Halva arrived at 7 am to begin a gardening adventure. Now the lawn is finally mowed after a month, and we have a plot of ground for growing seasoning peppers.

He took us to the beach just north of the Marriot, Atlantic side. The sand is finer than at Frigate Bay, where we go 95 percent of the time. The waves were rough. Terror and Junior (Halv'a dogs) loved to swim with us. While we were reading (Cristina finished Thief in the Night. Halva started Sugar Is All. I continued All Flags Flying!.), the canines pulled at my mind: Terror has sneezed before in his life, so he knows what it feels like to sneeze. When he hears his brother Junior sneeze does he know that he is sharing the same feeling associated with his own sneeze. I know humans have this capacity, but do animals? Also, it doesn't rest well with me that a pure-bred dog is valued more than a mutt. This is analogous to valuing intraracial marriages. I'm probably thinking too deeply about it.

Cristina [I'm tempted to type "Tina" but know better because I've wittness the wrath the nickname provokes.] and I discussed arguments within relationships. We're interacting more like close friends recently, as opposed to co-workers volunteers. I'm glad to have a long-time friend here. I wonder how I would have fared if I was here by myself. I don't need to worry about that.

My parents are going to send me my Persian books. Yay! (Shipping is really expensive, but my dad felt I should have them anyway. I love him.) I want to catch up and be ready for continuing the class next fall. Check out this picture from when my mom first came to the States in 1960!