Gray on the Olympic Penninsula.

Here, the sea and the sky fold into each other in layers of gray. Gray everywhere. Gray sea, gray sky, gray birds, gray sand cliffs, gray sand dollars, gray foam in the ocean, gray shadows.







You might think the image below features a gray starfish. If you do, you are wrong. This is me and my reflection performing fancy tricks in the sand.



Joyce was also mesmerized by the gray. And with the sand. After only two minutes of walking in it, she planted herself face first and started her swim. We thought all that sand in her eyes was going to give rise to a crying bout, but quite the contrary - Joyce found all that sand everywhere thrilling.



And Xavier took the opportunity to perform circus tricks in the grayness.

Rock climbing with my super strong brother Marc.

Here he is:



When those aforementioned little boys (cousin Jill's Jonathan and Jeffrey) asked Marc why he was staying at their house recently, he did exactly this pose and said, "Does this answer your question?" They paused and then one of them said, "Yeah." For the next little while they were often found pointing to their elbow or their knee, nonsensically asking Marc, "Is this your question?"













Even during the scary parts, Marc would talk us through where to put our little scrunched up feet (in the climbing shoes) and where to dig our fingers into the rock or point our toes or anything really. He always talks in a calm voice (except when very angry) and often ends a sentence with 'right.' I like that. When I am hanging on a rock and he is belaying.

Little girls in the grass.

Marguerite (step-daughter) loves Joyce (niece). Joyce loves Marguerite. Recently, Joyce has figured out how to say 'high-five' (which ends up coming out more like 'hi-pi'), which, incidentally, is one of Marguerite's favorite American activities. High-fives multiply 'round these two.



Marguerite has also convinced herself that Joyce is her 'petite-soeur' - her little sister. So, she calls her so and wishes it were so.





At times they get aggressive with each other and we flip out a bit, but it seems they have a mutual agreement about small portions of acceptable violence between them. They don't flip out.















Oh and how we all love Sammy. Marguerite came with a fear of dogs. She is going to leave stripped of that for sure. Sam just wags his tail and lets anybody pull his fur anywhere or steal his tennis ball or tackle him in the grass. He laps it all up. He was the perfect choice for ridding a child of her dog-chickenheartedness.