Return of Odysseus

Michael has returned, unscathed, from his two-week hike to the base camp of Everest. Check out his adventures, including up-close pictures of Mt. Everest, and equally up-close pictures of wild yaks and photogenic monkeys, at 2008epic.blogspot.com. Now it's on to Dubai and trekking through Ethiopia. I have told my friends that I divide Michael's trip into the somewhat dangerous and the more dangerous parts. I thought of the trek to the base camp of Everest as only "somewhat dangerous" until I saw Michael's photo of one of the bridges over a rushing river that he crossed.



Jonny and Jenny spent the weekend on a trip to Agra and Jaipur, which I will duplicate when I travel to India at the end of July. I got a quote from a travel agency for a five day trip from Delhi to Agra and Jaipur and was quite excited about traveling in my own air conditioned car, with driver, and having such adventures as a "slow elephant ride" in Jaipur and a stop at an "ethnic village." Dave was quite horrified at the thought of his wife riding elephants, unaccompanied, in India, and Jonny confirmed, after taking the trip himself, that I would be better off with Jonny as my guide. Jonny and I will tour Agra and Jaipur during my first few days in India, I'll spend a couple of days in Delhi as Jonny and Jenny finish their last week of work, and then all three of us will explore together for another few days. Jonny and Jenny think renting bungalows at a tiger reserve sounds fun. So do I! See India, through Jonny's and Jenny's eyes, at jennyandjonny.blogspot.com.



Lisa's children are fast, fast runners. Lisa and Dave have planned for Dave to race in a 10K event on July 24, at which some of the Flindt runners will also participate--Kirsten? Michael? Spencer? Grant? Lisa and Kyle? Dave is excited, but afraid of being beaten, bigtime. I have already beaten Dave recently at the type of athletic competition we now participate in--who has the lowest resting pulse rate, as measured by the Smith's grocery store machine (my 56 versus his 66--not bad for fogeys). Dave will train hard to try to beat his grandchildren's times on the 24th!


Camille's family is really into blogging. Camille does the family blog, which featured, this week, the tale of their recent trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Historic Deerfield, and other fun places in western Massachussets and upper New York State. Emilie, Jonathan, and Annelise, now each have their own blogs, with addresses referenced at camilleebert.blogspot.com. One fun item on Jonathan's and Annelise's blogs is their response to 20 questions about their mom. Jonathan says Camille is 5 feet tall and Annelise says she is 8 yards tall! You'll learn things about Camille you never dreamed.


Grandma Calder was feeling depressed earlier this week, but is better now. Uncle Scott is home from 6 weeks abroad, and Dad and I had Grandma to Sunday dinner in our garden, with a big bouquet of bright coral roses, and a baggie of bread and rice pilaf to take home afterwards. Grandma Spendlove messed up her wound site when she fell in the shower, and she has to have a second operation on Tuesday. She would love calls and prayers. Darrell's dad died last week and Darrell was at the hospital to hold his hand as his dad slipped away. It has been a tough week for Darrell.


Dave and I spent the weekend in St. George. I enjoyed attending a session at the St. George Temple, while Dad preferred to wash windows and weed at home. I also enjoyed the beautiful flowers at the temple.


Dad and I also enjoyed swimming in the perfect, just lower than body temperature, water in the swimming pool. We then drove to Cedar City to see "Taming of the Shrew" in a hilarious performance, with a traditional (for us) dinner of coconut shrimp and a baked yam at Rusty's Steakhouse, up the canyon towards Brianhead. We are reminded of how distinctive the West is, as we checked out the moose and deer trophies all over the restaurant walls.