Oops!

We're back from our less-than-24 hours in Eastern Oregon; it seemed like much longer, but in a good way. So many hugs! Tom has 8 cousins on his mother's side which is 7 more than I'm used to. And then there were the aunts and uncles, a grandmother and the nuclear in-laws. Most of these family members I was meeting for the first or second time - third time at most - but it is such a sweet family and I felt right at home despite not having known Tom's grandpa at all. Everyone was pretty cheerful; Garth's death was about as good as they come and he had lived over 80 years of life. But the almost tangible emotion that filled the children and friends - everyone that had know him well - was beautiful to experience; deep longing and powerful hope. Love and faith.

We brought back with us some gifts of inheritance; among them: an espresso maker. We are pretty delighted albeit in need of some instruction-reading.

I do not read instructions. I created above mess. Don't rely on barista experience with an at-home espresso maker; common sense works much better.

Amazingly the coffee was unharmed - though we didn't get to steam the milk. I'll master this thing yet!

And the explosion was pretty funny - at 7-something in the morning, as Tom and I looked on.

What to do with my whole, long day today? (And the weekend, somehow, only a day away.) This question reminds me of the classic opener of Pinky and the Brain.

"What are we going to do today, Dinah?"

"The same thing we do every day, Dinah: try to clean and organize the apartment!"

We've got problems (see above). It's an endless battle.