Saturday, June 02, 2007

Hallelujah!

Whatever cursed pollen has been making my eyes swell shut seems finally to have stopped its assault. I've been Benadryl-stoned off and on for the last week or so, ever since we went canoe camping over Memorial Day weekend. When we were approaching our camp the first night my eyes started to swell shut--a very pretty look and soooo useful when setting up a tent! Luckily there were two other groups of people canoe camping at the site which gave Fiona plenty of people to go talk to. By the time Brian and I had unloaded the canoe (with me half-blind) everyone knew her first, middle and last name, that she likes to pretend to be Sparkles the Rescue Cat, and that she hoped that someone brought some good graham crackers for smores because her mom had packed the whole-wheat kind and she doesn't like them.

I popped a benadryl and proceeded to become such a space cadet that I missed the campfire and smores entirely. I was floating happily in my tent. (The flonase I take handles all the rest of my allergy symptoms--no sneezing at all--but is useless when it comes to my eyes).

I think I've read some books in the last couple of weeks...but exactly which ones they were I'm a little foggy about. With the drugs, I had the intellectual capacity to handle Fiona's endless requests for the Dolores books by Barbara Samuels, particularly Happy Valentine's Day, Dolores despite the fact that it is now June, but not for much more than that.

It has been kind of fun being so stupid, but also a relief that I no longer want to claw out my eyes, and that I now have the brains again to plan what the hell I'm going to do with my kids when their school ends in two weeks (aaaagh! only two weeks to come up with a plan!)

Monday, May 28, 2007

other people's brains

I'm still waiting for my brain to wake up (though I think I have found the culprit--allergies! My eyes are itchy and my brain is slooooow) so in the mean time, I'll direct you to some people whose brains are not in drug-induced stasis. These are some places I've been visiting lately:
  • La Tartine Gourmand: Exquisitely beautiful food photos and each interesting entry is written in English and French, so you can practice your French literacy of cooking verbs like " Saupoudrez," " Ajoutez," and " Délayez".
  • Mo Willems Doodles: See new sketches and doodles by the illustrator of all things pigeonic.
  • Bent Objects: Check out the witty bended wire sculptures of this artist.
  • Stay up to date on the many crises when it comes to public education in our state at Michigan Parents for Schools.
  • See what you could be eating if you lived in NYC by reading The Girl Who Ate Everything and see what another New Yorker is cooking up with the fine ingredients she buys at Tiny Banquet Committee.
  • Envy and admire two people who split their time between the South of France and NY and eat at fantastic restaurants whose menus they describe and critique in detail at Country Epicure.