Okay, first things first. I was just updating my reading list … you know, the Excel sheet that lists all the books I’ve read since January 1st, 1996 when I started keeping a reading log?

Well, guess what milestone I passed last month without realizing it?

3,500 books. Three thousand, five hundred books. Read over 4,653 days. (The count as of today, the 4,665th day, is 3,512, just for the record.)

That comes out to about 3/4 book a day.

Wow. Even I’m impressed. That’s an increase of almost 500 books since I transcribed my list over from notebooks to Excel in February of last year. Isn’t it nice to know I’m keeping busy?

Okay, second … look at this face:

Is not that the sweetest face?

  Mom, Chappy, and I took a walk up to the old farm up the street this morning, armed only with a leash and our cameras. It’s just such a photogenic place!

It’s been around since 1803 and the house and outbuildings are great.

Though, of course, some are in better shape than others.

It’s still fun to walk around, though.

The nice part is that it’s a working farm, too–they grow their own corn all summer, which is amazingly good, and have wildflowers for their own honey bees.

Chappy (aka Drool-Face) had a really great time. (And, just look at that top-knot. Oh, he so needs a haircut!)

We came home past the elementary school–I paused to take a picture down the hallway, in reminiscence of my third grade self.

I liked the country map they had stenciled on the playground, too. (Though Mom immediately pointed out that Martha’s Vineyard was left off.)

I couldn’t convince Chappy to try the slide, though.

Other than this photogenic walk, I’ve been busy all day. I cleaned my room and washed ALL my bedding (which takes some effort!). I baked two loaves of bread and one batch of muffins … both of which I improvised from beginning to end. No recipes, just standing in front of a bowl and tossing random things in. “Hmm, bread, well, we need yeast, salt, and water … then, how about oatmeal … both rolled and steel-cut … and some rye flour …. a pinch of Deli Rye Flavor … some cornmeal … maybe a dribble of molasses….” You get the idea. (The muffins turned out to be cornmeal, coconut, walnut, canned peach muffins, or something like that.)

Oh, and I also colored my hair and found some time to read while otherwise collapsed on the couch. I did NOT work on those toddler hats that I planned to work on because by the time I sat down about 2:30, I was way too tired to think. And, while the pattern I’m using is simple and straight-forward, I need to know my gauge before I can cast on, and … you know MY gauge issues … it’s not like I can go by the gauge on the label! (Let’s all pause to chortle at the thought, shall we?)

Of course, I could be creative and make up the pattern as I go and start at the CROWN of the hat … cast on say, 12 stitches in a circle and make regular increases, so that by the time I reach the sides of the hat (and really need to worry about the size), I’d have some conception of what my gauge actually IS.

But again, that requires thinking and I was just too tired to do that this afternoon. So, I read instead. I didn’t even nap!

Unlike some people. Not that I’m naming any names!

• Tags: Baking, Chappy, General, Reading • Permalink:3,500 //