Elephants

Sunday afternoon I was driving through Augsburg with some friends and saw two elephants waiting for the bus.

They were standing alongside the road, next to a bus shelter, placidly munching on some long grass.

I was told that they probably weren't waiting for a bus, their trainers from the nearby circus camp probably brought them there to eat the grass. Still, it was a pretty unusual sight. I told the kids and they were jealous. They only get to see moose and deer wander by at home. They want to come to Germany where drivers have to watch out for elephants.

I'm leaving tomorrow, finally, to return to the land of moose. I went to Ulm today and found a wealth of research treasures, which the good women at the archive are busy copying for me. They will send them to me at Norwich, where I can explore them when I have some time. I can't wait to come home to my beautiful house and my beautiful children and my fabulous husband. I love you guys!

Gruß aus Deutschland!

I'm still in Germany, but I'm halfway done! I have been in Augsburg since last Saturday, working mainly at the city library (there's not much in the archive I need for my current project, though it feels strange not to go there every day like I used to do). I am finding some good material on the construction history of the churches, so I should be able to write my article about changes in church art and architecture after the Reformation. I am also finding some really interesting stuff -- like that one of the chapels in St. Anna's church had its internal entrance bricked up so it wouldn't be part of the Lutheran Church anymore, but the chapel continued to be shared by both Lutherans and Catholics until 1750, more than 200 years! I can't wait to find out how they managed it, I hope I can find some more details.

I miss my family, but it looks like they are managing just fine without me! I will be home soon.

Horsing around on Father's Day

Father's day this year was less exciting without Emily in town, we went to church in the morning to hear Lucy sing in the Montpelier Ward Primary Choir. As the choir finished singing "I'm so glad when daddy comes home," Gavin was so pleased with their performance that he stood up on our bench and shouted "Sing that again." Unfortunately the primary chorister did not provide us with an encore but Gavin got a few laughs and Lucy was grateful for his support.

When we got home we decided to take our fishing poles and walk to the edge of our property and try out our fishing hole on the Dog River. Apparently the Dog River is one of the better trout streams in Vermont, but Gavin was content to fish with only a bobber. Lucy on the other hand insisted on having a hook and a worm but neither of them had even a nibble. After about an hour of chaos we all decided that fishing was better suited for people with patience. As we were walking through the field in front of our house, some neighbors rode by on their horses and offered to give Lucy and Gavin a ride on the horse, Zeb. Gavin and Lucy had so much fun that they refused to let Zeb leave until the neighbors promised to ride by again in a day or two and give the kids another ride on Zeb.

Fabulous Freaky Friday

Friday, June 13th turned out to be a Fabulous Freaky Friday for the Gray Family. With Emily in Germany for a couple of weeks, we began the day as usual with the packing of lunches, getting children dressed, etc. Our morning routine was interrupted by a young bull moose who walked through our yard on his way down to the Dog River. Mr. Moose was polite enough to stop and have his picture taken. Friday afternoon Lucy graduated from Kindergarten with honors. She got her diploma, but she still has to go to class until June 20th to make up for the several snow days.

Gavin and Austin went on their first Father and Son campout at Camp Joseph which is adjacent to the Joseph Smith Memorial. Gavin caught his first fish which was a beautiful brook trout.

Love thy Neighbor

In the New Testament, Jesus taught his followers to love thy neighbor. When somebody asked him who our neighbors are supposed to be, Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

So here I am in Tubingen, Germany at a conference on the concept of the neighbor and neighborliness in history and literature. Getting here was a nightmare . . . flight delays in Burlington, being rerouted through Heathrow, then, when I finally arrived in Germany, the trains were delayed. I did not get to Tubingen until 10:30pm, after nearly 24 hours of traveling. The taxi took me to the university guesthouse where we were supposed to stay, and when I got there, it was all locked up for the night. Nobody was there to let me in. It was pouring down rain, I was totally exhausted, I was somewhere in the suburbs of Tubingen Germany without a map or a phone. So I went next door to what turned out to be a residence for international graduate students and buzzed the door. Luckily, three students were still up. One lent me his cell phone to call the conference director (who was no help) while another went to try to get into the guesthouse where I was supposed to stay. They directed me to a hotel that happened to be down the street, then, when the hotel had no rooms, they collected some bedding and towels and put me in an empty room in their residence to sleep.

I do not know the names of my three Good Samaritans but I am so grateful for their kindness! This adventure has taught me more about neighborliness than I could ever get out of a conference.

Everything has gone smoothly since then . . . I checked into the guesthouse this morning, rested and showered with a newly acquired good attitude. The conference has been great. Tubingen is a gorgeous old university town. I was also happy to discover some drawings in my notebook by Lucy and some scribbles by Gavin, as well as one of Gavins pacifiers in my suitcase. It makes me feel like I am not so far away from my family. After this, I am off to Augsburg for ten days, then back home again.

Moving Day

The house is finally, really ours! We are so excited to be moving in, trying to fill all the space with the stuff that looked like so much when we were packing it, but now seems like a whole lot less. I'm sure we'll expand into the house in no time, though.


We spent last week packing all of our worldly possessions, for the second time in less than a year (and the last time for a long time, we hope!) I even packed the kids so we wouldn't forget them. . .

The move went really well, thanks to our awesome ward moving crew, along with a few trucks and a horse trailer. We got out of one house and into the other in two hours, and everything arrived in without a scratch, including my piano. It went so well, we think there's an above-average chance most of our movers will still want to remain friends with us.

It's been in the '90s and humid but the house has remained remarkably cool -- the breezes come down through the woods behind the house and feel wonderful! And whenever we feel too warm we can just go out back and wade through the creek. We haven't been down to the swimming hole at the river yet but we may go jump in tonight to try it out. Our new address and phone numbers (we had to get local cell phones) are listed above left. Now that we're settled in, we're hoping to have lots of visitors! (hint, hint . . .)

Twenty-Three Piggies

We got home from New York to a message from the Youngs: twenty three baby pigs! We went over after church to check out the new additions. They are pretty darn cute, especially the spotted ones, a little pile of piggies either eating or sleeping, snuggled up on top of each other against one of the two Mama Pigs. And then there are the calves to play with, and fresh-cut hay to play in . . . ! Thanks, Young Family, for letting us come and visit so often.

Congraduations!

Hooray, Heather! After three years of hard labor, Heather graduated Friday from City College of New York with a Master's in Landscape Architecture. She got a special award for best thesis. We are all so proud of you, Heather! You will make New York's open spaces better for everyone. And we're looking forward to you having more spare time to spend in Vermont's open spaces, too. . .

We all had a great time celebrating Heather's graduation in New York. Lucy and Gavin were loving getting to hang out with Uncle Sam and Aunt Heather. They also got to see Aunt Rosalie and Uncle James, who we haven't seen since their wedding a year ago, and Uncle Dylan, who graduates from high school this week. (Thanks, guys, for being so patient playing with our kids! They really adore you. And so do their parents.)

Lots of fun was had in New York, but the highlight had to be Saturday's visit to the Natural History Museum. Those dinosaurs are so awesome! Grandma bought Gavin a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which he's been putting under his pillow at night (along with his "F" Subway Train).

Other New York highlights . . . playing in the park near our hotel at the WTC, where there were organized art projects, street-hockey games, and a fun playground with fountains . . .

. . . The Central Park Zoo . . . and just hanging out with Grandma.