Mmm, summer fruit

I got Piet to drop off myself and Elizabeth at the local discount supermarket - the kind of place where you pay for bags. Usually, their produce is mediocre at best, and I knew I'd have to search for good stuff. I found reasonably-fresh bagged coleslaw, good-looking celery and lettuce, and okay apples and nectarines.

Then I lucked out. A stock boy was bringing out a cart full of fresh-off-the-truck cherries.

Now, they're American, which means it's been at least a day since they were picked, probably two or three. I can handle that, because they're sweet and juicy. Canadian cherries will be ready in the next week or two, but in the meantime, these are a nice treat.

So I'm going to write the scene where the Countesses visit Amaia, while chowing down on some summery goodness.

I am not overly impressed with Canada Post.

My Harry Potter is still not here. That's three business days. I don't care where it's coming from (and my guess would be a warehouse in Toronto, in any case) it doesn't take three days to ship a parcel! If you factor in the weekend, that's five days.

Considering I could have driven to Toronto to pick it up in a couple of hours, this is doubly annoying. It would have to be coming ground mail from outside the province to reasonably take this long. I didn't think ANYTHING came ground mail from outside the province in this day and age.

That's my rant.

I'm going to take a nap. I haven't written much - a couple of scenes, less than a thousand words - but I can't concentrate.

Why am I updating?

I don't think I have anything big to say, but Elizabeth is playing happily in her room with her Noah's Ark, and I really want to encourage indpendent play, so I don't want to stop her. Also, I have no energy for much else.

I wrote twenty-five hundred words today, in spite of the slow start. I've decided to break the book up into roughly ten-thousand-word documents, because it makes it easier to find a spot where I want to add or subtract something. I now have two of those completed. Six thousand words of that is in the last two days. That's not too shabby, actually. More importantly, it's mostly pretty good. Cir needs more development in the beginning, but he acts consistently for his character throughout, and Pona's never been a problem that way - she does what I want her to. My favourite scenes are the Amaia ones, though. Villians are fun to write.

Elizabeth has been reading books, told stories, or played in bigger-kid games recently that involve capturing people and putting them in ovens. I know this, because she's looping one of my necklaces around her feet and saying, "I capture you and put you in the oven!" I think she's talking to her toes. Fess up, Oma. Have you been reading her Hansel and Gretel? :)

We now know the first three letters of "The A says ah." I decided that for the time being, "c" will only say "ck". We'll get to alternate phonics later. For now, I want her to recognize her letters and associate them with sounds.

I was a bad mommy today. I took Elizabeth to the park, and spaz that I am, I forgot to put sunscreen on either one of us or take bottled water. WE came home very thirsty, and I think she might be a bit pink. I'm hopeful that it's only a bit, though. We didn't stay too long, and she was not a happy camper. In any case, there were big kids everywhere, playing a bit rough, and I was nervous around them. I know exactly how rough big kids can be away from adult supervision, and I didn't want Elizabeth caught in the middle, so we left.

My answer to "Where is God in the lightning bolt?"

Those of you who read Pyat's journal have probably already seen this. I wanted it in my journal, for a variety of mostly selfish reasons, and one or two good ones. But I've been cluttering up your friends pages quite a bit today, so I'll put it behind a cut.

( Where is God when someone get struck by lightning? )