hey jud

What more could you ask for? Every single day of our California trip had blue sky and bright sun, with not even a hint of weather imperfection. We walked and toured and walked some more, meeting Michael's special friend and introducing her to this family tradition. We ate big breakfasts every morning, and stopped only for lattes to keep us going until dinnertime. In the middle of our vacation, we threw in a road trip with mission stop, *warning - strong sarcasm*, regretting only that the children were not along to share in one of their favorite family adventures. Throughout the trip, we revisited places we took for granted when we lived there, shot pictures of all kinds and saw lots of old friends. A gallery of our favorite vacation photos will be posted soon.

I had thought I would post just about our CA trip, and how it started off after our cross-country flight with a very special Shabbat family dinner with old friends from way back in our Springfield days. And then I'd follow with Peter's spectacular picture of Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall, kind of in honor of the Stata Center opening tomorrow at MIT.

But you'll have to wait for anything more about the trip because now I want to share and save my memory of today back at home. Starting with the unexpected delight of morning coffee at Sorelle's before dropping Peter at a conference in Cambridge, the day continued with some web stuff at the Holden School. Both coming and going to that meeting I passed the Warren Prescott, where most of my computer center kids are students. It brought me up short, to think of them, to hear them on the playground and even to see one of them working with a tutor on a bench outside the school.

My days with the children have ended but my mind continues to be full of them. The amazing delight of my last two weeks at the center, when the problems simply disappeared and everything worked as I always had hoped, made leaving all that more difficult. Tears stay just barely behind my eyelids, brimming with so many could have beens and possibilities that, in the end, were outweighed by the difficulties. Now I just wish I knew someone to take over at the center. Though my part is finished, the work there is really only begun.

It's not the man in this photo who is missing. It's the shirt and hat. A thoughtfully given and gratefully received Christmas present has not been seen since Christmas day. Theories have been concocted and fingers have been pointed, but no serious culprit has really been discovered. The mystery will likely continue on in the family annals to be brought up and rehashed whenever a critical mass of family gets together. You might recognize my brother-in-law golfing this summer on Nantucket, but in case you don't, he'll be the one with no shirt, no hat and probably no service.

This is a prevalent question in today's news. The town of Halifax thinks that 32 flags hung outside a convenience store is too many. Hull residents complain that they are overwhelmed by coyotes, when the coyotes number just six. Their location near a local school however does raise the safety ante with even just one coyote. So how do limits get set on how many is too many? Take safety considerations. More than X number of drinks is dangerous to others and oneself, but X is different from one person to the next. Market value sets a limit when you can only buy three of something at the sale price. Again some people can't wait to buy the max and others wouldn't buy any no matter how cheap they are. So it seems like it really comes down to personal taste. For that, I'm with Le Corbusier, whose 'less is more' mantra is a wise choice for design and for the pocketbook. Except for one thing. When it comes to shoes, too many is still not enough.

So I wasn't quite right in my last post. The correct 'less is more' man is Mies van der Rohe, not Le Corbusier, a fact thoughtfully pointed out by my loving guide to all things architect.

The bit of a song I heard and really liked, set me off on a search for 'cracker change the world'. When you plug that into Google though, it gets you more than just the song lyrics you're looking for. howyoucanchangetheworld.com lists eight pillars of wisdom and follows with concrete suggestions for exactly what an individual can do to make his mark. The song's more direct approach is inspiration enough for me though.

Let's get off this, and get on with it, If you wanna change the world, shut your mouth and start to spin it. Get off this, get on with it, If you wanna change the world shut your mouth and start this minute.

I hope lots of people are listening to this.

Beware if you visit my brother anytime soon. Be sure you're invited and if not, be sure you've worked out and prepared your escape. Bunnie is working out right now.