Can't believe it's been so long since I wrote you!

We had hail in April, or was it May, big balls of it that lasted ten minutes or so during a warm spring storm, making water splash high in the pool and cooling the air as we watched from under the shelter of the carport.

We had a visit from Emma and her parents close enough to her first birthday that we celebrated. She got blue frosting all over her mouth. She's standing on her own now, for a second or two, and so pleased she claps to congratulate herself and falls down.

Phoebe found a snake in one of the garden railroad ties that hadn't quite pulled itself all the way in. She liked playing with its tail. The neighbor who looked after Phoebe and Amos while we were away for a weekend in early June wasn't so amused and shot the snake when it ventured out into the yard.

We've been visited by a stray hound dog in the last few days. She's a young female, apparently abandoned by the stream under the bridge. She saw Amos doing his rounds and came to call. We shooed her away as best we could for a day or two, afraid she might lead him astray; but having determined she doesn't belong to anybody in the neighborhood, Louis lured her into our unused kennel yesterday with the promise of food, and she's there now (it's Sunday) until we can find somebody to take her.

Agassiz is retiring.

The summer promises to be long and hot and dry. May the weather suit your soul wherever you may be.