Pictures

Hey famm damily,

I've been back on terra firma for a few days, after a comedy of errors involving:

• a surreal ten hour layover at Heathrow (from 10pm to 8am, which don't happen do be good bookstore-browsing hours). I found myself wishing I had my camera with me, just to take pictures of the odd, contorted sleeping people scattered throughout the terminal. They have no idea how funny they look at 3am and when I've had no sleep!

• yet another delayed baggage fiasco. This time, I got into Chicago and was told by an American Airlines rep that only one of my bags made it on to my flight, and that the other would be delivered to my home. So I waited until all the bags were on the carousel, only to discover that neither of my bags made it. Frustrating! (I have both now, so I can do important things like wear shorts and shave.)
  

We leave tomorrow for Nova Scotia for a week, which I'm looking forward to. We're going with Frank's friend Nancy and her husband Eric. I think I've spent the whole summer preparing for and recovering from trips.

Here are some pictures from Italy. For some reason I've kind of become obsessed with taking arm-length shots of myself.
Oh, and the first is actually from Ecuador. Me and my llama. And our tour guide.



















The second: Guinea Pigs! from Ecuador! They eat them! (In fact, in retrospect, the spoon-like thing on the right looks suspiciously like a ladle.)

This is me in Pompeii. (With an extreme summer haircut, you'll notice.)


Me in Naples, with Vesuvius in the background.



And finally, to prove that I don't just take pictures of myself, here is a photo of one of the Albanian hill towns in Calabria, followed by one of a procession for Our Lady of Mount Carmel.





Well, that's it for now. By the way, on August 28th I'll be doing a recital with my friends Diane Norton (a harpsichordist) and Amanda Ingram (a recorder player). We've called ourselves the Eponymous 3 (a riff off of the Anonymous 4). A little Vivaldi and Telemann together, then I'll be doing a Vaughan Williams Cello/Piano thing. Should be either really beautiful or really hilarious. Maybe a little of both!?

My love to all. Keep the posts coming! They make me laugh.

White Pond Trio--June 2005 

Counting down to Utah....

Hello my good family (as opposed to my bad one?)---

I'm loving the new posts from my brothers! Bravo to Chris for pictures, too. We are very soggy with humidity here...looking forward to some good Utah aridity next week. Nothing escapes the damp: cereal, book pages, pretzels, hair, wet towels staying wet, moods. You get the picture. We've been enjoying going to White Pond almost daily. It's a small, hidden, tree-ringed pond a couple of miles away with a sand beach, dock, and lifeguards...also where the kids do swim lessons. It's our little piece of bliss each summer day. Aah, small pleasures.

We had some good happenings this week. Greg was promoted at work, which was a well-deserved recognition for all he does there. I sent a resume to a non-profit in Cambridge last month and--there's a long story behind this that I'll spare you here--they've offered me a position and agreed to scale it to part time for now. I'm thrilled because I've admired their work in the Boston area and will be able to do what I'd hoped: bridge the gap between research and application. They provide parenting education and support...seminars, classes, consulatations. I'll be developing and managing curricula, etc. Should be challenging and rewarding.  Anyhoooo.

Greatly looking forward to seeing Dad, Mom, Nancy (& Dave?) in the coming weeks....Love to you all, A.

Buon giorno!

Hey famiglia,
A hearty greeting from Italy! We don't have frequent, consistent, or dependable email access, so this post may be either short, interrupted, or nonexistent by the time I send it. Anyway, I've been here for two weeks, and we just got back from a weekend trip to Naples and Pompeii. Highlights of the trip so far:

• San Demetrio Corone (the small town where we are all living) is perched in the Calabrian hills just as the toe of the boot is forming - it's about twenty minutes from the Ionian Sea, and probably about forty from the Tyrrenian (?) Sea. It was settled by Albanians fleeing their country in the 15th century, and against all odds in this day and age, people still speak it. Though they are dyed-to-the-wool Catholics and Italians, they are quick to point out why their culture is different. The local church, for example, is topped with a Greek Orthodox cross, and contains Byzantine icons inside. The mass is performed partly in Italian, and partly in Greek, and their priests can be married. I have no idea how they swing that deal with the Vatican, but apparently that's how it is.
• I love the random encounters with local people - the other day I walked up into the winding streets of the old medieval quarters, and an old man named Carlo invited me to come pick some figs - delicious, juicy, sinful figs - from his trees.
• Pompeii is a totally haunting experience - especially the preserved volcanic castings of writhing bodies that were preserved by Vesuvius's lava. Some cover their mouths and noses in an effort to avoid breathing in the fumes that eventually killed them. Others form a protective shield around their children. Bone-chilling, but beautiful.

And some lowlights:

• My luggage didn't get to San Demetrio until five days after I did. I had a really quick connection between Manchester, England, and London (also England), and I don't think my luggage made it. Unfortunately, though, BMI only paid for my stuff to be flown from Naples to a nearby (2 hours away) airport. So I had to hire someone to get it, to the tune of $100.
• This group of students is way too big, and only a handful are interested in the slightest about absorbing the language and culture. It's also extremely poorly managed (rules that are not enforced, little to no information given about important things).
• The classes, too, are unfortunately very disappointing. This, again, has to do with not managing details very well. The director of the program, for example, wrote all of the course syllabi, but others - not used to such things as administering quizzes and creating conversation activities (very American things) - are teaching the courses.

OK, I should sign off now. More later, most likely. Love you all!

Hot July

Hey, everyone!
Whew! The summer that was in hiding has come out and breathed hot air on us. That is, if the air is actually moving. Otherwise it is like a dead heat. As still as a bat cave. The flowers are gasping and the lawn is depressed.
Last night we went to the couples' book group, where the discussion was about the book Endurance, the account of Ernest Shackleton's expedition across the south pole. Amazing how they survived with all odds against. Everything went wrong, and when it didn't, it was even worse. But what a testimony to trust and leadership.. Must rent the documentary and the movie with Kenneth Branaugh.( sp?) We left at nine o'clock and saw Howl's Moving Castle, which is a real trip. Wonderful animation and clever story. Voiced by Christian Bale, Blythe Danner and Emily Mortimer, I think. What was she in recently? We also saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith the other night. Entertaining, tongue in cheek, a little heavy on the posturing and posing on the part of Angelina Jolie, but kind of fun, if you like violence, explosions, murdering, executions, etc. You know, the things that make a marriage work.
I play at Brad Skousen's reception tonite. It will be at Edgewood Hall, George and Mindy Daines' place. Then tomorrow we meet in our new chapel, and I will play a duet with Kathy Betz' mom, Dorisse who is a professional violinist, and is up from Tucson for Susan Betz's wedding. We learned last Sunday that Erin Betz has a brain tumor. They don't know if it is malignant, but after the wedding they will do some more tests. Pray for her. She is on an anti-convulsion medication, and they say the growth isn't growing very quickly, but is in two areas of the brain. Always a very scary prospect.
We had a very nice 4th, complete with the sing-along at the Gray cabin. Did I already write that in my last blog? I can't remember when I was on last. It took me about 20 minutes to get into my e-mail today, not counting the 10 minutes it took to close down twice. This computer is as slow as I am, and we don't understand each other at all. We saw my cousin Jim Fillmore's family at Wildwood, and talked to his son Jon, who lives up here still, and works for a computer company. We told him we would hire him when we get a new computer, for a couple of one-on=one training sessions.
News: Nickolee Zollinger is getting married the last week of July, then will immediately move to Indiana for her doctorate. Jamie Balls is expecting, and will be moving back here with her husband, since his military obligation is completed. Lexi Balls husband will deploy to Iraq in a month or so.
Hoping Matt is enjoying Italy. How about some notes from the field, Matt? We enjoyed your Ecuador communiques. And Chris, do you get online? Thanks for the phone call. We like the fact that you are in LoLo? Wyoming. Low Low? where A River Runs Through It was filmed. We know that they couldn't film it in the actual area where the story took place because the river was so polluted.
Nancy reports heat and work, and some play. She does have a cooler at the Gelb's house, so she won't perish from 105 degree heat. I believe that is close to the temperature of the oven for a slow cooking brisket or something. Maybe for drying fruit? Anyway, it is certainly not pleasant for human beings, unless you are going for the beef jerky look. Nancy, I saw Kandis twice this week and had a good visit. She says that eventually, she would like to end up in Tucson, after her son finishes elementary school.
Annie and family will be here on the 25th. How was your ward breakfast, Annie? We are excited about having you here for awhile. The kids look like they have grown since I saw them in February! Slow down, you guys! What's the rush?
Can anyone else come during that time? Annie and Greg will be away with the Waddoups from the 10th to the 14th, and they will leave for Concord on the 17th. We plan to attend a couple of the opera offerings: Annie Get Your Gun (naturally) and Kismet. It would be fun to have even a couple of days together. Think about it.
I send my love to everyone. You are everything to me. Love, Ma