Once Again, Brought to You By Insomnia

Is anyone else attempting to read all of the previous Harry Potter books before the LAST ONE comes out? I’m only on number 2, and a new work assignment + constant kid duty means I have little chance of finishing them all. Plus I realized I have an all-day teacher training (for church, no I haven’t gone out and gotten a real job!) THE DAY THE BOOK COMES OUT. Argh.

Summer has finally arrived up on the hill; we had our first uncomfortably hot day Monday and Tuesday was no better. Fortunately we had lovely friends in town visiting (Lisa from “What Free Time?”—NO free time, now that she is pregnant with #3) and they helped us beat the heat. Today is supposed to be slightly less horrid. I have learned my lesson and won’t even go into town (=stinking hot asphalt mecca) today—we’ll stay up on the windy hill, dip our feet in the wading pool and retreat to the woods when the going gets tough.

We received a postcard yesterday from the people who own the five acres behind us—they’re selling and wish to give us first crack—and thus will begin what I’m sure will become our epic land-buying spree on The Hill. I once heard someone say, “A farmer’s only happy when he owns all the land touching his property,” and I think that attitude is rubbing off on us. There is so much peace attached to knowing we have relatively unbroken woods all around us; we want to make sure the tranquility isn’t disturbed by, horrors, a neighbor within sight or shouting distance! This is all so contrary to my former “new urbanist” views of old that it makes me wince (go ahead, calculate the miles I drive each day and make me feel guilty for my carbon emissions), but you know what, I’ve done my time in the downtown jungle. Besides, the six-year-old shining gold Ford Focus got 33 miles per gallon on my last trip back to Massachoo, take that, greenhouse gas Nazis!

(Brief aside: You’re getting me at peak insomnia exhaustion today, so it’s going to be silly. Please excuse.)

Which brings me to my new obsession, THE VANAGON. Yes, I now want nothing more than to traipse around the country visiting national parks and historical landmarks in a camper van. I will be able to cook bacon—IN MY CAR. I CANNOT EXPRESS how excited I am by this possibility, made so much closer to reality by the people of Pop Top Heaven who lovingly restore and sell vintage VW Westfalia campers. I envision years of forcing my children to play the license plate game in my future!

Oh yes, the children. The Biggie has not stopped reading for this entire summer vacation. She acts all miffed and snotty when I ask her to do something so lowly as, say, clearing her breakfast dishes. We have been reduced to threatening her with timeouts “with no books!” “Put down that book right now and get outside!” the Husband was heard to say recently; may I remember these times of epic tribulation fondly, when she is a sneaky boy-chasing teenager.

Wee, on the other hand, is experiencing a renaissance unequaled in her short history. She is using manners. She is controlling the volume of THE VOICE. She listens to direction and even follows it most of the time. She cheerfully and willingly cleans up/makes her bed/sets the table. It is unprecedented, and amazing. The two of them together are having an absolutely lovely summer, though they may not realize it—we have gone swimming, hiking, wild berry picking, newt-hunting, animal tracking (foxes! 2 feet from our house!), biking, and road-tripping. They make up these crazy and wonderful games to play together. Just when I think I will go out of my gourd, the Biggie comes up with some goofy trick that will occupy her sister for half an hour. Ah, once in a while I think I might actually be raising them right.

Well the insomnia buzzer has sounded, and I’m out for the night. Have a good one, folks!