HARRY POTTER EXCURSION

So this was not a completely elaborate excursion like Cami Turpins – see blog role - we had a fabulous time.

We went to Galina, Illinois – right on the Mississippi River. We arrived at this very cute townhouse (the bathroom, complete with whirlpool, was about 6 times as big as the bathroom at our house – I LOVED it) and cute kitchen, one of those pull out of the wall beds, and a bedroom, a patio. It overlooked the rolling bluffs that border the Mississippi. It was so cute.

The girls had to pull me up to speed since I didn’t quite finish the 6^th in time, and since I had only read the 6^th one time previously at the speed of light, my retention was, sadly, lacking. So we all started reading at a maniacal pace at 7 pm. It usually takes me a chapter to adapt my way of thinking. I found pages 300 to 500 were sapping my energy and mental stamina with the desperate atmosphere so I had to take lots of breaks. It wasn’t until a certain Patronus chapter (won’t say which for those who haven’t read it) that it really started picking up for me. Once I hit 500 – I read at a steady feverish pace with no breaks. WE stopped every once in awhile to chat about what was going on – but mostly read and read.

At one point past 600 A killing curse (I won’t say to or from whom) was shouted out and I really thought I was going to have a heart attack until I realized that it missed the intended person. PHEW!!

The other girls sniffled quite a bit at 650 and I came close (but as many of you know, I simply can’t cry –its weird) however, I did tear up, and when we talked about it later I almost lost it.

It was definitely an emotional roller coaster. Sunday night after reading the first 300 pages, I drempt I was trying to duel several people and I could not remember the petrifying spell, so while everyone was stunning me, I kept thinking to myself, “ I KNOW it begins with a P!” It was horrible – too much harry potter on the brain!

At the end I felt like I had just eaten a 7 course meal with a variety of flavors and surprises and textures and layers. Some things were bitter to swallow, some soured me a little, and some were surprisingly sweet. I had to give myself some time to digest it all. At the end I felt “JUST RIGHT” and satisfied.

I will leave with just one thought for those who have read it, “OCCUPATIONS???”