News of the Week 8/24/08

A lot of changes this past week. Last Sunday Amy headed off to Chicago in the moving van with Anna and Eric, friends who are going to graduate school at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. She has been staying with friends of Jamison in Hyde Park near the University of Chicago, and found an apartment nearby. She has been painting and fixing it up, and Jamison flies out tomorrow early--I know she has missed him and will be glad to see him. She sent some photos of the place, but I think she'll have to send more with the paint job, new blinds, and the little bit of furniture they have. It's pretty exciting. And now that she has a place to live, she can start to think about school. Several years ago John and I were at a conference in Chicago and visited Trent, a former student at the Art Institute. We saw the building where the art students have classes and their working studios. And we plan to visit A&J in February when John has another conference in Chicago. But it's still a long time away from them. Thank goodness for inexpensive cell phone calls.

Dave and Devon are planning to move into their new place in Philadelphia on Labor Day. I think they're both pretty busy. He's planning a quick trip out in September--just a few days, but some is better than none. We wish Devon could come, but she'll just be starting her new classes.

Chris started school last Tuesday. Brett and Betsy start school this week. John goes to his faculty meetings this week and starts teaching again after Labor Day. My life goes on the same with therapy clients and testing. I'm trying to get back into writing (vampire story) more regularly. Basically I think age has slowed me down. Or maybe laziness.

It's always great to have Rob and Nicolle and the babies visit, as they did this weekend. This time I was sick with some kind of 24 hour bug, and after Friday night just stayed in bed and slept. I'm hoping I didn't give the bug to anybody else. Before I got sick, though, we took the babies out for pizza and spaghetti alfredo while Rob was at a gig and Nicolle at her cousin's wedding. Here are photos of Spaghetti Girl doing her thing, serious Johnathan, and Chris. We sat outside on the patio. It was fun.