"The time has come,"

the walrus said, "to talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.  And why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings."  —Lewis Carroll

I'm not sure whether to appreciatively credit my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Batey, for forcing us to memorize those lines or to wish she had forced us to learn something else.  In all fairness, we also memorized Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay, but it didn't stick with me quite like flying pigs and sealing wax—though I suppose it's wrong to assume that because an animal has wings that it can fly.

Anyway, speaking of flying, remember the two month two week countdown?  Go ahead and remove the two month part from your calendars.  What?  You weren't counting down our arrival back to the States on your calendars?  Well, I guess it's a little less dramatic then, but we're excited none the less.  Thanks to our savvy travel agent, Dr. Jay, we now leave Quito on February 16th and reach Whitefish on February 18th, via our saucy, did I say saucy? I meant speedy, chauffeur, Margaret Ann, who will retrieve us from the Missoula airport at midnight on February the 17th.  Don't worry, we're going to have a grand sleep-over in Missoula before tackling the wintry Montana roads the following day.

With our internal source of optimism running dry, seriously, high-sixty degree weather in February is draining, we conversed with Mom and Dad Erickson and considered our options.  Although we hopefully pursued another opportunity down here, alas it seems we would not be filling a need.  We continue to feel a little bit like we're quitting, but our realistic side insists we're being pro-active and making the best decision for our mental and physical well-being.  The week long migraines thanks to our metal-hammering neighbors are getting old, after all.  Furthermore, upon reviewing our goals for our time here, we found that every goal within our control has been met.  Thus, we announce that we will be returning to the United States in the very near future.  Despite a flight schedule that takes us from Miami to Los Angeles to an overnight and a day in Seattle until we finally head to Missoula, and then drive back to Whitefish, oh yeah, and two separated middle seats on that six hour flight from Miami to Los Angeles, we look forward to seeing the snow, doing our taxes, um, kind of, and preparing to move to Bozeman!  Watch out Cades, here we come!

Also, for any of you who read the second to last sentence of that paragraph and thought, "My goodness, she didn't mention baking, you know, that thing you need an oven for," never fear.  We fully recognize restored oven access is in our future and have ordered three new baking books—two on bread, one on pizza.  My brownie book collection is already bursting.  I know, there I go again with the unnecessary alliteration.  Blame it on the beckoning brownies. 

Oh, and because I'm a proud sister, here's one of my favorite shots of Max's latest photos.