another day in June : )

hi Joy!

What a sweet picture of your sister and your niece Py ! So cute! I love the way you captured the moment & their faces. You take such great pictures! I can't wait to see the photos you take visiting your parents with your trusty Eddy (who is Edward Newton??).

(The name Py reminds me of a film from New Zealand called Whalerider. The main character is a young woman named Py. Have you seen it or heard of it? It's about her family and her Maori traditions which involve whales...and how her talents compel her to fill a certain role which her father believes should be reserved for men. ...as for movies, yes I would like to send you Orlando! I checked purchase availability and I can get it easily. However, now I'm not sure what version I need to get for you: do I need to get a certain "zone" DVD or an "international" DVD for you? or can you play a VHS? please let me know!)

Those walls are great colors. I totally agree with you about that deep blue sea color !! It's gorgeous. (I would like to paint our front door a kind of blue that is popular for doors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but Alfonso (fiance) thinks that would be weird (also we would have to persuade the landlady and she'd probably say no.)

Alf and I took a short hike in the state park near our house yesterday. The hills were covered in dry grass and dead thistles (the green season lasted only a month or so this year because we've had so little rain) which made a sound like a small stream rushing over rocks when the breeze rattled the empty stalks together. Some plants, though, can never be killed, like this yellow flowering weed. Our small yard is filled with these (it's time for me to cut the "grass"....). And there were some shiny blue beetles enjoying the wind.

I enjoyed seeing your pictures of the different walls! Red is an unusual color that can look spectacular in a home if done right. For example, my landlady showed me the new bathroom in the house she owns next door to us, which has the upper half of the walls red and the bottom half white wooden paneling which matches the white porcelain sink, tub, cabinets, etc. The effect is beautiful and standing in the room makes you feel a lot of positive energy.

"butterfly" is a beautiful song. : ) thanks ... here is a link to one of my many favorite songs (& the video is from another of my favorite movies, the version of Romeo & Juliet called R+J, "When Doves Cry":http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/When+Doves+Cry+Romeo/video/x6cxy2_quindon-tarver-when-doves-cry_musicusic

Hmm...as for the PhD I used to be more determined...now I am struggling....but I will write and answer more of your post soon, when I have more time! I'm doing some editing work right now. Just proofreading some reports for the college math department. Easy work, but tedious.

Here's a pic of me and Alf recently, the evening after his PhD graduation. And that's his late grandmother, smiling in the little photo near my reflected head, haha.

I hope you have a good visit with your parents, Joy! :D Talk to you soon!

ps. Here is a happier song than "When Doves Cry." This is Beth Patterson (I knew her in high school!! need to get back in touch...) singing a traditional Irish tune, "Heather on the Moor":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgWOeOKsm5A&feature=related at a pub in New Orleans....