finally, finally, finally. the air conditioners: off. the oven: working. the mosquitos: dying. my favorite ninety days of the calendar year are upon us. ben is in a constant swoon of happiness.





out in the backyard, the figs on jimmy and joe's tree are, literally, bursting. birds fly by and rip at them with their beaks; ripe, half-eaten figs litter our yard. we don't complain. the birds are cute and the figs smell great.




in the evenings, we have begun reading dickens' great expectations aloud. and tonight, for dinner, a meatloaf baked inside of a small pie pumpkin. in my first year with ben i was given every indication that there were many foods he didn't "like" -- i have since discovered that it was only a matter of me making them, and then he liked them. meatloaf, kasha and bowties... consider him schooled.