The Crocodile Slideshow

I had a spectacular vacation. As you can see, my sand sculpture was the best ever and that's because it was a group effort. It's about a 12 foot crocodile (although all the admirers called it an alligator) and we had a blast doing it and loved the responses from people walking on the beach. Our croc actually frightened a few small children. I have bunches of pictures and will probably post them later.
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We had a much larger cottage this year and had the most visitors ever. I think there were 12 people there on Sunday (the 20th). The very best thing about this cottage was the built-in bench on the deck which you can see behind me through the window in the top picture. You never had to think about having enough chairs for people.
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My friend Lo took a lot of pics of the bunch of us out on the deck on that Sunday but she hasn't sent them to me yet. I can't wait to see those. We had great weather and no neighbors on either side. Yeah, that's bad for the economy but it was great for us. And we were a rambunctious group.
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I had so much fun playing games. I learned a new drinking game and it was really funny. I actually laughed so much on several different days that my face hurt. Anyway, I'll have a lot more to say this week about the trip and about how weird and needy Barney has been since we got back. And as much fun as I had, it is always nice to be back home.

Extremes

So today I hugged my daughter and watched her drive off to take up residence in Colorado. And my plane leaves in just under 12 hours to take me to our beach vacation. My moods have been all over the place. Up down up down. But I'm going to the beach! Yay!

Praying to the Tiger?

Every night when I go to bed, I get all comfy and then I say my "Thank you" prayers. I always start with "Dear God....." So last night I was getting all cozy and I realized my little white tiger wasn't positioned right in my hand. It's the little white tiger My Sweetie got for me when I had my shoulder surgery in February. I was trying to get it in the right position and I smiled thinking that just recently I had told My Sweetie that I had not named it (I name everything). So he said, "His name is Al." I was smiling and thinking about that and trying to get my arm positioned correctly. When everything was just right, I settled down, relaxed, and started my prayer. Except I said, "Dear Al...."

Not In The Moment

There's a great saying about not living in the past or the future but in the NOW. I can't think just now what it is, because I am not living in the now. Maybe if I went into the past, I could find it. All I'm doing now, is thinking about what I will be doing a week from now. And I will be doing that all week. I'm doing it right now. A week from now I will be asleep with the window raised just a bit so the sounds of the ocean can wash over my soul.

Oh Well....

I'm terribly disappointed in my home state of North Carolina for passing amendment 1. But now I'm glad I don't live there anymore. What a bunch of rednecks.

Transitions

So my daughter and her husband dropped all their furniture and most other belongings as well as one of their cars off at their place in Colorado and are back here for the month being nomads. They are staying with friends for short stints and so Leaper is staying with me for the month. He's a funny friendly cat and he is highly addicted to catnip. Which no one knew, so now he thinks I'm the cat's pajamas, so to speak.
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I've had a pretty lazy afternoon which I spent most of on the phone with Mom. My brother called us "The Girls' Club" last Friday because A) He had no idea what was going on with my daughter except for what he saw on facebook and B) Mom had not told him that she got an all clear at her last bladder screen (she has bladder cancer). So at the end of today's phone call with Mom, I said, "And this concludes this meeting of The Girls' Club." Mom laughed. Maybe I should have recorded the minutes of the meeting to send to my brother.