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-A random stack of caps includes one with an old Brewers logo. It’s the one on the lower right with the barrel logo.
>I used local honey, of course, from the Farmers’ Market. I’ve been using the slow cookers recently to keep the house cool on hot days and to get supper rolling while I’m playing in the dirt – er, working in the garden. I served this with rice; Chuck shredded his on a bun. It’s delicious either way.
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My reaction (you won’t be surprised) was to stop in my tracks, look that bunny right in the eye, and call out, “How did YOU get in there?” It didn’t answer me. Smart rabbit. It did show me its exit strategy: a piece of chicken wire that had pulled lose from the garage wall, right behind the rain barrel.
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What makes a book or series worth re-reading? A good story, believable and likable characters, a unique world so strange and splendid it can’t be imagined – unless described by a brilliant storyteller. Harry Potter is one such series.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has a special magic. The shortest of the seven, it introduces Harry and his readers to a whole new world: a world of magic. Witches, wizards, a sport played on flying broomsticks, owl post, powerful potions, and more incredible yet believable things exist in this parallel world. In The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry first learns of his family and his wizard identity.
Readers can share his awe as he learns that his new school has its own train that leaves from platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross Station. Somewhere between platforms nine and ten, he encounters the Weasley family, asks them for help finding the train, befriends Ron, and the rest, as they say, is history. Mythology? Legend? Wizardry? Ghostology?
I enjoy rereading The Sorcerer’s Stone because of JK Rowling’s genius. The settings are magically unique, but she describes them in a matter of fact tone so that we readers know this is only the beginning. When she describes the staircases at Hogwarts’ School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, all 142 of them: “…wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday…” it’s simply in a paragraph about Harry attempting to learn his way to his classes.
And the classes! No Intro to British Lit here. Harry takes History of Magic (taught by a ghost), Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and the cursed (literally, but we don’t know that until a later book) Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The “strange and splendid place” in the first line is the Great Hall as Harry sees it on his arrival at Hogwarts. In his limited upbringing by his neglectful Muggle (non-magical) relatives, he had never even dared imagine a world so wonderful.
Thankfully for all readers, JK Rowling did imagine such a strange and splendid place – a world nearby, yet far different from our everyday Muggle existance. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone stands on its own as a wonderful story and sets up the reading world for an adventure that begins – and ends, several books later – on Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross Station.
My students won’t have wands, owls, or school robes. They’ll write their assignments with pen on paper or type them on computers, not ink and quill on parchment. One of my challenges, though, is to create a safe place for them to experiment, read, and write. Maybe one of them will create a strange and splendid story for another generation – some magical day in the future.
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La Petite said she wouldn’t wear it herself, but agreed that it was a good style and good fit (and fun) for me. Here’s the back view. It’s fairly lightweight, too. 
All that for a total of (drumroll, please) $60. Five jackets, a dressy shirt, and a vest: I’m rather pleased with the results. Oh, one more detail: only one needs to be dry cleaned. The rest can be washed on delicate cycle. Now that, my friends, is priceless. >We’ve redecorated, courtesy of Amigo. I’ve actually had these up for several weeks, but I didn’t have a picture. Amigo thought the picture would make a good Wordless Wednesday. Oops, I just added words!
I’ll keep them up until they get dusty or until something else comes up. It’s fun to look at evidence of his success every time we come in the room. All in all, he’s a pretty awesome teenager. >
Chuck made this Sunday night. I’m planning to make it again later in the summer when the corn is local and fresh. We used green onions and cilantro from the garden this time, and we’ll have jalapenos and plum tomatoes available later in the gardening season.
>The thunder yesterday sounded encouraging, but the storm dropped so little water that I felt I still needed to lug around the watering can again.
>I had cabin fever yesterday – just wanted OUT of the HOUSE. This may be a good sign. Instead of wanting to curl up on the couch or hide in my bedroom recliner, I wanted to get up and out.
