i can’t believe really that in two weeks-ish we won’t be able to hop in the car and drive out to cuyahoga valley national park when henry asks for a “long drive.” i love this place. i love the tinker creek gorge in the fall. i love walking along the canal trail. i love waiting for the train to toot by. i love talking over everything with joe. i love the little picnic table that we lay on to spot stars. i love the trees in winter. i love the trees in spring. i love teaching hal to identify trees - he nows calls all trees with blossoms “olia trees” [i.e. magnolia] and all trees without blossoms “oak trees.” and more recently we discovered the heronry along bath road. if you haven’t seen hundreds of nesting great blue herons in the dusk of evening, you haven’t lived.

[ps - the book trail. so. i really like one hundred years of solitude. it's fascinating and perverse. but, i have to admit, with little sleep and a move on my mind, i can't give the sentences the attention they need. i'm only about 200 pages in. i'm determined not to give up. in the meantime, i'm rereading harry potter and hoping that some packing fairies will appear.]