Only 72 hours left and packing left to do, tax forms to fill out, and a snow storm, power down for 6 hours. Our phone was out for several days, and now we're wondering whether the plane will fly on Sunday morning. Every news program reports tighter security, with planes turned away or flights cancelled. Today Brazil announced it would fingerprint all incoming US citizens, a reprisal for what we're doing here. Hints of tightened security behind the scenes.

Tomorrow our connection to Internet goes down. Have I gotten everything ready? We'll move to Internet cafes and probably won't be on line again for about a week.

Around the edges of each day are a few glimmers of what the world will be like after Sunday. My suitcase weighs 13 pounds so far, not counting books in the daypack. Tonight my task to sew secret pockets; Saturday we close down the house, all the connections that make a life will be tidily put away. I read in this month's Archaelogy that researchers are pleased to use CAT scans as a less intrusive technology, reading film instead of bones to reconstruct the past. What a pale copy even a photograph is! Perhaps like snow, and after a decade, who can remember how many days were filled with snow and these most elaborate preparations.