Cow’rin, tim’rous beastie...

Yessir.
We've a mouse.

My husband-friend has wanted one for three years. (I blame this on excessive required reading of Bobbie Burns in college. When he wants a lamb, I'll blame Blake....) John and Millie chose him from all other mice on John's Monday birthday, and then they argued over the best name to give him. John preferred Ignatz, but Millie thought Millie was clearly the best choice. So Ignatz it is. (But I call him Mouse.)
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						The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
						Gang aft agley,
						An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

Oh, B. Burns, you and your songs to mouses and louses, mices and lices, all serving to confuse those with unstable grammar foundations. Millie likes our new prisoner. She also announced that she wants a mice, but she does not want a mouse. And why is the plural of spouse and house not spice and hice? (On our way home from ice-creaming last night, John mentioned that he has spice with mice in his two hice, which supports my theory that he has a double life and a secret family elsewhere. I wonder when She bought him a mouse?)
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Living plants hailed our return from vacation. I had braced myself for brittle brown, but they grew marvelously. I scolded them, though, for hosting so many dinner parties for the nasty weeds, which also grew marvelously, and exhorted them to be selfish in the future. Impotent rage against my Christian plants.
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A List of Good Things-- Vacation and Beyond:
Books finished
Books anticipated
New car given
Lightning bugs in hayfields, innumerable and bright
Garden green and growing
Words and laughter from kin to kin
Visits with friends
Homemade pies
Ocean days, salty breezes
Late nights with nothing to do
Thunder rumbles
Strawberry stains
Quiet in the country
Abundant elbow room
Fudgesicles in the freezer
Hay bales
A Scranton bathtub-nanny
Views from hilltops
Sparklers in the dark
Garden basil on spaghetti
Mopsy's bright, nodding blooms
Puppy licks
Whipped cream with pudding
Old, spunky Apache
Brief tastes of Big City
Water and fans
Dancing in the dark
And so we go and go until the end, which never comes,
because good things never do.
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So, we had a grand vacation, and I have millions of snapshots to prove it. Rather than overwhelm my abundant readership with all at one time, I'll post a handful every day (or so) for the next week (or so). Today, please accept pictures of M.I.M. (Millie Ignatz Mouse) and a few vacation moments.