I was delighted, truly delighted, gobsmacked actually, to discover a bit of fun in my spam file today. Who knows where the dear soul comes from who sent this—somewhere far away clearly. And I’m not quite sure what he or she was selling or trying to sell—cheap medications I think. There were a whole series of these things and I’ve extracted the actual words. The author calls him or herself—cHeapse. We should all say such things to each other. Words are cheap and cHeapse, I’m taking you seriously! Here are cHeapse’s words—
Hi.

There was merrily.

This simply prodigy.

The Author—you simply—Super Hero!

I is pleasantly amazed. Thank!

Like! Thank you!

I wish you health.

The Regard! The Excellent forum! Thank you.

Good afternoon!

I simply mad about this forum!

Well, thanks!

What beautiful text and visitors!

Greater thank you!

The Author, you—genius!

On Friday we went into Harvard Square to observe Harry Potter festivities around 11:30, a half hour before the two bookstores in the square opened their doors to sell the last book in the series. We have never seen such a festive air in the square nor so many people, not even for the street fairs. There were people of all ages—from a newborn baby three weeks old to grandparents. At least half were in costume.

The line to The Coop which is directly across from Harvard Yard extended around three blocks. People sat on the sidewalk or stood around in little clumps. Some had lawn chairs, some had books. It was a great, mellow atmosphere—a very cool, lovely vibe.

Lots of kids showed up in costume. The girls wore short plaid school uniform skirts with knee socks. There were lots of boys in capes and Hogwarts scarves. And some in Quidditch uniforms. It was as if, for this one night, we were in Hogwarts itself. Such is the power of magic.

We all gathered around the front door to The Coop just before midnight and watched the giant clock on the bank across the street as we counted down. When the doors opened a great cheer went up and seconds later the first person emerged carrying a copy of the huge tome.

Afterwards we wandered around the square just soaking up the feeling of amazing fun. All for a book! And this was just one place. The whole world was celebrating right along with us. Magical.

Dear A, my better half, is a devoted fan. Our own copy arrived from Amazon by noon the next day and he set to reading. A party that night interrupted progress but he set to it again yesterday and finished all 850 or so pages by two in the morning last night. This morning, before breakfast and with my eager permission, he summarized the plot for me. Just great.

Millions of kids in the world have had the privilege of growing up reading this for the first time and will always have it as part of their lives. They believe in magic. So glad we ventured out to see. Here’s to J.K. Rowling. Brilliant.

A year ago I won two hundred dollars betting on a horse at a Kentucky Derby party.  And wouldn’t you know—few days after I won this money before I got to be self-indulgent as I certainly planned to be I got an email from a friend who is doing service work in Morocco for a couple of years.  She said she’d met a boy, well, a young man really, almost twenty-two but still childlike in many ways because he was deaf, born without ear holes but with some residual hearing.  She needed to raise, yes, two-hundred dollars so that this boy could get an MRI and it could be determined whether some kind of medical intervention might restore his hearing.  His mother had been told that had he had surgery as an infant he would be able to hear, but this is a country of wretched poverty.

So, of course, I sent the two hundred dollars.

He got the MRI and the doctor in his town looked at it and said it was now too late for surgery.  There was nothing to be done.  The boy was very sad.

And I was sad but just for an instant.  It didn’t make sense.  If he had some residual hearing surely something could be done.  So I wrote back—Don’t give up!  Then I suggested we show the MRI’s to a doctor here.

It took some time for copies to be made and as my one doctor contact was traveling abroad on another medical mission for some months I suggested that my friend send out an email to her whole list to see if a doctor could be found.  One was and he declared that indeed something could be done and that there were actually three possibilities.  Great news.

My friend wanted the boy to come here but that would involve all manner of complication and fundraising.  I couldn’t believe that even in a poor country like Morocco there weren’t some modern hospitals.  My friend investigated and made arrangements for the boy to go to Casablanca to see a doctor at a big hospital there.  She would need another hundred dollars for the trip. Almost nothing.

Yesterday he went and the news is better than I, at least, imagined.  It’s amazing news.  Yes, the doctor can restore his hearing with surgery and an implant of a hearing device and he will find the funding for the device which costs about $9,000. and he’ll do the surgery for free.  AND this man who is clearly a saint will travel to the small town where this boy lives and where there is a whole community of deaf people to see if any of the others can be helped.

I love this story.  I love that keeping the faith made miracles.  I love that the boy wanted to hear so much that he would not give up.  I love that my friend worked so hard on his behalf.  I love the hugeness of heart of this doctor.  And I love that I got to share my winnings—that I got to see the way good ripples forth when we act on it.

Amen.

When I get immersed in a big project that tunnel vision thing starts to take over. Everything else gets shoved aside, postponed, put off, ignored. Well, not everything. I still love a party! And good dinners. But things like blogs, fun as they are, languish. No more! It’s summer and there are other claims on time like gardens and, in our case, a major garage restoration when we noticed that two sides of the thing had begun to sink into the earth, the foundations completely rotted away…but I’m back.

Which brings me to some good news. My amazing son has just started his own design/build firm and was able to put the garage right in a matter of days. And that included jacking the whole building up and poring new foundations and who knows what. Dear A lent a hand, I made lunch.
This week there was an article in the local paper announcing Nick’s new venture but they neglected to include his phone number. Hence the thunderbolt inspiration—he must have a web site! Now! None of us are techy in the least but this wee blog has helped me get a tiny, tentative grip on these matters. Then Dear A, who has a new and brilliant book coming out in January 08 which will change how a lot of people look at their lives and is based on literature (this sentence is way too long)—well, he discovered that at Yahoo (plug) you can get a website for $9./month and there are templates there to choose from and some aren’t half bad. AND you don’t need ANY expertise at all or to know code. It’s EASY-WEASY. You can type right onto it and upload any photos that you have stored on your computer.

So—in a matter of two hours I managed to do a very cool website for Nick. There’s more coming on it soon—photos and words. www.nickportnoybuilders.com

I’m really excited about this. Artists and writers can do their own websites and have them up in a matter of hours. There’s telephone support as well but I promise—you won’t need it.  More importantly, it’s easy to add to the site and keep it changing with new work and inspiration—make it a live thing. A fun thing. Bring energy to it.

So, here’s wishing Nick all the best! Already the work is poring in. If you live in Boston and have any home renovation needs I can tell you he does supurb work and has an excellent design eye! I know, I’m his mother but I do not lie!

And I’m back—here, now. Well, once a week anyway. Tunnel vision doesn’t work. All kinds of things are happening and we can give our attention to them as we must. The work is getting done, all of it, and it seems to me that the more we have to do the more we get off the duff. So here’s to new ventures, the magic of websites, ongoing inspiration and summer!

And now out to the garden where the garage restoration has led to a whole garden redesign. It includes a wee side deck to the garage where Dear A and I made a sitting area. After dinner we head out and look up at the sky—the closest we can get to the vastness of nature in our city space. But the sky’s always there for all of us wherever we are.  It’s good—so good. It makes it seem like a fine world after all and magical. Good to look up. (Photos to come when the work is done. Soon—I just know it. We’re on a roll now!)