Central Texas is beautiful this time of year. The ground is exploding with wildflowers, and the trees are taking a time-out from their usual subdued dark green to briefly explore a more vibrant shade. To top it all off, the weather makes you want to go outside and skip and the bugs haven’t come out yet. All over town, windows are thrown open and ceiling fans are put to work. I know that soon it will be breathtakingly hot, but Austin is a lovely place to be at the moment.
Franklin still loves his job, and his job still loves him. He’s picking up the pace with the goal of producing 10 ukuleles a week. His department only has two and a half employees at present, and their hoping to get it down to two. Franklin’s perfectionism can be a 
challenge to his speed, but I have faith in his abilities. This type of stretching is the reason that he wanted to work for a high quality outlet like Collings in the first place.
I received my first paycheck since 2000 last week - yippee! Due to stringent non-disclosure agreements I can’t say much about my job but I can say that I adore the people that I’m working with. The company has cultivated a nice, relaxed atmosphere and I’m happy to go to work every day (especially when that paycheck thing happens). This job is only available until the end of May, so I’m still trying to decide what to do with my life. In the mean time, I am applying for grad school (GRE scores be damned!).
Though we love being in Austin, there is ONE thing that drives me nuts. People here simply don’t obey leash laws. A few weeks ago Franklin and Chole and I were out hiking and geocaching (it’s fun!) when a couple with two unleashed labs jogged by. One of the labs peeled off, ran straight for Chloe and bit her soundly on the butt. The owners were mortified (”He’s never done anything like this before!”) and in a truly dumb move I shooed them off because I couldn’t deal with them AND an injured dog. Though Chloe was bleeding pretty profusely, she walked the kilometer back to the car under her own power. At the emergency vet clinic ($200 that I would love to have the other couple pay if I could ever locate them again) we heard that this happens all the time. Now we’re a bit afraid to have Chloe out even in areas where the leash law is clearly posted. Anyway, Chloe has recovered well, though it has taken a few more trips to the vet to get her back on track.
In happier news, we sold our Jerusalem house! Wait. That’s not exactly happier news, is it? We miss our place and our Israel friends daily. But we are certainly glad to have a bit of money headed our way. I suppose the Austin house hunt will begin soonish.