Natalie and Ray's Kauai Wedding

The Hawkes Family traditional Christmas Eve continues...with "Boa Kitty"

A few years ago Nan and I drove the 70-mile dirt road to Hole In The Rock, overlooking Lake Powell's north shore. We had the whole place to ourselves. I came across some photos of the trip while goofing around with Photoshop. Applying one of the standard filters made this picture look kind of like an oil painting, maybe a Howard Post.

This afternoon I decided to walk to Hay Lake. I left at about 3:15. It was INCREDIBLY beautiful up there and there were no signs of humans anywhere along the way, not even footprints. The aspens that ring the lake were starting to turn gold and I sat near the lake, in a spot where the grass had been flattened, perhaps by sleeping elk. Lodi and Zigzag went with me and they played in the water and rolled in the grass and listened intently to the elk bugling. Just as we left, a flock of ducks came and settled on the little bit of water in the lake. We headed back down the trail close to 5:00. Zigzag spent most of his time running around looking for the few squirrels that have not yet hibernated. Lodi mostly ran ahead, stopping once in a while to check to see if I was coming. Sometimes when he does this I like to take an unpredictable path and throw him off, but that trail is on a steep wooded hillside so I was not playing any tricks this time. About 2/3 of the way down the trail, I saw Lodi come running up the hill toward me, full speed, with a look of panic on his face. Two coyotes were in hot pursuit of him. Thank you, Lodi, that it was not a pack of wolves or an angry mother bear that you were leading my way. I waved my arms around and shouted at the coyotes, who sprinted up the hillside a short way, this time with Lodi and Zigzag pursuing them. I called the dogs and made them come back to the trail but the coyotes kept hanging around eyeing us. I hollered at them some more but one of them followed us most of the rest of the way home, running along in the trees to my left. I'm pretty sure Lodi and Zigzag thought they were some variety of dog that they had not yet met at the dog park. Judging by the coyotes' looks and behavior, I think they were young ones who really just wanted to play or sniff bums or something. They were pretty cute and healthy looking. It was just the right sort of happy adventure for a lovely day.

Micah plays the cripple card to get free golf. Click "read more" below for the whole story.

It has been a while since we posted anything. We are living in California for the summer. For those of you still living in AZ, I won't go into detail about the perfect weather we enjoy every day. =) I tried to attach a picture of Abby, but was unable to. Check out our (new blog) to see pictures.

Jake, Jen, and Abby have been in Pearl River, NY most of 2008 and we miss them terribly. Sunday dinners are not the same anymore. True, we do have their dogs as reminders, but we haven't been able to watch Abby grow up except through pictures, which Jen sends regularly. I will post Jen's excellent photos in hopes that she or Jake will tell everyone what they're doing back east and how they like it and when they're coming home. See the photo album here.

Better late than never as the saying goes. We were very fortunate to take some wonderful trips last year to attend conferences for the FBI National Academy Associates. Timothy traveled to Accra, Ghana and St. Kitts, Caribbean and then I joined him for Bangkok, Thailand and Tallinn, Estonia. We wanted to share some of wonderful experiences and photos so here is the first of several stories. When you click to see the slideshow (80 out of over 500 taken in Thailand), notice the fingers of "The Hunted" princess that was part of the entertainment one night. Thai baby girls fingers are massaged every day so they bend "elegantly and naturally" for native dancing. We hope you enjoy this glimpse half as much as we did our trip. The slide show is here. Click "read more" below for the whole story.

I have listened to this dozens of times and it still makes me laugh out loud. It is Mary Chapin Carpenter messing up on the hidden track of her Time*Sex*Love album. Listen carefully for the snort.

Okay kids, here's proof that your old man played football. Number 12 in the red jersey is unmistakably me, even though your mother couldn't pick me out given several different movie clips and a couple of hints. Click "read more" below for the game details. Click on the picture to play the movie.