Happy Birthday Harry!

We did, after a full night of intense reading (10:00pm-6:30am last Thursday), find ourselves standing wearily at the end of Harry Potter 7 - and of 7 whole book-years of "witchcraft and wizardry." By early afternoon the following day, we were finally able to shake the poor British accents we'd purposefully sported throughout the entire wakeful night (turns out after 8 hours of constant British dialog, one begins to think in a British accent!) - but we find we are still indulging in a few Potter pleasures...

This year, like last year,

July 31st found us...

at the Carter's "burrow"....

(What you can't see because of the picture's nasty glare is the Carters' fine collection of Harry Potter memorabilia, including books, video games, magical sweets galore: blood pops, fizzing whizzbees, cockroach clusters, etc. Can you believe that we think this is fun? We think that this is totally fun.)

We customarily drank Butter Beer
(well, as much butter beer as one can reasonably drink)

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz) club soda or cream soda
½ cup (4 oz) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)
½ tablespoon butter

SIMPLE Directions:

Step 1: Measure butterscotch and butter into a 2 cup (16 oz) glass. Microwave on high for 1 to 1½ minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely incorporated.

Step 2: Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in club soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit.

Step 3: Serve in two mugs or small glasses; a perfectly warm Hogwarts treat for two!

And we shared delightful conversation, which was littered with comments like:

"I want a house elf so bad!"

"We read on Muggle Net that..."

"MY all time favorite part is in book four, when..."

Now, lest you ride us off as TOTAL nut cases (which would actually be pretty justifiable), let me hastily add that our conversation was, in reality, a pretty meaningful discussion about the way Harry Potter forcefully highlights important values, like family responsibility, loyalty, and devotion; the way it illustrates the power and consequence of choice, the way it illuminates a spectrum of societal quirks and ills, etc, etc, so forth.

I will say no more at present, except to willingly admit that the Harry Potter books have a hallowed place in my heart alongside The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.

Thanks, Carters, for a great party!!

Hope the rest of you Potter fans enjoyed a rolicking July 31!