Harry Potter (no spoilers)

I read HP7 straight through, no real break, about 11 hours. Oh I cried in the last quarter. I felt awful still today. I have never had a book that affected me so. I feel profoundly emotionally raw. And I'm not just mourning for the characters that died (but how it hurt. No, not that one, please) but also for the ones that lived, like I've lost a dear friend. I have never in all my life felt so sad at the end of a book, series or not. I think that is a testament to the power of the writing and the grip of the story. Maybe I am too easily lost in a fictional world, maybe I need to get a life, but the end of Harry Potter is much harder to deal with than I expected it would be. At the same time, I am satisfied with the ending. JKR did what had to be done. It all makes sense. There are no loose ends. The only thing I wonder, and maybe I just missed it, is that she said there would be someone who comes to magic late in life, that the magic didn't show in until adulthood, and I didn't see that.

In other news of the weekend, while waiting for HP7 to get here from Amazon, we went to REI and got our very own paddles and tent. The tent is an REI Taj 3, and I am very excited. They let us set it up in the store so we could see how it went together and how roomy it is. It goes together super easily, and is definetly roomy enough for us and all our stuff. It even has an attic, a stretchy peice of netting across the top, under the netting "skylight" which will be handy for small, easily lost things. It also has several pockets on the inside, and two doors, each with it's own vestibule. I also got what I think will be a great pair of canoeing shoes from L.L.Bean. I think they will work out really well. I am not worried about the traction, even though the lady at REI said "you're not wearing those to the Boundary Waters are you?" They should dry quickly, be comfy both while in the boat and portaging, and they're cute. I might get another pair just 'cause I like 'em. And they come in red (I got the blue ones).

All in all, a Saturday well spent. Today, we went and tried a frozen custard place in Excelsior called Adele's. Pretty good all around. I enjoyed my chili cheese dog and James liked his BBQ pork sandwich and vanilla shake. The custard wasn't quite as good as the shake for some reason, and we agreed that Liberty frozen custard in MPLS has a better plain vanilla cone. He found one more custard place not far from here that we will try next weekend.

Thanks to Liz, I have learned how to change the background of my blog and I am happy and ready to be more adventurous in the future. Not much time to write now. Be sure to check out the links for the Mississippi River Challenge over on the right if you haven't already. More later, tell me what you think of the color choices. I am thinking of trying a background photo in the near future, but not this weekend, busy finding out if Harry lives or not.

Progress?

So this is where I left off re-finishing my desk, probably about 8 years ago. Yes, I am slow in finishing projects. I think its genetic. Anyway, the back and sides were also partially done. After about 4 hours of work yesterday, I think the sides, back and the left side of the inside may be ready for sanding. I hope on Wednesday to finish the inside and base, and get a start on the details between the drawers, and the trim (which is not pictured as it is currently detached from the desk) That is where the dremel will come in I think. Thanks again to the in-laws for that.

In other news this week, I finally found the Splendid Table podcast, which has apparently been going for quite a while, but I was to silly to spend the 6 seconds to find. I love Lynne Rossetto-Kasper. Her voice is so pleasant to listen to, and she knows so much about so many kinds of food! And she's local! And being local means that if she can get it at the grocery store, so can I. I have found podcasts to be one of the best things ever, as I frequently forget or am not home to listen to the shows when they are broadcast on the weekends. Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! and This American Life are great ways to spend the commute. A weekends worth of podcasts plus a couple of episodes of Fresh Air get me through the whole week of driving. Thank goodness for NPR. (And also MPR, which while only one of these shows is produced here, still makes it possible for me to actually here them all on the radio when I remember.)