end of summer and M. T. Anderson

Thunder and lightening, with heavy, short rains washed away the summer dust clinging to the porch. Like an exhalation, summer is finished.

We got the barn almost all the way painted -- still have some very-high-up trim to complete. In fact, we have a lot of high up trim to paint still. This is not a fun job to do -- the satisfaction comes in getting it finished before the rains. That's Tom at the top in a white protective suit because he's using a paint sprayer, Felix on the lower ladder, handing up and down rollers, paint brushes, and doing follow up with the paint roller. Sasha is getting all the low trim masked and painted.

Tiring? Yes, very. Sasha and Felix crashed out for the night on the porch, until woken by our eager dog Penny, who finally couldn't wait one more minute, and bounded out, wriggling and wagging.

Back to my city life, where we ate bounty from the garden, and Tobin Anderson eased my transition. He was out here in the bay area with his new book, Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware. Besides being a genius, he's got a lovely, dark, irreverent sense of humor, and a big heart. There's a terrific book trailer here: http://www.simonandschuster.com/multimedia?video=36437626001. Very fun. Here he is with several middle schoolers who wanted to tap into his brain and figure out for themselves how he does it.