Summer in Carrboro! I just got back from a week in DC and it certainly feels and looks like summer here now. The warm temperatures and humidity certainly have settled back in.

I went up to Philadelphia last Sunday to catch a quick glimpse and few hours with Christine and my nephew Jonathan, and even caught Chris before he went to the hospital for his shift. Jessica Marder (a nursery school friend of Christine's) was there for a visit too, so it was a treat to see her again. We reminisced about a summer trip we all took together in France, including episodes with "la dame a la grippe d'ete" (the woman with the summer flu), Jessica's adventures with food poisoning at the train station in Paris, and other sources of fun (such as me discovering that it is not a good idea to jump into a bush of stinging nettles).

Incidentally, some opt for the pain of eating stinging nettles instead: I heard about a competition on NPR on my drive home.

I then spent the week in Washington working on my new World Bank project with water management in the Ganges, getting up to speed on what has been written in the past on this river basin. It is an interesting new project. I saw Swarthmore friends there too: Ambrose and Yana, and Keith, as well as friends I have met through Shuwen: Peter Gartrell, Lara and Mansureh. All in all a good (but tiring week).

I went to a lovely outdoor wedding last night here in Chapel Hill, at a Bed and Breakfast just west of Carrboro (Rock Quarry Farm). Shuwen was bummed not to make it, but she will see Amy and Scott (the couple) soon enough. She painted a colorful "Tree of Life" for them, which they mounted as a covering on the hoopah and displayed after the ceremony.

Now I am back to making revisions to my dissertation, before I travel again in July. Shuwen will be back in about a week.