yesterday was another really warm day. it was mike's day off, so after i got home from work, we ventured a little further down hawthorne street to a little french grocery store/deli we'd stopped in once before. it's a really cramped little store and the deli is tiny, but they have a pretty good selection of imported beers, and although we didn't eat any food there, it smelled fantastic. we sat outside sipping our beers (see pictures), and chatted about how much we really do like the hawthorne neighborhood. it's more of a community than belmont is, and there's much safer housing to be gotten there. on that note, we finally complained about our "problem neighbor" across the hall. it turns out the landlords have been building a case against him for months now, but couldn't do anything about it quite yet. apparently, our call was the final straw and they've been evicted. now we wait. besides that, things are wonderful. it's finally raining again after about 2 weeks of dry (and hot) weather. i tell ya: i love this rain. it's cooled everything way down, finally.
mike took pictures of shoes hanging from the wires. this seems to be a "thing" here, as there's shoes on the teleplone and electricity wires all over town. i think mike is aiming to document this, starting now. anyway, we're pretty excited for mike's folks to visit next week. i think they're getting here on tuesday, but i'm not positive. mike's birthday is coming up (i bought him this super fancy watch he'd been eyeing for a while). i already gave it to him, since his old watch had broken and he was without a timepiece. this new watch has some sort of internet connection, and he get's news, weather, sports, etc. all sent to him real time. i think this is his consolation for us not having cable.

anyway, we love and miss everyone! this is one of my favorite times of year in nebraska, so it's sparing a tiny bit of homesickness. i mostly just miss my mom's house. it's so green and peaceful out there right now. and i miss hearing meadowlarks. guess i just have find a substitute here!

--anne