This is our third day in Wales, and it's been wonderful so far - relaxing AND surprisingly productive. My KbS revision is going really well and quickly, aided by far, far too many chocolate brownies at our favorite local coffeeshop! ;) (The funny thing is, there are "normal" brownies and vegan brownies both on offer there, and the vegan brownies are actually even better and more chocolatey. NOT the usual way food works - but for the moment, I'm happy to eat the vegan alternative!) And I've been having a great time hanging out with Patrick's family and reading the vacation books I packed - so far, I've read and enjoyed Katie Roiphe's Uncommon Arrangements (a fascinating look at several unusual [or dysfunctional, depending on how you want to label them] marriages in literary London, 1910-1939), and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's Spirits That Walk in Shadow (a really fun YA novel, and my favorite of hers in quite a while).

Of course, the weather here is predictably wet and gray (I always loved the mock-tourism ad in Jasper Fforde's novels, which says: WALES: not always raining!), but we're staying in a beautiful area, with huge hills looming over the narrow streets, and ruined castles all around, so the rainy weather isn't enough to get me down. And when the sun is out, whether for 5 minutes or 2 hours, Maya is absolutely ecstatic - she settles herself in the back yard, stretches out like a sunbather on the beach, and absolutely refuses to be moved. She's extremely pleased with us for bringing her somewhere with a real yard!

I do have daily internet access here after all - hooray! - although I may still not be posting as often as usual, because I have to type at a fairly painful angle to keep my laptop plugged into the broadband. But I will definitely be able to check my email every day, I'll be posting photos as soon as I have them, and I wanted to at least do a check-in today...and wish a happy belated birthday to Tiffany Trent! Hope everyone's having a great weekend!