flea, I didn't know you had had your baby already. Belated congratulations!

32 weeks today. 5 more weeks and the Halloweenie is officially early but no longer premature; though I'd like her to stay put for just as long as possible -- even if she doesn't turn out to be an actual Halloween baby, it'd be nice to put as much distance as possible between her birthday and Emmett's. He's feeling displaced enough already.

I'm so glad your brothers are well and one is already finished and out. And, oh, how stressful that must have been for your friend and her DH (and you). Glad to hear that it's safe for them to be back home again.

I'm glad things are calming down for you and those around you, Nilly.

That's great news, Nilly.

JZ, I would be absolutely bonkers by now, if I were you. I'm a champ at lying around all day. Even two days. But this has been way too long. And you're awfully nice to be concerned about the Halloweenie's birthday vis a vis Emmett's.

today is Jen K's birthday. I hadn't seen posts from her in quite a while, but I hope the well-wishes find their way to her, somehow.

Nilly, I'll deliver the well-wishes in person since I'll be seeing Jen on Friday.

Happy birthday, meara!

it'd be nice to put as much distance as possible between her birthday and Emmett's

Oh, that makes sense, too. Well, she'll just have to wait inside some more before she gets to see the world, I hope.

And things are definitely getting back to normal here. Most of the reserve duty soldiers are home, nobody has to live in shelters anymore (or host people so that they wouldn't have to live in shleters), the schoolyear (elementary and high schools) will probably start as planned next week, and the news are all about corrupt politicians again.

Happy Birthday Meara and Jen!!!

In less pleasant news, I think I have food poisoning. From my own cooking! It's horrifying!!! The funny thing was, I roasted a chicken, and I'm totally paranoid about poultry, so I was being extra cautious. Even though the thermometer was saying it was done, it was just at the acceptable temperature, so I bunged that chicken back in the oven for another 10 minutes, just to be safe.

I suppose it's possible it was something else.

Good news about your brothers Nilly. It must be a relief to have them near again.

Whack that toy little dillo! So cute.

Ernesto update. We don't expect much in the way of wind, 60mph in the morning. Alas, we are supposed to get 12" or more of rain locally. I stopped by the office and picked up a couple computers from the floor just in case. Since the streets were pretty much empty I stopped and filled up the tank with gas too. The station was closing in 20 minutes. Looks like we are getting ready now. Need to get outside in the 90F heat and pick up stuff. It is windy already. Silly storm.

I left my camera up north so I will either take video of the storm or phone pictures. I always wanted to do one of those reporter videos with me being blown around. Hmmm.

I hope it's not too bad, Laura.

Library porn!!! [link]

Totally work-safe.

Now, coming upon this post as you are, unawares, I feel I ought to clarify the title (which was alternately going to be sex libris) straight away by telling you what this post is not, in fact, about. By “library smut” I am in no way referring to the photo books on native peoples, or the illustrated health manuals, or any of the other volumes which, in your childhood, you lurked about the library aisle to find with the sole purpose of sneaking guilty glances at naked bodies. Nor am I referring to the “risqué” novels by Miller, Cleland, Réage, or Lawrence you leafed impatiently through as a teenager. No. What I’m talking about here is the full-frontal objectification of the library itself. Oh yeah.

Yesterday I came across a truly gorgeous book of photographs by Candida Höfer titled, Libraries, a title which pretty much says it all, because that is just exactly what it is, one rich, sumptuous, photo of a library interior after another. It’s like porn for book nerds. Seriously. They are gorgeous photos, nearly all without visitors and just begging to be entered. (ha. sorry.)

The site's kinda' slow right now, but worth the wait.