Hello All,

Pardons for this massive and quite impersonal email, or "epost" as I am corrected here *grin*. I finally found some time from the daily routine to send off a note (and I can sit up with relatively no pain, for now).

Wishing you all a happy July. I returned to Cambridge about 5 weeks ago after a brief stay at home in NJ for help for my back. I am still recovering, and battling the NHS til the cows come home. Slowly getting back into the research and plain living again.

Things have been quite odd and very distressing, for I am facing a long recovery, but I am sure I will make it through. It's very hard knowing that eventually you'll be up to steam, but just quite not yet. And the nice Cambridge summer is not helping a bit for I am eager to run and play and well, cannot as of presently.

Research wise, it is hard to dump about 6 months of work, but it probably is all for the best. I am restarting my NICMOS tests. Currently I am putting together the final touches to the hardware for our COHSI test dewar, a simple LN2 cylindrical thing. I'm learning different ways to wire, shield, and such in order to keep heat loads down and to maximize space. Within the weak I should have a working set-up. What to do with it then... well, I'll have to do some asking around.

Personal wise, I have been back for 5 weeks, 3 of which I had my boyfriend Doug here, who was a great help to me (re: the injury) and also great to have around. We did lots of things including going to something which the Cantabridgians call a "May Ball" which is basically like a large prom with varied events (outside mainly and then tents) held during "May Week" which actually is in June. May Week occurs the week after the undergraduates have finished their exams. It was a very interesting experience because the women wore ball gowns and the men wore black tie (DJ: dinner jacket, aka tuxedo) and there were outdoor events such as bumper cars and bungee runs. Many bands were featured. It was quite chilly that evening. And Doug and I wanted to be a "May Ball survivor." That is we would stay up til 6am when it ended (it started at 8pm). Well, we were survivors, but it wasn't that hard with many things to do. And on June 22 it was only a ~3 hour night, the sun setting round 1130pm and peaking its head up around 3am. I believe I would have enjoyed it better with a better back. But it certainly was an experience.

During Doug's stay we went to London to be tourists one day and then returned to attend the Prince' Trust concert in Hyde Park. And apoligies for getting the artist's names wrong, I listened to Alisson (?) Morrisette, Bob Dylan, and Pete Townsend and a bunch of people ("the Who" I am told, but with some weirdly dressed extras *giggle*). We left before Eric Clapton closed the evening (the back was acting up and we had a train journey back to Cambridge. I did enjoy it even if I was on my back on the ground for it. Doug sure did. Anyway, for those who know me, it was certainly basically all "new" music to my ears. Whether I will listen to those artists again, well, maybe...

We also toured around a Normal Castle in Stansted, the Mountfitchet estate. It was loads of fun! I especially enjoyed the severed heads on the bailey wall. *huge grin* To ward off raiders. The surgeon was wonderful (wax figure), cutting up injured soldiers, many who died under his care, but at least he tried, right? Great trebuchets and siege towers too (we climbed all over them). It was a very neat castle (dating 11c).

My sister is visiting next week. I am very much looking forward to her visit. I'll get her to solder for me! *laugh* Doug was quite helpful in the lab when he visited, and since I am eager to get some work done, even though the doctors say I must still rest more than I have been *sheepish grin*, I felt better when we pulled some "work days" together.

All in all, I am glad to be back even though I face a long recovery. I am using pool therapy and plodding on and trying to smile more. It's very hard being away from home and trying to manage a normal life with an injury which still hasn't healed.

I hope things are going well for people. Drop me a line sometime, I'd like to hear what is new in people's lives. Sorry for being silent for a while, but a serious back injury puts a person in a very melancholic mood, so to speak.

I'll be here in Cambridge for another two years or so. Our spectrograph is coming along and should be on the telescope in Nov 1997.

My personal info is still the same:
Snail Mail:
Kimberly Ennico
Jesus College
Cambridge CB5 8BL
United Kingdom
Email:
kennico@ast.cam.ac.uk
All the best,
Love & hugs,
Kim --------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. If anyone wants anything from Cambridge/England, just let me know. I am hoping to be stateside in Nov and most definitely for a week or two over Christmas.

P.P.S. If you have moved let me know so I can update my "other" addressbook.

P.P.P.S. Comet Hale Bopp starting to become visible in the southern part of the night sky, currently above Sagittarius.