Spring Milestones...
A squirrel tried to run under my bike tires today-first one of the season. *sigh*
Wildflowers are beginning to bloom-purple vetch and orange poppies along the freeway, but only a few poppies on the bike path. Something tall in the dandelion family is about to go nuts, and there's a tall, graceful yellow flower that I can't identify (but it also comes in lavendar and white).
I passed a woman with one of those weird "bikemobile" things today (those low-seated fully recumbant bikes with a fiberglass shell around the whole thing). She had a legless Barbie with a bike helmet attached to the front as a hood ornament. When we passed each other again on our return rides, the Barbie had been modified into the \o/ position. ;)
I loaned a friend at work The True Meaning Of Smekday, which she found hilarious (as I knew she would). My mission now is to get one of you to read it before the year's out! The hardback is under $12 at Amazon.com right now (with an under $7 bargain book version), and it's such a bizarrely delightful book. Alien Boov invade the Earth, renaming it "Smekland" and eventually herding humans into restricted territories. The main character, an 11-year-old girl named Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci, is alone now that the Boov have kidnapped her mother. She heads to the human encampment in Florida, driving herself (!) down there, and winds up befriending a Boov along the way. They proceed to have a LOT of interesting adventures, with much humor and irony. To quote Tip's alien friend, "That is Carl. I owe her moneys," and to quote Tip, "If you don't start making sense right now, I will crash this car into a coyote!"
Occasional illustrated sections show things like the koobish, a Boov-world animal that strongly resembles the drawings of "sea monster floaties" from children's books set at the beach. We also learn that "The Boov are having seven magnificent genders!" and Tip eventually encounters two completely different boys' groups that have named themselves BOOB because they like the acronym (which is not the correct acronym for the group's actual name). SO funny, and I can't describe it in a way that fully does it justice.
But you KNOW you want to read it. Yes, you do! :D
Wildflowers are beginning to bloom-purple vetch and orange poppies along the freeway, but only a few poppies on the bike path. Something tall in the dandelion family is about to go nuts, and there's a tall, graceful yellow flower that I can't identify (but it also comes in lavendar and white).
I passed a woman with one of those weird "bikemobile" things today (those low-seated fully recumbant bikes with a fiberglass shell around the whole thing). She had a legless Barbie with a bike helmet attached to the front as a hood ornament. When we passed each other again on our return rides, the Barbie had been modified into the \o/ position. ;)
I loaned a friend at work The True Meaning Of Smekday, which she found hilarious (as I knew she would). My mission now is to get one of you to read it before the year's out! The hardback is under $12 at Amazon.com right now (with an under $7 bargain book version), and it's such a bizarrely delightful book. Alien Boov invade the Earth, renaming it "Smekland" and eventually herding humans into restricted territories. The main character, an 11-year-old girl named Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci, is alone now that the Boov have kidnapped her mother. She heads to the human encampment in Florida, driving herself (!) down there, and winds up befriending a Boov along the way. They proceed to have a LOT of interesting adventures, with much humor and irony. To quote Tip's alien friend, "That is Carl. I owe her moneys," and to quote Tip, "If you don't start making sense right now, I will crash this car into a coyote!"
Occasional illustrated sections show things like the koobish, a Boov-world animal that strongly resembles the drawings of "sea monster floaties" from children's books set at the beach. We also learn that "The Boov are having seven magnificent genders!" and Tip eventually encounters two completely different boys' groups that have named themselves BOOB because they like the acronym (which is not the correct acronym for the group's actual name). SO funny, and I can't describe it in a way that fully does it justice.
But you KNOW you want to read it. Yes, you do! :D