Miz S

Rainbows and Swallows.

There was a beautiful rainbow on the ocean yesterday evening, so I dispatched one of my minions (Josh) to take a picture of it for me. It's very Hallmark-worthy. There is even a little speck of a seagull flying around. The seagull represents MY SOUL YEARNING TO BE FREE.

Then Josh noticed some birds sitting on the neighbor's clothesline.

These are baby swallows. They aren't really babies anymore, but their parents are still working their asses off to feed them. The parents were flying around in the air catching insects, and...

...swooping by the little ones to feed them on the fly.

HOW ADORABLE IS THAT?

And how patient was Josh to sit there waiting and waiting to get that picture?

Last, but not least...

 

...the intrepid Miz S in her sex-ay Bathing Costume sizes up the approaching wave.

 

She moves forward confidently, gracefully, rather like a mermaid...

 

...a really dorky mermaid who doesn't like to get her face wet and is a little bit afraid there might be a shark in the water. 

Okay, I don't really have a punchline for that series of pictures but I did think I looked hilarious and I wanted to share.

Thursday will be our last full day here in NC. On Friday we will have time for a morning swim and then be on our way.

There is still time for a big, huge FAMILY FIGHT so stay tuned!

I am Ironman.

The post title has nothing to do with the post. It's the Black Sabbath song that Josh has been singing, OVER AND OVER AGAIN, for the last 15 minutes, since he saw a commercial for the movie.

In the past, on 9/11 I have written something heartfelt about the blue sky and the confusing, sad day. But I have nothing different to say this year. So, let's discuss more prosaic matters, shall we?

Hey, isn't it great that there is a word, "prosaic" that rhymes with "mosaic", in case you are writing a limerick? About retiling your bathroom?

Which reminds me. Once, Evangeline mused thoughtfully that limerick writers everywhere must be thankful for the words lusty, busty, and thrusty.

Yes, I drank wine with dinner. Why do you ask?

Speaking of dinner, goddammit, I cooked a good dinner tonight. It's my week, you know.  Y'all keep track, right?  I'm trying to convert Josh to vegetarianism, so all my dinners this week are fucking awesome vegetarian dinners. Tonight it was Penne Pasta with Swiss Chard, and roasted butternut squash on the side. The words do not BEGIN to convey how incredibly delicious this meal  was.

Oh, wait? You didn't know I was a vegetarian? I'm not, really. But I'm always threatening to become one. You KNOW how I am about the animals. The thing is, I have no problem with the basic concept of eating animals, and I would happily eat a nice flank steak from a cow that I knew had lived a happy life in a field of clover and then died very suddenly and painlessly. But the whole meat market scenario makes me very, very unhappy.

So, hooray for roasted squash! And entire bottles of red wine on a Tuesday night!

Dinner-making was punctuated with a lot of conversation about next summer. You know how Josh's parents take us to the beach every summer for the past 18 years?  Because they are nice?  God knows we are ungrateful little shits (and I am including Josh's sister here) who complain from time to time about the lack of amenities at the Fenwick Island beach house that we have rented for the past 5 summers, or the amount of time that we must spend rubbing elbows with all our relatives (hi! that's me!), when in fact we should be embracing togetherness and thanking God for our good fortune.

So, we are looking for a new beach house to rent this year, and the family consensus is that we should go to the Outer Banks which is where we USED to go until I became paranoid about the unguarded beaches and refused to ever go there again after the summer when 6 or 8 people drowned in one month. The extended family has implied that I am overly worried about drowning, but you and I know that I am right. I have told Josh that I will consent to a house at an unguarded beach, but I reserve the right to say, "I told you so" if anyone drowns. Unless I am the one who drowns, in which case I am missing the best "I told you so" ever.

So, if any of you guys have a good line on an Outer Banks beach house that allows pets, let me know.

Home Again Home Again Jiggety Etc.

I type to you from my own kitchen counter. I loved my beach vacation but DAMN it's good to be home. I apologize for my crappy updating/visiting. Internet access was quite limited. In the next day or two I will be around to see what the rest of you all have been up to.

I noticed a couple of things when I was on vacation.

1. It takes me 3 days to adjust to an extended-family vacation lifestyle. For those 3 days I will be tense and out of sorts and might possibly hide in my room and not play Fictionary with the family. Oh, for shame.

2.  I can be kind of a bitch. No, it's true!

3. Our niece (16) and our nephew (13) --the only cousins on that side of the family -- are growing up very quickly, and I wonder why I (we) don't spend more time with them. They are sweet and funny, and I love them. I know from past experience that they will be gone, GONE, off to college, in the wink of an eye.

4. I claim that I don't really like the beach all that much, but I think that I lie. There were moments this week, floating in the cold, cold, salty ocean, or walking the beach road at dusk with Josh, that were almost heavenly.

5. I like being naked outside on a summer night. This is difficult to arrange so will probably not become a habit.

I guess that was it as far as epiphanies go.

********

Today is Josh's 51st birthday. Since it was also our pack-up-and-travel-home day, it hasn't been very celebratory yet. I feel guilty-ish.

Sasha arrived home today after finishing her second consecutive summer semester of Arabic. She spent the entire afternoon making out with the dogs and cats. God, I love that girl.  Tomorrow she flies to Buffalo, NY, where she will be met by her sister, Evangeline, and 3 of her girl cousins for a Cousin Road Trip. They will visit Aunt Crazy in Niagara Falls and party in Canada. Wooo! Cousin Power!

It's All Muscle.

I feel that I have given too much of a lead up to this new haircut which may engender disappointment when you actually see it. Anyway, here it is. My kids said it looked good, and Josh said I AM MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN EVER. So, there you go.  It's got a lot of layers, and it's shorter in the back. Also, I think my upper arm looks abnormally large there but I assure you, it's all muscle, and I could kick someone's ass if I wanted to but I'm not saying whose. Ass, that is.

Don't worry, my mood is once again beatific. My brain, she is mercurial. Go ahead, bang on the shower door. I will only smile enigmatically and warble something noncommittal. 

Hey, guess what? I went swimming in the ocean yesterday. This is news, because I generally demand that conditions be absolutely perfect before I venture in the roiling surf.  Conditions were decidedly imperfect yesterday--chilly wind and freezing ocean. 65 degree water, y'all. Too damn cold. But I went in anyway, just galloped in like it was nothing at all. It was quite pleasant and invigorating, what with the frozen extremities and all. After awhile I felt sleepy and was hallucinating so I decided to get out and go take a nice, long, warm shower and use up all the hot water.

See you in a day or two, unless I drown.

Full of Beachly Goodness.

Oh the agony of being at the beach with only dial-up internet and no way to post AN ADORABLE picture of Rosie and ME with my new cute haircut. I'm all about the self-esteem this week.

I miss you, my internet lovelies, but I am having fun with Josh, Sasha, Evangeline, Sasha's boyfriend Paul, and my in-laws, niece, nephew, etc.

Rosie and April stayed home with my friend Cindy.

I am able to check my email now and then, so if you care about me AT ALL, you will leave a comment or just send me an email.

If I can find a damn wireless cafe around here, I will do a real post.

okayloveyoubye.