Last Days of Ouchy-Hot Summer

My class in the Novels of Jane Austen and Her Time starts next week at UTD. The following week, our girl starts seventh grade, and on the same day, I start back teaching at DTS. Where did the summer go?

Did you see on World News Tonight that the temperature here hit 104 degrees today? 'S not often Mesquite, Texas--living in the shadow of Big D--makes WNT, let me tell you. Especially for something other than the world famous r-o-d-e-o.

So methinks we (the pre-teen and I) need a little last-days-of-summer silliness spent indoors in a room so cold it could be singularly responsible for global warming (all that energy used unnecessarily).

If you live anywhere nearby, grab your kids if you have any (if not, come anyway!) and join us tomorrow, Wednesday, August 15, at 10 AM at the AMC 30 Theater in Mesquite, where we'll see a free showing of "Over the Hedge."

Here's the synopsis about this goofball film with a "G" rating: Just whose backyard is it, anyway? Spring has sprung, and Verne and his woodland friends awaken from their long winter''s nap to discover that a large, green hedge has cropped up right through the middle of their once-natural habitat. Enter RJ, an opportunistic raccoon who explains that the world beyond the hedge is the gateway to the good life where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live. For humans, RJ proclaims, enough is never enough. Suspicious and even a little jealous of the charismatic smooth-talking RJ, the ever cautious Verne wants to keep his blended family safely on their side of the hedge. But, proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's--or, rather, animal's--treasure, the manipulative RJ has his own reasons for convincing the woodland band that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors. Eventually, RJ and Verne form an unlikely friendship as they and their furry friends learn to coexist with--and even exploit--this strange new world called suburbia.

Hope to see you there--and don't forget your jacket!