It's almost time! 

We are SO ready for Ruidoso. 

Tonight Zhenya arrives then bright and early in the morning it's off to New Mexico. 

Where the highs are forecast to be in the upper 70's-to-80 region.  

[grimly]  The
good....nay, excellent!....news is Charles is alright and wasn't hurt,
but the bad news is he just called, saying he was elbowed off the road
while driving back from New York City.  He was in the right hand
lane, going about 70 mph, when someone else decided he wanted in that
lane and wasn't willing to wait for it to be clear.  Charles had
to swerve to avoid hitting the other car, causing him to hit the
barriers.  His rear quarter panel (is that right?) is damaged, as
is his tire.  He's hoping he'll  be able to get the spare on
and that the car's driveable.

Naturally the creep who ran him off the road didn't bother to stop, so this will be a hit on Charles' insurance. 

Still, that's two highway/freeway accidents from which he's emerged physically unscathed, thank God.

I'm beginning to think he'll be safer on the submarine. 

Alex just called with news both good and bad.  The good:  They don't leave for Japan until the 28th.   

The bad, or at least not so good:  They fly to Seattle then report to an Air Force base by 2:15 a.m. so as to take a military flight to another air base in Japan. 

Why anyone would want to live in a snobby 'burb as University Park (over in Dallas) beats me.  Bunch of of interfering buttinskis tend to run those places, and a dandy display of meddlesomeness is a proposed new city ordinance that would ban basketball hoops from being in the front part of someone's property, such as the driveway.

No kidding.  And why, one may ask?  Because both permanent and portable basketball hoops aren't "pleasing to the eye," to quote the UP mayor.

Oh, well then....!     Silly me!  How could I have overlooked the obvious Immutable Law declaring Appearances Are Everything?

Never mind that some people don't have driveways that extend to the back of the house (it will be permissible to have them way back there); their backyards are grass, and thus unsuitable for b-ball.  Balls don't dribble worth a flip on grass, sad to say.

The mayor's response to those families who currently enjoy shooting hoops in the driveway?

"They're going to have to find somewhere else to play basketball."

He's all heart. 

  This afternoon was the much-anticipated Russian get-together up at Rivercrest, courtesy of Dad.  Dmitry invited several of his friends to come up for swimming and lunch:

Above is Olga chatting with Dan and Joe, with Dmitry mostly blocked by her; that's her little brother, Viktor, in the forefront.  First the kids hit the pool; here are Dmitry and Elveera going off the boards:

Below is Joe demonstrating the grace and elegance that characterizes his every move:

To be fair, he did some boffo moves but I didn't catch them, unfortunately.  Speaking of boffo moves, away went Viktor...

Olga and Aly didn't go off the boards, but stood and admired those who did.

Here are Olga and Dmitry:

And here she is with Aly, whom she hasn't seen for awhile:

One thing I definitely noticed with interest was how they mostly spoke English, even amongst themselves.  When Russian was spoken it was usually Dmitry who started it, but after a few minutes they'd lapse back into English.  Amazing!

And if you can bear one more photo, here's one taken last Sunday evening by Gina, and shamelessly snagged off her Kodak album:

From left to right is Dad, my brother Louis, my bro-in-law John, Mom, me, Don, and my sister Jeanne.  Good picture, Gina! 

I hate when I feel like negligent Monster Mother.  Finally took
Dmitry in for glasses (his broke ages ago and he stubbornly resisted
getting any more, declaring he wouldn't wear them), only to discover
his vision has deteriorated alarmingly since he arrived from Russia.

It wasn't bad back then....he needed glasses, but not terribly,
if you see what I mean.  Him being unable to speak English, they
used the E's facing in various directions and he'd show with his
fingers which way they were pointing.  He was accurate down aways
on the chart, and the examiner said his vision wasn't too bad at all.

Um, that's changed.  According to the optometrist he's pretty much
at the Big E.  I believe he mentioned 20/400.   

They asked if he'd grown much since we brought him home, and upon being
told he's recently shot up like a rocket, nodded and said that's
it....when they go through a growth spurt like that at puberty that's
when their vision really tanks.

Won't Dmitry be surprised when he gets his new glasses on Thursday?