| Monday, June 16, A penultimate greeting to one and all, We are on the homestretch. Only 10 days until we move from Kingcome. Excited? Yes. Ready for something new? Yes. Know what's coming up next? No. But that's alright. We have had some very, very strange occurrences throughout the year, most of them happening in the last week or so. By strange I mean ghost-like. After Christmas, Kristin witnessed a light switch being turned off by itself numerous times. Not a switch slipping or falling down, turning off like a person would turn it off - when she was alone in the house. A couple weeks ago, Kristin and I heard the cat's glass water bowl explode into shreds of glass (not crack in 3 pieces, shatter into 10,000 pieces) when no one was near it, nothing fell on or near it and it had not touched it for days. Then, to make a long story short, Nicole, the cat, a guest and I nearly died the other night when the bear repellent (OC pepper spray) sprayed in our guest room and nearly choked us all to death as it filled the house. No one was near the bottle and the lock was still on the undamaged container. We fled from the house for a few hours and survived with only bad memories and a fear of any future coughs. Spiritually...uh, unique...things happen here. We've seen them. Anyway, I got to go on a once-in-a-lifetime boat ride last week with 38 other people from Kingcome. We visited other villages around the coastal inlets and islands that are part of the same tribal territory. One village had 5 houses and one man. With his dog, the population doubles. Other villages had 3 times that many people! We got to visit a new ceremonial big house being constructed and saw many uninhabited villages from years gone by. After months of waiting and fundraising and planning, Nicole's class finally completed their field trip to Victoria! Kristin attended along with 5 other adults and 5 other kids. They had a great time on the train, at the bug zoo, the museum, the IMAX, movie theatres, swimming in hotels and no homework! I would venture to say that it was the best and most elaborate field trip Nicole will ever go on. Certainly better than any I grew up with. Well, folks, one more letter next week before our departure. Until then, we remain, JohnKristinNicole |