I am having a spectacular evening.

I cooked myself dinner. Truly, I cooked. I opened a cookbook and I used ingredients that I'd purchased especially for this recipe. I pan-roasted garlic for it and everything.

After dinner, I plunked down in my comfy chair to read. I unwrapped the bar of chocolate that Ms. Lead gave me for my half-birthday way back in January. Reading while letting chocolate melt in my mouth. Heavenly. I have risen only to deal with bodily functions and to update you on how wonderful my life is. The book, in case you were wondering, is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, whom I adore. Reading it feels rather like floating naked in the pond at Twin Oaks on a night in late July. Cicadas and all.