Random news from the last few weeks

Ian finished school on July 5th. He grew up so much this year...after struggling a bit to find his bearings in a new school with new kids and new rules, he ended strong, scoring high marks in most subjects. His teacher made a point of saying how kind and helpful he was with her and the other students. Can you tell that we were proud of him for that?

We had a great visit from Philip and Karen, some dear friends from Scotland. They housed and fed us on some of our visits, including when I defended my dissertation in 2005. Philip is a great cook--he's making a lamb curry here that was delicious.

My mom, my sister and her family came to visit. This is their train pulling into Paddington Station.

Not a bad looking crew after 14 hours or so of travel.

And this is Bella (appropriately named), my niece, in the cab on the way to our house.