hey juney juney juney juney june

hot. sweaty. desert in the summer. 100 or so is the norm right now, and while it is not *quite* as uncomfortable as say, minnesota at 100 degrees, it's still burning hot. the worst possible place to be is in a car. unfortunately, due to how this city is set up, the car is unavoidable in most situations. biking may even be worse--but i don't even want to try it.

so, summer camp is in full swing; four weeks down, two more to go. this has been taking up a major amount of my time, including weekends, so that i am behind in not only blogging but also basic survival tasks. well, it's not that bad, but i'm definitely in the work zone right now. the kids make it a lot of fun, it's the work that goes on behind the scenes that is exhausting and sometimes tries my patience. owell. i'm sure i will look back with fond memories of this crazy experience. next week we will have a float in the electric light parade for the 4th of july, then the following week a big luau party with 300+ expected. after next week, camp will end, with a final wrap-up week for my americorps program, including a graduation party that i am coordinating at la posta de mesilla friday, july 20th. my new job starts monday, july 23rd. in the meantime, joe, fresh off a trip to nyc, will be heading to MN for 10 days starting sunday. i have no doubt that the time that passes while he's gone will go quickly, as i'll be in the thick of things with camp.

remember when joe and i went to marfa, texas last october for the chinati open house? well, just found out last night that sonic youth will be playing the free concert there this year...which is amazing! we were planning to go anyway, because it's such a great time, but now...! wow. we can hardly believe it.

am very much looking forward to starting the new job. it is really a great opportunity that popped up seemingly out of nowhere. the potential for this project is huge, since we are starting from scratch. i know it won't be easy, but i like a good challenge. and the salary is icing on the cake. since we have lived so cheaply for so long, i'm hoping we can continue to do so and save up for travel & the like.

more on the job. i will be the after school arts coordinator for a new initiative in gadsden school district, at gadsden middle school. it is located in anthony, new mexico, 20-odd miles away (yes, there is a bit of a commute, but i will be splitting my time between there and alma/court youth center, joe's school). this is made possible by a major grant from a national funder, and there are 5 sites around new mexico, serving what was identified as some of the neediest areas. anthony being a border town, it is 98% spanish-speaking. and low-income. the program is a comprehensive approach to improving students' lives including health services, key family supports and then our component, after school arts classes. middle school, while a challenging age, is a critical time in children's development...i certainly learned that by my experience working at the high school level this year. many students have so many issues coming into high school, and i had often thought that if only they could have been reached earlier...so, yeah, the potential is great. i also believe that the support system at alma/court youth center is great for a project like this, so i really look forward to getting started. however, as i've said, right now i am absorbed in my current job and haven't been able to get in too deep with the new job, with the exception of a conference in albequerque last week. i learned a lot about the new program then and met a lot of interesting new people. should be great!

and, of course, joe is thrilled that he can stay & continue to teach. they really love him over there, not least the students, so i think overall that things will turn out well. i am admittedly a little disappointed that i won't have any time off between jobs, since our original plan had been to move. there is a romantic lure to floating & being unsure of what will happen, but that can also be super stressful too. altho las cruces itself isn't ideal, there is so much more to explore around new mexico & the southwest in general so we should be able to keep ourselves entertained.

we have flirted with the idea of moving into a different house, but since our lease is month-to-month now, it's not urgent. if something great pops up in the next month or two, we'll move. if not, it's not the end of the world. i'd like to have a washer & dryer, less bugs, and more energy efficiency in terms of cooling/heating. plus an oven that works correctly. altho i haven't found anything in our neighborhood (where we'd stay, due to the proximity to alma), other houses are so cheap in general that i think we could upgrade substantially without paying much at all. or, we'll just stay here. we'll see.

uhm, yeah. just found out that joe and i will be headed to ruidoso for work a few days in july...heard it's beautiful and also that it is 15 degrees cooler up there in the mountains so that will be a nice mini-escape for me...i'm going to need it by then!

minne yay!

got back from a great trip back home on sunday night; unfortunately, work has been so crazy that i haven't had time to post all the photos yet. here are some samples:





that's my nephew, reece, with whom i spent the majority of my time. that was great since he started walking and talking since i saw him last at xmas. plus he really loved hanging out with me, so we charmed each other.

basically, i got there and we (my mom, and brother's family) headed up to ely to my aunt's house for three days, which was relaxing and we did a couple of hikes around the edge of the boundary waters. that's where we saw the lady slipper. ely was a nice change from the desert i'm used to.

back in the cities, i babysat my nephew with my mom during the day because my brother and his wife, andy, just bought a house so they were moving out of their apartment. i hung out a lot with my dad, which was really good, and i also spent a day each with both sets of grandparents and other extended family.

i went to minneapolis and ate at yummy restaurants that i miss out on being down here. we went out with dwyer, tiffany, jesse and katie, carter and adam friday night at peninsula on nicollet. saturday katie and i went to the walker, shopped around uptown, ate indian. then dwyer and tiff came back and jesse and katie had a big barbeque for eiko and trevor's birthdays.

so now back and the summer camp i'm supervising started monday, so it's been busy. working lots. i'll check back with the blog soon i hope. also working on some cool packages to send out.

joe good, cat good. getting hot. that's all for now!