Matt's Band's Website

Okay, Eddys, here's the URL you've all been waiting for: the site for Matt's band, the Likeable Inbetween. It's www.myspace.com/thelikeableinbetween. It features four cuts of their music, including one that isn't included in their studio-produced CD--it's pretty hot, too! The site also includes upcoming shows, including ones on August 31 and September 29. Warning: Persons over a certain age may face some challenges reading the type on the site (or maybe it's just me!).

How do I know all this? Matt and Lisa were in town briefly yesterday to visit Suzie Swensen who is recovering from heart surgery. We got caught up on Matt's great experience at Moorhead State College this summer with the prestigious Governor's Scholarship Program. Matt also revealed that he'll be seeing Wilco in Louisville in late September. He also attempted to summarize the current state of Paul's romantic life, but it was too complicated to follow without a printed guide. Lisa noted that she has about 600 new pictures of Karen's wedding, some or all of which she hopes to make accessible online for us.

Marcile's Upcoming Northwest Adventure

Though we probably can't top Iceland, Marcile (Mom to some of you, Grandma to others) will be experiencing her own travel adventure starting on September 13. She and Mike will be flying to Oregon to visit Sarah in Corvallis, Oregon. Note the word "flying" in the previous sentence; this will be her first airborne experience. We'll arrive in Portland late afternoon on Thursday, probably spend Friday exploring Corvallis. We plan to drive out to the Pacific Ocean at Newport, about an hour from Corvallis, on Saturday; that trip is expected to include an whale watching excursion, and will add sea-going boats to her transportation repertoire. Then we'll have Sunday to do something else or possibly just hang out before coming home on Monday, September 17.

By the way, Sarah is done with North Carolina for the year; she got back to Oregon on Thursday with a load of ready-to-mate salamanders. (Actually, they were flown back in boxes separately.)

Back from Iceland!

Max has returned from his trip to Iceland! He came back to the US of A safe and sound on Aug 19 and then spent two days in NYC. After that, he traveled home and like the good little trooper (who knows the meaning of a well-earned dollar) went straight back to work the next day.

Expect MANY MANY pictures very very soon!

Onward, to Iceland!

Hello, Edds.

Claire and I are hanging around JFK airport in New York. We came in last night, very late, and spent the night in what might be the most distressing hotel I have yet crossed paths with.

In a few hours, we will be in-bound for the Republic of Iceland! Hurrah!

My cellphone will be out of action, but I have my computer and will try to post something from time to time.

Love you guys! Wish us luck!

Oh, and thanks to the internet you can explore Iceland too!

Sarah Salamandering in North Carolina

For those of you who try to keep track of Sarah's whereabouts (as I occasionally do), you may be interested to know that she is in Highlands, North Carolina on her lab's annual salamander harvest with her professor, three other Oregon State graduate students, and some folks from other universities who are also salamanderphiles. She thought she was going to be out in the wild but she is actually in a town that is sort of a tourist destination. Highlands is in southwest North Carolina; here is a link to a Google map of its location. Town slogan: "Highlands--Above it all!" Other interesting facts from the Highlands Chamber of Commerce:

• Highest incorporated town east of the Mississippi River at 4,118 feet
• One of the few temperate rain forests in North America
• Year Round population on Highlands Plateau 3,200 swelling to over 18,000 in the summer
• Salamander capital of the world
• Lichen capital of the world

Anyway, she's there for about three weeks or until they run out of salamanders. Then back to Corvallis. She left our Orcas Island vacation to attend an animal behavior conference in Vermont and then went straight to North Carolina. I think she's unreachable by email but seems to have good cell phone connections.

We called her on her birthday on Tuesday. I asked where she'd had her last five birthdays. Three in New Mexico, one in Cape Cod, one in Florida, and now North Carolina. This salamander hunt is a regular gig for her lab, so she will probably see several more birthdays there.

Scenes from the Great Northwest

We're back from our week on Orcas Island in Washington. Beautiful spot; I'd recommend it to anyone. The first shot above is a little island we could see from the house at sunset--a popular kayaking destination (that's two of our party in the boat but I'm not sure who). Then you see Bonnie, Susan, and Mike in a feeding frenzy over crabs just pulled out of the Strait and cooked in sea water. Best crab ever, as you can see from the evident pleasure. Oh, and there were killer whales, though our tour boat had to travel for nearly two hours to catch up to the pod. The fin you see here is about 6 feet high. Average daytime high while we were there: about 65. Sweet!