in the meantime, nancy and ken came to visit. fresh from the vegas strip, where they did not gamble a single cent- but did go to the liberace museum. and on their way to san francisco and napa valley. bethel was definitely the dirtiest (as noted by ken), coldest (as noted by nancy) and most culturally rich (as noted by myself). we did the bethel museum circuit- including the catholic church, the library, and the staircases of the hospital administrative building. yup. that's right. where do we keep all of our art? in the staircases- right next to the dental clinic. duh. if that wasnt enough excitement for them- they took part in the bethel 4th of july parade- hopping on the "peace train" float- which, unfortunately, did not win any awards- but, i think, was a crowd favorite. we spent the rest of the day at the town carnival featuring lots of food, music, softball, and grease poll- basically a telephone pole covered in crisco- people pay for a chance to climb up it and reach the $100 on top of the pole. nancy won! .....nope. just a hop, skip, and bird watching tour later- they were off to anchorage and then on to the city by the bay (not the chesapeake). proof that they visited can be found in the background of these photos.
good to have them visit and feels good to be going home in a short while. recently life has been a series of goodbyes, before a round of hellos, with many of our friends leaving town- graduate school, new jobs, or end/beginning of jesuit volunteer years. bridget just left on thursday- but she is moving to dc- so i will make an east coaster out of her yet. packing and throwing a lot of stuff away- and getting ready to head east. philadelphia here i come (back).
