I am sitting in at least today's location of the Earthly Paradise: my aunt's backyard. It looks onto a small lake, where in the hour or so I have been here, I've seen a common egret, a snowy egret, a Little Blue Heron, wood ducks mallards bow-tailed grackles doves crows cardinals bluejays some huge MF of a dove, and heard red-winged  blackbirds and red-bellied woodpeckers.

We are in the process of finding out the password to my aunt's computer network. I am full of hope.

So after being pre-trip anxious for a week or so, I got ready to go. I mailed off most of my camping gear. I believed  my children had absconded with both of my larger suitcases, and since I was trying to travel lighter I ditched my long heavy cot. I got a lovely foam pad that folds to the size of a large loaf of bread. I also started playing with my mother's old Olympus.  It had a 64-kB chip in it, and despite being on not-very-HQ it takes much better pictures than my beloved point-and-shoot. But on SHQ only 8 pictures fit on the chip.

So I needed a suitcase and another chip. I had an errand in Salem and went to Rockingham Mall. I was wearing a t-shirt with a mammoth on it and ended up giving SCRAP's contact information to two people. I never think anyone reads my shirts. Also Sears was having a sale, so I found a suitcase for half-price. Then I found that Staples and Target do not carry xD camera cards, and Dick had gone home early. Nothing daunted, I got my nails done (if your cuticles were as bad as mine you would get a manicure before you went on a dig, too) and a 2gB xD card and collapsed into dinner with Sarah.

I was talking to Doug that night about suitcases and he remarked he had moved mine after the near-incursion of the raccoons.

Today, in Texas, I tried the old Olympus with the new chip and it appears it cannot cope with the perfectly good 2gB chip. So Dick will bring two of his old  less-than 2 gB chips, since he uses xDs as well.

An extra suitcase and two extra gig of camera memory are surely good things, right?

And it was a relatively easy flight down and it is beautiful here.