The rain it raineth...

The Boy and I collected the Girl from her sleepover in time to give her lunch and ferry her to her next playdate. I then took the Boy shopping for various odds and ends, including an umbrella which wasn't on our list but was necessary in order for us to get back to our car without getting soaked.

My, how it rains here. Every day.

I've mentioned before how English culture has infiltrated our local Price Chopper. Here is the evidence. Anyone visiting us from the UK will surely feel at home.

Hot wheels

More fun at the dentist for me this morning - I tell you, it's endless.

This afternoon the Girl went off very excitedly for a playdate/sleepover. In his sister's absence the Boy eagerly jumped on his bike and led me, the long way round, to the local cafe. We both ate ice-cream. Given the distance we'd travelled in the heat of the day we felt we deserved it. My double scoop of pistachio was particularly excellent.

Ice factory

The Boy is very thrilled with our new freezer, which makes up half of the new fridge. He likes making ice in it, above and beyond the ice that the freezer makes by itself. He makes ice in cups and little pots, then decants them onto plates. He is proudest of the cups of ice with ice-cubes inside the ice.

Today was the Girl's turn for a cinema trip, while we left the Boy in the fine company of the Exiles. We saw Kit Kittredge, An American Girl, and very enjoyable it was - a bunch of kids getting the better of bumbling baddies and generally saving the day, all in an attractive 1930s setting.

We rounded off the day with a dip in the (unheated) pool, which is very effectively cooling on a warm evening.

By the way, you've heard how a chance purchase at a second-hand sale altered the course of my life. What life-changing jumble sale experience would you like to share?

The power of advertising

The other night at the baseball we were sitting opposite an advert which exhorted me to:

Change the way you think about caulk.

It is a very successful advert. I immediately changed the way I had, up to that moment, thought about caulk (ie not at all), and started thinking 'What the hell is caulk?'

Actually I do know what caulk is, thanks to the well-informed young couple sitting behind us. But do you know? No cheating now...

Locked in

Today rather got away from us, and it wasn't until mid-afternoon that we managed to get on the road to see this place: Lock 6 on the most easterly section of the Erie Canal, the 363 mile waterway built almost entirely by hand from the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie.

Now the Erie Canal has a very particular significance for me. Just as the Man and I had begun seriously discussing the possibility of moving to upstate New York, I happened to pick up a book at the Linton Mother's Union second-hand sale. It was 'The Erie Canal' by Peter Spier, and flicking through it a line jumped out at me: And every inch of the way we know, from Albany to Buffalo... Having never even heard of Albany until we'd started talking about living there, it seemed a strange coincidence suddenly to come across this reference.

I bought the book. Also a book about snow. Though we agonised about moving for many months (was it years?) to come, I think in buying those books I was already making my decision.

What a wash out

We'd been making plans for a seaside weekend, but when we checked the forecast for our proposed destination it read, literally, 'starting sunny, followed by thunderstorms, heavy rain, severe hail, strong winds and with the possibility of a tornado'. So we thought all in all it probably wouldn't be worth the three hour drive. We'll try another time.

Instead we enjoyed heavy rain from the comfort of our own house (and to some extent in the comfort of our own house - more mopping up in the basement). The Man took the children swimming at the YMCA. Then we played Scrabble on the Deluxe set I was given for my birthday. We've been reading and/or listening to stories. I got out a 500-piece jigsaw of some rather nauseating kittens which I'd hoped would provide a fun-for-all-the-family activity but as usual said family is letting me get on with it by myself. The Boy meanwhile has created his own form of occupational therapy, threading beads onto paperclips. Keeps him happy for hours.

A whole year older...

...and yet it felt like only a day had gone by.

So, yesterday morning I was out with the Boy doing some errands, and we ended up at Tea and Tattered Pages which we haven't visited for ages. There was a new cat there which the Boy fell so much in love with that in the afternoon we had to go back and introduce her to the Girl as well. Also at the bookshop the Boy decided he wanted to collect all the Ramona books, which is fine by me as it makes a change from Thomas the Tank Engine.

We saved present-opening until the Man got home from work, and I was pleased with my small haul which included a beautifully decorated vase that had once been a jam jar. In the early evening we managed a family walk at Five Rivers, for once without protest from anyone as this was Mum's Birthday Treat. The first thing we spotted was a red squirrel - very exciting, I'd never seen one before. It was a noisy little critter. Then we saw several turtles in the lake. And we heard, but didn't see, a frog which makes a plunking sound like a loose guitar string.

Home then, just ahead of the babysitting Exile, and out to our local restaurant for a nice meal. Although it was quite busy when we arrived soon after 8 o'clock, by the time we'd finished eating we were the last diners and the staff were busy swabbing down the floors. It was only quarter past nine. I have the impression that Americans dine very early. I'm not sure why. I hope it isn't because they all have to rush home in time to catch the latest installment of So You Think You Can Dance...