It's Summer

and I'm reading, reading, READING!!

Right now I'm in the throes of the following:

Lamb (absolutely hilarious!)

Elric: Song of the Black Sword (recommended many times over by a friend and proving to be very interesting, indeed)

The Forest House (I loved The Mists of Avalon, so this has got to be good, right?)

and the audio book The Secret of Lost Things.

Our second library's summer reading program has kicked off, which is the one that has an adult program, too.

And last weekend, we went to the beach for the first time this year. It was gorgeous. Now it's too cold, but I know there are lot of great beach days ahead of us. Ahhhhh, summer! :)

Sparks

Fishy and Sluggie brought me a huge ant at the library the other day. They had seen someone intentionally step on it, but it had been left only horribly maimed and not dead. There was clearly no hope for it, even though they wanted to save it, and I regretfully told Sluggie to put it out of its misery. She couldn't do it, and asked me to do so instead. It will probably seem stupid to most people, but it was hard. Life is sacred and mysterious and miraculous to me. And knowing that by the simple pressure of my foot I would be removing an enitity from the universe, crushing out a spark of life so easily -- so suddenly -- was hard. It even bothers me to kill mosquitoes. Yes, I do it, but the act of killing anything is just so hard to wrap my brain around. One minute there is something alive and moving with a purpose and intention of its own, and the next there is only an empty shell, and the motivating force or spirit has vanished. Where does it go?

Librarese

We signed up for one library's summer reading program today. The other library's starts on Monday. (We like to double dip.) You might think that on an information sheet done by librarians, they'd know that "bazaar" is not a description of a strange and wondrous thing, or that "leaches" don't lurk in stagnant water. You might think so, but you'd be wrong.

Picture This (Part 654)

We found some plates that were made somewhere besides China! (Italy in this case.) MuNKi is semi-embracing my desire to get completely mismatched dishes. My logic is that we can get a bunch of interesting stuff and if something breaks, we simply find another interesting setting. I know stacking won't be the greatest, but who cares? MuNKi liked these enough that he bought a bunch, though. I don't think he's quite on the same page I am.

Lamb's ears. Not deceptively fuzzy. They really are as soft as they look.

I wish I could make the lilac one scratch 'n' sniff.

Cookies, cookies, cookies! They look better than they tasted, IMO. But MuNKi liked them.

This tastes pretty good though. ^_^

So if you put chive flowers in a jar of vinegar (with some plastic wrap under the lid to prevent corrosion) . . .

it turns into this!

Emmett is always such a help in quilting.

He's practicing for his role in the upcoming Puss in Footwear here.

Trillian, on the other hand, contents herself with helping to change the lightbulbs.

Tashiya brought only one of her three babies this day. (Or maybe it's Winona. I'll have to ask Mollusc.)

Awww! Who could say no to a face like this? Well, besides Egan. ;-) (photo credit goes to Mollusc)

And yeah, I'm being brave and posting a pic of my haircut.

I think I look slightly less liney outside. Thanks to Mollusc for the first pic and Fishy for the second. :)

Schtick Lit

Originally titled "STFU Stanley!" Gardner Books has decided to go with a slightly less in-your-face title for this award-winning children's story. Aimed at toddlers, the shiny board book with drool-friendly pages is sure to be a crowd pleaser as Zacky the Zebra teaches children in no uncertain terms how to be seen but not heard.



Dr. Evil calls it "the best book I ever read!"

Be sure to buy your copy today.

If

If I were to get off my lazy ass (well, ON it, I guess would be more appropriate) and make a new post, it would go right here.

And if I were to post pics, they would probably be about here.

And here (but further down.)

But I'm too lazy.

My soap is curing in the kitchen. The whole place smells like spearmint and it's just lovely.

I made more cookies from the Martha book and chive vinegar (for consumption) and lemon/orange vinegar for the laundry. What a shame I'm too lazy to post.