“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” ~ Mr. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

This man is a genius. I just love that line.

Anyway, back to my reading. Just had to share. =D

I finished reading Lord of the Flies a few days ago and let me just say…. whoa. I don’t know just what I was expecting, but whoa. I was so sad when Piggy… didn’t make it off the island. Or rather, made it off the island in a less than desirable way. Very sad. Very striking. Good book.

It reminds me of the movie American History X in that I thought they were both good stories, but they still upset me to read/watch. They made me mad and I wanted to grab the characters and shake them, force them not to make such bad decisions. Actually, I was like that with Scarlett from Gone With The Wind the whole time. I loved her but I wanted to smack her. Quit marrying people for goodness sakes!

Right now I’m working my way through The Grapes of Wrath and I just love all the imagery that Mr. Steinbeck uses. And next I have The Slaughterhouse Five to work on. Hurray. I picked it up since there were problems getting the book I wanted from the library.

The only thing that makes me a bit cranky is that due to my “meddling” I don’t have The Tale of the Body Thief in my possession. It is in “library limbo”. Monday I called the library to have them put it on hold for me. The lady said that she grabbed it and put it on the hold shelf and that it’d be there for me to pick up until Thursday. So yesterday, I went in to the library to pick it up. But it wasn’t on the shelf. I checked the online catalog and it said that the book was still in the building, not checked out. The gentleman who checked the “hold shelf” asserted that is was NOT back there. And when I went to check the aisles, it wasn’t there either.

That is the only copy that I have access to! They have one other copy at another branch, but that particular location closes at six and there is really no earthly way for me to be able to get there in time what with having to pick up Jasbaz from daycare. =\

I plan on making a mad dash out of here today though and seeing if I can get it. Chances are slim. I want to know what happens next in Lestat’s adventures!

I have a few stories to tell but I’m in a reading mood at the moment, not a writing one. The books, they capture me. It happens. =) See you cats whenever I happen to emerge.

This weekend we went to the pool. And it was a magnificent time. The first time we’ve been this summer. It was a beautiful Saturday, too. The kind where we all lazily got up around elevenish, tottered around the house to make breakfast, rubbing the crust from our eyes and sitting at the table looking at each other in a tired hazy happy kind of way. It was that kind of a Saturday.

By the time we were all ready to go to the pool, it was already late afternoon, but it was a good afternoon and the humidity was still thick enough to make the leaves bend towards earth and sweat race down your back. The sun was shining and in our great haste to get to the pool, we only had to make one return trip before we arrived at the pool. For some reason, Andy’s ability to plan out his footwear just didn’t work, so about two blocks away from the house we had to turn back so he could get himself some flipflops. He didn’t want to ruin his nice house shoes. They don’t play nice with water.

Anyway, we arrive just around five o’clockish, which gives us about four hours until the sun starts to sink down. We paid our entrance fee, showered up, and prepared to take Jasbaz to the pool. She’s been to a pool before, but that was just under a year ago, and it was a different one. It was one of those warm exercising ones, simple, understated, perfect for someone who wants the benefits of a nice indoor pool without any bells and whistles. The pool we went to Saturday? Bells and whistles and squirts and slides and spouts and shouts and water works and riotous children. And outdoors. Completely different from the one she’d been to before.

It was funny watching her expression as we headed towards the kiddie pool. It was set up with a gentle gradient that deepened around a big jungle gym type set up, with water spouts and sprays, colors, steps, slides, and kids shrieking and running in joy. It was quite an impressive set up. Andy was stoked. He wanted to take her up there RIGHT THIS INSTANT, but she was looking around at the scenary rather shell shocked. Instead, we sat in the low pool and splashed around a bit.

She’d poke her head over my shoulder and stare with wide concentrating eyes, trying to figure everything out, whether she liked it all or not. Also, she made it clear that she wasn’t sure about everything by staying latched to my side the entire time. I sat down Indian style, pointing out all the kids playing, the cool mushroom type water spout, the pretty colors of the play stations, and the entire time, she’d shift around on my lap, looking and listening, studying everyone and everything around us.

Before long, Andy’s excitement bubbled over so that he snatched her up and began to show her these things up close and person. I just stretched out and watched as he stood underneath the big mushroom water spout, water washing over their heads and down their bodies, Jasbaz’s eyes enormous and then blinking furiously when water got in them. She kept me in reasonable sight the entire time, hoisted atop Andy’s shoulders as he showed her this or that, turning back occasionally when something really frightened her. When she did this, I’d smile and wave, and she’d kind of steel herself and turn back to face whatever it was.

After a while in the kiddie pool, we’d decided we’d had enough of this. Time for the big people pool. The breeze kept the kiddie pool a bit chilly. Jasbaz felt much better about the regular pool. There weren’t random timed squirters going off, for one. And for two, it was definitely warmer. We spent a majority of our time in the pool trading her off to each other, floating on our backs, pointing the divers out to her, and stretching our arms out so that she could kick out for herself as we walked backwards through the pool.

It was a good time. Very good time. Even afterwards when we stopped in to get something to eat, the waitresses kept pointing to each other and nodding towards Jasbaz, squealing in high pitched voices about her cute little swimsuit and red Crocs. I mean, I know she was cute. I picked the outfit out myself. But it was still a little offputting when I just wanted to order my Philly Cheese Steak and go back outside because my upper half was freezing. Air conditioning and wet swimsuits do not bode well. That is my bit of wisdom to share for today. I probably could have engraved glass… anyway.

Definitely an excellent twenty-first birthday weekend. Filled with everything that I enjoyed: a pool, Philly Cheese Steaks, hilarious Jasbaz expressions (seriously, she was like WTH MAMA? when I was coating her with sunblock), warm sun, the fam…