TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

Hey everybody! ESPECIALLY a big shout out to Dawn In Recovery and the At-Home Medical Team of Kevin and Cats! We hope you're all doing well down there and feeling better all the time! It's been such a great week at the cabin. It's been hot but beautiful, quiet, productive, and I'm quickly reminded of why I love this little shack in the woods so dang much. It's just such a fantasyland. Orientation for the incoming Master's students started last week, and with it the annual calculus review workshop. SEVEN DAYS of intensive calculus. It's super fun, I love teaching it, it gets my brain all revved up before the real quarter starts, and is just kind of a great start to each year. The real deal starts next week with stats, and I'll be fearlessly (ha!) leading 85 new students through the course for 10 weeks. It's pretty exciting stuff, and Mattie and I are almost ready for it! Otherwise, lots of progress on some really cool cabin and/or crafty stuff. ...

It feels like doing artwork. Some fun sketches for my bathroom remodel project. We've been having FUN with the cabin. Now that it's ours we can really go crazy! Here are some updates on the "I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but screw it" ongoing cabin bathroom remodel. I took out the dumb closet that crowded the whole bathroom and I didn't ever use anyway: BEFORE:                                         NOW: I took out a bunch of walls and cupboards and this crappy weird platform thing that was hiding what is actually a GORGEOUS old cast iron claw foot tub. It's gonna be reglazed and really awesome when this zany mostly DIY project is all done. BEFORE:   NOW (yeah, I know it still looks like a horror movie set):  I find and relocate frogs every day....

So, another summer of traveling and playing with Mattie has come to an end. It was a really special one, with new places, changes, people, adventures, mountains, deserts, lakes, fish, climbs, and love. How do you go about ending one of the best summers on the books? STEP 1. Start with another short backpacking trip with your awesome adventuring boyfriend. Fishing, osprey, hiking, really good freeze-dried food, great weather, trees and clear water. We weren't going to let sickness stop us, but Greg brought some medicine just in case: This is how you get a sick girlfriend to go backpacking. Mountain fashion at Marlette Lake. STEP 2. Leave the next day for an ALL-TIME backpacking trip with Yeti, Dad, and Greg - Dad's first since he almost checked out on us early!!!! - over Piute Pass. These are kind of out of order, but you get the general sense of awesomeness.  Dad crushed it, it was beautiful, the smoke generally stayed away, it was COLD, we had hot chocolate ...