At Ben and Elsa's

I am in the home of my eldest son and his dear wife. I am surrounded by books (Virgil's Eclogues, short stories of Mark Helprin, Wheelock's Latin, several Dorothy Sayers novels, Strunk and White, just to name a few of the ones here at the computer.)

Ben's CDs are in alphabetical order downstairs, and include lots and lots of bizarre groups: Danish troll music, hard-rock meets opera, folk and kletchmer music, and 80's style rock, just to name a few.

The front closet has a stash of strategy games, so we played Carcasonne this afternoon, and Quest for the Galaxy tonight. I lost all games badly...also part of the atmosphere playing with two brilliant strategists, and me with an old and slow mind!

Everywhere, the kids' personality shows through... from the comfortable furniture, to the eclectic art, to the ancient and anti-social gerbil.

This has been a fun and relaxing trip already, and one I will treasure for a long time to come! My only regret is that these kids are so far from us, and this visiting stuff happens so infrequently. All the better then to enjoy this visit!