March 12 - April 12

It is not yet 8 o'clock. The sun is shining; there's not a cloud in the sky. I ground some Starbuck's (extra bold) Sumatra beans. As the coffee pot gurgled, I hung my wool blankets out over the balcony in the blinding sunshine and crisp morning air. Glancing between two houses, I saw a couple walking swiftly no doubt to Tapa's outdoor market. Let me catch you up on what's been going on over the last month.

Yesterday afternoon on Estonian television, Dr. Kate Rowan - from the British television show Heartbeat - died of leukemia, just a few days after giving birth to her first baby. Kate had originally died on ITV in 1995, but the series is still running in the UK.

I couldn't stay and watch the funeral, because Tiit and Egert picked me up, and then we went and picked up Aigi at pre-school. Of course, Egert and I had to check out the center's new red swings, blue spring rabbit, and yellow sliding board. At Tiit's house I played hopscotch (keks in Estonian) with Aigi, cars and trucks with Egert, and badminton with Tiit and his wife Lairi. The we watched "Dr. House", simultaneously eating, drinking, tickling, climbing, laughing, cautioning, conjecturing - like a regular family. It was the episode where House feigned having brain cancer.

Then I walked from Tiit's house to the last disco of the school year in the auditorium at school, where our resident DJs unveiled new laser lights and an accompanying fog machine. Back at home at about 11 p.m., I watched an episode of Friends where Monica and Phoebe take care of a cute guy in a coma. Had I looked at the tv guide, I could have gone to Kate's funeral during the re-broadcasting of the show at midnight.