Long days, longer nights

I've reached that point in the semester when everything is coming to a head. Whatever free time I have (not working during the day) is filled with walking the dogs in the foothills and/or studying. I get up at 5am and stay up until midnight. My only solace is gazing at the snow-topped mountains on a clear day. Meteorologists said this morning on the local news that most of Arizona is recovering from this recent rain and snow. We had been desperately needing this moisture.

I worked on some research last weekend and didn't hike. Saturday it rained anyway, but it's unusual for me to forsake a weekend. I'm itching for a hike this time, although once again we are due to get more rain late Saturday.

I came home earlier than usual today just to spend time with Kevin. I got home around 6:30pm and he was already in bed watching a DVD. We chatted for a while. He had both good news and bad news to convey. The good news is that his vacation time that he worked up to did not get cancelled when the new contractor took over. (If this is true, why was his vacation time bought back? Or was it?) That means we could take an extended vacation together this late summer before the semester and perhaps explore a place. Oregon? Montana? Alaska? Like me he is drawn to the Northwest. But if he wants to see Montana I'll gladly go back there again.

But the sad news is that his friend Gary was diagnosed with bone cancer yesterday. "He's got about 2-3 years to live" said Kevin, although those prognosises usually are shorter. He is 61 years old and retired last September. He had been feeling weak and his blood tests kept coming back undecipherable. It took Gary's doctors several months to figure out what was wrong with him.

"If he's got that little time left, he should travel somewhere before it's too late" I said. And that's how we started talking about Alaska: flying there and then renting an RV one of these summers. Alaska has always been Kevin's dream. If we had the time, I'd rather drive the AL-CAN highway; one of his relatives worked on its construction during WWII.

I'd also want to travel to Europe again, see Lithuania. I have been talking about that trip for a while myself.

Alex sent me a Facebook message today saying that she and Matt are working on wedding plans, but haven't decided on where: should it be somewhere in North Carolina; Orlando, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Nice, France. Vegas would be the closest for us, but I'd love to see NC again. I could do without Florida (although my high school reunion is slated for early August as I just learned today) although knowing me I'd be delighting in its semi-tropical flora.