Upstairs, Downstairs

Meg continues to soldier along, working at the lab during the week and in her backyard wildlife garden, pruning away happily, at the weekend. She continues to get tired and nod off in the evenings, but is fine again by the morning. She's been fighting a persistent cough for the last few days, and her voice has been reduced to a hoarse whisper.  We're hoping that this won't affect her next infusion on Wednesday.

The cutesy title to this post refers to our daughter Elspeth, who arrived here on June 1st for 2 months volunteer work in the Peichel lab at the Hutchinson Center, where Andrew and Meg work. The research she'll be doing will be part of her Master's thesis at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment (common theme: fish!). She'll also be working 3 days as week at the Trader Joe's on Capitol Hill.

Elspeth came out with her cat, whom we knew (from previous experience) was not loved by Shannon, our elderly cat. A tall pet gate on the basement stairway seems to be keeping them fairly happily separate, Elspeth (and Joey) having returned to the basement bedroom (and anteroom) that she inhabited in high school. There's occasional hissing when the cats spy each other, but not much in the way of physical contact.

Ely arrived in time to celebrate her 25th birthday with us, has introduced herself to the local Trader Joe's, and starts work in earnest at the lab this morning. She's eagerly awaiting the arrival of her bicycle from Michigan, courtesy of Fed-Ex.