Woke last night to the sound of thunder...

And so we have survived another Fourth of July. If you have to be anywhere on the 4th, you should either be in Boston or Washington DC. Here, people were popping off fireworks long and loudly, way past midnight. Poor Kodiak was beside himself, keeping us up all night as he seemed to be hyperventilating, pacing around our bedroom, going from one side of the bed to the other, breathing huskily into our faces. Phew—talk about dog breath. We were afraid he’d have a heart attack, he was so nervous. The only other thing that bothers him as much is a thunderstorm. In fact, he knows he’s not allowed in the kitchen, but he will come in and plop himself on the kitchen floor, and won’t move no matter how much we berate him. Then we’ll hear some distant thunder and understand.

This week we have big news: four year old Max now wears glasses. They are, of course, very cool. He has rectangular lenses on thin frames, with little images of Spongebob Squarepants on the inside of the ear pieces. The moment he put them on he said, “Mom, everything looks bigger!” Apparently he needs them for more than just reading and driving. He looks very cute in them.

I’ve lately discovered an author named Anita Shreve. Everyone else already knows her—she wrote The Pilot’s Wife. I read her Sea Glass and just finished All He Ever Wanted. I went to the library today and took out The Pilot’s Wife. Might as well read them all. Her characters are compelling and stories spin out in a fascinating way. So far I’ve read twenty-five books this summer. Painting took up this week, but I have lots of time yet to reach the fifty or so I’d like to do.