bottles of pop. OHHHH, 42 bottles of pop on the wall, 42 bottles of pop, take one down, pass it around, 42 bottles of pop. OHHHH, 41 bottles of pop on the wall...

...1 bottle of pop, take one down, pass it around, 1 bottle of pop!

:-)

(Note: the rest of this blog post was written at about midnight last night.)

I am so happy, so purely, congenially happy right now, that I don't think it's fair at all. Does anybody want some of my happiness? I'm not using all of it, I promise, I just can't take all of it at once, there's not enough of me to hold it- and I can only do so many things in a row to capture it in bottles and save it for latter, supposing such a thing as latter really exists.

Vacations are wonderful, brilliant, beautiful things! How is it that you can leave a home you hate and not want to go, then have the time of your life anyway and still be this ridiculously happy to come home? Something snapped out there, in the wild prairies. I love prairies. I love them to death, I want to just go out there all by myself and run through the grass screaming. I do not give the slightest darn what anyone thinks of me anymore, not anyone, not nobody.

Man oh man oh man oh man, I don't know if I've ever felt this lucky to be alive.

Another thing I like, no, love, the same way I love prairies and vacations, is big crowds and flashing lights and loud music. I go nuts. OH, and another thing I love to death like I love prairies and vacations and panda bears, is campers. Cute little camp kids. And camp songs. Singing and dancing to kiddie camp songs is my favorite thing in the whole wide world, practically, except for all the other things that are also my favorite. I couldn't possibly get tired of it. The noise, the screaming, the lights, ahh, I want it so bad. But I'll get there.

I want to dance. Maybe I'll take up swing. Or Irish. Or African. Or something I've never heard of before. That sounds fun, doesn't it? Actually I want to dance like they dance in Pride and Prejudice which YIKES, reminds me that Jane Austin is ten times as much of a genius as she was when I left for vacation and I absolutely think Emma is the greatest book ever except for all the other great ones that are better when I think about them but worse when I think about Emma. Actually I don't want to dance quite like they do in Pride and Prejudice, more like old folk dancing, like barn yard dances. Barns are my new thing. I'm going to live in a barn when I grow up. No animals of course, but the stalls will be turned into bedrooms and I'll sleep in the loft and there will be a big swing hanging from the rafters, or two or three or ten. I'll get like a hundred people to live with me. I got to climb a willow tree on vacation! A swing on a willow tree, now that would be a genius idea. A swing on a willow tree outside of a barn- and the amazing thing is life is just as beautiful for being able to dream about it as it would be if it really existed.

So, please, if I ever get the way I've been for like this whole last year again, just remind me to throw it away, forget yesterday, and make that great escape today. I don't know what I've been waiting for, but I guess it finally happened. I'm such a silly goose.

Let's set up a party, with old fashioned lanterns, and stay up all night, and dance and dance and dance, and eat lots of popcorn, and in the morning we'll throw another party just to clean it all up. Invite everybody, I don't mind, so long as they like willow trees- and panda bears.