Here are the answers. Please let us know if you'd like us to send you the questions.

Across
1. bus
3. City at Peace
8. jazzy
9. NCL
10. peaks
13. Vermont
15. AMC huts
17. cried
18. mention
19. Omaha
21. Isla Negra
26. Chile
29. Dear
30. Spanish
32. GPA
34. Sherlock
36. Yippee
37. beards
38. Mount Vernon

Down
2. skydiving
4. Izzie
5. Political Science
6. Emerald Isle
7. cards
11. kick
12. June
13. Valentine's Day
14. organ
16. Someday
20. l'Academie
22. RISD
23. NIH
24. Maria
27. happiest
28. mural
31. season
32. GoKart
33. ashen

OK, so my eldest son has survived a mid-flight bomb threat over the Pacific and is now wandering around Peru somewhere, or making his way south to Santiago and a new semester and new host family; middle son has declared Illustration will be his major; and we're not sure where Jack is going, exactly, with the whole high school thing. But it's Valentine's Day, there's snow and sleet on the ground, at last, and all in all, things are good. I'm going to post the answers to our Valentine's Day crossword puzzle, just as soon as I figure out how.

Trying to help Luke and my father connect somehow. Dad and Marinell, planning to be in Peru in late Jan. on Rotary Club service mission, hoped to visit Luke in Santiago. Luke, meanwhile, unbeknownst to them (or us) had made plans to be in Ecuador at that very time, early Feb. May be possible for them to reconnoiter in Ecuador, but Dad, when I called him for the third time tonight, sounded a bit baffled by that prospect. He clearly hadn't given any thought to travelling home from Peru through Ecuador.

I think I did OK, but it was a bit dicey, not being able to reach Luke by phone at Luz Maria's, etc.

Rereading one of my few earlier postings, I remembered a recent "Get Fuzzy" comic in which the dog complains to Rob that his stomach is upset and confesses to having eaten some UGOs. When asked, he explains that they are "unidentified ground objects." He goes on to say that, sometimes, you just have to "cross the line and call an edible."

Let the reader decide whether this is in good taste.

Attended a conference today at Georgetown U. convened by Verizon Foundation, with lots of help from American Library Association and other orgs working to promote literacy. We (NCL) were invited because of our work on LifeSmarts. We'd tried to shape our Vz Fdtn proposal around their literacy interests, thinking that they might appreciate that we're promoting consumer literacy, but we found they really do mean learning to read. In the end we asked for $$ to strengthen the Technology content and our assessment capacity.

I had the oddest sensation in the reception that followed. My colleague, Ingrid Montero, and I were chatting with people and a guy came up whom I'd met at a dinner not too long ago. He remembered me and the fact that I'm studying at Wesley Seminary. What was odd was the juxtaposition of what for me is pretty intense reading about Saint Augustine and his City of God, composed in the early years of the 5th century, and an interesting and stimulating conference and discussion about how best to teach people -- kids through adults -- how to read. Augustine was writing in the aftermath of the Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410, an event that shook everyone's faith in the Roma Aeterna ideology that had prevailed up till then.

I guess it's not such a big deal, moving between cultures, but I was just struck by the image of this African bishop, 1600 years ago, pacing up and down in his study, dictating letters, sermons, books, polemics at a furious pace, actively engaged through reading and writing with people all over the Roman Empire. This on one hand, while today we worry that so many Americans are essentially illiterate, although everybody can text-message. Progress?

Our Previa expired today, apparently. Or rather, it expired last Thursday when Lincoln drove it to RFK Stadium to watch the Nationals play. It wouldn't turn over for him, nor for the tow truck driver on Friday a.m., nor for the mechanics at Satellite Motors. Alack and alas.

Trying to see a silver lining. No longer have to put gas in it, for one, or insure it. Or repair it. Still, it was a wonderful car for many years.

As I stumbled down the front steps at 3 a.m. today, Sherlock and Izzie straining ahead of me, the heat and humidity, even at that hour, were like a physical affront. The dogs had eaten 4-5 bananas between them, and we were both suffering the consequences. I was aware of my own grouchiness, and also of their irrepressible dogginess. They will always take advantage of a chance to eat any human food they can get their teeth into. They will never stop, look at each other, and think, Nah, remember when we ate those bananas?

Well, I've found my blog again, after weeks looking for it. I'm unlikely to set the blogosphere on fire, but that wasn't my intention. I'm enjoying reading Barullo at mistersuss, but I do think this whole business is pretty strange.

Got a glimpse this week, in a visit w/friend Dan, into Jung's take on Christianity. Want to explore this more. Have to find my textbook for Chuch in History class, however; must finish it before end of summer.

Useful and powerful discussion w/Jim T this week. We talked about two different metaphors for following Jesus: one is down the road, the other simply abiding, or resting. Both can work at once. The important thing is to hold both metaphors lightly.

Well, here I am plunging into the blogosphere. Willingly? Witlessly? Whimsically? Time will tell.

Larry