I get by with a little help from my friends...

Yes, I am back, and no, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

Last week was sort of a combo of too busy and not busy enough. I spent a large part of the week sleeping off the trip to Ashland. And I spent a lot of time watching 'Robot Chicken' via You Tube. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Robot+chicken&search=Search for samples). Way too juvenile and way too funny. I think the 'Darth Vader calls the Emperor' is one of the funniest. Anyway, a good lagh feels really good- even if I have to suppress it to keep from waking Wanda...

James was up for the weekend. Saturday was the 'History Day' state competition. I was judging the Junior Group Documentaries- basically 6th graders making videos. Had one about John McLoughlin, an Oregon Founding Father of sorts. It was ok. There was one about the Korean War orphans that was absolutely terrific. Full marks across the board. And the last one was about the last of the Samurai. It was pretty creative- nearly all the boys acting out samurai scenes in costumes, with voice-over, and then the two of them doing a 'fireside chat' at the end. They had serious bibliography problems though- they cited themselves as sources, and they even listed the horse they used in a couple of scenes. They seem to have been confused between credits and sources...

Brunch was good- we stayed way too late, talking more about Linda's questions about religions and spirituality. James is the active churchgoer and got to talk a lot. The whole conversation was really interesting, and I'd bet that the waitresses were a bit confused at some of the dramatic shifts :-)

And Larry's dad passed away Friday morning. It wasn't unexpected, and I suspect it is actually a relief for Larry and his family, but it's got to be rough nonetheless. I'm hoping to get in touch with him sometime in the next day or two

This week I think will be a lot of sewing, trying to catch up backlogue. I may make some new clothes for myself while I'm at it. Wanda and I are planning to have dinner with Bera and Alail on Tuesday, and Thursday James will be back up- the new Presiding Bishop will be at the cathedral Friday evening and he has tickets. Should be pretty interesting.

And I may even allow myself a Burgerville shake this week. I can do penance with black beans and brown rice to make up for it. :-)