Friday, 8:10 am

I keep having the strangest dreams in which I don't know where I am. Recently I had one where I was asking people what state I was in. (I'll beat you to the punchline: the State of Confusion). Mary Swift told me I was in Ohio and Nancy Brown said I was in Connecticut. I decided I was in Kentucky and wondered why I hadn't done any work in the kitchen (my next project is redecorating - not remodeling - the kitchen).

During my most recent trip to the grocery store I saw a package of cupcake mix that looked decidedly American, not imported from Europe, as so much of the packaged food is here, so I picked it up to look at it. To my surprise the box said it was made by Brand Castle in Beachwood, Ohio, with our old zip code: 44122! So, if anyone in Cleveland knows someone who works at Brand Castle, you can tell them that their products were spotted in Ulan Bataar, of all places.

There was a light sprinkling of rain last night, which helped green up the trees and also allowed me to keep the window open all night. On regular nights the dust blown in is visible the next morning, so the dampening effect of the rain cut the dust and sand considerably. I remember reading something years ago about how sand from the Gobi is deposited in houses around the globe every day, but here I can guarantee that I'm sweeping up the Gobi every morning.

Oh, yes, my news: the hot water is BACK! Thought I'd save the good news for the end. In spite of the dire predictions I was told, the hot water is back and plentiful. I took two showers last night and another this morning. Now I just have to wait until Monday when the accountant should, by all indications, be back at her desk and I can get some money. Things are looking up for our intrepid girl in UB.