Took a bunch of pictures today to illustrate the spectacular mess created in the house by my exuberant, happy-to-be-home daughter. Unfortunately, none of them are any use. My good camera died in Nova Scotia. One too many times at the bottom of my beach bag, I’m afraid. Entirely avoidable, and entirely my fault. A person like me should have not only a case for their camera, but some kind of military-grade armor. The Zip-Loc snack bag I occasionally remember to use clearly didn’t cut it. Anyway, I am left only with my ipod Touch which, at this point, takes pictures so foggy and poor in quality they look as if they’re being gazed at through a wet funhouse mirror.

The good news? A used version of my now-dead camera has been purchased on ebay. It cost $47, and will be here next week. It works perfectly, or so the seller says, but its body has several dings and scratches on it. I figure this will merely save me time.

In the meantime? Use your imagination:

Myra-Jean is thrilled to see her toys. It has been too long. Absence has made the heart grow not just fonder, but sort of stalker-level obsessed. As a result, every single one had to come out today. Every. Single. One. Every blanket, every Lego, every piece of fake food, every creature, every cloth napkin, every dish, every bag, every stuffed animal, every article of clothing, every block, every puzzle, every book, every pebble from her pebble collection, every basket, every bin, every piece of plastic cutlery from her kitchen, every crayon, every sticker. All of these items were scattered on every available part of the floor, in strange and unlikely assortments that, had I a working camera, would have provided a month’s worth of Still Lifes. Instead, I stared at them balefully and contemplated the work that would go into picking them up.

It really wasn’t so bad, though. After MJ went to bed I managed to undo her Shiva-like swaths of destruction in only about twenty minutes. Without too much accompanying muttering, either. Mostly because I was too busy blowing my nose. I have a cold, apparently.

Maybe I’ll receive the new (old) camera in time to photograph the huge piles of tissues I suspect are forthcoming.