Went to the Greek Theater last night to listen to Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, and another excellent guitarist/singer who were all wonderful (Buddy Miles). Except it made me want to listen to Shawn Colvin even more. I love her voice.

School is deadly quiet. Which is the way it should be in June. But it's hard to work when there's no one around and the deadlines are so far away. I feel like Sarah Crewe in A Little Princess as she returns to her garret each night and befriends a cute mouse she names Melchesedic. Or something like that. There is a small mouse somewhere in the middle school. I choose to think of it as a cute, fuzzy little creature who is also alone and forlorn in this cold, cruel world. I choose not to think of it as a hulking, mean-eyed rat with no concern for where he/she leaves his/her droppings.

Melchesedic. I think that's how I remember it. I loved that book, especially with the Tasha Tudor drawings. I so identified with Sarah! Which is slightly weird since I didn't go through anything like she did in that book. Which is the genius of the author, whose name I cannot remember right now.

I always thought I was a bit of a slacker when it came to reading, because I had these siblings who read constantly, and read very dense, demanding work (compared to A Little Princess). But now that I think about it, I really read quite a bit, and I got so much enjoyment from most of the books I read. It saddens me that time for reading is growing less and less in this world.

That having been said, I'm going to go get a book called The Last Child in the Woods or something like that, about how kids today are nature-deficient. Too much time is spent staring at glowing rectangles and not enough time is spent mucking around in the dirt and bumping into trees and seeing cool leaves and listening to birds, etc. (Although the flipping mockingbirds in this neighborhood are really beginning to annoy me each night at 1 a.m.).