Library Day

Here I am in the library and I have to tell you I'm pretty happy about it.  I just realized that I'm bouncing a little as I listen to iTunes on my headphones.  This is the first chance I've gotten to work on line on my with computer.  It has been a busy month.  Caleb learned to stand and got his first tooth in the same weekend.  He is EVERYWHERE at once these days.  He pulls himself up on every handle and tries to open every door he sees.  Fortunately we've had a couple of warm days and we got to spend some time outside.  Caleb didn't know what to think of the grass at first.  He sat very still and then carefully placed his hand on the ground, only to jerk it back up as soon as he felt the prickliness of the grass.  But he got over that quickly and now he scoots around picking up sticks and sharing them with Honey, he chews on them for a little while and then gives them to her to finish off.  

 

Sally and Tim have been hard at work on her new rose garden.  She had a wonderful rose garden at her old house and she's excited about starting one here.  She is the type of person who can't survive without having a project to work on.  Tim has built a low stone wall around the garden space and they are planning on bringing in topsoil this week.  

 

I didn't post last Wednesday because Trisha and I went shopping.  We went to the mall in Middletown and I got to shop at H and M, my favorite clothing store.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I loath clothes shopping.  H and M is the only clothing store that I look forward to visiting.  I made a pretty big haul and feel much better about my clothing options for the spring.  Trisha and her fiance have set a date for their wedding so we spent our lunch time discussing wedding logistics.  

 

I haven't heard a lot more about the protests in Moldova since I last posted.  I wrote Vanya to see what he knew but he just stays in his room studying for the customs exams so all he knew was what was on TV.  This past Sunday was Eastern Orthodox Easter and I e-mailed Nadea and tried to call my first host family.  Remember them?  In Danceni?  I'm thinking about Moldova a lot these days.  It's hard to believe I've been home for so long.  I wonder if a part of me will always feel a slight disconnect from the American world that surrounds me.  Sometimes in the middle of a discussion with a friend I will suddenly feel a need to say, "But in Moldova they would think..."  I never thought of myself as having an island mentality but I think that most Americans do.  It's something we can't really help unless we are willing to step out and look at the world from a different angle.  

 

There is a man sitting in a chair across from me.  He has a bushy white beard and two plastic grocery sacks sitting at his feet.  Every now and then I feel him glancing at me.  Probably because I am appearing rather oddly delighted to be sitting in a library on a Wednesday morning.