The pre-vacation mania has begun, and my description of AJ�s first trip to the carnival suffered as a result. I left out all kinds of things. Like the consistently surly carnies. Or AJ's attempt to make friends in the moon walk jump (shaped like a tiger) by shouting, "Hi! I'm 4 years old!" to every kid that came in. Or about how AJ cried and cried when he couldn't go on the Supershot, a freefall ride. AJ also won a rainbow patterned stuffed dolphin in a game where you had to throw a whiffle ball into a bucket, and a giant inflatable duck in a magnetic fishing game. The duck, who goes by the name of Duckie, went to the pool with us yesterday, where he executed many acts of daring-do and reenacted many of the carnival rides. At the arcade games, kids got to play until they won something, which was really nice. Saturday night, my friend H. and I drove by on our way home from the bar to see the lights and they were really gorgeous. It looked like a fantasy carnival. You could see the giant slide and the Ferris wheel from miles away, their multicolored lights twinkling in the night.

Today has been all about the grindstone, however. I made appointments at the vet, the salon, and the optometrist, booked Mrs. Stein into a 2-week stay at a kennel, and made room in my schedule for trips to the DMV to renew my license, to AAA for maps, to an auto emissions inspection center and to school to return and renew some overdue library books. But the proposal? Uh, what proposal? Well, I�m not yet inspired, but if worst comes to worst, I could submit one I�ve submitted before. It�s different from what I want to do, but it�s close enough. Yes, I am a slacker. Got a problem with that?

It is hot and humid and sunny once more. Sleepy summer weather. It�s hard to get motivated to toil in my basement office in weather like this, but it�s hard to get motivated to do anything at all if I am anywhere else. At least it is cool down here. I had a record crowd at my water aerobics class this morning. Everyone flocked to the pool to cool down in the blue, blue water. On the way home, I stopped my bike by the ponds to watch a mother and baby deer go leaping into the woods and scores of black and green dragonflies strafing the water. The pond algae is blooming in tiny yellow-centered white flowers.

I keep the image of that moment at the pond in my mind�s eye as I plot my escape from the great state of Illinois. I can�t wait to have sand between my toes. I can�t wait to smell the ocean. I can�t wait.

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