The Internet connection is slow today and so am I. It seems both Steve and I caught whatever it was that little Allyson had. He has the head cold part and I have the sore throat. So if I make too many mistakes in this posting I am going to blame it on the Tylenol throat and cough syrup I just took. YUCK!!

We had a good time with Allyson. A 4-year-old's response to the ocean is quite different from a 2-year-olds. She is a little porpoise! Her mother was able to get her to go to sleep at night by promising they would go swimming in the morning. She also had a good time in the petting pool at Coral World. She was afraid of the starfish until Grandma Ruth touched one - I guess if this wimp can do it so can she! :-) She left here with a set of toy pirates and a ship and was calling herself a pirate princess - I got her the t-shirt to affirm her new name.

Today is the last day of summer for me as Fall semester begins this week. So much for my idea of going to the beach and being lazy. I went to the beach once by myself all summer.

Don't know if any of you saw the horrible NBC report on YA literature. The reporter talked about how racy and smutty YA novels are. Too bad she hadn't done her research. One of her comments was that the girl had sex with her father in Claiming Georgia Tate. This MS and up novel by Gigi Amateau is about a girl being sexually abused by her father - rape and incest in other words, not a 12 year old girl willingly having sex with her father. This is a beautifully written novel about a young life-innocent southern teen who is protected by her minister grandfather and grandmother. When her grandmother dies she is sent to live with her predatory father. It is not graphic in what happens - the rape scene is handled beautifully as are the other scenes of his abusive fondling. One of my favorite characters in the book is the upstairs neighbor, a drag queen, who cares for Georgia until her grandfather can send money for her to return home.

Think I am going to enjoy the rest of my last day off and go read on the porch - I am about finished with Vande Velde's novel about Mordred.