Prepare the Ark

Hey All! Time is flying. We've been back in the US for almost 2 weeks now and we've been having a great time with Brenda's family in Appleton. There has been an unbelievable amount of rainfall here but that hasn't prevented us from enjoying ourselves. It is, however, preventing Jim and Joanne's newly landscaped yard from prospering. There was even hail one night which left its mark on the side of their house. In the rare dry moments, we've enjoyed biking (both in Appleton and in Door County), laying on the beach (Lake Michigan) and taking advantage of the gym at Lawrence University. We also spent a couple of fun days with Brenda's aunts, Nancy and Marilyn, who came to Appleton after a trip to Door County. On Tuesday, we all went down to Milwaukee to visit Brenda's great aunt Barbie who Brenda and I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing since our wedding.

There are so many things that Brenda and I enjoy about being in the US. There are the obvious things: family, friends, being home, etc. Then there are the less obvious things: screens on windows, Target, Baked Ruffles (Brenda), Mountain Dew (me), and small talk.

For whatever reason, Brenda and I had really been missing small talk in our last few months in Germany. And not just any small talk. We missed small talk with strangers, i.e. the checker at the grocery store, the barista, etc. Our interactions with people in those positions in Germany tend to be more down to business, which could, admittedly, be because they can tell German is not our native language and so they avoid chatting about the weather. Whatever the reason, we are taking full advantage of our opportunities to talk about the weather with complete strangers while we're back in the US. With all of this rain we've been having in Appleton, we've got a lot to talk about.

I wish I had some pictures to post for you but I'm afraid that I made a couple of errors in the picture department recently. First, I left the computer cord that I need to get pictures off of our camera in Germany. Second, I dropped our camera on a rather hard tile floor in Rome and it has been upset with me ever since. However, I will try to take more pictures with Brenda's iPhone so you can have a few glimpses at where we've been. I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll talk to you next week!