Well, it was a pleasant enough weekend, all things considered. We took some impatiens to Aunt Betty, who was very pleased to get them, and we (well, Emil - no "we" about it) managed to get the lawn mowed at his father's house, in between the raindrops. Everyone was in fairly good spirits, largely because the weather was good, I think. Uncle Joe has good days and bad days, and these days were some of the good ones.

It's clear they'd like us to come down more often. We'll see what we can do . . . the schedule is getting pretty tight around here, and I really don't want to leave Em too much. (She, of course, doesn't want to go with us . . . we'll see about that, too.) But it's also very hard to be there. Kathy has pretty well stripped the house down (not that it's empty by any means), and it really doesn't feel like the home we used to visit in any sense. She wants to sell it, but it's not clear that anyone else does (it's jointly owned by all the brothers); and the real estate market in Youngstown is so dismal that there doesn't seem to me to be any hurry. I tend to think that Kathy feels the need for closure, that the house and its attendant responsibilities and memories are weighing on her (as well she might feel), but trying to get everyone going in one direction on this, especially now, when Joe is dying, is like herding cats. Much unnecessary tension surrounding all of this . . .

And much sadness in the house, and in Youngstown. But clearly Emil's uncles were glad to see him . . .

So now I have to pack for my week-long Texas Adventure. The first adventure will be surviving the heat: The high in Austin tomorrow is supposed to be 93 (god I hope we're going directly from the airport to the swimming pool; I may wear my bathing suit under my clothes just in case), and in Lubbock later in the week they're supposed to see the high 90s. And this is NOT a dry heat . . . yikes! It'll be over 40 degrees hotter than it was here today . . . But still, I am very much looking forward to seeing Clarence, Susan, Kate and Ben, and I'm looking forward to the conference, too. I'm going to take my rollerblades, but unless I get up at the crack of dawn before the day heats up, I may never use them . . . Stay tuned.