Gongxi facai!

May the year of the Ox bring peace and prosperity to the planet.

Now that we've finished cleaning up the house, Binbin and Baba have turned their energies to the garage. We'll clean today, then hope for good fortune tomorrow and throughout the year.

This past week, Binbin spent several days at home, sick with a cold that brought on symptoms of bronchitis. He was, for the most part, cheerful, as he seems genuinely happy to be a homebody. Tuesday, he and Baba watched Barack Obama sworn in as our nation's 44th president. Wednesday, he and Mama baked gingerbread cookies. Thursday, Keena came over to play in the morning. Friday, we all drove up to Waterville to see Colby's installation of "Ink Tales," an exhibition of Chinese painting, curated by students of Mama and Mama's friend, Ankeney Weitz. You can see the web exhibitions at:

http://www.colby.edu/art/InkTales/ColbyExhibition.html