My old buddy from last summer is working with me again, but this time on his family’s wraparound Victorian style porch. Short commute for me, shorter for him. Though the tool belt I bought him last year fits without adjustment, heís bigger by fifteen pounds.

ìHey, Chris, you know those beams we struggled with last year at Applewood?î

ìYeah. They would be so much easier to pick up this year.î

ìNo they wouldnít. We would have the same struggle.î

ìIím stronger this year.î

ìAnd Iím weaker. Weíd cancel each other out.î

Chris is still playing baseball and besides working with me he works two days a week at Drumlin Farms. If you call driving a Ford F350 Diesel truck work. Chris doesnít.

And, I might add, he sits comfortably behind that wheel.

ìUPS dropped something off at your side door.î

ìWhat size package was it?î

ìSmall, like a loaf of bread someone stepped on.î

ìMust be my underwear.î

ìYour underwear?î

ìSilk.î

ìSilk underwear?î

They cost more but they last longer.î

ìOh, pretty boy.î

ìIím not a pretty boy.î

ìSilk underwear?î

ìHow long does your underwear last?î

Thinking about what my underwear looks like when I finally retire them made me want to drop the subject real fast.

ìYou win, but I get a picture for the blog.î

Matthew Miller wasn’t the only Matthew celebrating his birthday yesterday.

Friday night we fled Willow Books after unknowingly walking into ìHarry Potter Night,î and as I slowed to turn into our driveway, a dark green Ford Taurus in the opposite lane stopped, almost blocking my turn. A thin young woman with thick rimmed black glasses and hair pulled into a tight bun shouted from her window, ìDo you know where Fort Devens is?î Not wanting to block traffic, I turned into my driveway, and then not wanting to get run over, I walked back to her passenger side window and waited for her to roll it down. On the seat I could see her camo uniform. Iraq bound?

She repeated the question and though Iíve driven by the exit on route 2 a zillion times I wanted to make sure she got to Devens without anymore trouble.

ìIt’s real easy but Iím tired and I canít think of exactly how to get there. Look, this is my house and Iíll go in and Google you a map. Why donít you pull into my driveway?î

She turned her head and looked back out the windshield, then turned back at me and said in a soft voice, ìDo you mind if I stay here?î

Follow The Uranium

Hey Diane and Michael and Matt and the Blog if you so choose!

We¥ll see how my ambitious plan goes, considering the librarian wasn¥t at the library yesterday and today when I went to talk to her she said that electricity had been out. I don¥t know if that is a problem with the lines or outlets or what, but I¥ll need outlets for the printer.

My Spanish is already improving. I¥m the only english speaker in Achuapa right now, so it makes life interesting. This morning I talked to Marjine, my ®sister® about all sorts of things for a while. It was really fun. She understood most of what I said and I understood what she said, even if my thoughts were a litte on the simple side. It was still nice. I asked my mother to teach me how to cook and she gave me some dough to make a tortilla with. I suck at it. A lot. Like, she can do this little thing where she turns the dough and flattens and it stays in a circle. Of course I can do it, right? Absolutely not. She kinda just laughed at me. I got a little better at a different stage in the molding, but I still suck at it. We¥ll see how it goes. Hopefully I¥ll get better. They have baby corn here that I helped Marjine to husk while we talked and made lunch. O man, we had this vegetable (pipian, I think she said?) that I¥ve never seen in the States before. And they put cheese in the middle where it¥s squishy with the seeds and then put it in a batter of egg, flour and water, and then fry it. It¥s so good. I¥m going to come back muy gorda! I was trying to decide if there¥s another kind of veggie that that would taste good with, but I couldn¥t think of any. Any ideas for when I get back and know how to make it?!

Last year on Matt¥s birthday we went out and I got locked out. I¥m sure he has great memories of trying to unlock my door and the Dutch woman refusing to wake up DoÒa Luisa. Grrrr. Oh well.

Much love, Love and Light, Hilary

P.S. IÂ¥m not sick. Yet. Knocking on wood.

Well hello there! I just showed my `sister` that picture of me cuando era
joven. `QuÈ bonita!` – Marguina. `QuÈ blanca!` – yo.
I got here yesterday afternoon and now IÂ¥m here in a tiny little town called
Achuapa, about an hour from EstelÌ. It¥s only 20 km or so from a town named
Sauce (pronounced with the e at the end) but it takes approximately 45
minutes from there since the roads are just great. Wonderful. Perfect. The
government definitely does it¥s job when it comes to taking care of the poor
here. It took 4 hours to get here all together.
IÂ¥ll hopefully start helping in the library tomorrow, since the librarian is
I-don¥t-know-where right now. I brought down a lot of coloring/playing
supplies AND a printer and 5 digital cameras. IÂ¥m going to teach some of the
kids here (15 is my max. More than that might kill me) how to take
photographs, what to look for in framing a photo, boundaries, light, motion,
etc. It¥s going to be frickin¥ impossible. Hopefully fun at the same time.
So I just sent an email to my parents and read an email from my friend
Deanna and then the hotmail site stopped working, but please everyone feel
free to write to me! I can¥t exactly find the `at` button on the computer,
but my email is sun_moon_and_hilly@hotmail.com
Much love to you all, especially those of you who I know.
I hope Matt is accustoming himself to the US ok after his spectacular time
in Spain.
Love and Light, Hilary
P.S. So I tried to send this without putting at email address and it
wouldn¥t let me so I humbled myself and asked my sister, and you press Alt 6
4. Gotta love life…
So how are you, Miller/Canning people? I miss Acton a bunch, but not nearly
as bad as last year. But I¥ve only been here for about 24 hours. So that¥s
definitely going to change. The hotmail site just started working but the
blog won¥t let me post. Grrrr. It¥s pouring here. I want to go play in it. I
also don¥t want to get some gross disease from the mud. Damn flip-flops.
Much amor y luz, Hilary (Hilaria)

Guess what? As of yesterday, Hilaryís back hanging out in Nicaragua, but this time alone.

Hil, please write to us.

Go Away Dixie Gillian

Matt’s Gallery

I should ask Matthew where this is but he’s asleep.
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The rest of the weekend photos

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The spammers seemed to have unleashed all of their guns on this site. Maybe two hundred a day now.

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Rakkity, how did you like “The Closers?”

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Matt

Lulu’s Crawl

Cel in Spain
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Diane, Robbie and Joe wait for Matthew to clear customs.

The connecting tunnel form terminal E to Central Parking.
On the way home Matt talked about the architecture (of which he took many photographs), the museums (they are everywhere), the helpful and not so helpful people, the restaurants, the beaches (smiling at the thought), the painful train rides, the language (he and Cel had them all covered), the cops (laid back compared to ours), customs in France (non-existent), dinners (at midnight) and pretty much anything else that could be squeezed into an hourís car ride. He was so talkative weíre thinking of throwing him on a plane every month or so.

Photo Gallery to come.