Pictured here, my cousin Jack McLean with his lovely new granddaughter Ella Joyce. My mother's oldest sister was Joyce. I am sure she's delighted to have her namesake welcomed to the world. Behind Jack is his wife Jennifer Phillips, and his eldest daughter Mukina. The proud mother is Jack and former wife Brigitte's daughter Leah. Congratulations to the whole family!

This has been a busy week, beginning with two days as a 'supply teacher' at my former place of work, Hadley Junior High School. It was lovely chatting with those colleagues who are still there at Hadley, and I was again reminded of the energy of the next generation of young people (which is a euphemistic way of saying there's never a dull moment). I was taking French and Histoire classes and I always enjoy getting to know the students a little: I have often taught their older sisters and brothers. I had a chat with one girl who was trying to figure out how she knew me. It turned out that she thought she might have seen me at a reading, since she has a close family 'aunt' who is Ottawa poet Ronnie Brown, with whom I have shared some times at Bywords. Another student was the grandson of my parents' old friends, the Hanks family, also long-time Canadian Baha'is. Another woman at the school was also supply teaching and we discovered mutual friends, Baha'is from Ottawa, John and Barbara Rager, with whom I studied Ruhi and whom I had seen on Sunday at a devotional hosted lovingly by Deirdre Jackson Farr. Connections and connections.

We are in the midst of preparing for the arrival of my parents a week from tomorrow. This means that the only thing left in our third upstairs bedroom is my desk and the computer at which I am typing this, but all around me the wallpaper has been stripped (Bernie did most of it but I helped, a new experience for me). He will paint this week and then we will take the computer and desk to the downstairs spare room for the winter, and bring the double bed upstairs for Mom and Dad. I'll also redecorate since I am sure they won't mind that I have family pictures and paintings on the walls.

I am also working at getting my second book off to the publishers. This is a book of reflections by young people who have chosen to practice the Baha'i faith. I was, and am, curious about what it is that invites young people to be Baha'is in this rather secular age, so a few years back I set about finding out. The answers are very interesting, some of them poetic, and coming from several countries. A couple have been translated by kind assistants to the project (one from Peru, one from Japan). It's pretty fascinating reading these youth narratives. I'm hoping that other people will enjoy them, too, when the book sees print. In the meantime, I am feeling the excitement of the imminent arrival, hot off the press in the U.S., of Partners in Spirit. In fact, I've been thinking a little less of poetry, lately. Occasionally a line or two comes to mind, but I haven't been driven to the computer in the middle of the night lately by a compelling gift arriving from within my intuitive senses (which is part of the poetic process for me). At least, that's how I think of it.

And now, for the last time of the season, in all probability, I'm off to mow the lawn.