Home again home again jiddity jig. Back to work, back in work pants. Yes, they still fit, but there's no slack in the waist anymore. Was late to work, had trouble getting out of bed. Was awake, but I so enjoy having the 2 brown girls roughousing on top of me in the morning. They growl, they bounce, they chew on each other and it's so endearing I just love it. They are happy to have me home and have life back to normal. Chances sat next to me on the couch after I got home and wiggled and wiggled, flipping over and over like a dolphin rolling in the sea. Tess jumped on top of her, jockeying for position. Jackson did what he always does: stood in front of me and barked. Then they spent a lot of time exploring the possibilities of running away. Someone has made another hole in the screen door so just latching it is no deterrent for J & T (Chances doesn't seem to know she might fit through a 10" hole and she stays in). I have to close the glass door, which I hate doing in the summer. The evening was spent letting them in and out, one at a time. It was a lot like answering Grace's never ending request for a sip of soda. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Trip home was fine, uneventful. I slept from Green Bay to Chicago, I hung out in O'Hare and enjoyed Starbucks. I slept from Chicago to Burlington. AGAIN I was on the wrong side of the plane to see my house and lake when we flew over it. I could see the AuSable Club clear as a bell when we flew over it and Keene Valley, though, and that was fun. What a beautiful trip through the Adirondacks and into the Champlain Valley. Clear day, green,green below. Lots of lakes and mountains.

Home is fine. Lin mowed my lawn: the act of a true friend. She called to make sure I got home before she headed home from work. I know she wanted to make sure the dogs would be all right too. She installed a new shower head, much inferior to the old. Water pressure is now too, too low. May have to locate the old one and re-install.

How is it to be home? Well, I miss the people in Wisconsin. I love being part of that tribe. What a great group, what a great time we had. So peaceful, overall. Sure, conflict. Molly's right, Grace and I have power struggles. Same as Henry and Grace had. She's a perflect blend of her parents (at least what I imagine her father to be like). She has some of the great qualities of her mother. Every time she asks if she can do something and is given a negative response she asks "Why?" Without exception. If you say "Because," she says that's not an answer. "Because I say so" is not acceptable but she'll take it. She's a sweet girl with a great streak of strength and inner struggle. Margaret is easy to please and sweet, working herself into the person she will be. Following Grace along, every now and then asserting herself. They're both lost without one anotoher. Anna is one of the kindest, sweetest people I've ever met. I wish she were spending the summer at MY house. I'd love to hear the strains of cello music coming from a room in my house and know she was in a room under my roof, able to visit with me from time to time. What a really, really wonderful person she is. And Molly and I are sisters, just as we always have been. So different and yet so much the same, through history, background and emotional makeup in some ways. We're so different in so many ways, but so much the same in other ways. It was great to be together. Kristen, I could spend the rest of my life with her: my heterosexual life partner, truly. Didn't get to spend enough time with her, but am looking forward to having 2 weeks in August with her. This is my family of women and I'm so lucky to have them. I felt enveloped and part of a wonderful group. I loved it all.

So many trips to the beach, every day a different one. Seeing the water in its different moods, I always love that. The landscape, so unique and Midwestern. No, I couldn't live there but I love having access to it, being in the middle of it and surrounded by it. I love the farm with 14 silos. That's just amazing to me. 14 silos! So beautiful in its magnitude. The miles and miles of flatland. I know midwesterners get claustrophobic in the mountains sometimes and when I'm there I feel as if I'm stretching my arms out so completely, I can see for miles and miles, Roger Daltry.

And now I'm at work, having spent most of the morning doing no work to speak of. Read email, caught up on department crap (poor suffering staff members). Talked on the phone with Liza for an hour. She's fine, sounds well actually. The weather is good and her hand is healing so she feels confident and relatively cheerful. Seeing Jenica really made a difference in her life. Now she's looking forward to visits from all of us, trying to figure out if she'll come here next month or not. They had a turtle appear in their pond, which is an amazing feat of nature. There's no swamp or water anywhere near their house, they just got up the other morning and there it was, swimming in their pond, a 4" turtle. Not a snapper, thankfully. How cool is that?

Got a bill from the headstone maker, along with a note that they put Henry's stone near the monument. I have to check it out but it sounds as if I'll have to ask them to move it. Rats! My fault for not getting up there to leave a marker where we wanted the stone put. The consequences of putting things off.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home. The ferry ride was like glass, the lake beautiful and peaceful. I decided to feel calm, productive, body image positive. Bought lots of fruit, soy milk (but whipped cream for tonight's book group dessert). Delicious looking peaches, watermelon, cherries, apples (no Pink Ladies, they're gone from my store). Dogs ate all the peaches while I was in the shower this morning. I MEAN REALLY! I love peaches. So far the dogs have peed on my bed (yesterday) and undermined my attempts at weight loss (this morning). This is not being supportive, this is not unconditional love. But they are so great, they are so entertaining, they are so wonderful. Last night on the couch Tess slept right on top of my chest, curled up and so affectionate. This is not a dog who likes to cuddle that much, but she was so contented in that position. I realize not everyone likes a 45-lb weight on their chest but I love having her so attached to me and so happy to have me home. I felt like a dead, bloated body in the water, weighed down by Chances on my feet and Tess on my chest. OK, so I was watching a Lacy Peterson movie to kill the time and they had just found the bodies floating in the bay.

Maybe I should try to get some work done.