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Dinner is simmering in the crockpot and the pool vac is burbling in the back yard. Fuzzy is still at work, and House just started on TV. It’s a rerun, one of the last from last season, but I don’t remember paying much attention to it at the time it was on.

And let’s face it: there’s no such thing as too much house.

There are fifteen things I should be doing:
I should be working on my book instead of blogging.
I should be folding laundry.
I should be writing letters.
I should be reviewing One Dance In Paris for the bookblog.

I should, I should, I should…

But what I want to do is clean the bathtub, and then find a good book, and get into a tub full of hot water and citrussy-spicy bubbles, and just forget about everything external for a while.

Tubs should totally clean themselves.

I am sitting today at my favorite wooden desk with the sunflower drawer pulls, staring through the bar window at the family photos on the side of the fridge. Why the side? Because the front isn’t magnetic.

Among the pictures are cousins at Sioux Falls, friends in Arizona with their young son, and Fuzzy’s family: nieces and nephews who are tall, blond and athletic (he is only blond). His family is so affectionate and relaxed that their picture makes me want to put a couple soccer goals out on the front lawn and invite all the neighborhood kids to join of pickup game.

I don’t actually own any sports equipment.

I have, however, been browsing http://www.soccergoalzinc.com because even though I don’t actually participate in sports, I like the equipment, and I’ve got fond memories of playing badminton over the chain-link fence in my grandparents’ back yard as a kid, or breaking out the whiffle ball set or playing stickball, and I miss those days.

SoccerGoalz, Inc doesn’t actually sell badminton stuff, but they do have portable Soccer Goals (go figure) that you can use on the lawn, or bring to the park, and they also have equipment for street hockey. Better yet, their prices are reasonable, and their shipping is only $10.

If you have a family of budding athletes, or just a big lawn screaming for weekend soccer games, SoccerGoals Inc has popup goals, and portable goals, to fit your budget.

Soccer balls, however, are not included.

I’ve been leaving a pan of birdseed out at night, and in the early morning, to sort of atone for the grief my younger, larger dog, Miss Cleo, gives the birds and geckos in our yard.

The first night I put it out, I found footprints in it just a few hours later – not bird-feet, but something obviously mammalian. I’ve suspected that we have a resident possum for a while, because I’ve heard barking, and seen a shadow about the size of my chihuahua, but definitely a rodent, shinnying up the back fence.

Fuzzy was away the first night I put out the seed, and it was nearly dawn when we finally connected via IM, because he’d been in the air, and then had no battery left on his phone.

“I love you,” I said to him in text. “I’m glad you’re on the ground, and I hope you sleep well. I’m going to bed now. There are footprints in the birdseed.”

It’s really cool to have a spouse who doesn’t think you’re completely batty when you make statements like that.

185 kangaroos walk into a bar in one of the best Sydney Hotels… Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? Well, maybe I’ve watched too many specials on Animal Planet, but I’ve always wanted to visit Australia, especially after reading about a friend’s vacation there.

Reading actually has spurred a lot of my vacation fantasies, but some of my favorite novels did take place in Australia. The most obvious, of course, is The Thorn Birds (the movie was great, but I prefer the book) but I also loved Spearfield’s Daughter and All the Rivers Run, especially the river boating scenes in the latter.

While it’s true that none of these books talked about the Sydney Opera House, or offered details about Melbourne Hotels or Brisbane Hotels, they did instill within me a fascination for a country that shares a pioneering spirit and rugged outlook with my own.

I confess, I want to see Ayer’s Rock, and even though I’m not a surfer, I’d be willing to try for a taste of Australian waves.

I wouldn’t even mind if the only place I see a kangaroo is in the zoo.

Folks, I’ve just posted my first author interview over at my bookblog, Bibliotica.com.

The author is Patricia Klindienst, the book is The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans, and part one of the five-part interview is here. (The other five parts are already posted, and links at the bottom of each take you backward or forward. Alternatively, you can go directly to Bibliotica, and work backwards. )