It's a cloudy weekend here in Chapel Hill. Marc is spending the afternoon getting some things organized after a busy week and doing some work that he will not be able to concentrate on much during the coming week. Shuwen is out running near Hillsborough, probably near an old race speedway that has been converted to trails. Since Amy lives out there, Shuwen makes the trip frequently to have a running partner, which she says greatly eases the unpleasantness of running.

Marc continues to train, and started formal workouts with the Carrboro Athletics Club again last week. Thursday's workout was a tough one, and he could hardly run the following day, but things are slowly getting back to normal with his legs. In any case, the yoga class on Monday will be helpful.

We have made plans to fly to Chicago at the end of July for Marc's LPHS 10-year reunion. It looks like there will be at least 30 people there, which is not much, but better than nothing, and possibly more intimate. It is strange to be on the verge of reconnecting in that way with people who have long ago gone other directions and lost touch.

We will also probably spend a week to ten days in Washington in early August, as Marc will be working on a short term consultancy with the World Bank on assessing the value and experience of wastewater reuse in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is good that that work came through because Marc is still uncertain about what will happen with funding for his Nile research. This assignment is not so straightforward, because it is really difficult to get a good feel for how things work in many developing / middle income countries from just reading reports and papers in the peer-reviewed literature. Those tend to include very selective results, if they contain any hard analysis at all.

Today is Bastille Day, and there are events planned in Carrboro (the Paris of the Piedmont) for tomorrow, to celebrate the holiday. We will go to the Open Eye Cafe (a local coffee shop) in the afternoon to enjoy crepes and sing the gory National anthem, which will be taught to kids and adults from the community. There's nothing quite like singing something really gruesome when you do not really understand what you are saying!

Shuwen got up the courage to try her hand at baking bread this morning. We have two rosemary-raisin loaves now, one for a potluck tonight and the other for our own enjoyment. They certainly smell good! The Kitchen Aid that Chris and Christine gave us for our wedding helped do the hard work of kneading.