Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Feel like a slug this morning from the pollen in the air. I think it has all settled into my head. I change my mind about how gorgeous those trees are out there in bloom! Took my car in to get the oil changed yesterday (first time - only a tad over 3000 miles on it so far) and received a free car wash. The car didn't sit in the parking lot here for but a few hours and was basically yellow with pollen again. I love Spring, but my itchy eyes are disagreeing. Would like to curl up and sleep for the day, but that isn't going to happen.

We close on the house on Friday but I won't be there. We cancelled the movers when we thought we were going to have problems with getting the builder to fix the inspection issues, but it worked out okay. So Steve will close without me. :-( I won't get to Lexington until some time on Tuesday as the driver won't be here until Monday. They packers will be here on Friday so I need to get my toaster oven and few other things put in the car. I'll believe I have a house when I walk in and Steve hands me my keys! Vegged last night and looked a the Improvements catalog for a bit - lots of cool stuff for houses and yards. Already have several pages turned down.

Did you ever just feel cold when you looked at a book? Chris Lynch's Sins of the Fathers made me feel cold right from the first look at the dark blue cover - a night time image of snow covered tree limbs framing a glowing window. Behind that window is Drew's bedroom, where he gets little sleep because his best friends since 1st grade at their Catholic school, Skitz and Hector, show in the middle of the night quite often. They go to their place - a huge tree near the river that someone has added steps to the V in the trunk. It is like a church pulpit. Skitz is never dressed for the weather and the coldness seeped into me as I imagined how cold he was in his sneakers and light jacket. BRRR!! Drew is the level headed one of the three. Hector wants to be a priest some day, if he can learn to control his temper and the need to pound on people, especially Skitz, who denies the beatings ever happen. Drew promises Hector to help him keep up if he ever falls behind, but worries about Hector's moods and headaches. There is more going on in Hector's life than he is telling Drew about. Skitz is "daffy as a box of frogs" as Lynch puts it, and without Drew and Hector to look after him he would have been kicked out of school by the nuns a long time ago. Much of their lives are controlled by Fathers Blarney, Mullarkey, and Shenanigan. I am not kidding - those are their names! Father Shenanigan is the one to beware of and Father Mullarkey loves rock and roll and drinks too much. Life isn't easy for these three 13-year-olds, but they are a tribe and they stick together. This book will make you laugh and cry and want to hug all three of the boys and force one of the Fathers to go to confession. Absolutely love this book! And so will MS/JH readers.

Need more caffeine to counteract the pollen drowsies!