From Kathryn and Brian

Hi, Mike.

I'ts Kathryn. Well, it rained every day in Vermont. One day I used 3 shirts from working on the large gardens and bushes in the rain, and I went thru 3 pairs of sneakers , which got sodden and smelly. But all the gardens are now weeded (never saw so many), cut back, reconfigured, mulched, etc., and they look great.

The cellar, with a swiss-cheese foundation about 200 years old, is like a swimming pool; my sister and I lugged 3 mop pails of mud and sand out of one corner of the area; we stapled back fallen insulation in an attic; had to dispose of 12 bonfire logs the renters had attempted to burn outside; repaired windows; washed wallpaper; put WD 40 on hinges, lugged heavy stones and bricks to various areas; painted doors, etc., etc.

NOt your regular vacation, but then my trips to Vermont never are. Should I really be part owner of a SECOND home??? It's worth it as the house and gardens, and the property and the views in particular are all gorgeous. But we do lots of the work, and there is ALOT of it. And good workmen in Vt. are hard to come by and VERY expensive. Just as bad as here.

The weather was against us, with many long downpours, but I accomplished all the jobs I had on my list. But it's good to be back home. I arrived last night, so I missed church today from fatigue. My younger sister, a love, gave me a backrub and a footrub, and we did take time to watch some of the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I never saw such a spectacular hi-tech, cast- of- thousands display of pageantry as the CHinese welcome. Awesome.

ANd now I have massive work to do in my gardens here, as 4 men took down a huge black birch on our property line, where the only access was thru my prettiest garden bed of hosta and astilbe, ferns and Solomon seal, so it's trampled badly. I had removed some plants in advance and must put them back in, but now we have more sun in that area, so I'll be doing some creative reconfiguring too and more next spring. At last Brian gets a good view to the WEst for his stargazing. He's been lugging his big telescope out some nights to see the space station up close and various other celestial events. HE's really into it and has been since he was a child.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and we hope the latest chemo went well, even if you have to sit on the pot alot. Just stay away from the season's peaches at the same time. Lots of love to you and GLoria,

Kathryn and Brian