A WEEKEND AROUND HOME

I went digging up clams in a tidal marsh today near the ocean with some friends. I'd never done it before. After we got a bunch of them we heated up seaweed and salt water and steamed the clams. It was quite a lovely time and my back hurts from the digging.

Mary Beth went to Boston for much of the weekend to visit family and friends. I was going to go along but the recent drive to Nevada made me a bit shy about getting in a car for a long ride so soon.

Mary Beth has semi-adopted a local neighborhood girl that comes from a broken family. It is wonderful to see MB fuss around about the girl. She spent the whole day with us last Sunday and all week MB was saying, "When is she coming back over to see us?" The girl, who I have nicknamed peanut, stopped by and had some food with us late this afternoon. MB walked her home.

This evening MB, Karen, and I went to see a very talented young man dance here in town. He is from Iran but moved from there at a very young age at the time of the Iranian revolution when they chased the Shah out of the country. His family moved to Germany and then years later to the U.S. So he is a fascinating person who has these very different cultural influences weaved into his personality. He's not quite sure where he really fits in but his dance, which seemed to blend together these various cultures, really brought out his real soul and it was beautiful to watch. He has been coming around our house some to get to know us. He lives in a cabin in the woods with no electricity so he's washed his clothes here and helped us stack wood in return. It's a real gift meeting him and he reminds me of my son a lot. We look forward to developing our friendship with him.

A good weekend was had by all.