I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

I didn�t think it was possible to fall asleep while typing, but I�m starting to understand how it could happen. I�m writing outside today. It�s nice and warm. My laptop is warm too. There�s a nice breeze. If I had a hammock, I�d be asleep by now.

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This morning I dropped off AJ at preschool by bike, our usual mode of transport, and continued on for a good 10 miles or so before turning back. Years of biking in the city of Chicago and in the town where my parents live, both flat as pancakes, have left me unprepared for the hills out here. But the scenery is a huge bonus. Instead of fighting taxis for street space and getting slammed by bike messengers, I can ride for miles without seeing another car. Instead I saw horses, cows, a goat, lots of corn and soybeans, some golfers, and lots of boats jostling one another on the river banks near a pair of wading egrets. I do feel somewhat guilty enjoying this beautiful day, knowing that my parents are scrambling to prepare for Hurricane Isabel.

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Baseball fever has gripped our household. My husband is a lifelong Sox fan and has spent much of the last week yelling at the TV. My son is already fully indoctrinated. Any time he sees someone playing baseball, even the 6-year-old little leaguers who play in our neighborhood park, he shouts �White Sox!� If he watches a game, he swings with the batters. And when we were playing with his foam alphabet yesterday and spelled out the word �WIN� (there are no lowercase letters at this stage of the game), he yelled, �White Sox!� I myself am not such a raving fan, but it�s hard not to catch the enthusiasm. Plus there�s something very genteel about baseball in the fall. This would be the perfect time of year to read one of my favorite books about boyhood and baseball (well, it�s not really about baseball, but baseball plays an important role), which is Tony Earley�s Jim the Boy. I don�t want to say too much about it. It is such a sparely written book that to talk about it is to give away too much. But I will say that Earley is exceptionally good at evoking kidness. It�s a very old-fashioned story, not very stylish, not very long, but well worth a read.

Some baseball-related links:

Baseball euphemisms for sex

Frightening

Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First"

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