4th of July -- Tucson

I know Tucson is HOT in July, but this is a bit nutsy! Nana & Papa only have a swamp cooler and the monsoons have started. Did I mention that swamp coolers don't work in the damp? I feel like I'm melting

But, it is worth it since I'm getting to visit my two favorite people on Earth. We celebrated Nana's 81st birthday with ribs (hello! DON'T turn on the oven when it's this hot!) and an ice cream cake.

Today, we escaped the heat a bit and went to the Tucson Mall. It's very strange wandering the food court and not seeing anybody I know. When I was at the U of A, I always ran into people I knew or at least recognized. Now, nothing. Even if it wasn't summer I don't know how many of my friends are even still here.

I found great sales at JC Penny and Dillards. Yeah for finding school clothes that fit and are flattering. I was especially excited to escape the damp at Nana's house for a while. After, Dad & I went to Bookman's and I picked up $40 worth of Latin books. I'm especially excited about my two teacher's manuals that I got for $10 each when I can get them used online for $25 (plus S+H) and $50 retail. I LOVE Bookmans!

While my folks and Nana watched the D-Backs ballgame, I worked on Latin. Proud of me? I'm having a tough time deciding if I'm parsing everything correctly. It's not in my teacher's edition since the course material doesn't really care about parsing. I can see where it'll be nice to know but it'll be a bit hard to grade if I'm not 100% sure of the parsing. Hopefully, when I get back, I'll have my graded lesson returned to me.

Speaking of getting back, I think we're leaving Sunday. That's fine by me: gives me three days to work on PPL leads before we leave for the weekend for California. I think that before we go, I might put my photo editing software on my laptop and bring my memory card reader. It's frustrating not being able to add photos to posts-on-the-go.