Amish Fun

I saw this sign when we were watching fudge get made. I think it sums it all up nicely.



An amusing new take on American Gothic?


Looking at this now, Christine and I really should have taken the kids spots, but then no one would have been left to take the picture.

Mike continues to be inspired by Weird Al Yankovic's "Amish Paradise".

Okay, this is cuter.

Mom and I, a little damp from having ridden the tube ride you see in back.

Books, books, books. Working my way through the Hellboy novel On Earth As It Is In Hell, since I needed to take a break to take care of schoolwork. I also read the Vol. 1 graphic novel, Seed of Destruction, so now I'm set with the first few issues of the comic. I hope to get all of them, because I love the way they're written and I've been a fan of Mike Mignola's art since I used to collect Dracula cards (from the Gary Oldman movie), where he did artwork.

Also read another wrist-slitter for the clubs, a book called The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris. A high-powered lawyer develops a resurgence of a disease he had a few years before, which causes him to walk compulsively. He is fully aware while it happens, it's just that he has no control over the urge and will walk until he passes out from exhaustion, at which point his wife has to go fetch him from wherever he ends up. There's no physical trace of the disease and nothing seems to treat it, so he's never vindicated. He's humiliated by his coworkers, loses his partnership at the firm, and eventually, his family falls apart as his wife descends into alcoholism and his daughter withdraws into herself. There's an odd sort of murder mystery thrown in that doesn't really seem to belong there. The thing is, nothing ever improves in this book. It really is a downward spiral of misery and it wasn't that great of a book. I admit that losing my stepfather after seeing him in and out of a hospital for a few years didn't help the state of mind I was in while reading the book. It's not going to find a space on my bookshelf.

Cutie's birthday came and went, and now I have a six year old. How did that happen so quickly? We kept it low-key, having just lost Rich the week before, and had a cake for him at my Mom's, with presents at Grandma's earlier that day. His party will be in September again, since I had such a great turnout last year by waiting until everyone was back from vacation and in school. He doesn't mind; we pretty much make his birthday a month-long event this way.