Rain rain go away

Not enough rain out west, too much rain here. Grey skies. blah days. Really don't lend themselves to motivation. I wonder if it comes from somewhere in my childhood, but I'm torn between curling up under a blanket and watching a movie and putting on clothing I don't care about and splashing in puddles. But being an adult makes me worry about dripping through the house when I come in. I guess we hosed off outside and wrapped in towels on the porch as kids. Would the neighbors wonder....

Burn baby burn

"The smoke-filled orange skies above Pine Stump Junction Tuesday afternoon seemed to be threatening something big was about to peek up over the treetops." The Mining Journal reports regular updates on the Sleeper Lake fire in Luce County Michigan. Over 18,000 acres of land have been destroyed by the fire and they now say it is 25% contained. However the link is not to a story about the fire, but a story about a motel owner in the back woods of the upper peninsula of Michigan who would not leave. As the police evacuated Pine Stump Junction, two gentlemen stood their ground against mother nature and made the choice to wait and see.

It's the makings of a good novel to me... "A small town and townsfolk with deep roots. Roots as deep as the trees that were burning, threatening their very existance. If Mother nature was not kind, there might be no recognition that anyone had even lived there. As the wildfire grew over 15,000 acres two men stood together in a battle of wills. Theirs versus the forest fire that had started over 5 days ago by an innocent lightning strike in the middle of a swamp. Who knew that the lives of dozens would never be the same... "

You can picture the two old men soaking bandannas and tieing them around their necks, covering their mouths while out the window black smoke billowed and you imagine the flames in the distance underneath all that smoke.

In all seriousness, however, thoughts and prayers go out to those effected and thanks and praise to all the firefighters and other personel helping contain this fire.

Ponderings on Potter

We finished the book in about one week. It was enjoyable. I liked the ending (which I am choosing not to discuss although I believe most fans of the series have already read the book). I thought, however, that I would have a feeling on the ending of the series when I finished the book, but nothing. Happily ever after, and ? I wasn't particularly happy or sad. I wasn't even opinionated about the way it ended. I did ponder some of the parallels that the series brought and I wondered if they were intentional by Rowling or if I was inferring too much. I thought about all the information that was smooshed into the last 4 or 5 chapters. I pondered the what happens next, but not for long.

Without any fanfare or any sorrow life went on. I have been continuing life with no glitches for the last 4 days and that's it. I held one conversation at work about the book, we discussed Voldemort's soul tied under the chair. We discussed the children's names. And then I went back to work.

This has made me ponder today (after I read about Universal Studios building a Harry Potter Theme Park/ attraction in Florida) what ripples in lives has this series made. Many expound upon the children who have formed habits of reading, parents who have spent more time with children talking about the series, reading the books or seeing the movies. What continues now? Will a new series arise that will fill the gap?