Dogwoods

Dear JoAnn,

Your cell battery must be dead. I miss hearing from you during the day, even if it is just a "no news" call. I'll give you an update from our end of the world.

The pink dogwoods are in bloom now. On the way home for lunch I walked under one over on Palouse that had a branch of white dogwood grafted to the trunk. The whole tree looked like a big peppermint candy. Everything turned green and pink and white between the time we went in to St. Mary's and today. On the walk to the bus in the morning the sun beats warm on our shoulders, but the shadows stay chilly until noon. If Grampa hadn't mowed and trimmed and neatened up around here, our yard would have looked like Jumanji. He certainly expresses his giftedness in the way he works outdoors.

I left the office window open last weekend - the upstairs gets hot now during the day. The wind blew all my loose papers around and now there is a fine layer of gritty dust on the desk. We had a brown dust storm day this week, maybe it was Tuesday. Wreaks havoc with my contacts.

I went over to the Walla Walla Suites last night to hear Raquel, but she was sick. The kids and I went for a walkabout instead. We hiked over to the little Japanese garden at Whitman and the kids skipped across the stream on the rocks for a while. I got them orange creme sodas at the Reid Center and I had one of those supergreen drinks. After baths we snuggled up and read comic books that I got over at North Star Comics next to Ze'Bagel. Did you know that Ze'Bagel is all closed up and the space is for lease?

We finally got the cards you sent. They arrived in the mail today. Isn't that ironic? But we really needed them. We miss you terribly. We'll hit the road early tomorrow, pick up Gordon in Milton-Freewater and then rumble on down the interstate. I can almost bet on a stop in Boardman and a stop in The Dalles. Hopefully we'll roll in at about noon.

We love you, miss you, need you, adore you...XOXOXOXOX!!!!