M. Willis Monroe

I’m in Israel till the 26th of July digging at the archaeological site of Megiddo.

Last friday we left as a family to go volunteer at the Clearwater Hudson River Revival. The festival was great. I saw some good music and had a great time working as well. In particular I enjoyed seeing Guy Davis and The Mammals again. And volunteering in the Communications tent was relatively uneventful but quite enjoyable with frequent forays out through the festival grounds in a golf cart to take care of errands.

After the festival we headed down to the grandparents farm in Pennsylvania where we spent a few nice days with extended family.

Friday I’m due to fly to Israel and I just realized tonight that I’m arriving a week before I’m supposed to and leaving a day before. So I’m franticly trying to sort out something that will salvage this trip.

Here’s a photo of my cats asleep on my bed.

Long overdue. I arrived late friday night, my plane had been delayed in Philly for quite some time, but that’s all right. Got home and unpacked all in one evening (rather than having my suitcase clutter my room for a couple weeks till I got around to emptying it). Next day I saw Mike, we drove into Providence and got some pizza and walked around for a while. Sunday I went to quaker meeting and then afterwards met up with Dan, Mike, Roger and Dan’s friends Kevin and Matt. We played basketball for a good two hours before getting some refreshments at Maximillians. I had to leave them then because I was knackered due to jet lag.

Monday I went over to Dan’s in the morning and watch the US get trounced by the Czech Republic. Then we went for a hike nearby. I went home and my family and I walked to Dearhearts after dinner for some Ice Cream.

Tuesday I drove up towards boston and picked Nia up at a train station outside of the city. We then continued on to Mt. Monadnock and hiked it. That was a lot of fun, it’s like the tenth time or something that I’ve been up that mountain but it’s really enjoyable. After the hike we drove back to her flat in Cambridge and had a nice evening.

Today I drove back from Nia’s in the morning and then drove into Providence to meet one of my old teachers. We talked for a good while and it was really nice. Then I came home read some of the New Yorker and took a nap. Dylan called and told me Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing was playing so I had a nice dinner with my family and then headed out to the gig. Noah (Dylan’s brother), Dylan and I met up downtown and headed to Lupo’s. It was an amazing concert. Mike Doughty and his band were so in sync with each other, they were having so much fun. The music was so smooth and groovy. We all came out kinda amazed at how nice the concert had been. I’ll have to check out more his solo material. I drove home with the windows open and playing WGBH early morning jazz really loud down empty highways. Now I’m heading to bed trying to think of a way to catch the England match tomorrow.

I’m packing up my room and it’s hard. I have a major headache and I’m tired. I saw some flats today but they were rubbish.

This time around we found the hut and reached the summit.

I made a fire and we had tea and toast for dinner. It was really strange to be drinking tea on the summit of a mountain but at the same time so nice because it was cold.

We set off in the morning to head down the mountain and make our way back to london town.

The lakes that are all over the mountain are really beautiful especially when it’s a clear day.

So I finally did it. Slept on top of Cader Idris. It was a lot of fun and great to have Jon along for company. The rest of the photos are on flickr.

In other news I didn’t get the job at Dinwiddy so now I have to find somewhere to live next year. Oh and I’m going home to Little Rhodey on friday which is exciting.

Two bottles of quality red wine later and Peter and I were reciting Dylan Thomas in the kitchen, forwards and backwards respectively.

Here’s the link to the photoset of my entire trip.

This is the Piazza in Padua where Lucia and I had some spritz the first night.

This is a canal in Venice.

A little path out to the lighthouse in Portofino.

Meeting up with Liz in Den Haag.

Overall the trip was amazing. I saw some many wonderful things and met up with people I hadn’t seen in a while; My mom (of course), Lucia and Liz. I’m really grateful to Lucia and her family for letting me stay. They have a wonderful house and her dad knows Venice like the back of his hand. The train across the alps was pretty cool too. As was staying in the Hostel in Den Haag and just being in Holland for a bit. At one point I was in three different countries speaking three different languages in two days.