The birthday party in the park went very well, despite the attempts of the insect world to kill me. I'm somewhat allergic to bee/wasp/hornet stings, I got stung years ago and my toe swelled up to the size of a plum. I got stung Thursday evening, I though I did well by getting the stinger and poison sack out with a knife blade, and icing it for much of the evening. Despite that, the next day my foot was sore, and when I finally took off my shoes and socks I had a blister the size of a cherry on my toe. Ouch.

Anyhow, the party went well, all the girls twelve year old invited showed up, and they had a fun time playing with little structure or supervision. Hide and seek is different with cell phones. I ended up getting pizza from a little shop where an old friend works, I even ran into his daughters when I went to pick up the pizza. Cleanup took all of five minutes!

We're still not there in two wheel land for seven year old, though she did go about 45 feet before freaking out the other day.

In other riding news, I missed Ride Your Bike to Work day, again. I haven't ridden in weeks, maybe after our trip to NoVa I'll have time for the simpler things in life, like fixing my motorcycle.

In other gas fueled vehicle news, I'm trying to drive the speed limit, when it's safe, just to see if my mileage goes up. I'm doing my part to cut the cost of gas.

I have a new favorite gun, the tommy gun with the endless supply of magazine in Miller's Crossing, though I hear that's common with movie tommmy guns. I liked it, but it's not my favorite Coen brother's film, it was too over the top violent for me, just dialed back a little would have made it more enjoyable.

In book reviews, we finished yet another Magic Treehouse, Summer of the Sea Serpent, in which Jack and Annie go back to ancient England and retrieve an Arthurian sword for Merlin, but not Excalibur. I'm not sure of Osborne's source for Arthur having two swords, one he pulled from a rock (Excalibur), and a different one given to him by the Lady of the Lake to help him rule, the one in the book. And yes, it is a poor form of government.

I also finished Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg's tome saying that Liberals like Clinton and her ilk are secretly Mommy-State Fascists, compared to Daddy-state Fascists like Nazis, and they're cousins on the left. I took note for a longer review, in short, he raises some interesting points, but buries them in so many extraneous other issues that his thesis is weak. Really, what is his intended audience, what sort of politically aware audience is it that thought the 1960's were a fun, happy, peaceful time?

This time tomorrow we should be sucking down gas in our cozy minivan in the middle of Pennsylvania, probably 15. I bought some new books at B&N yesterday for the trip, if King of the Vagabonds is not much better than Quicksilver, I will hunt down lm and cry wah, wah, wah.