All made out of ticky tacky.

I don’t often recount hour-by-hour activities to anyone. It’s somewhat vapid and of interest only to me. But let me give a slight breakdown of yesterday, if only to gloat that I had one of the greatest single days of my life. Simple and perfect.

9:30 a.m. Woke up after a considerable sleep. I didn’t go out Saturday night, just watched a few episodes of The Office and called it an evening.

10:30 a.m. Made breakfast for myself and Matt Howard. Ate and departed for Chautauqua Marina.

11:00 a.m. Matt & I took two rented kayaks into Chautauqua Lake. Three hours for $20 is a lovely deal. We stayed near enough to the shore to remain out of heavy wake and made good time cutting around the west end of the lake. When we spied the Institution bell tower on the horizon, we opted to challenge ourselves to make it all the way to the grounds. Being who we are, we assumed the quickest, easiest way to get there would be to simply cut across the lake.

Bad plan. I felt like I was riding a tricycle on a highway of 18-wheelers. Power boats, racing boats and jet skis were coming from all directions, and even if the wakes from the major horsepower had cut down, the wind was still whipping. But the sun was gorgeous, and it wasn’t too hot. We just happened to be caught in a water treadmill.

no subject at all, really.

I read this great line in “The Poisonwood Bible” this morning that I was all prepared to come and regurgitate here, but I forgot the book. Ho hum.

My family visit was phenomenal. They loved the play, and my mom, daughter of the 70s she is, recognized Stuart from “Love American Style” immediately. Silly silly.

Oh, they forgot my fishing rod. I think it’s about time I take matters into my own hands — literally – and just start snagging pike like a bear would a salmon. Of course, it would be much easier if there existed 1. a current and 2. a fervent pike spawn in Chautauqua Lake. Again, ho hum.

In ridiculously glamorous news, I had a job interview this morning (he called 15 minutes late; i was pacing and sweating like a schoolboy…haha “i desperately want to make love to a school boy.” stream of consciousness, sorry.) and i think it went brilliantly. So much so, in fact, that I have a flight booked and ready to take me to Madison Avenue in a few weeks to meet him in person and see the office for myself. I’ll be spending the time until then working diligently to learn Chicago Style.

Thanks to a new photo spread in National Geographic, an excursion to Bolivia is now on my bucket list. Right below seeing the Northern Lights and right above reading Finnegan’s Wake.

Tomorrow Jenny turns 23. And then Matt Howard turns 23 on Saturday. What is with this aging thing? It’s such crap. I’d desperately like to remain comfortably in Clare College and under my parents’ health insurance for quite some time. Eh, actually, I take that back. I just don’t want to be penniless. What an odd word. Anyway, I bought them both books. Tremendous shock there.

“There’s always somebody who is paid too much and taxed too little – and it’s always somebody else.” – Cullen Hightower

…and still be on my feet.

It seems like July 3 is just as great for watching fireworks as July 4. That is, if one doesn’t mind that most of them are roadside-purchased bottle rockets.

I sat out on my dock after finishing season 2 of Weeds (to which I say, “omg, omg, omg!”) and jumped out of my skin a few times as my neighbors shot their fireworks out over my head. The sky was clearing, the bats were swarming, it was 10 p.m. in America and I couldn’t wait for today. Mayville and Chautauqua is a magnificent Fourth of July haven.

So today I’m leaving work early, making baked beans and cornbread, grilling, entertaining my parents and some friends, swimming in the lake, casting for a few fish and watching fireworks displays all around the lake from my perfectly positioned dock.

And it’s going to feel magical to sit under a sky full of stars and a banner of stars and stripes with a popsicle and a beer and be truly a Summer American.

Stereotypical, movie-style holidays are necessary every once in awhile. When I spend my summers in a town strewn with American flags and ma-and-pop shops, a dreamlike Fourth is essential.

Enjoy, everyone.