I've been reading about the wildfire in Catalina and it's a tragedy, it really is. But the thing that is irking me is the subheadline I keep seeing that reads, "Thousands flee by ferry as ash rains down like snow." Really? Is it possible to rain down like snow? Why not "ash falls like snow?" Or even more succinctly, "ash snows?"

Clearly I need to get out more.

And really, it's a crime not to. It is yet another beautiful day in the neighborhood and aside from the noisy powerwashers attacking the decades-old paint on the house next door, it is peaceful. I plan on walking up to meet AJ after school with some carrots in my pocket for the horses we pass on the way, who now gratify me by running toward me when they see me coming. And I haven't even been feeding them. You know how to get to me, horses. There's a box of sugar cubes on my grocery list because of you.

I have been alternating the reading of miniscule newsprint (yet another reason why graduate school is best left to the young -- I am trying hard to pretend I don't need to buy reading glasses. If I can just hold out until I turn 40, then I will be resigned. Maybe.) with the planning of the Norman invasion baffling task of scheduling AJ's summer. I have a massive tome of booklets, flyers and random scribbled-on pieces of paper with information about all kinds of camps. Basketball camp, football camp, chemistry camp, ecology camp, space camp, braniac camp, camp camp, swimming lessons, Spanish lessons, skating lessons, gymnastics classes, and probably a few more that I've completely forgotten about. If there were world cash enough and time, there would be absolutely no problem filling AJ's summer. But, ah, there is never cash enough and almost never time enough. And naturally the two things AJ most wants to do (basketball camp and space camp) meet at exactly the same time. And then there's the other people we have to consider. My parents -- are they coming in June? And if so, when? Because it would be bad for AJ to be in the all-day camp when they're here. And what of my brother who, in light of one of the heads of the organization for which he works having resigned in the Washington Madam scandal, has still not got a contract for next year and thus is not able to schedule his vacation. Will he be coming? And if so, when? And what should I make of this extremely cheap non-stop flight airfare from the airport nearest my house to the airport nearest my parents? Should we work a trip there into the summer schedule? Even if it would knock out two weeks of summer camp because you have to fly in the middle of the week?

I have no idea how to figure this out. And who knew the Washington Madam would complicate my summer vacation?

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