tidbits of news

John gets here on Saturday (unexpectedly early, but that's more than okay). We will be travelling to Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia for a week. I realize its seems that I've had more than my fair share of vacations this year, I'm sorry, I'm just close to so many other countries and interesting places, and I feel like I haven't taken proper advantage of my geographical location this year. I promise to be boring when I get back to the states.

Speaking of boring, I've had a cracker jack few weeks in the archives. Some places I need to work in are closed all summer, so there's nothing I can do about it. I'm wrapping up in 1 archive in the next week I think, continuing in 2 others, and there is one more I need to go to, to see what they have. My material is starting to get repetetive (as in what it says doesn't surprise me anymore) and that makes me wonder if I'm almost done?!?! I think July will be more than enough time to wrap up, in the archives and the libraries and head home in early August.

If I can manage it, there is 1 more trip I want to take, up north to this island on the White Sea which has a monastery on it that used to be a prison. That will be a camping vacation though. I didn't drag my tent all the way over here for nothing. :-)

The idea of being in the home stretch is really strange and overwhelming to me...to go home again and to have it be home, because I've been so transient this year, I've lost track of what it is to have a home for more than a few months at a time. I sleep on the floor for pete's sake, and pay $550 a month to do it.

Of course that means I have to start writing this darn thing.