Who knew how gross Komodos are? Awesome ragu.

A new fascination for Jack and Ol is the Gila monster. In attempting to stay smarter than are they, I did a bit of research on Gilas this evening and, perhaps naturally, ended up reading about Komodo dragons. People, they are revolting animals. Just read through this passage from Wikipedia: Komodo dragons eat by tearing large chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole while holding the carcass down with their forelegs. For smaller prey up to the size of a goat, their loosely articulated jaws, flexible skulls, and expandable stomachs allow them to swallow prey whole. Copious amounts of red saliva the Komodo dragons produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process (15–20 minutes to swallow a goat). A Komodo dragon may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully, the tree is knocked down.To prevent itself from suffocating while swallowing, it breathes using a small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs.After eating up to 80% of its body weight in one meal,it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long. After digestion, the Komodo dragon regurgitates a mass of horns, hair, and teeth known as the gastric pellet, which is covered in malodorous mucus. After regurgitating the gastric pellet, it rubs its face in the dirt or on bushes to get rid of the mucus, suggesting, like humans, it does not relish the scent of its own excretions.

Possibly interesting, but completely DISgusting.

Bashar al-Assad is SO physically unattractive. What happened to his chin? Did he gas it? And why would anyone remotely sane sport a mustache so utterly reminiscent of Hitler?

OK! To the good stuff. Today was good but looong. As such, I was extremely excited to find one last batch of short rib ragu in the freezer and some wide egg noodles in the pantry. Ol and I had just purchased a gorgeous bunch of kale, and so...T and I enjoyed noodles and ragu and a raw kale salad with garlic oil, sultanas, tomatoes and young chevre. An awesome, slap your mamma, kinda meal.

Circle Yoga Arts Market is coming! Saturday, 9/7, 1-4p, 3838 Northampton St, NW!

Blackberry pie

I spent the morning in the loveliest way: snapping headshots of all the new students at the boys' school. They are all so cute and happy, and again I felt enveloped by the warmth and love that pervades the campus. It's like everyone is getting a big, firm hug all the time. And that's a multipurpose meaning of firm: literally, a good not weak hug, and also in the sense of firmness of expectation and schedule and purpose. Thank you school! A bubbling blackberry pie just emerged from my oven and is making my kitchen awfully fragrant right now. I'm off to pick up the kids but might just bake something more later. Though it's warm out, it was cool this morning, leaves are starting to fall, and you can sense that Fall is on its way. I love it!

Aah!

The boys' first day was smashing in every way. They love their teachers, were thrilled to be back, loved seeing friends, gobbled lunch (Oliver said, "that kale is SOOOOOO good, and I ate the biggest bowl of cantaloupe ever.") and just seemed all-around happy. Amen, in'shallah, mazel tov, auguri, grazie, etc. I realized today, too, just how much I've missed all my own friends at school, other parents, teachers and administrators alike. It was great to see all their faces and to catch up a bit. After school a big bunch of us went for frozen yogurt, and then I took the boys to purchase a new book each. Jack opted for a National Geographic about snakes while Oliver dove headfirst for Make-Believe Bride, a story about Ariel pining so seriously for Prince Eric that she fake-marries the statue of him that sunk to the bottom of the sea. Conveniently right into a secret grotto that she loves to visit and store random people things in. Good god almighty, people, this book is the pits. I couldn't care less about the princess subject matter, but there is a real difference in quality within that genre.

T is now at his annual (why? WHY?) fantasy football draft, so I've opened a lovely bottle of Pinot and am kicking back. What.to.do.for.dinner. Hmm!

Lastly, a few vacuous thoughts for your amusement:

• Diana Nyad: cool though intensity kinda scary, and that's coming from a pretty-intensely goal-oriented gal
• Miley Cyrus: not even a good dancer, and those shoes sucked
• John McCain: when will he just shut up and go home?
• online news channels that give you a video-only option make me mad; I just want to read the damn information
• Dennis Rodman going to N.Korea again? why? WTF?