A regular night and day in New Jersey

Midnight: Daughter has not yet arrived home from the outdoor movie party. Frogs and crickets are busy in the night, and the fireflies shine green in the dark.

1 AM: Finally in bed. It is hot and humid, not enough breeze and the promised thunderstorm is nowhere to be seen. A crazy mockingbird is going wild - why at night? This is REALLY bothersome. Please move to someone else's garden, at least at night.

4 AM: Big crash on the road that woke me up (and LA and PP too), right outside our house. Probably a truck or SUV hitting a deer. Can't go back to sleep.

5 AM: Getting up with PP to have breakfast, two hours earlier than usual. Walk outside and find a dead deer and plastic bumper parts in the middle of the road. Who is so stupid they don't even stop and move the deer off the road. I am in my robe and have no gloves to protect my hands, so I don't move the deer either.

7.30 AM: Off to work, with meetings all day. Listening in the car to a great book on CD with lots of crime, murders, Louisiana details, and great character descriptions: Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke. More of this author please, just as good as Henning Mankell! Work today is budgeting, grant writing, editing others papers, chatting with students about progress plans, reading and answering many, many e-mails, and thinking in between. I wish I had more time to think.

noon: Great lunch at the Korean restaurant in Edison - first time I have been back since my Dad got food poisoned there three years ago. No problem this time. I had bibim bap, one of my favorites. I also love all the small appetizers they serve, such as kimchi, grilled mackerel pickled in chili sauce, and bean sprouts.

1.30 PM: Now on my way home to pick up kids to bring them to a dentist appointment. I am so tired! When I get home I find a car license plate on our front steps. AREA found it laying next to the deer. The driver not only killed the deer but also lost his (hers?) license plate, ha! We take the license plate (starting with VPL...) to the local police station where the officers say they will give the man (or woman) a call and ask him to explain how come the license plate was handed in. I think it is illegal to leave the scene of an accident, even if it is just a deer (yep! just checked on this, you get 2 points on your license record and higher car insurance costs). I think over 20 000 deers are being killed by cars in NJ every year.

Once we had a deer outside our house that didn't die after being hit by a car on the road, it just broke all its legs and it was laying in the road The car driver just left after stopping and pulling the lame deer of the road a little bit. People are crazy. We called the police, and they came to shoot it to end its misery. Unfortunately the young officer had to shoot the deer SIX times before he killed, two of the times in the belly (why not just aim at the head of the already lame deer? total incompetence).

3.30 PM: Sitting in the waiting room at the dentist and fall asleep, only to be woken up by the smiling dentist. I had to explain that I had only slept a few hours last night. And he has such a nice soft, leather sofa!

3.45 PM: Ran into a friend who was collecting seeds from garlic mustard (löktrav), a terrible weed here, to make real mustard. You need a lot of patience and time to get enough for one tablespoon of seeds. But it helps against its invasiveness. I wonder how it tasted, maybe a bit strong? Deers hate this plant, they never eat it, too bad.

4.00 PM: Went to get a new riding helmet cover for AREA at Stitching Horse and shopped for vegetables next door in Kingston. While in there, a Japanese woman in fashionable clothes enters and buys something like one small container of youghurt, one apple, and one cucumber. We go out and a giant black limousine is taking up most of the drive way. Imaging taking the limo to shop for three things.

4.30 PM: Buying more food at Shoprite. Forgot the reusable shopping bags as usual, but AREA got them from the car (THANKS!). Why is it so hard to remember them? Dunkin Donuts have opened a new store inside the supermarket, right by the entrance where all kids can see them and then demand from their mothers that they absolutely need a muffin, donut, or cookie. The shopping carts have little drink holders for the shopping moms (I never see a man with a drink while shopping). Why do Americans need to eat all the time? It is like a bottle of water, a snack, or a cookie is their security blanket for both kids and adults.

5.30 PM: Home, unpacking food. Hear about the mouse that was a living toy for Smokey this morning until AREA rescued it and threw it outside. Go and get the truck from the shop, where it got serviced and once again passed inspection (Phew!).

6.00 PM: Making dinner. Pasta primavera, which is cooked pasta with asparagus, small onions, green beans, red peppers, mushrooms, yoghurt, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper. Very delicious!

7.00 PM: Dessert, to everybody's satisfaction there is finally some chocolate ice cream in the house. Bought new vacuum cleaner online since our old ones recently have taken a liking to smoking.

10.19 PM: Writing this. Time to go to bed and read Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. See you in the morning.