It's raining again, but not quite enough to keep the windshield wipers sliding smoothly over the glass. I spent the night turning them off and on, again and again.

Jen and I went to Ikea today, with Willow in tow. Willow, even though she isn't feeling well, was an attentive baby, taking in the sights as we wandered through the maze of brightly lit consumer goods. We got some of this and some of that, whittling away at our list of stuff we need for the holidays. I was going to get some new cd racks, but of the two I liked best, one was sold out and the other one wouldn't have fit in my car. I did enjoy wandering through the "as is" section, because it looked like the final resting place for stuff that had fallen off of a fast moving truck. A few things looked like they had been floor models for maybe a couple of decades. I saved my money for the swedish chocolate and coffee, even though Sweden isn't exactly known for its coffee.

On saturday, Jen's mom took The Dickens, the boys and me to see Aladdin up at Villa Montalvo. Jen stayed home with Willow who, as I mentioned above, isn't feeling well. The boys liked the play, but The Dickens liked running back and forth between her seat and the lobby, again and again. Her shoes made a clunk clunk clunk noise as she ran along the wooden-floored aisle, which I'm sure endeared her to her fellow theater goers. After awhile, tired of chasing her, I took her outside where she continued her running. At one point she looked up at me and exclaimed, "this is great!" We also inspected a house of sticks that looked like it was made by somebody who was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. Further down the lawn, there was a structure shaped like a seashell. It had inner walls of adobe, and outer walls and ceiling of turf. The entrance was the mouth of the shell, and the interior spiraled around into a little alcove with an uneven stone bench under a grass skylight. It looked quite mysterious in the cloud-filtered sunlight.

cds I listened to while wishing it would rain just a little harder: Skyclad "Another Fine Mess", Katatonia "Tonight's Music", Ulver "Lyckantropen Themes", Apocalyptica "Cult", Sofia Joons, Emma Hardelin, Meelika Hainsou "Strand...Rand", and Hagalaz' Runedance "Frigga's Web"