Last night we drove across construction-riddled roads to the Chicago Botanical Garden for some exploring, a picnic dinner and the beginning of the weekly concert on the carillon. AJ loves the Botanical Garden. It always surprises me how much he loves it there, for it doesn�t seem an inherently kid-friendly place, other than that it�s outside and doesn�t involve sitting still and being quiet. The one exhibit geared towards children, the outdoor trains, is closed in the evenings, so AJ simply prowled around, finding little nooks and crannies to hide in, rather like some hardy weed. He was enchanted by an archway cut straight through a yew hedge. He loved all the fountains and the occasional half-hidden statuary. His favorite find, though, was Spider Island, a tiny island in a manmade lake with a narrow wooded trail winding into the trails center where a stone council ring was hidden. We could hear the bells perfectly from there and had a beautiful vista across the lake. In any other July, we would have been swamped by mosquitoes in such a shady spot at dusk. But the one benefit of this summer�s drought has been a serious reduction in the insect population.

I haven�t been to the garden at this time of year in a very long time. It was truly spectacular � a riot of color. My own garden is a riot of color too, at the moment: bright red monarda vies for attention with cheerful orange nasturtiums, purple liriope and campanula, the feathery paler purple of Petrovskia, sunny yellow coreopsis, rudbeckia and cone flowers, dusky purple coneflowers, orange and yellow day lilies, deep red berries dripping from the cherry trees and honeysuckle. It all smells like summer.

Today has involved more trip preparation, more noodling with my proposal, and soon a trip to the vet for poor Mrs. Stein who�s in for a couple of shots. This evening, if the day�s slow drizzle stops, we�ll be heading to another summer staple � a minor league ball game � with AJ�s uncle and cousins.

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