I'm restless

but not bored!

This is the first full week of summer break for the kids. I made it to the second day before I lost it. Sproing was the instigating factor, he and all, I dunno, ten of his noisy friends who were in my living room all day playing video games in the dark. And he was R-U-D-E to me. He does that sometimes, then other times he's as nice and gentle as can be. I wish he'd be gentle and considerate all the time, but what's a wish worth? And he's 16 years old, so that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. Anyway, I had a good long cry, part of it in front of him. He's been nicer since then and I feel better, too. And on the third day, yesterday, I opened the back door and the curtain to bring natural light into the living room. He left it like that most of the day, so I'm pleased. Ish.

So, the restlessness. I think this is part of the Abilify medication. Seems I've more gumption to do stuff than I have stuff to do. And last night I woke up just before 3:00. I did some laundry, Faceborked a bit, found that thing I knew I had but didn't know where. Do you ever have a thing and there's something else that goes with it, or is necessary for it to work, but you don't seem to ever find the two things together at the same time? Yeah, that's me a lot of the time. Well, since I've been organizing some of my junk (and throwing some of it away) I actually know where some stuff is. Not everything by a long shot, but some stuff. And last night I found that thing that goes with the other thing that I cleaned up off the front porch recently.

Yesterday evening Superman and I transplanted sunflower seedlings into the small fence garden we have in the front yard. Don't know if they will survive because they were kinda young to transplant, but I'd started them in the little peat pellet things which are too small for starting sunflowers. I also have some marigolds started in the peat pellets and they're progressing just fine. Maybe one day I'll get some pics up here.

I never got back to sleep last night/today. I got dressed and went to the gym at 5:30. Last night I was thinking I wouldn't go today, but what the hell else can I do at 5 a.m.? So I spent half an hour walking a mile on the treadmill. Not much, I know, but I'm starting where I'm comfortable. I did sweat, so there's that. And the shower once I got home felt really good. Oh, and I stepped on the scale at the gym and I'm down a couple more pounds. I haven't been this low since sometime last fall, I think. Still not to the weight I achieved last summer, but I'm about five pounds from it. This feels good, except for the hunger part. And I'm not often hungry anyway. I'd love to have a bowl of cereal, but we're off grains entirely for the first two weeks. We've got about a week and a half until that bowl of cereal happens. tick tick tick tick

Diva finished her "seat time" at school yesterday at 11:00. So the meltdown I had on Tuesday didn't involve Diva at all as she wasn't even on her summer break yet. Gagh! She got out of school late yesterday morning and went directly over to her friend's house. Not Morq in Abbeville, but the girl who lives within walking distance. She spent the night there last night. Yippee!!

Late in the day Monday I realized our big freezer wasn't working. It's been acting squirrely for a few weeks, and it finally died or whatever. So Tuesday morning after dropping Diva at school I went to Lowe's and bought a freezer. A congelateur. Multilingual boxes are fun. Guy shopping is fun, too. I went into the store, picked up a 35 lb. bag of birdseed on the way to appliances. I found the freezer I wanted in about three seconds. Was looking for a smallish upright freezer. There was one small one at the end of a row of big ones. Ba-da-bing. Found the lady working the department, told her what I wanted, she did her computer thingie and ta-da. She told me to go to the checkout and give the phone number associated with our account and there it would be. So I did. As I was checking out the nice young man (cute, brunette, slender and quite strong) came up front with my freezer. I pulled the truck to the entrance there and he loaded it. By himself. Picked the thing up and put it on the tailgate. I was impressed. I got my ratcheting tie-downs around the box and secured it in the truck bed. The whole affair, from parking to driving away, lasted maybe ten minutes. Less than fifteen, anyway. I love efficient shopping like that.

Oh, I had to get some new athletic shoes for this gym thing we're doing. I despise shoe shopping. Superman went with me and I found a shoe I liked in relatively short time. It would have taken much longer if I'd gone alone. I'm glad he was with me.

I'm itching for a road trip. I want to go visit Light and see my other friend who lives there. A fabulously tall gay man who sometimes is a woman. I can relate. I'm a woman (not all that tall, not terribly fabulous) who is sometimes a man. Anyway, Nik has become a good friend. We can spend hours and hours talking. Way into the night. The night before I have to get up and drive in the freezing cold from western PA to Delaware. Hence the need for a nap Friday afternoon, to those bloggerpalooza participants. Oops, got distracted again. So I want to take a road trip back to western PA. Again. And it's time for my annual escape trip. School is out and I need to take an emotional breather to survive the rest of the summer. Thing is, though, what with buying a freezer and getting my truck fixed recently, road trip money done got spent. My truck works, but I can't afford to take it anywhere. Also it still needs the new gasket on the lifter place. And my guy says it'll cost at least $400 to do that. So here I sit. I might be able to finagle a road trip in a month or so, but I'm not sure.

Random shit

I've decided to be Pete. I decided that on the way to the jailhouse to see Sproing this morning. I thought about lots of things on the drive (1.5 hours) to see Sproing. It was a lovely morning. So, this Pete thing: Pete, but not instead of Java. Still Java, but Pete if/when I'm a guy. My parents were going to name me Robert because Robert Burns' birthday was my due date. (Different year) I was born a couple of days earlier, and son of a gun, I was a daughter. That saved me from the fate of Robert. Not that there's anything wrong with Robert. I've known some very nice Roberts. I don't like the name for me, though.

Signs of aging:

• I mostly drink decaf coffee because too much caffeine does odd things to my nerves and my heart.
• My nose hairs are turning gray. 
• I can make dot-to-dot pictures with the age spots on my arms and back of my hands. 

I practiced my southern accent in the truck on the way to the jailhouse. It's a random sort of accent, not associated with any one particular location. I think. I learned a few East Tennessee-isms from my father-in-law. "Lord, help!" for example. I don't know how to spell it so reads like it sounds, but the whole thing is said with exasperation. The kiddie jail is in Union, SC. That'd be "yooon-yun" with an extra long yoooo and a flat u in -yun. 

Superman is away for the weekend. I was away for a week,and I'm back now. Hi, y'all! Had a great time at the Bloggerpalooza. Superman went to his folks' place to celebrate his aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. That'll happen Sunday afternoon, as those things do in The South(TM). He'll come home Monday. Then Sproing comes home from jail on Tuesday. Yeah, we thought he'd be in custody for 60 days, but the DJJ office in our county messed up his paperwork. I'm mostly glad he gets to come home. He probably doesn't need to be there. Diva, on the other hand, should be in DJJ custody. Or someone else's custody besides mine. Someone responsible, not her "grown" 18 year old friend. I don't want to talk about it. 

When I don't post for a while, that probably means I'm depressed. That's why I didn't post earlier in the week. I had a great trip, lots of fun driving and seeing people I like. I was happy. Then I had to come home, and damn, y'all, my home life is shit, Superman excepted. Today I took another drive. To the jailhouse, sure, but on the way home I took a detour. I wanted to see where this highway intersects a highway coming back toward Greenwood. I saw some lovely things and some depressing things. There sure are a lot of trailer houses in rural South Carolina. And a lot of them are really ugly. 

I'm coming down with some kind of lung crud. Haven't had bronchitis in a long time, but that's probably what this is. It's in the annoying stage now, when I have a slight cough, my chest feels heavy, and my throat is a bit rough. However, my throat could feel rough because of all the drive-singing I did recently. Including today. I belted out loud songs to which I know not the lyrics. Things can get funny that way. 

Tuesday March 25th is the first anniversary of my Daddy's death. I'm OK, I think. Death happens, he was sick (sicker than we thought he was), he didn't linger and wasn't in too much pain for very long. I miss him. I feel bad for my step-mom who is alone now. We'll see what the 25th brings. That's the day we have to drive back to Union to get Sproing. Yeah, we have to pick him up; no delivery like he had last time. So I'll be busy, which is probably good. Don't know yet if Superman will be available to go with me to get the boy. 

I bemoan my traitorous heart. I have a crush* on another guy. It's not a big or painful crush; easy to ignore. But I dreamed about him last night. And Superman is away, not here to distract me. This guy is totally inappropriate for me. I mean, absolutely. For one thing, he's younger (by a year or two) than Twitch. He is an adult, but not "grown" in the way Diva thinks anyone who turns 18 is automatically mature and responsible. Actually this guy is pretty irresponsible. He shows addictive tendencies. Spent six months in jail last year on drug charges. But oh, my, is he cute!! He's beautiful. Tall, thin but not too thin, brown hair, sweet smile, and friendly to talk to. I really don't know him very well. He might be a total ass. But he's lovely to look at. 

I was going to talk about the weather not doing what "they" predicted, but I see that it is now sunny just like the forecast said. It was overcast at midday. Now at 5-ish the sun is back out. I like the sun, as long as it's effects are mitigated by cooler temperatures. Yeah, I'm picky. 

*"Crush" might be too strong a word, actually. Visual appreciation might serve better. 

Stuff, some of it disturbing

I am with Light now in Pennsylvania. It's good to be here, good to see her. We'll go see her art exhibit tomorrow evening... in the snow, evidently. Right now it's sunny and pretty here, but it's supposed to get very cold and wet, beginning with rain in the early hours tomorrow, but staying above freezing  most of the day. By night, though, it's supposed to change to snow. Then I leave the day after, in ice and snow it looks like. I'll be driving to the Bloggerpalooza in Lewes, DE on Thursday. Looks like I'll need to add a couple of hours to my drive time for this weather. I think this is the system the Weather Channel is calling Vulcan. OK, just looked at the report and this part of PA will only get light snow. But what about the water that falls before the freeze? East of here, and into DE won't be affected, snow-wise, so maybe it'll be OK.

And I'm super-duper looking forward to the Bloggerpalooza, even though the man who SHOULD be with me is back at home dealing with shit. I'll get to that in a minute. He and I are both really pissed that he could not come this time.

So, the shit at home concerns Sproing this time. He had his follow-up court appearance today, his chance before the judge after spending a few weeks (5, I think it was) in the evaluation center, what I like to call "jail lite." The DJJ office and the attorney recommended that he be put on probation, with the understanding that if he violated probation at all he'd be put back into DJJ custody for the remainder of his term. But no, not this judge. As Superman said, he got the hangin' judge today. She sent his ass to jail for 9 months. I am upset. Superman is upset. Sproing is beside himself. Superman said he was crying when they took him away. He'll be back at the eval center for a few weeks (60 days, but probably less) then be put into "placement." Don't know what placement means. The nice lady from DJJ said that could mean anything from foster care to group home to "I'd like to vacation here." So we'll see. He'll be subject to random drug tests, be enrolled in whatever school is available where he's placed, and maybe some other stuff but I can't remember what else Superman read to me.

Sproing has been doing so much better recently. He definitely learned that he doesn't want to go back to jail after his first stint in the jail lite. I really hope he doesn't become bitter and harder from this. It might work to his advantage, you know. He might learn a very valuable lesson and become a better person, etc. I can hope.

Why don't they do this with Diva?? She's the one who really needs to get the hell out of the home. She has some charges pending, but no news yet on when she'll go to court. I hope she gets this same judge, though. I'd love for her to be sent away. Maybe something like this would improve her attitude, too.

Anyway, I'm pretty upset about Sproing being sent away. And I'm upset about Diva still being at home. Actually, right  now I'm just kinda upset. Think I'll go sew for a while, listen to some happy music, and try to chill.

P.S. I had a fantastic road trip yesterday. Left home at 4 a.m. and drove for about 13 hours to get to Light's place. Had a really good trip, listened to some awesome music, didn't use a map or directions or anything and got here MAKING NO WRONG TURNS AT ALL!!!! I'm particularly proud of that. I will need directions to Lewes, though, because I don't know how to get there from here. The directions are printed out and attached to an official looking clipboard in my truck. I'll let you know how it goes.

One of these days I'll write something happy

Next weekend is the second annual Bloggerpalooza. I'll be there. We had a grand time last year, and I am looking forward to meeting old friends and new. Unfortunately Superman will not be with me. Remember all the crap that Diva has done recently? We can't leave her with Twitch. He's not able to deal with her, and she would take advantage of him so fast. Both Superman and I are super pissed off about this.

We had such a good time last year getting away together. It's the first time in ... no, it was the second time in a very very long time that Superman and I were able to get away together, just the two of us. The first time was the summer before, 2012, when I wrecked the little Aveo in West Virginia. He drove up to bring me home and we spent one night there in Lewisburg, WV together. We had a wonderful time, even though I'd wrecked the car. I think we hadn't been away together just the two of us since before we adopted Sproing back in 1998. How fucked up is that? Then last March we spent a fantastic four days together, then my Daddy died (the Monday after the Bloggerpalooza weekend) and we went together to Gainesville, FL to be with the family and deal with that shit. Technically that was time away together, but because it piggy-backed the Bloggerpalooza and was because of my Daddy's death, it doesn't count. I mean, really. This past year has been hell thanks primarily to Sproing and Diva, and we could use some time together.

On the positive side, I'll be able to see Light. I'm leaving early Monday to go to Pennsylvania to spend a couple of days with Light and see her art show. I'll drive to Delaware on Thursday for the festivities there.

Let's talk about music. I'm not a huge music fan like lots of people I know. I like a variety of genres. I'm particularly fond of classical music, most kinds. Some of the avant garde dissonant stuff doesn't do it for me, but otherwise I like classical music. There are some country songs/artists I like (Kenny Chesney comes immediately to mind). I like soft jazz, piano jazz, but in general jazz isn't one of my favorite genres. It's hit or miss with contemporary pop songs. I like a lot of pop and rock from the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. There are very few hip-hop or rap songs I like, but there are some. My CD collection includes a random handful of classical stuff, my most recent favorite being the complete collection of Beethoven symphonies. When I was in my country music phase I collected a bunch of CDs. Some of them I still like, some I don't. I should get rid of some of that stuff I don't really like.

The majority of my CD collection, however, is oldies. Stuff I grew up loving. The CDs of vinyl albums we had when I was a kid. When they package those CDs they include my baggage. If I hear the song on the radio, I think "I remember that song! I loved that song." In a fit of reminiscence I buy the CD. Then I play it and all the baggage comes falling out and I can't listen to the songs without wallowing. I should get rid of those, too, I suppose. I've decided that I need to get some new stuff that I like. One recent acquisition is Jason Mraz. I really like most of his stuff. He's got a positive energy I find helpful. I've also recently become enamored of Peter Bradley Adams. This is the song that caught my attention. Think I'll get one of his CDs.

He's lyrical and melodic, has good harmonies and simple instrumentals. I hear some James Taylor influences. James Taylor is one of my old time favorites that I can listen to without pain. Oh, I also recently got a Jackson Browne CD (Late for the Sky) that I'm getting to know. Most of the songs on that album are new or not very familiar to me.

Enough of that. Now I'm figuring out my route from here to PA, then to Lewes, DE, and back home. I need to break up the trip home and I'll stay with one of my cousins in Virginia, either the one in Virginia Beach or her sister in Richmond. I've stayed in Richmond the past few times I've needed a layover. I'd like to see the VA Beach cousin, but she is a teacher and has work on Monday, so Sunday night is a school night (the night I'll be staying over) and that might mess up her schedule. I dunno. I need to decide, I need to make plans.

OK, I've been working on this post since late morning. It's nearing 9:00 now, so I'm gonna post this sucker. And speaking of 9:00, change your clocks. Daylight Saving Time returns overnight.

And here we are again

I have my computer back now. It had a nasty Trojan (is that supposed to be capitalized in this context?) that was erasing my registry or something. The nice fella at the repair shop fixed it, maybe. He said it was a particularly nasty one. The first time I started up the computer it did well, but since has been very slow to start. I may need to call the guy on Monday. Nevertheless it is good to have my own computer back.

I had the esophagogastroduodenoscopy on Wednesday. Did I tell you about that? I know I mentioned that I was scheduled for the procedure. It's an upper G.I. endoscopy. The doc snaked a tube with a camera on the end down my throat, into my stomach, and on to the first section of my intestine (the duodenum). It all looks good, he said. He took a few "clippings" from my stomach for biopsy or something because he said it was ever so slightly darker pink than perhaps it should be. I suppose I'll hear something from my family doctor once the results come back. I'm not worried.

My body heard that we are anemic. So what does the uterus do? She decides to bleed profusely for a couple of days. Not cool, uterus. It's not even time for that yet. You're supposed to wait another week or two, according to our most recent schedule.

Have been pretty depressed this week. Why? I dunno. Why does depression happen? I think that's the wrong question to ask, though I can say that hormones probably contribute to this episode. I don't want to go out anywhere or do anything. I had an appointment with my psychiatrist for this coming Monday but I called to cancel it Friday. I intend to reschedule, but the office was closed when I called so I have to call back to reschedule. There was a menu option to cancel appointments, though, on the answering program. I appreciate that.

I'm supposed to go to Florida for Thanksgiving. Have we discussed this? We're to bury my dad's ashes on the day after Thanksgiving. Light is coming home to South Carolina for this holiday, and Twitch got Tuesday through Friday off work so he'll be here from Charleston. All of this means that if I go to Florida, I'll go alone. Anyone who's read this blog for any length of time knows that I'm all about solo road trips! This time, though, I'm just not feeling it. A practical reason: my truck needs a work-over from the mechanic. That "check engine" light that started blaring on my way up through Vermont is still shining as soon as the truck warms up. We haven't had room in the budget to get it checked out. And otherwise, I kinda don't really want to see my Florida family. Especially not all together at one time. I usually do OK one on one with each of them, mostly, for brief periods. I'm supposed to spend a couple of days with my Mama in the Orlando area before T'giving, then go up to Gainesville for the holiday. Friday we'll go from Gainesville to the little town where my dad's family has cemetary plots. His parents, grandparents, and uncles are all buried there and it's where he wanted to be placed. Then either Friday or Saturday (depending on how long this thing lasts Friday) I'll drive back home. If I go.

I will get to see Light if I go to Florida because she doesn't fly back to Pennsylvania until the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'll miss Twitch, but I've seen him fairly recently anyway. He's only about four hours away, which makes for a nice drive especially if Superman and I go together without other passengers.

And now that I've discussed the Florida trip, I'm more willing to go. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not making any decisions about it now because the hormones and depression influence me too much. I'll think about it in another week or two. Of course that gets really close to travel time, but I've told the family that I'm going, and if I end up going, they'll not know I almost didn't. You know what I mean?

My last post was way too long, so before this one gets any longer I'm going to end it.

Bridges, lessons learned, and other random adventures

Now that I have mostly caught up on my sleep and have wasted literally hours on facebork, I'll get back to telling you about my road trip.

First, Skippy. (Dammit, where is my camera??) Drats, I can't find my camera. I want to take a new, close-up pic of Skippy. Oh well, here's one of him showing off the little gift package I got when I checked into the hotel in Connecticut. As I mentioned in my last post, I got him at a little shop on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) on my way north.

Before I got on the BRP I stopped to eat at a Waffle House (WH), knowing that I'd soon travel beyond the range of that purveyor of comestibles. One thing I've noticed about Waffle Houses recently is that their employees seem to have better teeth. The old joke no longer applies. (That baby has more teeth than the entire third shift at Waffle House.)

There was a new guy working the WH the day I visited. He's a manager trainee, but evidently very new and that day he was learning the basics of waiting tables and calling out orders. Thankfully the crowd was light in the mid afternoon. All the gals working with him had to tell him how to call the orders to the cook. There is a protocol for that, you know. He was making a mess of it. His coworkers were very patient with him. The fact that he was young and cute might have influenced their attitudes. He was of average height, fit build without being either bulky or skinny, and had his blond hair in a buzz cut. I estimate his age to be 25. And he had red cheeks and the sweetest smile that made his eyes twinkle. He was very good natured about the whole fiasco. Really, the other gals carried the work very well as he stumbled along so it wasn't a fiasco at all. They called him Skippy. He did not wait on me, but I sat at the high counter with a front row seat to the show. I never saw his name tag clearly, but I think it said "Skip." So a couple of hours later when I bought my little black bear, his name had to be Skippy.

That happened at the beginning of the trip. From here I'm going to relate my experiences in reverse chronological order (mostly), mainly because I need to tell you about my night at the campground in New Jersey.

New Jersey is an odd place. For one thing, they don't sell maps of all of New Jersey on one map. I found an atlas (book) of every New Jersey county but that exceeds my NJ information needs. I was over halfway through NJ before I found a map I could use. The NJ roads and highways are different from what I'm used to. Busier, more commercial enterprises along the road. It was one long long long long series of strip malls from north of Trenton to Camden. I got off the Garden State Parkway where it intersects the NJ Turnpike and followed US-1 to US-130 which took me down the western part of the state. I got on a little two lane county road at one point that was quite pleasant. Otherwise, too much traffic. I had the address and directions to a campground in Clarksboro, but laws-a-mercy it was nigh unto impossible to find! I circled around, narrowing my spiral until I had to stop for directions. I hate doing that. But I finally found it! I felt so accomplished!

I was on the road for approximately 11 hours that day driving from Southington, CT to Clarksboro, NJ. The date was June 22, 2013, the day after the first day of summer, ergo sunlight stayed around late. I got to the campground at 8:00, maybe 8:30 and had plenty of light to set up my Conestoga. That was also the night of the supermoon (as near as I could tell) and I wanted to sleep outside that night.

As is typical of most campgrounds now, this place caters primarily to camper trailers and RVs. There were two tent camping sites beside a small cabin in a somewhat remote area away from any other campers. Shortly after I arrived a trio of young people, twenty-somethings, came to the cabin. One young man and two women. I didn't catch the guy's age, but the girls were 20 and 25.

They came to party. Oooh boy. Miss 20 yr old got an early start with hard liquor. The others were mostly drinking beer. They invited me to join them, which I did. Two other young men friends of theirs, Joe and Andrew (both HOT!!) joined them a bit later. I took a six pack over (because it's proper to take booze to a booze party, right?) and stuck to beer all night. Had my first taste of Bud Light Lime. Meh, OK but not spectacular. I had been drinking Third Shift lager, which I prefer. We were sitting around the fire ring in front of the cabin shooting the breeze and chillin' out. 'Twas quite enjoyable. Miss 20 yr old and the first guy went into the cabin (where the little refrigerator with the beer lived), turned out the lights, and got loudly frisky. Odd, but whatever. Afterward she kept drinking the hard stuff, and eventually became belligerent. First guy tried to calm her down, but she got violent with him. Joe and Andrew were getting uncomfortable, saying they were going to leave. They'd planned to stay the night.

And here's where I get stupid. (You see what's coming, right?) I don't have a lot of experience (OK, none) with violent drunks, but I can usually help sober people when they get out of hand. So I tried to calm down this little Miss 20 yr old. And she was little, probably weighs less than half what I do. I'm big, but not very strong. She was little, drunk, and very strong. With strong healthy teeth and good muscular jaws. Yep, I got beat up. The bitch bit me (broke the skin) in at least three places- my right side, right bicep, and left ring finger. She punched me in the chest above the right breast and in the back of my head. That happened a week ago, Saturday night last week. My finger and arm are still a little bit oozy and sore. The bruises all over have faded to a sickly yellow. Oh, she also got me in the jaw but not hard enough to bruise, thankfully. I bit my lip and cheek in the process, and that was sore for a few days. That's better now.

Lesson well and truly learned: stay away from angry drunk people.

After Joe and Andrew put bandages on my cuts they left and I went to my truck to sleep. After I minced to the bathroom. You know a person only rents beer. It gave the old kidneys a good workout. (Probably the liver, too.) I got to sleep pretty easily, but some time later was awakened by some noise and lights coming from the cabin. I peeked through my curtains and saw a law enforcement cruiser and two officers with flashlights at the cabin. Then I heard her yelling curses and insults. One of the officers said "Alright, now you're under arrest," to which she cursed some more. And low and behold if I didn't have to pee again. So I got up and made my way to the bathroom. On the way back I got a flashlight in my eyes, but no discussions ensued. When I woke up at 7:00 Sunday morning everyone was gone. So I packed up and went south.

I drove over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (not the bridge-tunnel from the Norfolk area) which I've heard can be kinda scary for people with bridge allergies. Gephyrophobia. Bridges used to make me uncomfortable, but not so much anymore. Oh, I also crossed over the Tappan-Zee Bridge into New York (or was it New Jersey there?) That was fun. Of course on the way from South Carolina to Pennsylvania I crossed the New River Gorge Bridge, one of my faves. It was a bridge crossing trip. Sean and Jeffrey took me across the Hudson River a lot when I visited Breen Acres.

Sunday I drove to Richmond, VA to my cousin's house. She had a little baby girl two months ago and I wanted to hold someone else's baby, which I did. I also got to play with her precious two-year-old son.  I did not want her to know about by violent encounter, and thankfully the shirt I wore covered all my injuries except the deep cut (bite) on my finger, and that was easily explained as a camping incident. You know, I pinched my finger (between some bitch's teeth). I was exhausted and not up to extensive visiting, so I didn't contact any of my lovely blogger friends in the Richmond area. Sorry guys. Maybe next time. When I went to bed Sunday night I told my cousin not to worry about keeping the kids quiet, that I'd wake up whenever I needed to. I hoped to get a fairly early start on my trip back to South Carolina, but did not set any alarms or anything. And I slept until 11:00! Woah! I was tired! It made the trip home seem longer and hotter, getting that late a start, but I don't mind. If I was tired enough to sleep that long (at least 12 hours), I needed the sleep more than I needed to get home early.

I am back in The South(TM). It's hot and humid, just like summer in The South(TM). I hate it, but I'll try not to complain too much. There is baseball and air conditioning, so it's OK. I didn't watch Braves baseball the whole 2.5 weeks I was away. They did well without my supervision.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Convince yourself that everything is alright

For Nancy - Pete Yorn : Time Lapse Lettering from Bobby Roman on Vimeo.

'Cause it already is.

Nice message. Does it work? I dunno. Maybe.

I am preparing for a trip. I told you that last time, I believe. I made myself a new skirt and a dress or two. I say "or two" because the first one I made, well, the dress turned out OK before I "helped" it. I art-ed it up by painting it. It's made of plain unbleached muslin, so it was very plain and off white and boring. So I had some fun with craft paints. But the dress didn't fare so well. It looks like it was dragged through the mud. Doesn't matter much to me, really, because I made it with muslin as a test of the pattern. I'll use it as a house dress, just wear it at home when I'm hanging around doing home stuff.

Then I used the same pattern to make a dress with a blue and green checked seersucker cotton fabric. I'm wearing it right now. It works, it's comfortable, and it looks good (I think). So that's an overall win. I'm also going to use this pattern for some nice linen I bought a couple of years ago. That's the plan, anyway.

I have decided to try to do something creative every day. So far I've mostly sewed. I'd really like to get back into sculpture of some kind, but I'm working up to that. And there is a good bit of sewing I should do anyway. My wardrobe is... old. And worn. I have quite a few house dresses, or as I like to call them, rags. I rarely wear them when I go out anywhere. Most of them used to be fairly decent clothes but have been worn slap out. So I need some new stuff. So I sew. Diva and I went to the fabric store yesterday and I found (on sale!!) some pretty yellow fabric with a little flowery print. I bought the rest of the bolt (4 yards) and want to make a blouse from that, to match the skirt I plan to make from some yellow gauze stuff I have that looks like that picture up there.

Then there's the conestoga frame. I've used painter's drop cloth canvas to cover the conestoga in the past, but that stuff is very heavy. I'm not in good shape, folks. My muscles are weak and wimpy, so I need something a bit lighter and easier to manage. I made the roof portion of the cover last night. Now I need to set up the conestoga frame to determine how and where to attach the sides. I hope to do that this afternoon, but it looks like rain. I want Superman to help, also, because... well, because I want help.

We went to our favorite place, The Mill House, for brunch today. Today is the first day they've been opened on Sunday and have served brunch. As far as I'm concerned it was a smashing success. Mimosas, people. And savory crepes. And one of their specialties, Drunk shrimp and grits. The grits are actually polenta, and the shrimp are marinated in some kind of beer (I forget what) then they make a sauce with the marinade. It was extremely good. I had the curried chicken crepe which was even better than Superman's drunk shrimp and grits. After my mimosas (yes, two) I had a beer. So yeah, I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Today is C's birthday. He's 25. We were going to take him out for brunch for his birthday, but he had to work (he's a cook at Shoney's) until noon, but didn't get off until after 1:30. We were already at The Mill House, waiting for him to join us. Eventually we left, came home, and he was just getting out of the shower. So I told him we'd take him out for dinner, but he's going to spend the rest of the day with his friend Holly. Oh well, we'll take him out later this week. And I got to have a delicious boozy brunch with my Superman, so it's all good.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Since I have some sewing and other prep-for-my-trip work to do, think I'll post this, change into my house dress (or some shorts) and get to work.

It's been quite a weekend

and I don't want to talk about it. Suffice to say that the police were involved. Here. At 1:30 this morning. Sproing this time.

Superman found the conestoga frame for my truck. I'm a goin' on the road again in a couple of weeks. Less than two weeks now, actually. I'm preparing stuff, beginning to figure out the route. I'm going to upstate New York anyway, and possibly on into New England. Right now I'm all hep to go lots of places and see lots of people. Once I've been on the road for a while I'll be less eager to go other places and more eager to come home to Superman. Though not so eager to come home to the miscreants.

I'll have to explain the conestoga frame. It's a wooden framework with PVC pole ribs to support a tarp, making the bed of the truck into a tent of sorts. (I would promise pictures, but you know how I am about picture promises. I still owe you pics of the puppy and my last road trip.) The idea is for me to do some camping while I'm on the road, or at least have that as an option.

Diva insists that we grill burgers today, it being Memorial Day. So we've got hamburger meat for those who want it, some veggie burgers for me and whomever else may want some, a few chicken boobies, some beer brats, and some turkey hot dogs. Diva just put an apple pie in the oven. She made it herself from scratch, including the crust. I'm impressed, actually. Took her a couple of hours to do it, but that's OK.

The right rear tire on my truck is flat. Sproing noticed it flat yesterday afternoon. Don't know what happened, exactly. Superman suspects I have a nail or screw stuck in it. We (he) will take it to our favorite tire place tomorrow to get it repaired (if it can be repaired).

Spelling quandary: repair and prepare. Why aren't they both spelled with either an "are" or an "air"? Those two words trip me up regularly.

That's all I got for now, folks.

Back to something like my life

I have been away. I am now back. If I change one little letter in the previous sentence it says "I am not back" which is how my fingers typed it the first time. My fingers Freudian slipped.

I was away for 11 days visiting Light, then Indigo, then driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. While away I was alive. The day I came back (Tuesday evening) and the following morning I was alive and angry. Angry at how we live here in this house, angry at the complacency everyone shows about the many nouns that are out of place. Concrete and abstract nouns. For example: the disambiguated door leaning against the wall by the kitchen. It has no purpose besides stubbing toes. The pervasive stench of sour urine throughout the house caused by Diva's bed wetting and her failure to wash her bedclothes when she wakes up wet. The antagonism my children have for each other, for us as their parents, and for the world in general. Yes, I was angry. But everything is fine now. The enormity of it all has overwhelmed me once again until I am numb on the surface. HELP! I'm suffocating in this stultifying* miasma** that is my life. I hardly recognize the woman who just two days ago was driving through the Appalachian Mountains, full of life, determination, and confidence. I almost can't remember the feeling of that indignant anger. I certainly don't feel it anymore. All I feel is sadness. No, more like despondency.*** 


Perhaps I don't drink enough. I have a drawer full of beer in my refrigerator. To numb the pain of this numbness I could become a drunk. Not just an occasional drinker, but a drunk. I know that's a bad idea in the long run. The argument I tell myself against such foolishness is almost the same as the argument I use for not killing myself. Does anyone else see a red flag there?

What can be done? Nothing. Refer to the definitions of stultify, miasma, and despondent.

Please take me away from here!


*stultify - to render absurdly or wholly futile or ineffectual, especially by degrading or frustrating means.
** miasma - a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.
***despondent - feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom.
-from Dictionary.com

Home again

No pictures, not much to say.

Light signed her lease yesterday (Friday) before we left Indianapa. We drove all the way home, most of the trip through the rain. At times the rain was torrential and we crept along at 25-30 mph. Arrived home shortly after midnight after 14 hours on the road. My eyes were screaming to be released from their contact lenses.

I slept very well, but not nearly long enough. Woke up this morning, showered, had my favorite breakfast lovingly prepared by Superman. Now that I've checked my email and checked in here, I'm going back to bed.

Road Trip update

Warning: drunk blogging ahead

I gotta tell you, the summer climate here is SO much better than back in South Carolina. The temps this week are about 10 to 15 degrees (F) lower than what poor ol' Superman is suffering. It's warm here, but bearable. Here's a thermometer I saw in the shade at noon. Isn't this lovely?

We don't want to talk about what this thermometer will look like 6 months from now. It hangs beside the mailboxes at an apartment complex where Light was investigating housing options. We've looked at some apartments, and have more to look at tomorrow and maybe Thursday.

As we drove around the area today we come upon this view. Isn't it lovely? This is a hillside west of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Also, Pennsylvania is fun to type. As is Massachusetts. Schnecdity isn't nearly as fun, because I don't really know how to spell it, even though C and I stayed in a very scary motel in Schnectidy last summer. Scnectidy. Schnectity. OK, using spell check now: Schenectady. See? That was not nearly as fun as Pennsylvania or Massachusetts, which I can type without getting those mean red lines under them.

Now, about the drunkenness. I'm not really drunk, just a bit buzzed. On of all things, beer! Yes, I'm developing a taste for beer. I've been working on it for a few months now, starting at a local Greenwood eatery I may have mentioned before, a pizza place with lots of beer options. Tonight I'm drinking Shock Top, a Belgian white beer with a hint of orange. I've had two, which is all I'm going to have tonight. I got a great deal on it, though, from a bargain beer store where I had to buy a case of bottles. That's the smallest quantity they sell. The price per bottle was just over $1.20. Actually, I don't know if that's a great deal or not. I hardly ever buy beer from a store. I get it at restaurants, where it's more expensive. I don't even know how much beer costs from the restaurant. I rarely pay attention, since Superman pays the check.

We left the quaint rustic hotel today. The window unit air conditioner was blowing something we suspect is mold into the room, causing Light's sinuses to explode (metaphorically). She could barely breathe. We didn't use the air conditioner at all the last day and a half, and that helped a bit, but she was still suffering. So was I, what with my intolerance for heat. It wasn't terribly hot, but it wasn't comfortable either. So we're at a Comfort Inn on the south end of town. The room is probably three times the size of the one we had in the other place. It is prettier, but has much less character. We're paying twice what we did at the other place, but saving a bit of money with discounts available at local eateries by presenting our key card. Yes, our key cards are also discount coupons. Cool, huh? There is some other kind of savings over the other place, but I forget now what it is.

And speaking of character, here are some pictures of the bathroom in the old place. This is the floor of the shower.
The shower floor has the same tile pattern as the rest of the bathroom floor. It has a pleasant geometric balance, though these colors wouldn't be my first choice.
The shower looks almost like it could be a tub, but it isn't quite. It's big, almost 5 feet long and 3.5 feet wide. Light took her showers in the morning and had irregular water pressure, but my evening showers had near perfect pressure. I dunno.
I seem to be rambling. I'm getting tired and my beer buzz is nearly gone. We've got apartments to look at tomorrow, and perhaps we'll go to the Jimmy Stewart museum. Did I mention that Indiana, PA is his hometown? Yes, and his voice instructs pedestrians crossing all the intersections along the main east/west road through downtown. It's charming and disarming. The locals who work downtown are probably sick of the man's voice by now.

Oh, look, I'm rambling again. I got hot and sticky today, so I'm going to take a shower and go to bed in my nice cool motel room. Light just went to bed and is covered with a blanket and the comforter. I'll probably only need the sheet. This is great.

Road Trip! With pictures!

Hi! I had too much caffeine this morning! I am hyper!

The ADD is on overdrive because of the caffeine, which makes little sense. Stimulants are used to treat ADD symptoms. This caffeine is making me hyper-spastic.

Light and I are in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She will start grad school next month at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). We're here to secure housing and some kind of part-time employment for her.

We got to Indiana yesterday (Saturday) late afternoon. It's a quaint little place, seems like a college town, but I'm not sure yet. It isn't big; smaller than Greenwood SC where we live. We've been to Wal-Mart twice already (sigh). We're staying in a rustic, quaint little place on the east side of town. "Rustic" and "quaint" means cheap and old. I kinda' like it. Do you remember the trip I took last summer to Massachusetts with C? He would HATE this little motel. The place reminds me of my grandmother. It smells old and musty, but in a good, nostalgic way. It's plain, but clean and functional. There's an air conditioner, a very noisy window unit that cools slowly but well. We turned it off this morning to get some peace and quiet. It makes good white noise for sleeping. I will have to take some pictures of the place to show you. I'm particularly fond of the shower stall and the tile pattern on the bathroom floor.

So I've been taking road trip pictures to share with you. Let me tell you about the no-tell motel where we stayed Friday night. It's a Knights Inn in Ghent, WV. OMG, West Virginia! It reminded me forcefully of South Carolina, but with cooler temps and prettier scenery. I was amused. We were on I-77. We saw quite a few "adult entertainment and novelty" establishments, more so than I've seen in SC. So, this Knights Inn: a large gravel parking area with plenty of room for truck parking; an "adult books and video" store in front of the place.

Here's a pic of the Lion's Den

Panning left, the hotel

You may need to embiggen this to tell, but landscaping is not high on the priority list.

View of the Lion's Den from our room

View of the large gravel parking lot with huge pot holes; Lion's Den entrance on the left

Moving down the road a bit, this is the ladies room in the visitor's center at the New River Gorge park. IIRC, it's a national park. I'll show you more of that shortly. The sign taped to the wall says "Hand Washing ONLY." Why? What other kind of washing are they precluding?

Does this mean I can hand wash my delicates in these sinks?

Moving on from the bathrooms, here's a picture from the little museum area in the visitor's center. The area along the New River was used in the mining industry back in the early 20th century. This is an example of a homemade mandolin. Cool, huh? Makes me want to get my scroll saw out try it myself.
There is an overlook of the New River Gorge and the bridge that crosses it. This visitor's center shows the history of the mining industry as well as the process of building the bridge. The bridge is pretty impressive!

A pretty flowering bush (mountain laurel, maybe? Rhododendron?) on the way to the overlook

The bridge, looking south.

We of course were driving north, so we crossed the bridge then came upon the park. I couldn't resist. Light humored me, we stopped. She was in a hurry to get to Indiana. I am all about enjoying the trip. She's a very patient daughter.

The bridge is very high. I'm not fond of being on bridges, but the engineering aspect of bridge design and construction fascinates me. This bridge, as you can see from the diagram below, is as high as the Washington Monument plus two Statues of Liberty. Cool, huh?

Looking east into the New River Gorge

The place is beautiful. Superman has been to the Pacific Northwest and seen the Columbia River Gorge, which I understand is logarithmically more impressive than this, but this is what I saw, photographed, and am telling you about. Interesting factoid: The New River is actually very old, and flows north. In the northern hemisphere most rivers flow south. The St Johns River in eastern Florida flows north. It is one of the largest north-flowing rivers in this hemisphere, and is at sea level. The New River in West Virginia runs through the mountains, so I'm pretty sure the northward flow is all about gravity and downhill. Not as impressive as the St Johns*, imho. Here's what Wikipedia says about the New River.

I've been sitting here in this Starbucks for a few hours now. It's time to move along. Haven't had internet access in two or three days, so I'm catching up a little bit. Haven't had a chance to look at other blogs in almost a week. HOPEFULLY I'll do some of that later this week.

*OK, according to Wikipedia, the St Johns flow is about gravity, too, but it's a minor drop in elevation.

Road Trip Log: the rest of the days

Total miles traveled: 3000, give or take a couple dozen. Really, it was quite close to 3000 miles. On the last day I messed up my trip odometer. I zeroed out the wrong one. The final day we drove 555 miles, and adding up what I did know to what I found out, I got 3003. If that doesn't make any sense, welcome to my life. With me most things are estimates. Let's just smile, nod, and say 3000 miles. Yes, it's time for another oil change.

Now where were we? I recently reported on days 7 and 8, so this will be days 9 and 10 of the trip, and the day or so of recovery. About the recovery, there was a lot of sleeping. I'm old and fat and out of shape. I can push myself for a while, but eventually I need to catch up on sleep. I slept a lot Saturday. We got home Thursday at 5:00 in the afternoon, right as Superman was coming home from work. Ah, it was so good to see him! He smells so husband-like, and feels warm and soft and fuzzy to hug. He's grown a beard and mustache since I started this road trip foolishness. He quit shaving when Sproing and I went to Florida, and has only shaved his neck and cheeks since then. He looks good with a beard and mustache, but his face fuzz is very coarse and it pokes me in the tender parts of my nose when we kiss. It's a challenge I'm willing to face.

Anyway, I mentioned Thursday and Saturday, but what about Friday? Wouldn't it make sense for me to rest on Friday? Yes, it would, but instead I did more driving. Light went to her college to participate in the graduate school graduation (as an usher-type person, not actually graduating). C had a chance to see his sweetheart in the Charlotte area. So I drove them to their respective rendezvous. Sproing went with, as he has been mommy-less for a long time. He and I had a fun lunch at Waffle House while C and Sweetie spent some time together. I was so tired, though! When we picked Light up later, she drove the rest of the way home and I napped in the backseat. Then Saturday I slept in late, got up for breakfast, caught up with my email (not been to most of the blogs yet, but I'm working on it), then took a very long nap. It wasn't all that late when I went to bed, either, and I slept until 9:30 this morning. I am beginning to feel better.

Wednesday, Day 9, was a really good day for me. C didn't enjoy it so much, but I don't care. We left Danvers and drove west on MA 114 for a while. We got on some interstate thing and tootled into New Hampshire. It was my first time in that state. We crossed into Vermont, my first time in that state, too. We drove local highways to Middlebury, then up US Hwy 7 to VT Hwy 17, and east to VT Hwy 116, where I turned around and went as far west on VT Hwy 17 as I could before leaving Vermont. I was particularly interested in that area because Superman is interested in that area. He is writing a story, a furry fan fic about a vixen named Wendy who lives in (an imaginary) large B&B just a couple of turns off of VT Hwy 17. So I checked out the area, took some pictures, and missed Superman like crazy. I wish he had been there! He knows the area geography very well, but has never been there himself. It's beautiful terrain, very rural, lots of hills and gorgeous vistas. C, who is a fool about some things, didn't appreciate it. He doesn't much care about the natural beauty of country roads or quaint seaside towns, and as such he's not a good photographer of these wondrous places. Greg thinks that C will wake up and get a clue about this in another 10 years. I hope so. For now, though, I don't have many good pictures of that sort of thing.

We ate at a quaint little restaurant/diner on the edge of western Vermont on Hwy 17. It is a few hundred feet from where the bridge across Lake Champlain used to be. There is no longer a bridge, but there is bridge building activity. Evidently the structural supports for the bridge were unsound, so they had to demolish the structure. There is now a ferry that transports travelers across the short span. The waterway is called Lake Champlain, but right there it looks more like a river to me. What do I know? I got to ride the ferry, and that was a lot of fun for me. C is a stick-in-the-mud. I got a picture of my fairy on the ferry. He was not amused. I was. Good for me!

I keep talking about all these pictures, but you haven't seen any yet. My plan is to post separate entries with the pictures. It's difficult to arrange pictures with text on the browser I use, ironically. I use Google Chrome to write my Google Blogger blog, but the photos don't want to go where I want them. So far I've downloaded most of the pictures, but the ones from the final two days are still in the camera. Soon, peeps, soon.

After crossing into New York on Wednesday afternoon, we hit the interstate and drove like mad women as far as we could. I had made reservations at a hotel in Chambersburg, PA. It looked like a good point from which to drive back to South Carolina in a day. We got to the hotel at 11:00 p.m., and left at 6:30 Thursday morning. Of all the places we stayed on our road trip, this was possibly the nicest. The Holid@y !nn in Taunton, MA was also very nice, but the hotel in Chambersburg was at least as nice, and much less expensive. It's also the place we spent the least amount of time. Whatevs. I would like to have stayed there all day Thursday and rested, but alas, I had told Light we'd try to get home before Friday so she could do the thing at school.

We drove hard Thursday. I was very tired. C took the wheel a couple of times. Driving conditions were good, he can drive pretty well, and I was dangerously tired. He drove, I snoozed. Then I drove and he snoozed. We traded places a couple more times, snoozing or driving, but not both at the same time. Every time we stopped for gas/food/bathroom breaks it was hotter and muggier than the stop before. We got off I-77 at the southernmost exit in Virginia. Wow. We were in The South (TM) again, by God! The heat and the hicks were thick as Grandma's peach cobbler. I wanted to turn around and run back north, but alas, t'was time to go home. There isn't much to report about Thursday. All I remember is being very, very tired and driving many, many miles. And I've already told you about arriving home to Superman, the best part of the day by far.

I can't think of anything else to report about this road trip. I'll start working on the picture posts now. Stay tuned.

Road Trip Log: Days 7 and 8

Total miles traveled: I have no idea

We stayed in the Danvers/Salem area all day Monday and Tuesday. Our first stop was Salem State College, where we took a guided tour of the campus. There were a dozen or so other students plus their parents. There were plenty of other people my age on the tour, but none of them was a prospective student. I was the only one interested in graduate school, also. The rest were high school students looking for a likely college, or first year college students looking to transfer. A perky little sophomore led us around and told us about college life. Yeah, it didn't apply to me. There was very little useful information for us on that tour, though we did discover where most of the classroom buildings are. For the information I need, I will email the program director of the graduate counseling psychology program and snoop around on the website. Eh. Did I need to come all the way to Salem, Massachusetts for this?

Yes, I did. Because the primary reason we are here is to get a feel for the area, the college being just a part of the greater whole. After our college tour we wandered into downtown Salem, Essex Street to be precise. It's at the heart of the tourist area. C was interested in the pagan shops, of which there are many. Salem is (in)famous for the witch trials of the late 17th century. I learned a bit of that history. It's pretty scary, not because of the alleged witches, but because of the people (mostly young girls) who were accusing people of being witches. The witch scare only lasted about nine months before the general wave of opinion moved on to some other superstitions or scandals or whatever. Nineteen people were killed for being witches before the ordeal was over. Many more were imprisoned, but they were released after the panic ended.

The thing about Salem, though, is that it's a coastal town, a harbor port, with rich nautical history that spans centuries. But what comes to mind for most people when they hear of Salem, Massachusetts? Witches. I learned that Salem was important in the whaling industry back in those days. There was also lots of overseas trade, the East India Company being active in the area. It's the witch thing that brings in the tourists and their dollars. Whatever.

The town is adorable. I'm especially interested in the architecture, no surprise there. The houses are cute, quaint, lovely, and many other pleasant adjectives. There are shops and stuff all over downtown. It's a town that's easy to walk in. One part of Essex Street is closed off to automobiles and is a pedestrian mall. There are historic places of interest all over the area. We saw the Peabody Essex Museum, but didn't go in. It was closed Monday, and we didn't take the time for it on Tuesday. Maybe another time.

The roads around here are very confusing. There isn't a unified grid of streets anywhere in this area, and one long stretch of road might have six or more different names along its length. Mass. Hwy 114 runs from Danvers through Salem, but takes a bunch of turns getting from one burg to the other. It's one of the big retail areas in Danvers. Wal-Mart is on Hwy 114. Through Danvers it's called Andover Street. The voice of the GPS thing C downloaded onto my BlackBerry sounds like she's saying "Bendover Street." So of course I'm calling it Bendover Street :) The city/state/whomever is working on Bendover Street through Danvers, and currently has the top couple of layers of asphalt chewed off. This leaves the manhole risers (get your mind out of the gutter!) raised above the level of the road, causing driving to be treacherous. C says it reminds him of a video game, having to avoid the obstacles while moving down the road. Since he said that, I've been using the road that way. Makes it fun to drive on Bendover Street and play the real life version of a video game! This is the greater Boston area, so of course people around here are used to other cars weaving in and out of lanes of traffic. I tell ya', I'm having a blast driving around here!

On the other hand, I'm getting frustratingly befuddled. It's one thing to go on a little adventure in search of my destination. It's another thing to have no fucking idea where I am or where I have been or where my destination is from there. Trying to find a restaurant the other night I got SO annoyed. Poor C has been annoyed for days. So on Sunday (I think it was) he downloaded the Verizon Navigator program. She has been most helpful, both for me and for C. He's much less stressed than he was. I have named the voice of direction (C would say "the voice of reason") Cartesia, in honor of the Cartesian Coordinate system developed by Rene Descartes. Superman things this is appropriate. Cartesia and I are trying to build a good working relationship. I'm a stubborn old bird, so admitting that I need navigational assistance is a hard step for me.

Speaking of steps, we have been walking a lot! Starting on Sunday in Boston with RG, and continuing for the past two days, I've been on my feet an awful lot. I'm a bit sore at the end of the day, but I haven't been achy any more than usual when I get up in the morning. This afternoon C and I went to the indoor pool here at the hotel (swanky, huh?) and I floated for an hour or so. He swam. I was relaxed.

I'm down to three bandanas and a handkerchief for clean clothes. Had to dig in the dirty clothes pile to find a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to wear to supper tonight. The hotel has a small laundry area with coin operated machines. Quaint, huh? At least it's in the hotel, not at some questionable location down some dark alley. Our clothes are in the dryer, probably ready to be removed. I'm off to do that momentarily.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we leave Massachusetts. We'll drive up through New Hampshire and Vermont, just to see the pretty, then head down through New York into Pennsylvania again. We'll stay overnight in southern Pennsylvania (NOT in Schenectady!) I plan to push on all the way home to South Carolina on Thursday. That's two days of very heavy driving ahead of us, and I'm not sure how much blogging I'll do until after I get home and rest up a bit. So TTFN, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Or something like it.

Road Trip Log: Day 4

Total miles so far: _____(I'll let you know, assuming I remember to check in the morning.)

Location: Taunton, Massachusetts

Warning: drunk blogging ahead

C and I brought a bottle of Shiraz with us, just for fun. Tonight we got into it, plus the bottle we bought at the grocery/liquor store down the street. Here's the funny part: we went to the liquor store to buy a cork screw, having forgotten to bring one. We decided to buy another bottle of wine, just because. We picked a wine, found a corkscrew, paid the nice man wearing a Boston Red Socks t-shirt, and came back to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel we discovered that the bottle we brought with us had a screw top. The bottle we bought tonight had a pseudo-cork, so we needed a corkscrew for that, but we would have been fine and dandy had we not stopped at the liquor store at all. Oh, and when Superman reads this, he should forget this particular paragraph since he's worried about the money I'm spending on the trip. I'll tell you, though, that it was a cheap bottle of Barefoot Shiraz. We're comparing Tall Horse Shiraz to Barefoot Shiraz. Barefoot wins, IMHO.

We (and by "we" I mean "I") are doing laundry tonight. C is talking to his boyfriend. Have I figured out what to call the sweetie yet? It appears I have not. Anyway, the load of laundry is in the dryer on its second go-round. We lucked out. Our room is on the same level as the laundry facilities in the hotel.

Traveling with someone is a good way to get to know a lot about him/her. C and I are very close, but let me tell you, we're learning more about each other. He is having a bit of trouble with my adventurous spirit. I understand that some people can't deal well with the thought of not knowing exactly what the plan is for tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or perhaps three days out. Only this morning did I make arrangements for our lodging tomorrow night. I was getting a slight bit concerned about it. Poor C was in a tizzy.

Here's my philosophy: life throws unexpected turns. One can not count on one's plans working out every time. It's good to know how to go with the flow, or to fly by the seat of one's pants, or pick your favorite cliche. This is a growth experience for C. When I told him that, he called bullshit on me. Eh, whatever.

Tomorrow's plan has us on Cape Cod, in the elbow region of the peninsula, to visit The Midnight Gardner. I am quite excited about that. He and I got to know each other via blog and email two summers ago, and I have wanted to meet him since then.

I'm so excited to be in Massachusetts. So far, it has lived up to my expectations and more. Reflecting on yesterday, I must say that Schenectady, NY was something of a disappointment. It looks like it was a fine city at one time, long in the past. It's very run down with a distressingly seedy ambiance. Especially the hotel we stayed at. O.M.G. Once I post the pictures... I think I mentioned that in my last post. A-fucking-mazing.

Speaking of pictures, I must tell you about C as a photographer. Remember when I mentioned that he has a vision impairment? Yeah, well, that's not a good attribute for a photographer, either. He does pretty well, all things considered. Kinda. As we have traversed the rolling hills and mountainous areas of the eastern seaboard and New England, I have had to tell him "Hey, this is pretty. Take a picture, dammit." He says that all these beautiful vistas and valley views look a lot alike. Well, after looking at the pictures, I can't come up with a good argument. They do. But all of them are so pretty!!

I have a good feeling about Massachusetts. New York made me a slight bit uneasy, but so far I like what Massachusetts has to offer. I wonder how much of that is preconceived notion...

My, but it's gotten late! Tomorrow is an early day, so I'll leave you now. There is so much more I have to share with you, but it shall have to wait for another time.

Road Trip Log: Day 3 (with mileage update)

Total miles so far: 1171 miles

Yesterday was day 3. You know, it doesn't take many days on the road to make me forget how many days we've been on the road.

But let me tell you about the evening of day 2. We stayed in Halfway, MD though the address technically was Hagerstown. My beloved Indigo lives in Baltimore, so he and his partner Doug drove inland, and we drove toward the coast until we met at Fredrick, MD. It's a lovely, quaint old town, but the roads are seriously messed up. I got quite befuddled. C accused me of being lost, and it took about 15 minutes to find our way to where Indigo had parked. I refuse to admit that I was lost. C may have been, but I wasn't. I just wasn't sure how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be. Mildly confused, but not lost.

We ate at a charming place, a micro brewery and restaurant that Doug found. I have pictures, but don't have time to load them now. I promise a picture-ful post in the near future.

Yesterday we had many more adventures in which I was befuddled and C was lost. He's about sick of my adventures, so today we plan to follow the detailed directions that Google gave me. And let me tell you something else about choosing one's navigator. In addition to informing said navigator of his duties, one should choose a person whose eyesight is adequate for the task. C has a congenital eye condition involving his retina that limits his effectiveness as a detail-oriented inspector of maps. He mentioned that reading glasses might help. HELLO! Tell me these things, darling! After breakfast yesterday morning we found a Wal-Mart and bought some maps (also a good thing for a navigator to have) and some reading glasses for the dear man.

We got through Pennsylvania quite handily, having found a good Pennsylvania map in southern Pennsylvania. However, there wasn't a New York map at the southern Pennsylvania W-M. Once we crossed the border things got a bit befuddling. I also bought a road atlas, though, which has maps of all the states. It does not, however, give much detail about Schenectady, so we had some challenges once we neared this city. We finally found the hotel, unfortunately.

The hotel. O.M.G. I have pictures which don't show the worst of it. When we got back from dinner last night we discovered which unit is selling the drugs. Thankfully it is on the ground level, and we're upstairs. We locked out door to the best of our ability (photographic evidence forthcoming) and stayed inside. Smoking is allowed in this room, so C didn't have to go outside for smokes. However, there is art on the walls, so it could be worse. (Again, photographic evidence to follow.)

There is more I could say, but it's after 10:00 already and we have some driving to do today. We also have maps and detailed directions! Navigation promises to be easier today. So after coffee and donuts (and maybe a touch of something healthier) we're off to Massachusetts.

:: Extra Bonus Experience :: I'm learning how to spell all sorts of long words, like Schenectady, Massachusetts, and gustatory.

Road Trip Log: Day 2

(posted Friday morning because the cheap, nasty hotel we stayed in that night didn't have WiFi)

Total miles so far: 667

Tonight we are in Halfway, Maryland. Halfway looked like a good stopping point.

Birdie had a good idea. I need to give C the camera and let him take pictures while I drive. Wish I’d done that today. We drove through the Shenandoah Valley, and OMG is it beautiful!

I designated C to be the navigator for our trip. When I needed his assistance as we were approaching today’s destination, he failed miserably. But that probably has something to do with the fact that I inadvertently forgot to tell him that he was my navigator. He fussed at me, saying that a navigator is the guy who tosses a rope off the back of the boat (no, he didn’t say “stern”) and counts the knots, and uses the astrolabe or some dumb shit to look at the stars. No, no, I said, that’s only on the sea, and clearly we are on land. Remember all the talk about asphalt, trucks, and speed limits enforced with airplanes?*

We’re roughing it with our nightly accommodations, staying in really cheap places. Tonight we’re in a Hotel 6. They spend so much money on the electric bill when they “leave the light on,” they have to scrimp on other amenities. There are complementary “bars” of soap not much bigger than a postage stamp, but no shampoo. Silly C failed to bring shampoo. That’s another story right there. There is no art on the walls in our room, which C finds unnerving. The bedspreads are so loud that I doubt any cheap motel art could compete. Oh, and the mattresses! Holy Cow! The edges are hard but there’s barely any support within. I sat on the bed and fell in. Glad I have my own bed, because if I had to share, both of us would slide to the center. It’s what (I think it’s) Garrison Keillor calls a deep valley bed.

The most significant deprivation, though, is lack of WiFi. WTF?? This is the 21^st Century, people! I am typing this on a Word doc, and will copy/paste it onto the blog when I have access to the internet.

So this hotel is across the street from some major shopping action. There is allegedly a mall over there, and I saw a Penney’s. Next to that, though, is Target and Michaels! (Who said “Tar-zhay” in his head?) We went to Target to pick up a few things, like shampoo for C. More OMG here. He spent the longest time finding just the right shampoo. Please, doll, just grab something shiny and let’s move on. Then he had to find a brush. This about killed me. After five minutes I asked him what he’d do if I gave him a 60 second time limit, then started humming the Jeopardy tune. He insisted that it was very important to get the proper brush, especially since he doesn’t have one at home. Oh, in that case I’ll sing the Jeopardy tune twice. s

*The signage in Virginia informed us that speed limits were enforced with airplanes. We speculated that the highway patrol has small engine planes with mounted guns, maybe bazookas. If they see a speeding car, they shoot it. That would probably deter speeding. C suggested perhaps they use helicopters with strong magnets to literally pick up speeders, removing the offenders from the flow of traffic.

Road Trip Log: Day 1

Miles driven so far: 199

We made it as far as Charlotte today. No, that's not very far.

We started out going the wrong way, sort of. We went to Columbia to see Diva. It was a short visit, relatively painless. She wants to come home on a weekend pass. I don't think I'm ready for that, and I'm pretty sure Sproing isn't ready either. You know she threatened to kill us, right? I'm not over that, mainly because I believe that even now she still wants us dead. Sproing says he hates her and never wants to see her again. Light hasn't admitted, at least to me, that she hates her sister, but she has told me that she doesn't want to ever see the girl again. Somehow that doesn't seem like a good atmosphere in which to bring the child.

From Columbia we came up the highway to Charlotte, and dropped by Twitch's place to drop of a big bulky piece of equipment he got from his grandma in Florida. He and Light didn't have room to bring it back with them, because they both needed lots of leg room in the front seat. This thing (a mat cutter for mounting artwork) is long, and only fit into the back of the car with the back seats folded down and the front passenger seat slid all the way forward. Sproing was able to fit in the seat fine, but C had an uncomfortable trip until we got to Twitch's place. The monstrosity is out of the car now, and C rearranged/repacked the car while I said hello/goodbye to Twitch.

C's boyfriend lives near Charlotte, so we're here now to meet up with him. The boys will spend a little while visiting until the boyfriend has to go back home. His mother likes to keep the poor kid on a short leash. We're down to less than three months until the young'un can leave home! I need to come up with a good name for the boyfriend. His name begins with the same letter as C's ex, and since I used that to refer to the ex, I don't want to use it now. Hell, that would confuse me.

We're staying the night in Charlotte, and will hit the road tomorrow aiming for Maryland. According to Google Maps, we will have approximately 7 hours of driving time tomorrow. It's not too much, really. Very reasonable. We're taking our time, having fun.

The drive from Columbia to Charlotte was very pretty. The sun is bright today, and there were perfect puffy clouds in the sky. Grass and trees are green, the sky is blue, all is right with the world. Traffic was light and fast until we got close to Charlotte, and even then it wasn't bad. We got here after the lunch rush and before the afternoon mess. If we get a good early start tomorrow we should have it pretty easy most of the drive to Maryland.

Update: As it turns out, the boyfriend was not able to get away to meet with us. C'est la vie. Somebody was very disappointed.

Oh, and by the way,

Did I mention I was taking Sproing to Florida to see the relatives? Did I say anything about when this was happening? I ask because I called my mother this evening to tell her we would be at her house tomorrow, and she was totally shocked. Um, I remember telling her I was coming, but I seem to have failed to give her the updates about arrival times. Oops!

I'm typing this from the sofa in my brother's family room in Florida. Sproing and I left home before 8:00 this (Wednesday) morning, and got here at 5:00 this afternoon. The original plan was to arrive tomorrow. Oh, well. The second problem we might have is that my dad doesn't know I'm heading to his house in a couple of days. It's too late to call him now, of course. I hope I remember to call him tomorrow.

My plan was to get a good night sleep, then get up early and take Sproing to the beach before it gets too hot. The good night sleep is shot, since it's technically Thursday morning now. Maybe we'll get up early, do the beach for a couple of hours, then come back here and I'll take a nap before driving to Mama's place. It's only a 1 hour drive from here, but I could fall asleep if I'm not well rested.

I don't know how much I'll be able to do the blog thing over the next few days. I'll be here with Sproing until early next week (don't know exactly what day we're going home). Once I get home, I plan to take that road trip with C to check out the college in Massachusetts that I'm interested in. Nothing is definite, except that in the next half hour I'm going to take a shower and get in bed. Other than that, I'm not sure what will happen when.

I'm having fun, though!

Yeah, I'm still here

...sort of. I'm dull. I can't think of anything much to say. (Watch out. I've had posts start out with that statement and go on for many, many column inches.) Let's try bullet points! They're always fun!

• Light and Twitch drove to Florida yesterday to visit their grandparents. This is the first time Light has driven such a distance. I heard they had a good journey, and so far seem to be enjoying their time with my relatives.
• Less than a week after they return, Sproing and I will make the same damn trip. Why didn't we all just go together? It makes sense from one perspective but there are so many valid arguments against it. For instance, we're driving the Aveo, a very small car. Sproing argues, loudly, with everyone all the time, especially his siblings. His dad and I are about the only ones who can stand to be with him that long. It's asking too much from his sibs. Light will be bringing home my mother's old non-portable sewing machine in its cabinet. Cargo space in the Aveo is premium, and we'd be hard pressed just to get all of our personal luggage in there. Light and Twitch really wanted this to be their own independent voyage, and having mom and little brother along ruins that effect. So Sproing and I are taking the same damn trip next week.
• In more encouraging traveling news, it looks like C and I will be driving to Salem, MA the last week in July. I'm interested in a grad program at Salem State, and Superman thinks it's a great idea to go check out the area. Road Trip!! Without Sproing!!
• Since it's a big topic of conversation in much of the country, I'll mention the weather. Yeah, it's hot. Hot and humid. Superman came home for lunch today and said that it was "Stupid Hot" outside. I had planned to take Sproing to get a haircut this afternoon, meaning I'd have to take Superman back to work, and the un-air conditioned truck is the only vehicle we have right now. He recommended that I stay home, so I did. And speaking of Salem, MA, I looked up the average temps for Salem on the Weather.com site. Oh, yeah! I know it's been hot there this week, but the average temperature for the month of July is 81-82F (27-28C), whereas our average highs here are at least ten degrees higher. I also checked winter average lows for Salem, and they're colder than what I'm used to, but mostly not unbearable. Though a few of the record lows were scary! That gets into the range of Stupid Cold.
• C and his boyfriend are still talking on the phone for hours and hours every night. He and I went to see the boyfriend last Friday. We went to the mall again, like we did the first time they met in person. I wish the guys could spend more time together. For now, though, we're waiting until the boyfriend turns 18 before doing anything major.
• Twitch's summer break ends this weekend. Summer quarter starts Monday the 12th. He and his sister will return from their adventure on Sunday. His only Monday class meets in the evening, so I'll drive him back to his apartment Monday morning.
• I visited Diva last Tuesday (if I recall) but am not able to see her this week, and probably not next week. We need the Aveo to drive to Columbia, as I don't want to take the truck so far away. It (the truck) would probably make the trip, but I don't want to push it. Also, no a/c. 'Nuf said.

And that's pretty much all I know. My brain is on summer hiatus. I didn't mean for it to go, but lack of stimulation will do that. I'm lazy.