books i've been reading lately

Catching Up

I've got new photos to share. We seem to be very busy here out west. It's not interesting busy stuff that you all care to hear about. Just a lot of walking (in prep for Marathon), get togethers with friends and family, and house stuff. We are getting very excited about all of your visits this fall. Chad, I wish we would be seeing you. Look foward to hearing from you all.

singles ad

hello hello. i finally got around to taking some more recent pictures of maddie. she's crawling, sort of. she kind of scoots around and drags one leg-slightly resembling a hermit crab. as you can see, she still loves baths and faking illnesses. this is begining to sound like a singles ad. she also loves poetry, long walks on the beach, candlight dinners and massages. um, anyway...i think its becoming apparent that i have nothing to say. i would be interested to know how chad's days as a professor are shaping up. oh and mom, i checked out your shadow puppets and they were pretty impressive. i now regret making fun of you, relentlessly for those several minutes. my deepest apologies.

Where is everyone? It's been a long time . I need to hear about Chad's teaching experience . Emma's nursery school adventure & Lily's first day at kindergarden. This is fund - On your computer go to u-tube - click on Shadow puppets & then "What a wonderful world". This is great.

Cheri

Cyndi and Jessica.
A typical scene in Santa Fe.



This picture is the first fiction cohort of the SPU MFA. Matt, Jessica, and me. (I'm looking at her flowers, not anything else.)

Well, here I sit, MFA in hand, and now I think I need to be all literate. But all I want to do is read cheap mysteries and drink bourbon by the mug-full. That's not all true, but it is kind of funny how people look up to you and/or get all scared when they ask me what I'm reading.
"So what do you think of Harry Potter?" they wonder.
"They stink," I say. "Read Proust."
And that's the end of that conversation.

Let me tell you about my good time with Over The Rhine in Santa Fe. Our graduating cohort had a nice graduation ceremony, and Karin and Lindford supplied the music. Very nice and emotional. Sniff Sniff. Part of the ceremony included brief readings of our work, read by two faculty mentors, to give the audience a taste of our writing. Well, they lost my excerpt. After grad, Karin told Cyndi that I should pick something out and that she, Karin, would read it during their concert.

So that's what I did. "Do you want something tame or spicy?" I said.

"Spicy," she said.

That evening, near the end of the OTR concert, she read my piece. It was amazing! She's got a voice that melts butter and leaves you wanting, well, er, something. She joked with me afterward that Linford and I should start a literary mag called "Mennonite Erotica."

Yadda Yadda.

where is everyone? heather and i seem to be the only bloggers these days. i'd like to see some pictures from your grauation chad, mr. mfa. there is not much going on around here. let's see...maddie pooped yesterday for the first time in like a week, so that was exciting. she's also getting her top teeth now and looks ridiculous- she's got a huge gap inbetween them- she could floss with a garden hose, seriously. mom and dad are coming down this weekend to stay with maddie while todd and i spend the weekend downtown for our anniversary. i guess i'm looking forward to it... i hope we can find something to talk about. well that's all the news from here. if anyone wants to come to the indiana state fair and try some fried pepsi you've got a place to stay.