i am in love

with bill bryson.

well, i must admit, i've been in love with him for quite some time - ever since i read "the mother tongue", actually. but, today i've been listening to "i'm a stranger here myself" again and it is just such a lovely commentary on american ideosynchrasies as well as his own. i believe the second or third article (the book is a collection of articles, i.e. not an entirely cohesive unit) starts out with "i have very happy hair. no matter how serene and composed the rest of me is, not matter how grave and formal the situation, my hair is always having a party. in any group photograph you can spot me at once, because i am the person at the back whose hair seems to be listening, in some private way, to a disco album called 'dance craze 97'". what is not to love?

it's been a odd, hectic, kind of sucky few weeks. my car needed its spark plug wires replaced, then i got it back from the shop (i didn't think of asking how hard it would be to do the spark plug wires myself and it would not have been a problem) and it was leaking coolant. the shop said there was a puncture in my radiator and there was no way they could have been to blame because they were only working on the top of the engine. great. then my car cover was stolen, which my parents had bought me after i had to have my entire car repainted due to a mystery substance that was eating away at the clear top-coat of my car, my cell phone died, my land phone line went out, my new computer had to get a new motherboard, and a bottle of balsamic vinegar exploded in the back of my car leaving a 2 inch puddle in the basin where my spare tire sits.



but, i woke in time the other morning to walk outside and see a flock of geese just at that very moment flying overhead. i can put a loaf of bread in my car in the mid morning and by mid-afternoon have a yummy, balsamic-laced, bready treat. i have folded laundry today and done many other dreaded tasks that make you feel like you have actually accomplished something when you are done, i have lovely tomatoes growing in my garden, and i started to knit a pair of socks, an item which i have been scared of for ages. all in all, today is being one of those rare, wonderful days where you think you wouldn't mind doing this whole thing for quite a while longer.