Thanks

I got your post card!! Glad to hear you are having fun with the cats of Rome.

This morning we saw the time trials for the Palio in Siena. Every year there is a horse race and the teams are the different districts of the city who each have a flag and animal mascot. The man above is a part of the Snail district (there is a small snail on his hat) and he is marching in a parade standoff with the Giraffe district. We stumbled upon this tradition, and the people of Siena were very enthusiastic. The woman who we bought pottery from informed us that they used to have two districts stand on either side of Il Campo and throw rocks at each other. There also was a period in which they raced cows. The horse race has been going on for 400 years now.

Here is Giovanni and Caterina trying to push over the tower!

This picture of St. Peters at night was taken by our own Johnny Frank.

John and Katherine and I walked a lot today. This is them at Circus Maximus!

Our Ghost Friend

Today at the Lay Center Katherine and I made a ghost friend. Her name is Giulia, and she is wearing Katherine's new hat. The likes pistachio gelato, cats, and playing hide and go seek.

noword

We have not heard
anything from Roma.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Proof we were in Italy

I know Bridget has been wanting copies of Italy pictures. I am trying to work on that, for the time being I will post a few here. It was a great trip and Laura made it all the more memorable. Laura, I would ask for the rules to your card game, but I do not really believe they exist. I hope ya'll have a great time at Block Island. There are probably a few other geocaches out there.

If anyone see Claire, have her finish our Words with Friends game. I have even added a puzzle to the blog. Name the statue and artist. Have a great summer.

Dear All,

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, although we will be providing some soon. Sandra and I just moved into the attic room. It's quite nice and the stairs don't seem as steep with the carpet and the two handrails. Luckily it's been quite cool at night and we've yet to use our fancy (and expensive!) air-conditioner.

Of course the big thing for us is the impending month in the Rome. As always happens, the weather is beautiful and the garden is blooming and we can't think why we take this trip. But, I assume, once we get there it will seem that no other place else will quite do.

Both John and Katherine are wrapping up their baseball seasons. It's John's first year in the "majors" and there are some adjustments required, but there's always next year. Katherine says she dislikes baseball intensely but there sure was a smile crossing her face when bat finally hit ball and the swift-footed Katherine made it safely to first. She was called out on third base eventually but I think that was just becaue the umpire wanted the game to end.

Jim

Laura arrives safely

Laura sent me a text that she arrived safely at her housing. This weekend will be here orientation. She is hoping to watch the new season of Lost via Skype.

Laura's off to Rome

Just got an text from Laura, She is finaly on the plane. A day late but she is on her way. We all wish her luck. If you want to skype with her, her skype name is uptake88.

Have Fun Laura!!!

Can someone put Laura's address on the blog?