It's so much easier when people do what you expect.

I was listening to a segment on NPR this evening, on young voters, and they mentioned an 18-year-old who had not yet decided who to vote for. "The idiots!" I groused "I can't believe anybody could be undecided between these candidates. How ignorant can you BE!?" and I was working myself into a fine huff when the undecided youth himself started talking about his problem. "Well, I like McCain's position on the Second Amendment..." he said (and I huffed "okay, fine - he's not ignorant, just stupid!") and then he said "...but I like Obama's position on gay rights."

And then my head exploded. (It's hard typing with only half your skull still in place.)

I would rather be a chimera than a Republican.

I've emailed a bit lately with my aunties, who are also in political anguish. Both of them (referring to McCain/Palin supporters) used the phrase "Who are these people?!" which is something that's been perplexing me too. I find it impossible to imagine voting for those terrifying idiots. Just impossible. It's easier for me to imagine many things. Like what it would be like to breathe through gills. Or see through insect eyes. But the idea that McCain and Palin should be in charge of ANYTHING just seems so patently ludicrous that it's just impossible for me to imagine believing it. I know I'm a crazy way-out liberal, and that These People can't imagine voting for Obama. And I do try (I really do!) to understand other people's perspectives. But I just can't do it with this. I can't.

Oh, the debate. Yeah, I listened to it a little. I couldn't do more than that, though, because I just kept thinking about how These People would hear something entirely different than I did.

A totally unrelated frivolous postscript - it turns out that a town in which we stayed during our vacation is the location where the "Twilight" books take place. I wish I'd known that in advance - I've never read the books, but I would have liked to appreciate the efforts of the town to make some money off them!

I'm not exactly suspending my blog.

For a couple of reasons, I'm going to have to cut back on my blogging. One, the financial crisis demands more of my attention. Two, school starts next week. Three, something mysterious has shifted in the internets and NOW I CAN WATCH THE DAILY SHOW ONLINE!!!!!!! I just don't have the time for blogging. I'm sure you understand.

Just in case you were wondering, though, a quick update:
Dutch is back in daycare, and she likes her new, glamorous big-kid class. I like full-time, cheap, reliable, high-quality daycare. We're all happy.
The weather is lovely these days.
That's about it.

Best name EVER

Yesterday Dutch played some sort of game in which she was a character in a TV show, and her name was Junior Midnight. I love it. I wish we had named her that for real. I think it was inspired by the box of Junior Mints we shared at the one and only movie she's ever seen in a theater. But maybe it was just divine inspiration...

All the pretty horses, passing through my life.

If you're a Calvin & Hobbes fan (which you should be), you may remember a number of strips where Calvin, in full fantasy mode, would dash through a room narrating his outer-space adventures, and a parent or teacher or other clueless adult would be left staring after him in bewilderment, usually with a suction-cup dart stuck to her forehead. Life with Dutch is like that, except she has no suction-cup darts, and she requires you to engage with her games. Not just engage, engage EXACTLY AS DIRECTED. She tells you "you're supposed to say/do/wonder/cry/etc. ..." and gets all pissed off if you don't comply to the letter. This afternoon she came galloping into the kitchen and shouted "Mama you're supposed to say 'Why are all these horses stampeding in my house?'!!!" and I did, and then she galloped away. I was left staring after her in bewilderment. Actually, that's how I feel about parenting all the time - I'm always looking after her thinking "wait - what?!"

Boring slideshow time!

We went on vacation! It was an expanded version of our spring break trip, but with MUCH nicer weather. It was a wonderful trip, thanks to the weather and our kind and generous hosts. (Thanks, hosts!)

We started off in Seattle, but I was pretty sick with Dutch's bug, so we didn't do much. Mostly we wandered around to different places where we could sit and soak up the lovely weather. We saw Rockstar Uncle, who was feeling flush with a recent royalty check and the kickoff of recording for their new album - Cook reached for the bill for our meal, and Uncle said "No, I got it!" and Cook said "But you're a starving artist!" and Uncle said "No, I'm a fucking rockstar!" which cracked me up - he always cracks me up, starving or star.

Dutch, inspired by the weather, insisted on stripping down and taking a dip in Lake Washington.



















We went on to Port Townsend. We took the ferry, of course. Not much point in going anywhere in the Puget Sound unless you're taking a ferry, in my opinion.













There was a Baby! She and Dutch were interested in eachother, but Dutch was a little disappointed that the Baby doesn't really DO anything, and that she isn't allowed to tote the Baby around like a doll.













Our hosts took us to Dungeness Spit, which was also lovely. Everything was lovely! I love vacations! Dutch set up housekeeping in a pile of driftwood, which triggered my fond memories of exploring heaps of driftwood at South Beach on San Juan Island when I was a kid.













We reluctantly pried ourselves away from Port Townsend, carrying a vast bucket of blackberries, and I cajoled Cook into going all the way out to Neah Bay, in the Makah reservation, where we went to a museum and then walked out a really nice trail to Cape Flattery. My only regret is that we didn't eat any Ozette potatoes.













We splurged on a fancy cabin suite and spent the night by the Quillayute River. I didn't want to leave. Actually, that was kind of the theme throughout - it was fun to explore the Olympic Peninsula and get a sense of the whole area, but I look forward to going back and spending more time in each place. Someday.

The second-to-last day of the vacation was Tree Day - we went to the Hoh Rain Forest. Dutch was in turbo mode, and Cook and I wandered along the Hall of Mosses trail while Dutch sprinted around pretending to be Pippi Longstocking, wearing an outfit that clearly dated from 1963.






































Look! A banana slug!













We motored on to the Quinault Rain Forest, which was kind of too much rainforest for one day. Dutch was sleepy and cranky, and I was annoyed at having to pay the evil Forest Service a $5 parking fee. However, my mood was improved by reading the fantastic purple prose in the informational signs. You probably can't see it in this picture, but there's a reference to "the saturated fibers of life and death" that gave me furtive giggling pleasure for the whole afternoon.
































We also stopped to check out the world's largest spruce tree, at the recommendation of our downstairs neighbor. There appears to be some debate about this title, but we were suitably impressed. Though I felt kind of bad for this tree, which is located on a resort, at the edge of a golf course, all of which seemed far beneath its dignity. You can see Dutch way down at the bottom of the picture, for scale.


















We stopped for dinner at a over-priced, under-vegetabled restaurant in Aberdeen - they were very friendly, and fed us lots of fried food. This is a picture of Cook teaching Dutch how to play tic-tac-toe. I did not record the freakout that ensued when Dutch discovered that getting two in a row does not in fact ensure victory, but peace was restored by the arrival of fish and chips. Dutch seems to feel that tartar sauce is the condiment of the gods. She might be right.


























We spent the night by Grayland Beach, in a yurt. It was beautiful. Of course.













On the way home, we stopped in Skamokawa, bought sandwiches, and ate them on a beach on the Columbia River. While we were there, a big ship passed by - we waved to them, and they waved back! In fact, several people came out on deck and excitedly waved and blew a whistle at us - we think they may have been very eager to get to port and see some human beings other than themselves. This was very exciting for Dutch.













Then we came home (hooray!).

Friends are also good.

I am no longer going to write any original content; other people always say things more effectively.

Taxes can be good. Government spending can be good. Let's talk about that.

Produce consumed this weekend

• Two eggplants
• Six tomatoes
• Four cucumbers
• Two bell peppers
• Three bunches of basil
• A pound of green beans
• Two nectarines
• Four peaches
• A pint of blueberries
• Two pounds of little potatoes
• Half a bunch of dill

We did have a houseguest (hey mom!), and we do have leftovers from tonight's dinner, but I still think it's impressive. I am feeling a little over-full.

End of Summer

Luck!

Things that happened in the last two weeks:

1. I won a prize in the local toystore's raffle!
2. I was offered a graduate assistantship for the school year (yay for paying no tuition!)
3. I got one of the ninety billion tiny scholarships I applied for (and I do mean tiny, folks, but hey, it's FREE MONEY!) , which was very nice news after receiving 89,999,999,999 rejection letters.

Then this weekend Dutch got sicker than she's really ever been before, and I ended up taking her to urgent care tonight, at the urgent urging of the advice nurse, and I became alarmed that my luck may be shifting direction. It's not, though - many hours and dollars later, we're home, reassured that she's fine. We got a free pedialyte freezer pop. Dutch is pretty happy, and my luck is holding! Here's to another lucky week ahead!