Hi y'all!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Books, Everywhere
Our summer here has been dominated by Cliff's book. It has to be finished this summer--even if there weren't publishers breathing down his neck, classes begin at USMA next week and he's back at school--and he's been up and working on it by 6 am every day since we got back. The NY heat has driven him into our front room to work, leaving us with this picture.

Hannah has been going to the town summer camp, which consists of lots of swimming, crafts, and the opportunity to play games like dodgeball, which she generally ignores. She'll be going to half-day art camp for the final two weeks of August, as well as going to the pool with me and generally hanging out, then school will be back in session. Yeah! It's been a rough summer for her, not knowing many kids in town, and we're looking forward to getting her into a stable setting where she can make some friends. The setup here in NY definitely suffers by comparison to what we had in Swansea--everyone is so spread out, and if she does meet children at school, there's no central place like the park to meet up for playdates.

Vehicular Herbicide
I've been working a bit every morning on the yard to try to tame the wilderness. Last October, after we had already left the country, a woman driving a convertible down our street on a Sunday morning rode up onto the guardrail, flipped over into our neighbor's yard, plowed through his picket fence and into our yard, destroying much of our front yard, including a juniper bush that probably predates the Truman administration. The Town of Cortlandt (Motto: "Saving you money through inaction since 1992") ripped out the compromised guardrail, replacing it with... sawhorses and yellow caution tape. And they left it there, making our front lawns look like one big crime scene, for eight months. Finally, in late June some workmen came and installed a new guardrail, but my neighbor tells me they bent the supports in doing so, thus making them structurally about as useful as the aforementioned sawhorses in deflecting wayward vehicles from our property. Meanwhile, they have left the stone retaining wall underneath the guardrail in a huge mess, with chunks of cement and very large stones scattered about. Occasionally the town engineer stops by, sometimes bringing contractors to provide an estimate on repairs to the wall. Secretly, they're holding out for the guy who says "Can I do it for free? I've never built anything like this but I'd like the practice." They move stealthily and leave before we can run out of the house and talk to them, maybe ask what's going on.

Speaking of stealth and our yard, we have two regular guests, Lucy and Ethel. They are two large white-tailed dear who consider our bushes extra-yummy. Of course, they haven't appeared since I got it into my head to photograph them, but watch this space for photos. It won't be difficult; you have to get within 6 feet of them to chase them off, and even then they only bound off into the scratchier branches, where they know I won't venture.

In other news, we have a webcam! It's a beautiful Apple iSight. We've tested it, the picture is wonderful, the sound works... and it's lonely. We are just eager to try it out. Please! Naturally, it would be helpful to schedule video chats ahead of time, which is less spontaneous than the phone, but please, let us know. I miss talking to everyone, and I know Hannah would love to chat with friends and family in faraway places.

Cats
Here are our two beautiful cats, Ozzie and Kosh. Oz's full name is Ozymandias, from the poem by Shelley. I thought it would be a great name for a cat, since the poem is about delusions of grandeur. Oz, however, is not only afraid of her own shadow, she jumps at every snap, crackle and pop she hears. Kosh is the one who exudes entitlement. But that works, too, as she is named for a character on Babylon 5 who is very powerful and generally acts superior. Anyway, many have heard of them, few have seen them, so here are pictures. They usually don't look so displeased; I think it's the flash on the camera.

Just for Fun
Just one fun link this time, found online on the way to looking for something else.

Build your own Skype headset.