I picked out seven geocaches in the Leschi area, and suggested to Phillip that we try to find as many, or as few, as we feel comfortable finding. We ended up finding all seven in about two hours - including taking time to enjoy the views along the way. All seven were within a couple of miles of each other, and although all seven were relatively easy to find, most were clever hides. All seven brought us to interesting places we hadn't known about before, despite being close to home. I remarked afterwards that there were no bad caches in the bunch. Phillip called it the best one-day geocaching experience we have ever had. Our find count is now at 255.

On our way home, we stopped off at Grocery Outlet. As our baskets got weighed down, Phillip suggested that the next time, we use a shopping cart instead of two baskets. As much as I generally dislike shopping carts, I agreed with him. We do love that store.

Starting yesterday evening, we've been having problems connecting to the internet. The frustrating thing is that information from Windows is as useless as ever. It tells us simply that an error has occurred. The Windows help dialog leads me to menu options that don't exist (seriously!). So, at this point, we have no idea if the problem is with the modem, the phone line, or our ISP. We thank our ISP for at least giving us options that actually exist.

This is serious news, of course. We are addicted to the internet, and our supply is threatening to shut itself off. Without the internet, how will we visit Neopets, Geocaching, Blogger, reserve a library book, or read the newspaper? Will we have to visit the library?

This evening was the start of a new session of yoga. I missed the last class of last session, because of our Eastern Washington trip, and last week was a break between sessions. I'm afraid that I wasn't very good about practicing yoga in those two weeks. My body felt the lack, but my mind got right into it. It's been a rather rough week, and I needed this evening's yoga to help me let go and focus on the here and now.

As I was driving up to the yoga studio this evening, I thought about a Zen story I read a while ago: A Zen master and his apprentice were walking through town. They approached an attractive woman, dressed in nice clothes, who was obviously distressed because the street she wanted to cross was muddy. The apprentice, mindful of his instruction to avoid contact with women, averted his eyes and continued walking past. The master, however, stopped. He picked the woman up in his arms, carried her across the muddy street, and set her down on the opposite sidewalk. Then the master and the apprentice walked back to the monastery. That night, over dinner, the master noticed that the apprentice was troubled about something. The master asked the apprentice was he was thinking about. "We are taught not to touch women," answered the apprentice, "and yet you carried that woman in town across the street. I don't understand why you broke the rule." The master answered: "I set that woman down on the other side of the street. Why are you still carrying her?"

I've been thinking a lot, lately, about our next trip to the ocean. I've been looking at geocaches we found there last year, and geocaches we have yet to find. I've been looking at Astoria, Oregon as a possible day trip while we're staying at the ocean. I think it's our Eastern Washington trip that's responsible for this wave of wanderlust. It was a fun weekend. It reminded me that a trip doesn't have to be anything fancy or grand, or well planned out. I think it was a good idea to bring Pet with us. Phillip and I have different vacation speeds and styles, but over the years, we've learned to compensate for each other and find that comfortable middle. I think it was helpful to have the third person along, with her own speed and style, to shake things up a bit.

I've written before, and will likely write again, that I miss working at the University and being able to take walks on campus, but I am discovering interesting places to walk during lunch. Today, I returned to the Frye Art Museum. (This time, however, I skipped the ten dollar chicken salad sandwich and ate before I went.)

Back on campus, there was the Henry Art Gallery, which was just as free, but a lot longer walk (with less time for viewing).

Last February, my parents emailed me with a recommendation that I read Kurt Vonnegut's latest book, A Man Without A Country. I immediately put it on hold at the library, not surprised to see that there were 187 people ahead of me on the hold list. Last Friday, the library emailed me to tell me that a copy was ready for me to pick up at the Capitol Hill branch. I was surprised that those 187 people had gone through the library's copies so quickly. When I picked it up yesterday afternoon, after the CITO event and lunch at Red Robin, I understood why. The book is a mere 137 pages long, including illustrations, with medium-sized type. The book is also very good. I stopped reading it yesterday only because we had a party to go to.

For longer than I've known him, Phillip has dreamed of owning a theremin. This year, after an income tax refund, Phillip made his dream come true. He bought a theremin kit. The only problem was, it was more "kit" than he expected. For the past few weeks, I have been staining the wood case for him. Today, we drove to Black Diamond, where my brother generously assembled the electronics for Phillip. I experienced a moment of fear when Phillip plugged his theremin into the amplifier and turned it on. What if, after all these years of dreaming, after all those weeks of wood finishing - what if, through no fault of my brother, something went wrong and the theremin didn't work? But, it worked perfectly, and I was thrilled to watch Phillip get acquainted with his new toy. I felt so happy for him. He is so cute.

I talked Phillip into looking for a geocache in Ravensdale, along the way to Black Diamond today. It was our 247th find. It was one year ago today - April 23, 2005 - that we bought our GPS receiver, and began geocaching.

I finished reading A Man Without A Country this evening. I loved it. It is full of truth about America. The truth is not always a pleasant thing. The truth can be a depressing thing.