For the later half of August we had Derek staying with us, prior to his moving to Boston to start the academic year at Harvard. For a week or so we also had Josh and Anna with us. It was great to spend time with them, and meet Anna’s parents Judy and Marshall, and generally enjoy having our house full of people.

We had been keeping our pool table a secret from them so that it would be a pleasant surprise for them – and it was! In fact, I think we played pool so much that I don’t think we’ve felt like playing pool since they were here.

As a special treat, one evening we all went out to see the Cirque Du Soleil show “O” at the Belagio Hotel on the Strip. “O” has the gimmick of a moving stage that is sometimes completely under water (think “water” in French) which is spectacular. It was pretty cool show, but for those of you who might be tossing up whether to see “O” or the other Cirque du Soleil show “Mystere”, I think that I would recommend Mystere over O. It’s hard to say exactly why – there’s no doubt they are both fantastic shows in the C du S tradition – but maybe it is because Mystere is the first of their shows I ever saw. Maybe it is just a more perfect show.