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I’ve missed rehearsing so much. The whole thing of singing in a choir is singing with other people. But so far I’ve been working on Mendelssohn’s Elijah ALONE. Tonight I sing with people! Ohmygod. Mendelssohn’s Elijah is … PEOPLE. (Soylent Green humor.)

Among the various pieces we’re rehearsing tonight is #35. For some reason, this is one my favorites. I say “for some reason” because the choir’s part is very simple. No show-offy parts anywhere. What’s the appeal?? But for whatever reason, this one is so satisfying to sing. I love it. Also, for some perverse reason, I find measure 34 difficult to get right. There’s no good explanation anywhere on earth for this, it’s as simple as it gets. Seriously. It’s Three-Blind-Mice-level easy. But I tend to mess it up. Wish me luck.

The cats are already back sleeping in one of their favorite spots (it also happens to be my favorite spot, too).

I’m back at my desk, with pretty daffodils. To the left are the boxes of papers and tapes I brought back with me.

But I wanted to post the last of my Durham shots. Here is Ruby shopping at the Target.

And here’s the great picture Ruby took of me and Finn in my kitchen at the Extended Stay Hotel.

We’re going to Target later, but so far we went to lunch at the Washington Duke Inn and then for a walk. Ruby having her lunch.

Ruby walking down the hall towards the ballroom.

Is this dress ugly? I liked it. Ruby didn’t and Ruby wants to take a vote. Ugly or no?

“Take a close-up,” she said. “So people can really see just how ugly it is.”

Ruby likes this statue, however. Not ugly.

Ruby walking a nature walk.

Ruby gets a completely renovated room. Note how fresh and clean everything is! Note the new wood floors!!

My friend Ruby is on her way down to drive back to New York with me and the cats. ON SUNDAY.

Before I go I want to thank everyone who made my time here so great. (Although I will think of a more fun thank you when I get back to New York.)

First, here are the people at The Special Collections Library at Duke. I spent the most time with them (six days a week!!). I’m going to sound like every other “thank you,” but I swear they really were incredible. There wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do to help, they were fun, they made suggestions about other collections that might help with my research — they even fed me and took me to buy kitty litter for the boys.

Thank you all!

You’ve all been great and fun to work with, and I will miss everyone. I don’t think there’s a single thing you could have done to make my visit better.

Linda McCurdy, Eleanor Mills and Janie Morris from the left.

Linda McCurdy, Eleanor Mills and Janie Morris from the right.

Elizabeth Dunn (amazing cook).

Linda McCurdy (action shot).

Zach Elder (action shot).

I also want to bring back this picture of Zach, which I think captures the real Zach Elder.

Lynn Eaton.

Laura Micham.

And this is me, sitting where I’ve been sitting six days a week, from 9 to 6, for almost two and a half months, going through one of my last boxes.

I completely forgot to bring a camera with me to the Rhine Research Center, now run by J. B. Rhine’s daughter, Dr. Sally Rhine Feather, who also fed me and opened doors for me, lent me books, and otherwise has been as gracious as can be. Lots of people helped me there too, including Dr. Jim Carpenter, Ben Perry (who has been lugging around old film projectors I can barely lift so I can hopefully one day get to see films of the people I will never meet but must bring to life) Deana Cloverfox, Joyce Daniel, Barbara Ensrud (who also fed me and took me shopping!) and Temple Richmond (who did my chart and told me all sorts of things to look forward to). Sally also personally drove me to meet and interview the fabulous Betty MacMahan, who is one of the scientists I will be writing about.

There must be people I’m forgetting. Forgive me. I’ll make it up to you if I have.

Oh! If you’re ever in Durham and need to be here for a while, The Extended Stay Hotel has the best deal, including a daily shuttle that will take you back and forth to Duke, and fabulous drivers: William, Omar, Chris, Danny and Ed. You also get a free membership to Beyond Fitness right down the road, and, if you use this you should definitely sign up for a personal trainer (not free, but very reasonable) and if you do that, ask for Iris Ferrell. In addition to being a good trainer, she’s just a lot of fun. She’ll make you crack up while you’re trying to remember to breath!

Goodbye, everyone. Thank you for taking such good care of me and Buddy and Finnegan.