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Point one: My niece is adorable. She is funny in particular when she is waking up and trying so hard to open her eyes. I think she is a genius, and she loves Raggedy Ann already at four weeks. She also loves the sound of water, sleeping in her sling, and eating. My sister and I took her shopping twice. The first day she slept in her sling pretty much the whole time, which made having a snack at Brewed Awakenings pretty easy. The second day she was cool with the yarn store, but not terribly keen on not eating while her Mama shopped in the bead store. When she is awake, she stares at your eyes with a little crinkle in her forehead like she's working you out. She smiles when you stroke her cheek. We can't figure out which parent she looks more like. She is a very long and strong baby, and she can already do a superman at the doctor's office. I miss her. She makes me smile, even when she frowns.
Point two: I had a pretty good drive to get out to Wisconsin.
Point three: The SS Badger, on a windy, high-swell day, made me so sick one of the crew took pity on me and made me lie down in one of the rooms. Yes, I couldn't find my Dramamine so could not take it beforehand, which may have made a difference. Yes, I am ashamed and embarrassed, and wondering what the heck happened, because I've only been mildly seasick twice in my whole life, Dramamine or not. Yes, before I lay down I'd been planning to stand on the freezing, windy deck for four hours because I felt 100 times worse down below. Yes, when I got warm blankets put on me I shivered uncontrollably for an hour and a half. Yes, my car had a better time than I did on the ferry. Yes, I feel terrible because I want to support the enterprise and the friendly staff, but I don't know if I could try that again. But don't let me stop you. Just be sensible and take some drugs.
Point four: I got to spend the night with my Granny in Crystal Valley, recovering, listening to the wind, taking a walk around the yard, picking some asparagus, and wriggling into the quiet, creaky barn through a loose board. It was very restorative.
Point five: I was able to be very helpful at dance recital; the stage manager and I have a neat synergy backstage, and she's so organized it makes my job of crisis control and dancer-guiding easy. Mr. Mark's theme this year was 007, and everything seemed unusually tight and entertaining. A cancan skirt went flying, but it's all fun.
Point six: I got to go read on the dock for a bit, like old times, getting sunburnt, but enjoying the peace and birdsounds of the lake.
Point seven: My Dad and I had an intense discussion about poetry scansion.
Point eight: My Mom and I conducted tutorials on the computer-photo-printer.
Point nine: I arrived back home to an almost-empty fridge and the desperate need to do laundry.
Point ten: Looking at a super sunny week. Hooray!