progeny

Happiness is...

...submitting your thesis in time to be done before Christmas
...and coming home to see this on your own street (in November--in Minnesota!) all in the same day.

Skywriter/Skyeditor

Does this surprise you?

In the U.S. CDC reports that in 2002 there were more than 246 abortions per 1000 live births, for a total of over 854,000 abortions.  The actual numbers are higher because

1. no data was reported by Alaska, California, New Hampshire or Wyoming
2. data is voluntarily reported by health agencies and may not include private practitioners.

  See the full set of data at CDC ( http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5407.pdf).

The Guttmacher Institute (an affilate of Planned Parenthood) reports from all states.  According to them, the total was 1.29 million.  That is 3,524/day.

See http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html.

Sweet Land

Marcus and I got a chance to see Sweet Land, the movie filmed in Montevideo last year and the talk of the town for months.

It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Ever. Really.

If you get a chance, please go see it. It is, as Marcus' dad says, one of the "nicest" movies ever, and it celebrates dreams and love. So old fashioned and refreshing.

And, if you stay and watch the credits, you will catch the advice to eat pie at Valentino's (been there!), the thanks to the people at Java River (there, too!), and the tag line:

"Let us hope we are all preceded in this world by a love story."

                           --Don J. Snyder

Hey, we've got a few of those in our family already.

Love,
Laura

Merriwater maple

This is just outside our bedroom window.