Reading: The Magnificent Savages, by Fred Mustard Stewart. Craving a good summer paperback and in a moment of weakness, I succumbed and bought this book and its sequel for 25 percent off at Encore yesterday. I remember rather liking his Ellis Island, years ago, but I'm afraid this novel is not as good as I'd hoped.

Link of the Day: Children's book illustrator Jan Brett's website. One of my favorite books to read to the kids is The Mitten because of her wonderfully intricate illustrations.

"Marry Him!"

Last night I baked the best loaf of French bread ever. For ages now I've been trying without success to achieve a hard, crunchy crust similar to those of the loaves of bread sold in the Italian bakeries around here. Yesterday I tried a tip I'd read about somewhere: I tossed a handful of ice cubes into a roasting pan on the rack below the baguette pan. The resulting steam worked its magic on the baking bread, giving the loaves a wonderfully crispy crust and soft, chewy interior.

The boys and I ate slice after slice of warm bread and butter with our tortellini dinner. Actually, I skipped the tortellini and just ate the bread. I confess: I'm a breadaholic. I could happily live on bread alone...with a little chocolate thrown in, of course.

To get temptation out of my way, I decided to give the second loaf to our Ukrainian next door neighbors. I needed to give them back the plate on which they had given us the cruschiki, and I didn't want to return it empty.

We took the boys to dinner tonight at H. I. Rib, a restaurant in Pennytown. We went there because we'd heard kids eat free on Tuesdays. It turned out to be not such a good deal because in order to get the free meals, Tab and I each had to order at least a $10 dollar entree when we would have been satisfied with hamburgers or grilled chicken sandwiches.

One touch the kids especially enjoyed was a clown who came to the table and made balloon animals or shapes on request. Clowns scared me as a kid, and I still don't really like them. The boys don't share my antipathy toward them, however. The clown made a balloon laser gun for Daniel, an Elmo hat for Matthew, and a bunny bracelet for Stephen.

After dinner we took the boys outside and let them roam around the petting zoo. Daniel was immediately attracted to the large enclosed aviary that houses a few exotic chickens and roosters along with a peacock and peahen. The peacock was in full display and trying desperately to catch the eye of the hen. Every minute or so, he'd shudder, rustling his tail feathers audibly.

"Why is he doing that?" asked Daniel.

"He wants that peahen to mate with him," I answered.

The hen was not all interested, however. She shuffled away, finding a stray kernel of corn in the dirt and eating it, preening herself, and taking delicate little sips of water from the trough. She resolutely ignored the male and his pathetic attempts to impress her.

"Why doesn't she marry him?" Daniel asked me.

"Maybe she has a headache."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Marry him," Daniel ordered the peahen. "Go ahead: he wants you to marry him. Come on. Marry him!"

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