Summer in the Rear-View Mirror

OK, so all good things must come to an end. "End" here does not mean it's over, but "telos", or purpose, hopefully! This summer our family (in whole or in part) entertained 15 family members, visited family in Ontario, hiked (Vedder Mountain Ridge, Mount Baker's Kulshan Cabin, several trails in the Golden Ears, Campbell Valley, Cathedral Grove, part of the Baden-Powell Trail, Derby Reach's Houston Trail), camped (two nights each at Rathtrevor Beach and in the Golden Ears), walked, biked, and picked wild blackberries along the Nicomekl River, picked strawberries and blueberries, made jam and dill and bread-and-butter and apple (!) pickles, installed a new laminate floor in a bedroom (my biggest home-renovation project to date!), watched fireworks and a Vancouver Canadians baseball game, read novels, painted a garden shed, etc. This represented about a month off for me, and I spent the rest of the summer doing research (phase transitions and emergence mainly) and course preparation. It was a great summer, and we're looking forward to using our newly refreshed status to energetically launch into the academic year of 2006-07! Blessings to all similarly positioned!