Author: leh

This morning Ivi  cranked up a Google Hangout session (similar to Skype, in case you were wondering) from the CIEE office at the U. of Ghana.  She was using her new Chromebook, delivered by emergency “courier” (thanks to the wonderful generosity and helpfulness of the Africa-visiting Hughes family from New York!), to replace her purloined MacBook.  She reports that the new device boots super-fast and even though cloud-centric, should meet all of her needs, particularly with the offline versions of the requisite Google apps.  Alas, I was saddled with a non-mic, non-audio and non-camera’d desktop machine in my office so my participation was mostly limited to silent one-way video, but I did get in a little texting now and then between work spurts.   Can’t tell you how great it was to see her smiling face even if I didn’t catch her voice.  But I’m sure Kim will tell me all about it over lunch.

Rain, constant rain, today.  We attempt to depart at noon to pickup Nik’s incoming flight, but a mechanical failure prompts the use of a backup vehicle if we are to come even close to our schedule.  Rain turns to snow as we near the summit.  By the time we arrive and find Nik waiting during the half-hour delay, all is clear and bright.  Again we slog through rain and snow and fog during the return, but this time we have Nik to regale us with stories of his past few days with his friends.  And at the close of the afternoon, safely back home:  a rainbow.

We run over the mountain today to drop Nik for a commuter flight to Portland where he will share his college spring break with friends, some coming from as far as Kentucky.  We wonder if Nik’s 6′ 3.5″ frame can be accommodated by the cozy aircraft, but not that long after we arrive back home, we start receiving texts announcing his successful touchdown and hookup with his friends.