<p>Peonies… I will ask my husband as he is in that neck of the woods when traveling for business. However, anyone from mn probably has a better idea than me. Even though I have lived here for more than 20 years, the only time I venture out of the twin cities is to head north (as in the north shore) or going to and cutting through Chicago to get east. </p>
<p>OK… so H is now back from his week long trip east. Played golf two days doing business so he shouldn’t be cranky (but will be stiff from 18 hours and then a 7hr car drive). He told me today however that niece had really really wanted to go to something called the Rainbow Gathering and my BIL wouldn’t let her go. Finally S stepped up to say he’d take her. She just graduated HS and is a very “earthy” person. She will attend a coop kind of college (name escapes me and I am racking it at the moment). Truthfully, in researching this thing just about everything else has escaped my mind. It sounds very 60 revival and in spite of their “peaceful” motives, it does sound like it has freaked out the locals that all these “rainbows” will be invading their community. Any of my more hippyish friends on here have any experience or know of this thing? </p>
<p>On the one hand I think… well, it’s quite the experience and completely different than anything he has ever experienced. They are pretty clear there is no liquor and frown upon hard drugs. Not sure what that means except there’d probably be a lot of pot instead!! And that takes me to the other hand… I know the cops will definitely be looking to play hardbutt perhaps and that there are a lot of tickets handed out because of it. The good news is that I think they are driving a passat wagon (my SIL’s car) and my son did get that buzz cut that makes him look like a petty clean cut kind of kid. He can be incredibly charming but he is also pretty big/muscular so could come off as intimidating/threat if he got ticked. Let’s just say I could give this argument six hands and still not know how great an idea this is. However, his reasons for going are to “protect” his cousin so hopefully he will take that responsibility seriously and make smart decisions… please?</p>
<p>Moda, sounds like an interesting, ‘responsible’ experience for your son as the slightly older cousin. I hope everything goes well for them.</p>
<p>And thanks for asking your husband about southern MN. Tomorrow I’m planning to stop by Borders and look through some of the U.S. guidebooks. Should be some good ideas there. Maybe it would be worth driving further north if that’s where the better vacation options are. My husband loves to drive, but I’m not sure how many collective hours of driving we’ll be good for that weekend.</p>
<p>We’ll be in Chicago for three days; catching up with relatives from both sides of the family. I was so happy to find a Chicago guidebook on my travel shelf - then I looked at the date- 1998. How can that possibly be 12 years ago?!</p>
<p>Peonies… He said maybe check out Spirit Lake which is technically still in Iowa. Also he mentioned Okoboji IA which I think is “right there” and there is a pretty big resort there. Let’s just say a lot of varying amenities exist in the area if you google. :)</p>
<p>While we’re at the beach I’m using one of H’s cast-off laptops. The last couple of days I’ve had real trouble staying connected to our wireless internet here. (For some reason it seems to work better in the early morning.) I am NOT a happy camper! I mean, how am I supposed to stay up to date with you all if I don’t have a computer? H lives on his laptop, and D would not be happy to have me use hers. Gr-r-r-r! (Oh, I do use the computer for other, more mundane things like paying bills, too.)</p>
<p>On the fun front, H decided he was sitting on way too many frequent flyer miles with American, so we’re headed to Italy for 2 weeks at the end of October. He wants to travel “on the cheap.” I’m not sure what that means …</p>
<p>Thanks, Moda, and please thank your husband for me. I’ll check out the Iowa suggestions.</p>
<p>CBB, Italy sounds wonderful! I’ve been listening to Donna Leon mysteries (take place in Venice) on tape when driving. We visited Venice, Florence, and Genoa a few years ago. Even though Venice pulls in more than it’s share of tourists, it’s still an amazing place with lots of great places to stay. October should be a nice time to visit. And the food in Italy is so good …</p>
<p>I have informed DH that I want a 2-week vacation in Italy for our 30th anniversary (in 5 years, will have finished with college tuition). Yippee, he agreed!</p>
<p>Watching World Cup right now - anyone else think Paraguay looks like Oompaloompas in those red and white stripes?</p>
<p>re the Rainbow Family – they’re not evil, but I am not fond of them. A few years ago they decided (in their own non-conformist collective way) that they were going to have their gathering in Wyoming, at an area that had already been reserved for a boy scout camping group. They don’t get permits, just announce where it will be, beg and bum along the way, leave a fair amount of human waste, though they do have a cleanup crew that is supposed to take the area back to normal. The local groups that supply meals for the homeless are pretty unhappy when they roll on through and eat everything in sight.</p>
<p>Well we had fun at lady GaGa, we stayed at a hotel overnight . Yes there some interesting people there. Some people dressed as lady GaGa but shouldnt be.One guy had his jeans on and jockey underwear over them with some writing on it and no shirt. He was so in to it . Lady GaGa had multiple costume changes but wore a bra and bikini underwear for some of the show. However she looked great in it. Great dancing/dancers. The crowd was fine and happy, she finished with bad romance and people were singing it on the way out. It was a bit like performance art and edgy, not my usual, but I’m glad I saw it. My two D’s and their friend LOVED IT. Her perfromance is aimed at the gay population, sort of ala madonna, Bette Midler. She sang all of her hits. We had fun
Sabaray congrats on the job.
Missypie My D2 is interested in Texas schools, but wont be OOS for us.
Happy 4 the of July everyone.!!!</p>
<p>I too read about the Wyoming incidents. It seems that Pennsylvania forest where they will be has had it there twice before with “little to no incident” and the forestry is/was to help set up. We haven’t heard from him, but at the same time the deal was he’d check in on Monday morning. Fortunately I have family only about an hour or so away in western NY and so if there is anything amiss there are people not too far away who can be helpful. I can imagine in a very conservative area like Wyoming there was probably more fear than needed. But there is not a whole lot I can do about it at this point even if I wanted to. Will merely hope for the best.</p>
<p>H and I went shopping today for some furniture for the deck/patio. Ended up buying a new mattress, a bed frame and two new end tables. Mattress will be here in a week or so while the bed and nightstands are 6-8 weeks out.</p>
<p>dte- Glad you liked the concert. Was listening to Lady Gaga with D this AM and I thought of you.</p>
<p>Went to an incredible book fair near Harrisonburg VA yesterday. Two big buildings full of books, most $3 - $5! Came home with many new ones, not that I need any… Got D a cookbook for her apartment this fall.</p>
<p>missypie, we have a similar thing going with ShawD that you have with your D, with respect to looking at more and less expensive schools. It isn’t easy to just say, go to the less expensive one, even if that seems the most sensible choice.</p>
<p>She and I will be visiting some US schools and some Canadian schools. The tuition we’d pay for the Canadian schools is very low (e.g., $6K or $8K) because ShawD is a dual citizen. In contrast, we’re loooking at schools in the US that have tuition of $35K, $30K and one is even $41K. Even though we have saved and can afford it (and will get no financial aid), it is hard to justify that price differential. I can justify it for Harvard or Stanford or Amherst, but are the schools $120K+ better? (Are they even better?) But, I don’t want to appear to favor my son, who got into elite schools (and for whom we’re paying full freight), over my daughter, who probably would not get in to the elite schools but won’t even apply because she doesn’t want the pressure. [Plus, she might be a pre-med and if so, might be better off being one of the strongest kids from a lesser school than a middle-ranking kid at a higher school.]</p>
<p>^
sabaray - I am only about 2 hours away. I have been talking about going to that book fair for several years and finally just decided to go. It sure is pretty out there!</p>
<p>Shawbridge, we are in the same/similar boat with our youngest. And even though it’s not and Ivy or Amherst/Williams, S’s school is definitely up there in terms of cost (and maybe prestige - although truthfully even A&W aren’t always known around here). We still have another year, thankfully. However, we were comparing what it’s going to cost us to help our oldest (who is not a fully independent person) with some of her loans post graduation. And we figured all of her loans combined over three years will cost us less than a semester that we’re paying for our son. Obviously, where she attends is very much one of proximity to where she lives etc, but still… hard to complain about her taking loans when that’s really what it comes down to. Younger D is totally different although some of the schools she will want to consider will have some merit money available. Trick will be who they give that money to if it’s more than NMF students. But the bottom line is that she is going to come in in the middle of the pack of most schools on her list and they’re not going to be nearly as selective as those our son applied to.</p>
<p>Today is a day off from work, then tomorrow we leave for our second college visit trip. Weather forecast is basically rain for both cities.</p>
<p>We haven’t gone out to eat all weekend - I have cooked every meal. Hats off to those of you who do that all the time - I find it to be fairly unrewarding to have a weekend off and spend it all in the kitchen.</p>
<p>Moda, one of the things that may make it hard is that the schools charging $38K tuition sometimes do a much better job of marketing than the less expensive ones (which may work against us here). We saw that in HS, our very good public HS that ShawSon attended had teachers equivalent to the very good private HS that ShawD attends. The private school has a beautiful campus and fabulous facilities, and an advisor system that sometimes works well and sometimes doesn’t, but at the end of the day I can’t justify it on the grounds of pure teaching. But, representatives of each were at a panel the year we were looking and the public HS one was talking about all the problems they had while it was clear that one merely had to get in to the private HS (no easy feat) and pay the large tuition and you’d be entering Paradise. [I justify the tuition for ShawD on the grounds that ShawD’s friends are, almost of necessity, really serious students and it has helped her/forced her to raise her game in a way that might not have happened at the public HS where she might have fallen in with some girls who care primarily about clothes and boys. I think the school has probably prepared her well for college]. </p>
<p>I understand your older D has had a bumpy ride. We also once anticipated needing to support ShawD and started to make a financial plan for that, but thankfully, that is no longer needed. It sounds like that will be a continuing financial cost for you. </p>
<p>Will your younger D apply to some state schools so that you’ll have a big gap between less expensive and more expensive schools or will the differences come from merit aid?</p>
<p>missypie, we’re empty-nesting. ShawD went off to her friend’s family’s country house for the weekend and ShawSon is on a writing-intensive weekend with coauthor. ShawWife needs to paint like crazy. Add in a picnic at the home of a well-known art dealer and we’ve done almost no cooking. Is that what empty-nesting is like?</p>
<p>Saturday, I went and replaced our washer-dryer (did some internet searching and then went to our friendly local Home Depot) and did our Costco run. The W/D is 15 years old, as is the stove and refrigerator so we’re hoping that they don’t all fail at once. Sunday, we took a bike ride in the beautiful country near our house (which fortunately runs pretty much 360 degrees from our house but didn’t take the kayak trip ShawWife wanted to do last night). I think we could get used to empty-nesting, though I wonder whether we should sell the house and move to one with newer appliances.</p>
Hm-m-m … not in this empty (during the school year) nest. As much as I dlslike cooking dinner, I’m sure H & I are healthier for me doing it most nights.</p>