Abby noticed this as she was driving out to visit friends and called us on her mobile. It was Nell’s last night before leaving for France, and my last night before turning 50. We had lamb curry, dahl, raita, chutneys from the 17th Street market, and leftover home-made ice cream from Nell’s friends’ farewell party on the weekend. Nell is feeling very nervous about this trip, I think. I spent today and yesterday (in Ann Arbor at item camp) talking French to insurance agencies and real estate agents and bankers, and I think I have it all set up for Nell to pick up the keys to her studio on Friday. We shall see.

Interesting conversation with Sally last night. She had been put off by a comment from Jessica about how smart she was, because she doesn’t like being seen that way, at the same time as being irritated that a rival boy did better than her on the Spanish test. We concluded, after some analysis, that she doesn’t want to be seen as smarter than anybody dumber than her, but does want to be seen as smarter than anybody smarter than her. A difficult position.

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