Cousin Jasmine came to visit. She ended her American tour d' force of all major East Coast cities by crashing on our commodious air mattress where at least one mouse scampered around her bedside and where our children awoke intermittently to make sure she didn't forget about night terrors. They're fun. Then Baby Girl aired a matinee of "Wonderpets" while nustled up next to Cousin Jasmine who was jetlagged and dog-tired and we made her inferior coffee to try to compensate. And bought her a chocolate kreme doughnut from Dunkies. She bought us a whole sushi dinner and made us laugh like backyard banshees and kept telling us how cute our kids were, even though they took turns waking up from pleasant dreams by raging uncontrollably. I am sure she just assures herself this tendency came from my side of the family. She is probably right.

I absolutely adore Cousin Jasmine.

Here is what she likes: Menus inspired by the Periodic Table, faux cross-stitched horse deco sweatshirts, Belle & Sebastien, loud and animated interjections, maparriums, sushi buffets, left-leaning politics, words, working for The Canadian Man, old lady woven leather shoes, Mark Wahlberg, and embracing the geek.

And now she likes Walden Pond! Hurrah!

You guys, look! I won the fluffy animal from the booth at the carnival!