Karoline (aka Kaorline) has posted her next segment about the Aegean Tour, and so I've updated the trip page with page 6.  Each page also now has a sort of table of contents at the top so you can jump to whichever page you wish. Go read Karoline's blog and then go see the pictures on page 6.

On Saturday Lexi took me to Dulles and we visited Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, on the way. Among other things we saw St. Peter's, a Roman Catholic church built for all the Irish workmen in the area in the early 1800s. During the War Between the States when Lee was shelling the town from the heights above the river to take this important point (navigation, water power, an armory), the priest flew a British flag from the steeple knowing that the Southerners wouldn't damage British property as they needed all the support from Britain that they could get. So St. Peter's was the only church in Harper's Ferry that was undamaged during the War.

My flight left Dulles over an hour late, and I had a middle seat. Four hours cramped between two large people wasn't comfortable, but the feller on my left, a Mormon, kept me entertained. He had been a missionary to Russia and is fluent in Russian and French. The flight from Phoenix to Spokane was uneventful, although it too left 45 minutes late and I was still stuck in a middle seat. But the gentleman on my right was a firefighter and told interesting stories about, well, fighting fires. I was too tired for most of it to register, unfortunately. Got to bed and to sleep sometime after 2 a.m. this morning. I'm glad to be home.

But looky here: I flew over the Grand Canyon on the way out to VA.

Not much to report about yesterday (Thursday) - it was the hardest day in LIAW. It always is. The hardest grammar is over but by then there's so much rolling around in the brain or falling off the plate that the students feel devastated. After class and dinner last night Rick Weitz took me and some of the kids up on Mount Weather to Bear's Den, an outcropping of granite overlooking the Shenandoah River Valley. Beautiful.

LIAW today was great - Friday always is. We polished off Wheelock's by late morning and then read till lunch and read some more for 2 hours after lunch: readings from the back of Wheelocks and portions of Genesis, Mark, and John. In reading it all comes together. Then after everyone cheerfully departed, I went to Patrick Henry College and spent a most delightful hour with Dr. Gene Edward Veith, who is the new Academic Dean. We sat and chatted in his office for awhile, then he showed me around campus and we talked about education, PHC's vision, homeschooling, his daughter (whom we know), and Lutheranism and Orthodoxy.

And then, after a wonderful steak dinner at the Weitz's - baseball! One of my LIAW students plays first base on a Babe Ruth team (the Cardinals) and they had a game tonight so we went. There weren't many people in the bleachers but the ballpark was beautiful and we made noise. The Cardinals lost but David made some great plays at first ... and it was baseball!

Later this evening Rick, Kathy, Josh and I sat on the veranda and yakked and watched airlines high overhead on the flight path into Dulles, winking silently up among the stars.

Emily, welcome home!!! Can't wait to see you, Peanut.

Blue sky appeared today and the sun shone; a nice metaphor for what happens on Wednesday of a typical LIAW. (I guess the sun was shining all week but the point is, we could see it shining today because the clouds cleared; another nice metaphor for what happens on Wed. of a typical LIAW.) The students have all given up struggling and have abandoned themselves to despair, and so today things started falling into place for them. It's like a mother in the pains of labor who reaches that desperate moment when she feels all is futile and says, "gimme drugs" - that's just the moment when the baby comes. That's Wednesday in LIAW and they're starting to break on through to the other side. We're up through chapter 27 in Wheelock's now.

I spent the evening chatting with the Weitz's - Caleb and Josh and I sat on the front veranda till well past dark talking and listening to weird Virginia night birds, talking about summer reading, and wondering when Condi Rice will be vice-president. I hope all my family back home are doing well and that Dad hasn't started the HD6 in an attempt to let Robert try airconditioning my house with it. See those pics of my kids in their grandparents' garden on my wife's blog? Aren't they great?

G'night, dear family, and g'night, friends.

Well, no, it is too the heat. Today the AC went out and we suffered some while we covered ten, count 'em, ten chapters of Wheelocks in LIAW. But it was great fun anyway. At least I thought it was. So did the students, I think. The AC was fixed by evening and we're comfortable again. Spaghetti for dinner. I love spaghetti. Have I ever mentioned that, family? It's still raining here in the DC area. I hope the Airbus A320 has floats because Dulles will be under water by Saturday.

It's nuts but it works. Latin In A Week. Today we covered the first seven chapters of Wheelock's Latin, 6th Edition, at the rate of about a chapter per hour - I'm tired. ...Fortunately the Weitz home is a comfortable place in which to be tired. I took a long walk up the road afterward, got barked at by huge dogs and waved at by friendly drivers, came home, showered, and staggered down to dinner, then slept a good share of the evening while the Weitz's had a Bible study. Came back downstairs and chatted with Rick, Kathy, and Caleb about ecclesiology, and now it's time to resume my nap under the soothing breezes from the ceiling fan. Ceiling fans are great. G'night, dear family.

I slept well. My bedroom is Grace's, the 10-year old (not sure where she's sleeping but I hope it's not in the garage), and it's pink and pretty, with lace and white wrought-iron bedframe and flowers on the nightstand and bears in a basket. I feel my feminine side coming out.

The Weitz's house turns out to be at the foot of Mount Weather, a beautiful and very interesting 1,500 hill covered with trees.

This morning I visited Blue Ridge Bible Church, where the Weitz's attend, and met a lot of very interesting people, half of whom seemed to "work for the government" and managed to avoid my questions about what it is exactly that they do (they could tell me but then they'd have to shoot me). The Sunday school class was on the history of the canon, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from speaking up (I was just a guest and felt I should shut up). One of the men in the class is an Egyptian Christian (a Protestant Copt, apparently) and a fascinating person. After church I met and chatted with Mike Farris, founder of the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) and PHC (Patrick Henry College), among many other things) and his daughter Christie, founder of NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association, pant, pant), which half of Schola seems to be involved in, to their great benefit. I love acronyms. And Mr. Farris and his daughter are very nice people; both have done tremendous things for the homeschooling movement in the last two decades. I also met the new President of PHC,  (Graham Walker) and plan to visit the campus this coming week and meet the new Academic Dean, Dr. Gene Edward Veith. Ok, I'm done dropping names (for now). Heh heh.

This afternoon I sat on the Weitz's lovely covered veranda and smoked a good cigar while watching the rain pour down for hours. It must have rained 2 inches or more this afternoon. It moved across the fields in curtains, sheets, drapes, veils, columns, waves; and the hiss and hum of the rain is still in my head. Before the rain started, a spike buck grazed slowly along the edge of the yard and then bounded off into the meadow and then into the brush by the creek (where I'm given to understand, by the boys in the family, baby snapping turtles are to be had by the bucketsfull). Later, Mrs. Ostlind and Kjerstin and Eric came by, as well as one of Josh and Caleb Weitz's friends, Ellis, and Rick Weitz barbecued great hamburgers. We all sat on the veranda and talked till almost dark.

Tomorrow Latin In A Week begins. Please pray for me - and the students. G'night, dear family and friends.

God in His mercy has brought me safely to northern Virginia. The flight from Spokane to Phoenix was uneventful (if you don't count seeing the Grand Canyon) and it was 110 in Phoenix, but not inside the airport of course. On the flight from Phoenix to Washington D.C., I got the map out of the back of the airline magazine, figured the time the flight would take, marked off the hours on a straight line from Phoenix to D.C. (using the Airbus A319 safety features card as a straight-edge), calculated the speed, and then kept track of our flight, marking the map heavily. I navigated quite well by dead reckoning, knowing I could get a fix when we crossed the Mississippi and re-check my navigation. I watched New Mexico float by underneath (and waved at Helen, Claire, Sarah, Aaron, Sarah, and everyone else), watched the Texas Panhandle drift by (and hoped I'd never have to live there), saw Tulsa waltz past (and couldn't find Ponca City), then Missouri (and waved at Jacy and her grandma and dad) and ... the Mississippi was 20 minutes too early. But I recalculated and continued my navigation. What a huge river. Anyway, I kept track the whole way. Until the clouds set in over Kentucky and West Virginia. Then, just as we were about to the airport we hit rain, lightning, heavy clouds, turbulence, and gasps from the passengers. The pilot was making the descent and it just got too weird so he spooled up the engines and went around. The tower routed us out over the north side of the city, switched the direction of all the runways, then brought us back, 45 minutes behind schedule, and we finally landed, and everyone applauded. I thought only Greeks did that! THEN as I waited with Josh Weitz for my luggage... it didn't come. All the OTHER luggage got off and the carousel kept spinning for 15 minutes with NOTHING coming off. So I went to the lost luggage office and just then my bag came off the carousel. Whew. Josh and Caleb brought me back to their house, Mrs. Weitz fed me fajitas and Mr. Weitz gave me an Old Dominion Ale (locally made), and I'm beat. G'night, dear family, and g'night, dear readers.

A couple of my favorite Christian blogs to watch daily are George Grant's, full of insightful historical tidbits (today's is an interesting discussion of the 3rd ecumenical council and the doctrine of the "Theotokos" - Mary as the mother of God), and Al Mohler's, with perceptive Christian commentary on current events (lately he's taken on the ECUSA's election of a woman bishop).

My father calls Mohler the Rush Limbaugh of Christianity. I love it. If Mohler had a radio show, what would his theme music be?

While I was in Middleboro yakking my head off at people about classical Christian education and then relaxing and enjoying the company of Manny Ramirez and having a Boston "T" party (see the below post or just go here), I dropped behind in posting pictures to support Kaorline's ongoing account of the Schola Aegean Tour. But I've caught up! AND gone myself one better - no longer will I confine the pics to my blog where they will slide screaming into the void called "posting calendar" (see left margin) never to be found again -- rather, I've made a website for the trip and I'll post here on the blog when it's updated. I'm copying Kaorline's text from her blog as she posts and pasting it into the site with my pics (and some from others). Schola students, you can also find this site by going to the Schola Atrium and clicking on "Events", then finding the trip listing. The link again: http://www.schola-tutorials.com/GreeceTurkey06/Aegean06story1.html