (patio, a lot of places have them) but it was NOT the place we had gone the last night. we thought about it and thought about it and finally, when our heads started to hurt, decided to leave to find what we THOUGHT was Taquezal. we left the restaurant before ordering and walked outside and decided, for the hell of it, to go around the corner. and there, in front of us, was the same guy who stood outside the restaurant from the night before and when we went in it was the same place. apparently, we had gone to Allante the night before, which is in the same building as Taquezal and looks exactly the same except smaller. it was way too confusing for either of us to handle. again we got amazing food at Allante (steak for both of us. mmmm) and then went back and watched a movie.

sunday we went for a walk and sat in the park a little. Matt went over to look at some graffiti (when translated, it said something to the tune of: Bush is the enemy of humans. die, imperial power. or something to that effect. i found it deeply amusing) and i talked a little with a nicaraguan (don't know his name. he said it about 100 times too fast for me to catch). when i went over to look at the graffiti and take some pictures, we realized that it was a museum like place for the sandinistas. we went in and talked to a guy about the history of sandino, who lived in the 20´s and 30´s, and then he talked about the civil war in the 80´s as well. it was really interesting. matt and i got posters with bush dressed up as a nazi with some stuff in spanish. we´re bringing them home, so you can see them too. sunday for lunch we went to the same place as the day before. simple but lovely. the milkshakes there were delicious as well.

for the bus home, matt had been told by his teacher that there was a bus at 3:15 that she recommended we take. it wasn't express but it would get us here. but, when we got there at 2, everyone was telling us different things. the problem is no one REALLY knows what's going on and will say just about anything to get you to come on THEIR bus and give THEM your money, so finally we hopped on one that we were told stopped at san islada (or something like that) and then we´d get off there and catch a bus a few minutes later to esteli. it was all very confusing, but after 3 hours on the first bus, we got off and there was a bus to esteli that arrived 5 minutes later. it took us 4 hours to get home, but it all worked out just fine.

today was a normal day. we had school and some more people moved into my house (YAAAAY! i was getting really lonely. they even speak english as their first language! weee) and then we ¨volunteered¨ at the school. they really dont have anything for us to do. we hang out with some kids, translate a letter, then leave. but its interesting. at least 6 kids (aged 10 or 11) asked me about my nose stud, and one kid kept repeating ¨regalo?¨ and pointing to my earrings and confusing me (regalo means present in spanish). finally i was like ¨yes, regalo de mis padres (present from my parents)¨ and he left them alone. for about 1 minute.

i´m off now, but i´ll talk to you later. you can post this as a blog -- its easier than having to explain it all again.

love and light, and i´m not homesick anymore. i´m doing well, happy, etc. much love, Hilary

***********
Tomorrow, the full text of Matt and Hil's travel plans.

---

Back in Acton, work continues at Pearwood (Diane's suggestion). Today we have to lower that pesky deck a full half a foot. How are we going to accomplish that safely? I have no clue. Chris, remember your running shoes. In the meantime, another vignette:

Talking Pockets

“Normally, my pocket starts talking. ‘Hello, hello, are you there?’ Last week, when I was at your house and you were yelling up to Matt in his bedroom, my phone called my home answering machine.”

“How much do these calls add to your monthly phone bill?”

Chris thought for moment, as if it were something he had never considered. Truth is, it had not occurred to me, but to Diane after I explained to her how Chris’s phone calls his friends when he sits on it. Sometimes it’s a simple matter of pressing against one of the speed dial numbers. The first day on the job, as we were attempting to lift one of those heavy beams, his phone rang. It was Laura returning Chris’s cell phone call.

“Maybe a lot. My phone bill last month was a hundred and fifty dollars.”

Long before I was introduced to Chris’s auto dialing phone, I got one of those calls from someone’s pocket. I picked up my home phone and listened to a conversation between three or four teenagers as they walked from somewhere to somewhere else. The scratchy sounds of cloth against the phone and their footfalls added mystery to my eavesdropping. I heard about, alcohol, the cops, girlfriends, pranks, all sorts of doings, and I waited, hidden in the pocket, for something more exciting to happen. Yes,
I had visions of a body tossed into Robby’s ideal hiding place.

Chris explained that sometimes it’s more complicated than sitting on one key. If the phone is locked, he has to first sit on the unlock key. Then he might move to the scroll key and begin to cycle through names in memory. He moves again, lets up on the scroll key, and then sits on the dial key, and voila! Robby answers. Chris’s phone calls someone about once a day, or it did until he began taking it out of his pocket and leaving it on our work bench.

As we we talked, Chris listened to his phone messages. “Hey, my phone called itself.”

He handed me his phone. Sure enough, it had left a message, and one of not too long ago. The sounds of two hammers at work: “Bang,bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, shuffle, shuffle, bang, bang, bang, remember, three nails every sixteen inches, bang, bang, bang.”

Return From Leon

I have just gotten back from leon and I don't really feel like writing about it right now because i am exceedingly tired. We traveled for about four and a half hours, during most of which we were not sure that we were going home. The stress was a bit tiring. Leon was great though, exactly what i needed, a little rest and relaxation.

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

night
mateo

Boothbay Harbor

A weekend away with Linda and Dan.

Bird's Nest

Chris snapped this picure of one of many bird's nests built atop those deck beams. This one, much sturdier than most, is made from a base of mud.
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What Matt Meant

This is a long post. The first part, email from our intrepid travelers, is important reading. The rest is of sketchy value.

Many, many people have asked me what Matt meant by Hil’s harassment.
I asked Hil if I could post her response, which was in an email she sent to Peter:

Go for it. definitely post it. a lot of people have been asking both of us what he meant by that. it really is such a societal thing, and i don't know whether i should blame myself for being the odd one out here, or them for making it uncomfortable, or something else, or in between. ee! so many possibilities!

your brother and i have been talking about it a bunch, yes. i knew you´d be interested, and i figured the blog could use a better explanation.

matt and i are going to leon tomorrow morning, so maybe we´ll email again tonight but otherwise, don't be worried if you don't hear from us till monday.

i was really homesick until matt and i figured out that the best way to be ok is to just keep busy. its helping. and the weekend will go by quickly and then we´ll be more than halfway done.

i can only imagine how much sleep you´re losing. i email my dad and talk to him about once a week, and he seems fine. i know i would be freaking out all the time. maybe next year we´ll do something else. or i will. i think going to a place where i didn't speak the language contributed the most to being a little lonely. cuz normally if i went to someplace with english speakers, i would try to make friends. but here i´m worried about messing up (i know i shouldn't be like that friend of yours, but i´m self conscious is all!). my favorite parts of the day/week are when we hang out with david or roberto, the 19 and 21 yr olds of matt's family. david is the best. we went out with him last night to a restaurant and he obviously tries really hard to a) have us understand him and b) him understand us. its really fun. we just hang out, talk about differences in the states, all that good stuff.

much love, and i´ll talk to you soon, Hilary

The attention thing is ok. i´m mostly used to it. although the other day a guy gave me a high five, held onto my hand, wouldn't let go, was speaking fast (about the revolution, i think), asked me where i lived, took my other hand, asked me if i wanted him to walk me home, and when i said no thanks he took my hands, kissed the tops of both of them, kissed my cheek, called me bella (pretty), linda (pretty), and moreno (brown haired. yes, weird). as i walked the block to my house i reflected that that is solely the way they show happiness and affection. in the states that would´ve happened by someone smiling or, if they were confident, asking you for a drink. as it is, they´re more abrupt, in-your-face about it. but its all well-intentioned. that guy had no intention to hurt me or scare me. that's just how i take it, its how I have been programmed to respond to how HE has been programmed. society does some funny things to you, mostly fucked up things at that.

my main problem is not being able to have complicated conversations with people, because i cant communicate a lot of my thoughts in spanish. the lawyers that were staying at my house had to leave because mike’s father in seattle had a heart attack. but i was REALLY sad when they left, because they were people i could have really great conversations with. matt’s a wonderful person, but we know exactly what the other person is thinking, meaning its like having a conversation with myself. before mike left he said he wished he could stay so we could teach him how to save the world. i wanted to cry.

well, off i go. much love, Hilary

***************

Matt,

There are too many Dave Princes’ on the internet. Give me a clue about
which one.

Chris is slowly getting better about catching flying tools. I found that it really helps if I first warn him that something is coming.

You're going to Leon, we're going to Boothbay, we're going to have Lobster, and you are going to have....?

Love

Dad

Dave Prince, singer, sung at the olympics, i think i saw him in a movie as well.....
Haha, for a baseball player I bet he can’t catch a hack saw. Give it a try and tell me how it goes.
Hmm... what am i going to have in leon? No idea, for sure a hot shower and a swim. I miss boothbay, good old memories.. who did we bring there? Zack? maybe.

Oh, by the way, dont warn about the saw...

Peace
Mateo

***************

The second part of English Lessons.

“No, Chris, we DONE GOOD!”

“We did well. What did you get in English?”

Like I have a clue what my high school English grades were.

“I did well. But this isn’t about grades or good grammar it’s talkin’ tough. Construction tough. It’s not, we did wellllllll (I raised my voice and strung out the word well . It’s we DID GOOD! (I tried to lower my voice to Matt’s level, but failed.) You see, we did well is feminine and we did good is masculine.”

Chris hesitates for a moment and then asks, “Are there masculine and feminine power tools?”

“Let’s see, the gun that blasts nails into concrete is obviously masculine.” I scanned our workbench but saw only manly tools. “They are all masculine tools....except for maybe the combination square.”

I see. That’s because it’s used for drawing, right?”

“And here’s another thing, Christopher. You see that woman over there driving the steam roller back and forth, flattening the newly laid tennis courts?”

“Yeah, is there something wrong with that?”

“In my day...but that’s a lesson for another day.”

***************

Diane warned me that I shouldn’t post this next bit (yeah, she simply shook her head when I read her the tools-have-genders thing) without the permission of the main character. Chris and I both say, pshaw. But in deference to my wife’s wisdom; I’ll keep it anonymous.

A friend of Chris’s slammed his finger in his car door (beware Honda owners), felt the pain, but walked, “About three feet,” before he looked down at his hand and saw that he had amputated his right index finger from the nail up. He ambled back to his car, retrieved his finger tip from the crease where the door closes,and then went to the hospital to see if it could be reattached.

“It turns out they can sew on larger parts, but nothing so small. There is no arterial blood.”

I’ve had some experience with amputations (Chris now calls us brothers), and A. I cried like a baby, and B. I didn’t finish the cabinet I was building before hurrying to the hospital. This comparison to Chris’s friend comes to mind: An early settler is planting crops with his family. Indians attack killing his family but leaving him unscathed. The sun sets, he walks back to his house, sits down for dinner and wonders where his family is.

English Lessons

Matt's latest:

Ah,boothbay harbor, i am jealous if that is possible considering i am in paradise. Anyway, we are going back to the school in a few minutes, and i'm just doing some emailing before we catch the bus. Yes Leon should definitely be a good time and i will spend a lot of time in the shower as well as at the beach. But dont you worry because we will be very careful and only swim where the locals tell us it's safe. On the afternoons that we do not do work, we do excursions for the school, or go out with the kids from my house, who are 19 and 21. Life is good here, and i will talk to you soon
Much love
mateo

---

The last two weeks Chris and I have been working on what we knew was the worst rot problem at Applewod (intentional, I’d rather not have owners Googling their way to the blog). From a distance we could see the deck was way off level, as if someone had lifted the outside in order to roll the deck furniture through the sliding door. I hoped it was all frost heaves; it turned out to be that and a rotted sagging building.

We dutifully supported this wobbly second floor deck with enough lumber to build an entire suburb. When we finished with the supports it looked like the thing could walk away, centipede-like, but we no longer worried it would collapse and kill us.

We (okay, Chris) then cut the deck away from the building by sawing a two foot channel the entire width. This provided the necessary room to repair the building rotted by years of seeping water. But this isn’t so much an essay about construction work, as construction talk.

Whenever we’d finish an important stage, like freeing the deck without it falling down, I’d holler, “We did good.”

“We did well,” Chris would correct me.

To be continued.... (I was up late last night losing money to my poker friends)

Email from Nica

For my birthday, some of the members of my family and I went out for a small dinner and then to a karaoke bar. It was definitely a good time and hil loved it all.

Ah yes, the trip to the quiejos sounded like a good time. And that dessert looked like something i definitely would have wanted in on. In fact, any good dessert or some food from the home front sounds pretty good right now. The hut we stayed in in miraflor had bunk beds. No water of course because there was no running water in miraflor, along with no electricity.

The temperature was unbileavable hot in the day, and really cold at night. So cold that i actually used a blanket for the first time since arriving. Anyway, looking very forward to leon this weekend. I am thinking that we are going to leave on friday morning, and stay till sunday so it should be a good time.

Wow, give adam my good luck, i remember hearing that he was thinking of doing that, but i didn’t know that he actually went through with it.

Much love

Mateo

Copied from the last entry's comments, which I know not everyone reads:

well, i know matt talked about miraflor a bunch, but i wanted to get MY two cents in too!
it really was the most beautiful place i´ve ever been, and juan carlos was great. Josh and Rebecca, our fellow travelers and hikers, were the best people we could've been with. i don't know if all of you know this, but i got LOCKED OUT OF MY HOUSE FRIDAY and COULDN'T GET IN IN THE MORNING BEFORE WE LEFT. meaning, none of my stuff. rebecca lent me shoes, matt lent me clothes, and it was fine. minus the fact that i didn't have my baby, my camera.
as matt and i walked up the road from the bus station and on a path, and through cafe plants and banana trees, and into an opening with this nice little house and kitchen, and to the right the forest,dressed in fog and rows of cafe beans, he said quietly to me ¨thanks for making me come¨. that was practically the best part.
and after the horseback riding, he said that it was worth it. even though he's complaining ever since he got off the horse about how sore it is. ¨hil, if it still hurts tomorrow i´m going to... to... gah!¨ was what he said last.
my favorite part was waking up sunday to find the fog enveloping us all, and to get on the horses and just gallop. rebecca described it as feeling like she was a princess. i felt as if i could leave the world behind. matts horse could tell he was apprehensive -- when me and rebecca and josh were galloping as fast as we could, matt was trotting and our wonderful juan carlos was just chilling with him.
the waterfall was beautiful, and i managed to make a fool of myself. be warned: do not jump onto slippery rocks. i won't do that again. i cut up and bruised my elbow like crazy, and got all my clothing soaked. ¨whatever¨i thought ¨doesn't matter now!¨and took off my shirt and went swimming in pants and a bra.
wonderful.
the pictures are great, and i made matt take lots of flowers, knowing that all of you would like to see those.
much much much love, and especially to cortney for being THE CUTEST girl i know.
i´ll write you an email later.
love and light (amor y luz), Hilary

Miraflor

Wow, was miraflor spectacular, and i saw the pictures from the website and they do not do the place justice. i got a lot of great ones, but nothing but being there can truly describe how wonderful it was. The day we got there we had breakfast, met a wonderful couple named Josh and Becca and then went for a long walk with them and our guide, Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos might have been one of the best things in the place, although it is hard to say because everything was so damn spectacular. He is 20 and just the nicest guy. We got back to the farm and had lunch. Me and hil stayed in a wonderful little hut and it was just a blast. I took a long nap after lunch, and then got up freezing (a new experience for me in nicaragua). Not only was it freezing, but storming as well. We had dinner and a long discussion with the guests (all 6 not counting us) and then went to bed. The next day we had breakfast - all the meals were great by the way - and then went horseback riding. This being my first time i was a bit apprehensive, but it was one of the most rewarding experience of my life. The views were just wonderful, and we stopped and went swimming in this beautiful place under a waterfall. The trails that we took these horses on were crazy, and i have to admit i was a bit scared as we were galloping down them. Although by the end i was able to gallop without holding on for dear life. Got some good pictures of miraflor and hil took some of me on the horse. Just a great experience in general.

At the moment i don't exactly know where my family is, as they are not in their house and the door is locked...... the little girl next door just said No esta aqui.... so I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do. I expect they will be home sometime soon though. Yes, i expect we will pamper ourselves in leon. God that hot shower will feel great. Anyway, much love from here in nica. and i will talk to you later

Much love
Mateo

P.S, not really all that homesick, and the spanish is getting easier, thank god.

Adios

************

Dear Matt & Hil,

I rode a horse once, or should I say I got on the beast and it walked around while I tried to steer it. I pulled the reins, kicked its side and twisted its ears, but he acted as if I wasn’t there. When I finally dismounted, it stepped on my foot. I’m glad your horse was better behaved.

Yesterday we, with Mark, Ginger, Adam, Tricia and Dan, drove to the Queijo’s in Hubbardston for an all day barbecue. We arrived at 1 PM and sat and ate and drank and talked until 7. It was then that Jan forced us to get off our “Lazy butts,” and onto the pond. They have two kayaks, one canoe, a rowboat (not unlike the one your uncle Peter and I used on Big Cynthiana Road) and a sailboat. We played on the water for another hour and then headed home.

Below are photos of our incredible desserts: a raspberry cheesecake Mark S brought and Jan’s homemade blueberry crisp. As good as they were, the best dessert was waiting for us at home - your email.



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Feasting on the above

Tendon Snapping

Some might remember the last time I had to replace those supporting deck beams at Applewod. Then, it was with Mark Queijo’s help, this time strong-like-bull Chris and I wrestled with the impossibly heavy timbers.

We replaced four, two at ground level and two over our heads for second floor decks. If you watch this movie you’ll see me waltz into the frame and lift the beam as if it were a toothpick -camera rolling, adrenaline flowing. But it gets more amusing after that, although it’s mostly a view of Chris's back. Fortunately, my grimacing face is lost in the shadows. It took three stages to get this beam in place, and I’ve combined the movies from my digital camera into one. At the time, Chris called them Death Scene I, II and III, but unfortunately for the blog, there were no deaths.

This is a 3.7mb Quicktime movie which means you need a fast connection and QT installed.

---

Peter wonders what Matt will do next summer. Travel to Afghanistan? Clear unexploded ordinance from the Waikoloa Maneuver Area on the Big Island?

Road to Miraflor

If Mr. Clean were allowed to age he’d look like Jock. Tall, shaved head with broad shoulders, but a golf pro’s weathered face and legs that bow out - the result of long ago football injuries. At fifty-three, Jock wed Amelia, a native of Chile, and though he knew some Spanish from his own dogged pursuits, it wasn’t until he brought her to his home in Boxborough that he resolved to learn more. “It just wouldn’t be fair to her.” Often when I talk to his wife, Jock translates.

Yesterday it was time to work on his deck, and as I walked past his open slider I heard, “Work, I love work. I can watch it all day long. I think I’ll bring my chair out here so I can watch your skinny ass slaving away.” Yeah, the funny thing was not so much that he noticed my skinny ass, but that he said something about it.

“While you’re watching me work, tell he how you learned to speak Spanish long after your brain had fossilized. My son’s in Nicaragua (I tell everyone about Matt and Hil), and he’s studying Spanish four hours every morning. He, I understand, but you...?”

“I picked up a thirty year old Spanish vocabulary book and I married it. Conjugated the verbs, completed the lessons and so on. But you know what helped me most? I stopped being afraid of making mistakes. They don’t care if you make mistakes, they enjoy it, it shows you are trying.”

I don’t know who the “they” is he was referring to. Maybe all the Spanish speakers in the world, or more likely, Amelia’s friends and family.

“I don’t care how much you study. If you’re not willing to practice it, you won’t be any good. When I made a mistake that I was aware of, or couldn’t think of the right word, I’d say, ‘I’m a little bit embarazado. I made many mistakes, I repeated it often, ‘A little bit embarazado’. Do you know what embarazado means?”

Wanting to impress him with my own grasp of a foreign language, I paused for a moment and replied, “Sure, it means embarrassed.”

“ No, it means pregnant. I kept repeating, ' I’m a little bit pregnant.' “

---

As planned, we called Matt at 6 Pm to sing Happy Birthday, but no one answered. We checked the country code and dialed again, but no answer. We thought it terribly unlikely that out of a family of ten (eleven with Matthew), that the house would be empty. This time Diane found Egdelina’s original email and compared it to the phone number on her typed piece of paper. It matched, we dialed again, no answer. We were about to give up when the phone rang. It was Matthew calling from his cybercafe, four blocks from his house.

“Matt we tried to call but the phone just rang and rang.”

“I know. I was home, but the phone is in a room and when they are not home they lock the door. I could hear it ring, but I couldn’t answer it. It broke my heart.”

---

At 5:20 this morning, Matt and Hil boarded a bus that will take them on this road to Miraflor

Quiero Halbar Con Mateo

haha, whatever it was that i had or have, well.... i am taking the helen route of mind over matter. It makes things a bit easier to deal with. Tonight i am not sure when i will be home. but i think your best bet would be to call around... .hmmm good question. I am going out to dinner tonight, so i would suggest that you call at 11 ur time. That two hour difference doesn't sound like much, but really makes a difference as to when i will be around. Now that i think about it, ur best bet would be to call around six your time. I will try my hardest to be around. Quiero halbar con mateo, if you didn't know. this will probably be followed by a large amount of confusing fast words and then by them putting down the phone to find me. No esta aqui, means he isn't here. at which point you could try again later tonight. I would kill for some steak from the 99 at the moment. Although i do enjoy the food here a lot.
Yes we did start work at the school, although i am not exactly sure of the name, but we are translating letters to american sponsors who give money to the school and to the family of the kids. It is not exactly the easiest thing to read spanish written by a seven year old. But it is doable and pretty fun. Anyways, we leave tmorrow at 520 for miraflor. Should be interesting to see if we can get up that early.

Much love as usual
matt


Hil's email address - sun_moon_and_hilly@hotmail.com
Matt's - abstudent16@hotmail.com
Matt's Phone Number - 011-505-713-3274

Cumpleaños en Nicaragua

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mateo!

Globos

Que tengas un buen dia!

(In Latin countries, girls get serenaded on their birthday--when is Hil's?)

Intestinal Distress

Haha, i bet you are loving the emails, keeps you knowing we are alive. I was sick yesterday and for most of the morning, but i seem to be recovering at the moment(knocks on wood). I agree that the trip to managua is a must, as does hilary so i don't think that is a problem. We are meeting some wonderful people , such as this couple from the states. They are abagados and have been living down here for the last year, working with organizations. Humanitarians they seem, and are awfully helpful. Tomorrow is not only my birthday, but the revolution celebrations. I am thinking it is going to be a very interesting day. As for today, i am sitting in this internet cafe, looking out the window at a portion of the street that has been blocked off. They are playing music and volleyball and other games. I have no idea why or if it is even a celebration. But it is all very interesting to watch. As to where i am sleeping, no it is not a closet, in fact the room is fairly large. As is their house. They own a new izuzu rodeo and a four wheeler, and i wake up one morning and it turns out they also use the kitchen as a garage. As you will see from the pictures. I think today is going to be our first day of volunteer work at the schooll. If i feel well enough to go. Everything is going great, and as for the connection.... i think it may be a DSL type thing, because it goes faster then dial up... but we are in central america and it still isn't what i would call fast. 21 days left according to hil.. anyway
much love
mateo

---

At John’s non surprise birthday party, Flo mentioned how she had been bitterly disappointed at not having a bathtub at Concord Park. But her spirits had brightened, she continued, when one of the residents told her that indeed there was a common tub, but that it was located in the basement. Cheered by the prospect of soaking her aching bones, Flo had sought out Nancy, the executive director, to ask where in the basement the tub was. Nancy replied, “Not only do we not have a tub, but we don’t have a basement.”

Bob Lewis, John’s father, was at that party and told me later that he enjoyed Flo’s story so much he’s now passed it on to , “About a half dozen people. But gosh,” he continued, “some people don’t get it. They look at me like they are waiting for the next line.”

---

I've been calling Chris my right hand man, but he amends it to, "My right index finger."
Here we are hiding from the rain in what nearby condo owners are referring to as our home away from home.

Where in the world is Esteli?

Dan Downing

In case others have started to wonder, as I have...

Closest Linda and I have gotten is Costa Rica's northwestern border, to see the giant turtles laying their eggs on the deserted, sandy beaches on the Carribean.

And here are pictures of the school Matt and Hil are attending.

My Family

Hello parents and friends, since there is a limited amount of time that we are able to use the computers, i think i am just going to write one email to all of you at the moment, sorry. lol. Well, my family is possibly the best thing to happen yet on this trip. There are ten of them living with me in my house. The grandmother, mother, father, three brothers, one brothers wife, two children of the brother, one child of the brother's wife, and another kid whose mother is living in north carolina with two more brothers. The way we have figured it out, they start popping kids out when they are about twenty, and do so every two years for a very long time. The house is actually very nice, and yes there is a shower. However no hot water, but there isn't any anywhere in Esteli. Today was the first chance i got to take a shower, and it was not as bad as you would think. Any amount of cleaning is very looked forward to by me. God does my hair feel great today. The father is a pastor, the mother is a teacher, and the oldest brother owns a store with his wife. I'm not really sure about any ages, except that the two youngest brothers are 19 and 21, and both of them are currently attending a university. The four smallest children are wonderful, they are the grandchildren or the great grandchildren, depending on how you look at it. The five year old girl, who up until today would not talk to me, is awesome, and turns out she speaks better English then me. She speaks better spanish than any nicaraguan i have met so far, except for bertha. Yes, we have one teacher per child, and we study for three and a half hours every day. It is pretty intense but we are learning a lot, and are getting pretty good at basic communication. Me and hil visited a very poor school yesterday, It really makes you think. Three hundred and twenty students attend, and there are four classrooms. Me and hilary are going to be doing some volunteer work there, once or twice a week. The camera was such a good idea, and you are going to love the pictures that i bring back. Everyone is welcome to write me by email, or snail mail, depending on what you prefer. I would love to get emails from all of you.

This is such a beautiful country, but it doesn't keep me from missing all of you.
Have a wonderful day.
Always,
Matt

abstudent16@hotmail.com

Hello From Nica

Hey,
Well, we have finally found an internet cafe that we can use and understand..... kinda.
We made it safe and sound to Esteli and we happened to meet the president of Nicaragua in the airport and again on the plane. It was a very intresting experience. We made a new friend, her name is Bertha and we met her in the airport. She is Nicaraguan and lives in Managua. She was traveling back from a vacation with her family and they seem very nice, I know that you did not want us traveling to Managua but they have offered to let us stay in their house and show us around. They also have a house in San Juan Del Sur that they might take us too. If we go to Managua we would go on our second or third weekend. Second if it is up to me, third if it is up to Hilary. I love the family I am staying with, it is huge. There are ten of them. 11 including me. They are very nice and both me and Hilary really enjoy talking to them..... if you can call it talking. Class´s are going very well, although they are a pain in the ass. Our Spanish is improving rapidly but we still have no idea what we are doing. Esteli is a very nice little city, and aside from the daily harassment Hilary receives, it is going very well. Much much love, and I will talk to you soon. As I said phones are few and far between, but you may be able to call my house. If you want to , you should try to call around 8 or 9 ur time. Hilary would like to say something so...
love matt

HEYA! just to reiterate what Matt said, we´re doing just dandy. His family is really, really sweet, and one of them speaks pretty good English so it's a) easy to talk with him and b) we learn a lot because he can say a word in English if we don't understand it in Spanish.
I'm trying to get Matt to go to MIRAFLOR this weekend, LEON AND MASAYA next weekend, and MANAGUA the third weekend. Bertha and her family are really nice, and they tried to slip us past customs, but the Presidents bodyguards wouldn't let us cuz we had too many bags. Deeply amusing. and when we were confused in the airport in Managua and couldn't find our driver (because we are stupid and blind) the President helped us out.
We aren't getting into trouble, so no worries.
Matt is learning a ridiculous amount of Spanish tambien.
adios, much love, and tell everyone we say hi (you could post this in the blog if you wish)
love and Light, Hilary

Matt Phones Home

---

Matt and Hil. We got your phone messages yesterday but we're starved for more information!

---

I hired one of Matt’s best friends, Chris Grosjean, for the summer. He’s a strapping lad, requires no breaks and very little fuel, complains not at all, and works like mule, which is to say, you have to tell him it’s time to stop otherwise the sun would set, the stars would appear and he’d still be hoisting beams or staining decks.

He did, however, let me in on a secret today. He said the work he does for me gets him out of cutting the grass on weekends. I laughed and told him I saw his dad, John, cutting the grass on Sunday and he replied, “He needs the exercise.” Sharp, smart words from an equally sharp boy. Anyway, we have fun - okay, maybe only I have fun - and I learn tons of interesting things about his life and the lives of his friends.

Such as what is the primary entry door into their houses. Ever had a conversation with anyone about such a thing? Probably not, but here in Acton it’s not as strange as it sounds. Joy Hertz once told me that if someone rings the front door bell she knows it’s a salesman and she doesn’t answer it. Chris listed every friend and the door they used, and not once did he say front door. The closest he came was, “The secondary front door.” I think this topic came up after we had stained someone out of their condo.

Without disclosing anything of a personal nature that might get Chris in trouble, some of the other topics we’ve touched on include: his primary and secondary friends, the parents he used to consider scary, all kinds of baseball related things (readers of the blog and friends of Chris know he is an accomplished athlete with hopes of pitching in the majors), the uptight locals who call the police for the most trivial of transgressions (yes, a reference to Matt, Chris and their friends will appear AGAIN in the local paper under the police blotter), his grades, how much he studies, and of course how brave Matt and Hil are to have traveled to Nicaragua.

Which leads me to the latest news about my son. At 3 PM my cell phone beeped to announce I had missed a call. Instead of the usual display of the time and the calling number, it said -- UNKNOWN 12 AM 1/1/00 .
Chris and I were both convinced it was Matt, which made me feel real good. Send my only born off to a foreign land and then make it impossible to get a hold of us. Bad enough that he was back in school, had no access to hot showers or video games, and was surely feeling isolated because of a lack of a common language, but then to be unavailable when he needed me most. Do I sound self-pitying or just pitiful? Chris wondered why Matt didn’t leave his usual message, “Dad, you never answer your cell phone!” However, Chris also assured me that there would be a message on my machine at home, and sure enough there was.

I played it multiple times, happy to hear his deep voice sounding like a self assured twenty-three year old. Here it is, almost verbatim:

“Anybody there, hello. Mother, Father. Well I’m trying to call now and we can’t find phones that work much less get out to America so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to call. Umm we arrived in Esteli safe and sound so everything is all set. We actually made a friend in the airport. Aaah... and we might be staying with them in Managua for a weekend or something. We’ll try to set up an email address so we can send you some email. I’ll try calling back when it’s convenient. Love you guys, bye.” Click!

Diane is out tonight enjoying dinner with her long time social work group, but you know I had to call and relay Matt’s message. I know how much better Diane is going to feel knowing that Matt and Hil met some stranger in Managua, the only town he was warned to stay out of, and that he’s going to be spending his weekends there. What a chip off the old block.



Chris' only demand, that he be driven from job site to job site in this chair atop my truck.

The Miser

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Photos from yesterday’s American Repertory Theatre and the Minneapolis based Theatre de la Jeune Lune’s presentation of Molière's, The Miser. The best play we’ve seen since Amadeus. Sorry Molly. Globe Review

Departure

9:30 PM

Diane did the math and decided that Matt and Hil would be calling between 8 and 9 PM. She went upstairs earlier to wait under the covers and I just ran up to say something like, “Well! It’s 9:30 and they haven’t called. Aren’t you worried?” And I would have, but she’s snoring too loudly to hear me.

11:30 AM

Fun facts we now know about Esteli, the town Matt and Hil will be spending most of their time. For the home stay families this can be their only income so they are quite grateful for having boarders. They don’t have hot water - Matt will miss his lengthy showers - and the families do all the laundry on wash boards. Taxis in Esteli to any other part of Esteli costs thirty-five cents.

Earlier when I wrote about how we were going to the airport, I didn’t mean me. Diane and Lou took the kids, stood in line, and waved an early security proscribed goodbye. Diane reports they both appeared happy and confident, and that their leg to Miami arrived an hour early. Matt has strict instructions to call from Esteli tonight, and tomorrow night and at least once a week after that. If he wants to check-in more often, fine, but those are my bare minimum demands.

This turned out to be much harder for both of us that I could have imagined. Diane didn’t sleep and when she returned chose the couch in the living room rather than be reminded of her fitful night in our bed. The couch didn’t help and now we’re both wondering when our next sound sleep will come. My guess is after his second call when he tells us he’s okay, and his voice confirms it.

---

Outside Hil's house before the ride to the airport.

Matt's surprise going away/birthday party was a surprise and from the parent-in-a-corner's view, a rollicking good time. Now, however, it is 4:30 AM and we're off to the airport. What a fine, stomach in knots, sleepless night I had. I suspect Diane's was not much better.

Gold Finch

Hummingbird

I was working at one of the condominiums when this hummingbird knocked himself silly flying into a glass sliding door. He sat dazed long enough for me to snap his pic from about three inches. When I finished he flew away. The nail heads gives good size perspective.


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Groggy

View from above

More Than a Phone Call

The sequel to Just a Phone Call.

My mother speaking:

I don’t know if I should bring this up, but did you know Alice Bates? I think maybe Joan does. She’s an old friend. Last year, she and her husband George decided to retire. They’re maybe sixty, married over twenty years. Second marriage for both. George was in the appraisal business and Alice sold Avon products on the side. She also did some waitressing on the weekends at that restaurant in St. Joe across from the Catholic church. She told me that was her social life, and so it might have been, when those children were all so young. I met her when she came to my Yoga class at USI; George told her yoga might help with her lupus.

He’s a good man. Didn't read much but absorbed some NRA propaganda; hence the guns. His oldest daughter is not his but they brought her up as if she were. His youngest girl, Lisa, is married with two children and is probably the most attached to him. She even imitates his mannerisms. His middle daughter was killed in an auto accident last summer. He was inconsolable .

Alice had told me some time ago that she wanted them to take a vacation to Vegas to cheer him up. Gambling was something they both enjoyed--don't know if they knew the odds...but they surely did. About two months ago they were returning from their cabin on Kentucky Lake when he got sick. He said his back hurt but his doctor at Deaconess here said it was lung cancer - Stage 4. They told him if chemo didn't work, he had six months. The chemo made him pretty sick even with phenergan.

I called Alice two weeks ago to tell her about a Wall Street Journal article on cancer treatment. There was silence and then she said, “Too late, he took his life last night. I just thought kids were shooting off fireworks. There were about 15 cops in the house including detectives. They were very considerate--got to see all my dirt.”

I told her I had a robbery once and had left a mess--gone all day from early in the morning. The detective said, "They messed things up pretty good, didn't they?" I had to laugh and admit that I was responsible for some of it.

I asked Alice how the youngest girl, Lisa, was doing.

“They had to medicate her”, Alice replied.

I called back two days later and Alice wanted to discuss the funeral. To see if it was okay to put it off until the 15th of July. The oldest girl who was not his, thought it should be sooner. I told her, “Do what feels right to you. It is not up to the children.”

Then Alice said, “I need to ask you something else. I'm scrubbing the rug. How do I get the blood out?”

I told her cold water first.

“I'm doing that but it isn't getting it all out.”

“Hold on while I get an old cookbook with household hints. It says use a paste of starch.”

‘I don't have any.’

“Do you have cornstarch? That will probably work.”

“Yes, “ now with voice breaking, “I'm going to miss him so.”

“Go ahead and cry, You must or you can't heal at all.’”

“The floodgates open and we both hang up.”

Just a Phone Call

Saturday morning the phone rang and it was my mother :

“You got your printer to work?”

“Dash did it, he talked to the Epson rep for a long time. Followed his instructions and now it prints.”

“Mack must be happy to get his stock portfolio. I could tell by your email that the storm clouds were overhead.”

“Epson said it was a conflict with OS X.”

“But why did it work before? And that means you didn’t have to send the other printer back?”

“I don’t know. They said it was fluky, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“I wonder what we’d do without the Ruthenburgs? Travis, now Dash. I couldn’t fly down there and fix it. Funny though, this computer that Mack so hates, yet if that portfolio of his is delayed, look out.”

“He wanted me to go into the basement and get the old printer.”

“The Stylewriter... . It still works but uses a different cable. You can’t plug it in to your new computer.”

“That’s what I thought.”

My mother often says, "That’s what I thought," when I’m thinking, how does she know?. She knows so much about so many things but about computers? She shares that sense of mythical mastery with my sister.

“Dash and I went to Fahrenheit 9/11.”

“Did you like it?”

“Oh yeah, but Richard Cohen wrote a scathing review.”

“Who’s Cohen?”

“A syndicated Washington Post columnist in our paper.”

“Far more people loved that movie than did not.”

“Really?”

Peter sounded equally surprised, which confounded me, until I realized it’s the internet where I get most of my information.

“When does Matthew leave for Nicaragua? Will my check get there in time?

“Not till next Sunday (this was Saturday and my use of the word next drives some people nuts. Like Diane). You have plenty of time.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yeah, nervous and excited. The closer it gets. I can’t stop running into people who look at me as if I should be behind bars. Without them, I’d be fine.”

“Well, we have to let him go.” She said it in the greater letting go way, not the obvious, because, after all, we didn’t have to say yes.

“Dash loved Nicaragua. He thinks he’ll be fine if Matt stays out of Managua.’

“Many people say that, and Matt and Hil only pass through, unless they go back on weekends.” That was supposed to be funny but wasn’t, unlike what my sister wrote me, “Tear up his plane ticket and send him to live with us. We’ll treat him badly, but there will be hospitals nearby.”

“How much does he know about the politics of the country?”

“Too much. He and Hil saw a documentary at Harvard that featured our support of Somoza and our funding of the Contras. There were people in the audience whose families were killed by the Contras. I wish he didn’t know any of that. At sixteen his life should be carefree. But I think this trip could be transformative, like when Peter went to Japan. He found his country.”

“No, it’s more like when Peter marched with Father Groppi in Milwaukee at the same age. Do you remember what Brian said before Peter left?
‘Don't smart off and keep your head down.’ “

“That is funny. That reminds me, how is Ben?"

“He’s better. His doctor upped his Tegretol.”

“About time.”

“I know. I thought I should do something but I can’t be responsible for everyone.”

“Yes you can, and you are, and you do and remember, you talked to Diane about his manic episodes. What you have to do is let go.”

To be continued....

Torroemato

I wander the aisles at Idylwilde looking for the tomatoiest tasting tomato. Is it the vine ripened one from Holland, or the hothouse tomato from nearby Bolton Farms or the hard as a marble, pink one from California? I know I’ll be fondling, smelling, bouncing those things for three more weeks before the first native grown tomato is on the market. In the meantime, shinydome, living two degrees further north, has again - how many years in a row is this, twenty? - produced a fully vine ripened one on the 4th of July.

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Lily Redux

Back From the Mountains

The beartooths of 2004 were even more beautiful than last year! Lots of
snow in the high country, budding and blossoming flowers in the lower meadows,
waterfalls like Yosemite, birds, bears, deer. And, all week, we were
never out of earshot of guzzling, roaring streams cascading through bouldered
chasms, and were always in sight of mighty cliff faces never trod by
humans.

You'll hear more about it when my compatriots, Captain Phil and Senor
Cutter send me their digital shots.

Ed


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