MindSpinner

Most of the school year I function on six hours of broken sleep nightly, sometimes less. I fight leaden fatigue by about mid-week, especially by evening. But summer’s here, and I’ve had two good nights’ sleep in a row. No alarm to wake me at 5:00. I may as well have been resurrected - energy and joy - yes, joy is the right word - well up from within like a newly fed spring.

Thus restored, I begin to plan the whimsical adventures of summer (OK, along with staining the deck). Next week we hope to visit a farm that raises llamas, miniature donkeys, servals, pygmy goats, wallabies, and horses. I’m keen on the pygmy goats. (They make companionable pets, they eat grass, they produce manure for fertilizer, they can be milked. And they’re cute - that one always gets me.) There’s little danger of my coming home with a pair, though, because the Homeowners’ Association is unlikely to mistake them for dogs or cats.

There’s also free Shakespeare in the park, the wildlife education center down the road about 20 minutes (likewise free and suitable for picnics), the Big River - no cost possibilities abound.