splash!

Yesterday I went white water rafting on the Deerfield River. We were concerned that overcast skies and cool temperatures might make the day unpleasant rather than thrilling. Happily, it warmed up enough that the frigid water felt shocking, but not painful, and we dried off quickly enough not to get chilled. I almost fell out of the boat, twice. One time got caught on film! The photo sequence looks about like this:
1. everyone smiling and rowing calmly
2. everyone shocked as the boat goes over a big dip
3. my leg sticking out of the boat
4. me falling into my friend's lap as she pulls me back into the boat
5. everyone smiling and rowing calmly
After that I figured out that its better to lean towards the middle of the boat and sit in an awkward position than practice good posture. The class IV rapids were crazy and exhilarating. I was o so very happy not to be in charge of steering the boat. Our guide was very competent though, and the worst that happened was me almost falling out. Lots of other boats actually had people fall out, sometimes even all three people on a side!

I still haven't figured out where I'm living next year. Now we've thrown NH in the mix too. Salem, NH is 15 minutes away from Lawrence as we found out when searching for a nearby Christmas Tree Shop. I'm not sure that the advantages of buying a car with no sales tax outweigh the advantages of living 2 minutes from school, and in the same city as my students. But I do like the idea of having a shopping mall 15 minutes north- tax free and away from traffic.