hello from hotsville

i will stop talking about the weather at some point, i promise. but it has been astonishing. yesterday tashi had a baseball game and it was terminated by the 5th inning because it was simply too hot to continue! everyone involved was relieved. we came home, pulled our swimsuits on, and headed off for the pool that we are now members of. ah sweet glory. it is on a beautiful wooded property, and the pool (actually, pools, three) is not heavily chlorinated, so it was quite pleasing. we also saw many familiar faces there, which was a fun surprise.

today there was a big award ceremony/picnic for the little league. here is tashi receiving her * first ever * trophy.





i love the little smile on her face as she's walking away with her prize. all the children received, "completion awards," which is a nice touch really.

even though i made a large salad and vat of pasta for the picnic, we left before eating commenced. it was just too intensely hot to eat and socialize and be out there under the bleeping sun. dan and tashi tore off to the pool but i decided to stay within the cool of our home. i swam 800 meters yesterday, after not swimming for at least a year. my arms were so sore last night i was almost in tears. so this afternoon i'm giving it a rest. there will obviously be many pool days ahead.

something i did last night rather spontaneously was go to the gravity lounge to see corey harris. now my favorite local musician, corey harris is a musical genius. it was indeed a "rasta blues experience," a really unique blending of pure unpretentious reggae music, delta blues, and mind bending guitar jams. i was so very pleased.

an so now i will leave you with a photo of tashi's latest creative endeavor. she was inspired in cyprus by this artist's use of mixed media and so today tried her hand at it. i'd say she's doing a great job. can you see the colorful painting amongst the colorful materials all around it?!