Leaping From The Box

I know, I know. All the non-HP fans around the world are tired of hearing about Harry Potter mania. I’m sorry. I tried not writing about it, truly I did. But since we are all immersed here in HP, I couldn’t seem to come up with anything else to write about.

Charles and I have been rereading the series in preparation of Year 7 coming out. I just began Year 5 yesterday and Charles is on Year 3. Both of us are determined to finish the series all the way through. We did that the when Year 6 came out and that is what we are doing again this time around.

Kat was visiting over the weekend (along with Miss Muchkin) and she became so caught up in our conversations about the previous books that she began to read the series. She had read the first three or four, but none after 2003. So she started Year 1 and took Year 2 home with her.

David, on the other hand, just dove in Saturday afternoon when our copy of Year 7 arrived and began reading. He finished Year 7 yesterday afternoon and now walks around with the smile of a superior being that knows how the series ends. And the frustration of not being able to talk to anyone about it!

It is amazing how many books this HP series has sold! The first twenty-four hours of its release it sold 5,000 books per minute! Per minute!!! Can you imagine? A book! A children’s book at that! It is simply amazing.

I would love to be reading the series right now, but as a responsible adult, I am doing adult things instead. I have taken my morning walk, balanced my checkbook, answered a couple of e-mails, and repotted several plants this morning. Instead of 10 African violets, I know have 15. I ran out of potting soil or I probably would have turned 10 into 18 or so, since I still have two plants which need repotting. Potting, Potter, hmmm… I do believe I have HP on the brain, a disease for which there is an easy cure. It’s lunchtime … I do believe it is permissible for a responsible adult to read during lunch! Cheerio!

Catching up on odds and ends …

We visited David at Evansville last weekend, Family Weekend. What a rainy Saturday it was! We didn’t join in on any of the college activities but instead visited the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science. http://www.emuseum.org/.

I would have never imagined that Evansville was a major shipyard in the 1940s, building LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) for the war effort. Even the boys found it interesting!

David seems to be doing very well. After a bit of poking and prodding we got to hear tidbits about his classes, his teachers, and what he is learning. He could even speak some Japanese already! But he’s definitely not homesick and by Sunday afternoon was more than ready for us all to leave. I guess that’s a good thing?

My poor fern … first Copper decides it’s THE place to sleep. Then the Fluffies discovered it and now it seems like the bed of preferences for several cats and kittens. I’m not sure it’s going to survive. It was so dry and hot this summer that it didn’t grow as much as usual and was just catching a second breath in September. Soon it will be cold enough that I will have to move it inside, but it really doesn’t get enough sunshine when inside, so I hate to move it in any earlier than necessary. But somehow I’ve got to keep the kitties out!

Here’s a new pic of Miss Munchkin, taken two weeks ago. A drooling baby, cutting who knows how many teeth! Today Kat says that Miss Munchkin is “cruising,” which is a term for standing up, holding on to things, and walking around those things. You learn something new every day, Miss Munchkin how to cruise and Grandma what it means! It’s only a matter of time before she takes those first steps and walks on her own!