The GOPreschool

I think I am accidentally raising a Republican. It's probably no secret that I lean left of center, though not at a dramatic angle. And it's also no secret that I live in one of the most Republican states in America, where the crazy Christian Exodus people want to build their utopia.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my child loves Mike Huckabee.

Or at least his signs. See, we are blessed to live in an early primary state. So our roads are blessed with lots and lots of signs. Interestingly, though, only Republican signs. We've got Mike, Fred, Mitt, Rudy and McCain (he doesn't have hist first name on, strangely). As for Democrats, there are a few Hillary signs at her campaign headquarters, but that's it. Now, I do live in a rather WASPy part of an already WASPy town, so maybe there are some Democratic signs in other areas, but I haven't even seen any near the shopping centers. Proof of how Republican my county is, I guess -- and it is, by the largest margin in the state, I believe.

Anyway, there's a very prominent Mike Huckabee sign on the way to Abigail's school, and it was one of the first signs up more than a month ago. She was fascinated: What was the American flag sign about? What does running for president mean? What does vote mean? Her first civics lesson, from her car seat in my Civic no less. Ever since she first saw it, Abigail has made a point of shouting delightedly "Mike Huckabee!" And she was thrilled to actually see his face last week on the evening news, when the announcer's voice pulled her attention from a very intense game of Uno.

She's noticed the other signs, too, but they're only in blue, and of course her favorite color is red. RED. I should have seen it coming.

On the fourth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me a meme about music to fill out.

But I'm just not inspired. And I don't quite know what to write about, though I feel I should. Our holidays were mildly merry. Since mom was in London, we didn't do anything particularly special. Met with my father-in-law's family, went to Christmas Eve service, met with Brad's immediate family, met with my mother-in-law's family. A whole lot of eating with people I only see twice a year and that I generally know nothing about. Abigail did have a fabulous Christmas morning, and I'm proud to say our gift was the biggest hit. But overall, this Christmas was a bit of a non-happening. We didn't play our music much, I didn't make many cookies since we weren't having company, and we couldn't go to the one Christmas party we were invited to. At least Abigail and Daddy had fun shopping.

And now the dreariness of January is about to set in. We have no New Year's plans, and the concert I wanted to go to is sold out (Dang Avetts, why do you only come to your hometown once a year?!). There is a bright spot on the horizon, though. After Brad turns 30 in February, we're heading to Puerrrrrrrrto Rico! That is if I get in gear and actually buy our tickets and find a hotel. The flights aren't very expensive -- it'll cost us more to go to a wedding in April -- and we won't have to exchange our money, so it should be a good deal. And all Brad wants to do is hit the beach with a bottle of rum, so it shouldn't take much planning!

And speaking of, this would actually be a decent time to call the travel agent I know ...

Geriatric jail bait

Why? Why do I still attract older men? In college, it was men in their 40s who would offer me drinks at the bar. Then it was French men in their 40s who would try to chat me up in a park.

And now? Now it's the late-60s gentleman who I say hello to at the park! Today he told me how pretty I looked in pink. In the same pink sweatshirt I've been wearing for two months, with my unwashed hair pulled back into a ponytail and yesterday's eyeliner still smudged under my eyes. Yes, I'm gorgeous.

That's what I get for telling the most cheerful man on my walking route how much I appreciated his friendly "good morning."

I "heart" blogs

The Internet is a helpful place. There's lots of information, it keeps me from having to make some business phone calls, which I'm not a fan of, and it keeps me up-to-date on the small happenings in my friends' lives.

The Internet is also a horrible place. E-mail has reduced our ability to write lengthy correspondence. Blogs have reduced communication to keeping tabs, checking in once a week to fulfill your duty as a friend. I know the minutiae of my friends' lives, but not the reality. I learn of their pain far too late.

My dear friends, if I have not written, called or e-mailed you at length in at least a month, I am so sorry. I love you very, very much, and you are always on my mind. I am a terrible friend, and I cannot stop weeping at how I have let some of you down. Please forgive me.

Can you imagine being the neighbor?

These people need lives. Now. It's amazing and all, but really, lives.

Still working on the spirit of giving

So I tried to do the "Let's pick out toys to donate" thing with Abigail, and I guess it sorta worked. She immediately picked an old Elmo, which I'd been hoping would go away, and then a small doll. And then a broken puzzle. Um, we can't do that, sweetie. Are there any other stuffed animals we could give away? (She rarely plays with stuffed animals) Nope. That's all she wanted to give away. And I didn't want to force it. She should give freely and not feel like it's a punishment.

But is it really bad if I sneak into her room while she's at school and thin the stuffed animals a bit? Hmmm ...

We gather together

I must soon be off to buy cider for the big kindergarten feast, but all this talk of Thanksgiving has me a bit nostalgic and sad. Thanksgiving was a huge event in the Buxton family. The many, many cousins and second cousins and who-knows-how-they're-related cousins gathered at the family homestead, where enormous folding tables stretched the length of my grandparents' basement, leaving the littlest kids (me and my three male cousins for a while) to make do with an old sofa and a coffee table. There was of course tons of food, including at least four or five varieties of pie with lots of Cool Whip.

But what I really miss was the long afternoon after lunch. The adults would play endless games of pinochle, leaving us kids to devise our own fun way out in the Missouri boonies. If the weather was warm, that meant a wagon ride from Grandpa out into the woods and down to the creek, past "Daniel Boone's" bed springs. If it had snowed, there were cardboard boxes to sled in down the steep front yard. And there were always the games in the garage, one of the few ways the older cousins mixed with us young ones, deigning to allow us to join the Blind Man's Bluff and Red Light, Green Light. We played our own card games, too, usually 21 or Gin. Ahh, fond memories of teaching little Trae 52-Card Pickup, which he adored and wanted to play again. My memories of my grandparents' house really have little to do with them, much more about the cousins.

This year, I won't even see my mom. We'll do a couple of gatherings with Brad's family, but they're always a bit strained. There won't even be pumpkin pie (though I'm making a fabulous pumpkin cake). And mom is going to London for Christmas. It's going to be a very strange holiday season lacking any connection to my family. I adore traditions, am really a very conservative person when it comes to institutions and history, and losing all of mine this year makes me sad.

I don't even have a Black Friday shopping buddy.

But we'll start new traditions. One I'm stealing from an acquaintance, Abigail and I are going to go through her toys Friday and pick out a few to give away -- both to make room for Santa's goodies and to give a Christmas to poor children. Then we'll take our choices over to Goodwill, our final acts of thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The purge

So it's time to update all this. I thought I'd start chronologically, but then, heck, everyone just wants to see Halloween anyway, right?



I made that (with Mom's help)! Isn't it great? Okay, so it's not PC, but it's great! (And I'm going to take Abigail to the Catawba's Yap Ye Iswa Festival this weekend, so she'll learn about real Native Americans soon.) She had a wonderful time, really getting into the candy hunt this year. She raced from door to door and down driveways (saying "Steep hill! Steep hill! Steep hill!) and got through Nana's street in no time. She also loved giving out candy again, standing on the porch shouting, "Hey, kids! Come get candy! Blow pops for the big ones! Nerds for the little ones!" Halloween is such a great expression of the pure joy of childhood.

And so for the big news -- Employment! Yes, I have a job. I am going to be the editor-in-chief of a new lifestyles magazine. It will publish bi-monthly and I'll only be working 20 hours a week, so I'll still be able to pick up Abigail from school and screw around online and in the house. I'll be overseeing editorial content, assigning stories, managing freelancers and getting on their cases about deadlines. It should be a lot of fun! And it will set me up so well for a year or so down the line, when I want full-time work, hopefully in a university setting. And the best part, I found out about the job just by running into my old boss at the grocery store. It's amazing how things just work out sometimes. (okay, yeah, and I'm giving a lot of credit Upstairs for some answered prayers about what I should do)

Hmm, what else? How about more pictures!! Who needs to be thoughtful when you have pictures?!

We went to an atrocious Clemson football game last month, where the crowd went wild in the third quarter when we finally got our first first down. It wasn't pretty. But it was wonderful to see my college family again. And we took Abigail for the first time, so I got to show her around campus and show her off to my friends. She had a blast and still talks about being waaaaaay up and seeing Lake Hartwell.



I know other things happened in the interim, but they have slipped my capricious mind, so I'll just jump to last weekend, when Abigail, Mom and I went to Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville, N.C. Once the hot air balloons started going, we had a great time. Abigail was mesmerized for a while, then went to jump in the FREE moon bounces (note to similar festivals, that's BRILLIANT!). Her day was truly made complete, though, when she got to ride in a balloon. It was a two or three minute ride, but she was thrilled.

Things! Stuff! Stuff and things!!

This is a promise to blog soon. Real soon. I have pictures of a Clemson football game. I have pictures from Carolina BalloonFest. I have a JOB.

But I do not have time. Thus I will post! And soon!

Dental dexterity

I am officially a soccer mom.

The (temporarily blinded) Abigail is a member of the Might Molars (sponsored by a dentist). Saturday was her first practice and mini game. Now, Abigail has an amazing foot. She can kick that ball hard, straight and aimed. Unfortunately, she spent much of Saturday wandering aimlessly and talking to her teammates rather than chasing the ball. As did most of the kids. One boy kept picking up his teammates. Another chased the ball down the field toward the goal -- while he was supposed to be goalie. At that point, they figured he shouldn't be goalie anymore and put Abigail in. And she made a great save! Hooray! Soccer talent! If we can just remind her that the point is to follow the play of game, we'll be set! Come on, scholarships!

It was a big day. After we got home and changed clothes, the family trooped off to Historic Brattonsville for the Piedmont Pottery Festival. There was so much beautiful pottery -- though also a lot of very similar face jugs and the like. There was one vase with the most gorgeous irridescent, silver-blue crazed glaze. It looked like snowflakes. I wish I had a pottery allowance.

Of course, we also went through the preserved homes. Mama's girl did her proud. Abigail loved going through the "houses from a very long time ago." She loved the classroom from "a very long time ago." She loved the clothes from "a very long time ago." She kept on insisting that she must see more "houses from a very long time ago." History was a bigger hit than I expected!

As was the brick making.


And the barbecue.


Carrots, I hear you always share my photos with your spouse. Be sure he sees that one :)

The Strode Tower of Power!

This gorgeous edifice is the home of the Clemson University English Department -- and Department of Languages, and pretty much every other department I was heavily involved in. It was ancient and musty and had the most terrifying elevator, a tiny contraption that fit maybe four people and sounded like it was held together with rubber bands. When the door opened, you heard a creaking succession of pings, like plucking a rubber band instrument very slowly. Visiting your adviser was a death-defying feat.

I show you the fabulous Strode because I got the best postcard yesterday. (I must confess my title was stolen from the card, which has a stylized picture of Strode on it. ) "English Majors? Tailgating?" They're doing a pig pickin' for homecoming! Now, I didn't have a whole lot of friends in English, actually, and the ones I did have probably won't be there, but I really want to go! Just to see how English majors tailgate! It would just be way too amusing. Plus several friends are going to homecoming anyway. But alas, that also coincides with mom's visit, and unless kickoff is at noon, there's no way. And that's just too much rushed driving. Oh well, maybe they'll post pictures online!

EDIT: Wow, I just went to the Languages site, and I don't know ANY of the profs! Anyone I ever had is gone, and all but one of the profs my friends' had are gone! Crazy! I know I'm getting old, but it's only been eight years! Comfortingly, I did know several English folks still. The only ones missing were a couple that really needed to retire and one that I know passed away. Good ol' English.

Trade ya!

Oh my goodness, I have a new favorite place: Trader Joe's. What a fabulous store! (The first one just opened last month in Charlotte, for those of you who live in hipper places and are laughing at me.) I wanted to buy everything, all the international sauces and the delicious-sounding prepared foods and the marinated meats and the WINE! Oh my, the WINE! I actually caught myself staring with my mouth open at the insanely cheap prices!! I can justify a 25 minute drive once a month or so for that!

A., have you been yet?!?! You would LOVE it! We should go some preschool day and just spend a couple of hours oohing and ahhing!

Fond farewell

I said goodbye to some old friends today. I've known and loved them for 8 years now, have been intimately familiar with them, but it was time. Goodbye, Let's Go Europe and Let's Go France. You served me well. You gave me hostel advice and suggested cheap, tasty eats. You pointed me at the highlights as I tooled around cities. But you are not written in Euros, and I am too old for hostels, so it is time we went our separate ways.

Plus you took up too much shelf space.

I also steeled myself to thin my L.M. Montgomery collection. The books were filling Abigail's shelves, and she's starting into the brave new world of chapter books herself, so we had to make room. No, no, I kept Anne and Emily and some other favorites, but the short-story collections are being donated to the library. Hopefully an adolescent girl will find them and give them a good home.

Musical smorgasbord!

Wow, Charlotte is actually going to be a happening place in October! And all at one venue!

10/19 -- Jay Clifford (of Jump, Little Children)
10/22 -- Guster
10/25 -- Squirrel Nut Zippers (didn't even know they were still about)
10/28 -- They Might Be Giants

And my mother is going to be here that whole week! Argh!

I'm listening to the snippets on TMBG's Web site right now, and it's really good! Really different and really good! And really different from their kids' stuff Abigail loves! But I bet they still do "Istanbul" as an encore.

Almost Splendid

I really ought to be doing other things, but it's been a while since I've posted and I've already been quite productive today, so I don't feel guilty. Plus I'm posting about a book, and that's redemptive in its own right.

This weekend, I finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, the author of "The Kite Runner." While Afghanistan and its turbulent recent history are always fascinating, I was disappointed about half-way through this book. It seemed too pat, a bit contrived. There were too many coincidences. But it was still a good story, so I kept reading. And, satisfyingly, a plot twist arrived that made the earlier concerns no longer relevant, plus a nice bit of come-uppance for one character. Overall, I probably liked Kite Runner better since it was my first encounter with Afghanistan, but this one was also interesting as it presented the female point of view. If you're curious about Central Asia and are looking for a fairly fast read, I'd say this is a good one.

Five!

My little girl turned 5 on Friday, and she was so excited! A few of her "friends" didn't show at her party on Saturday, but she didn't even notice and had a blast, especially with a couple of the little girls. But my public service announcement for the day, please RSVP for parties and then show up when you do!



And to top the big birthday weekend off, my monkey masterpiece!

The first day

I know I've been photo-heavy lately, but how can I resist the first day of kindergarten! My big girl! She was so excited. We met her teacher yesterday, and Abigail was jumping up and down and telling the teacher, "Tomorrow is my first day of kindergarten!!!!" She made a big impression; just wait until they find out that she always talks that much!

Now, what to do with six hours a day?

Suzy Homemaker

Abigail will be 5 on Friday (how?!?!?!?!), and her party is going to be at Monkey Joe's, a warehouse-like place with tons of inflatables for the kids to go wild on. Intelligent mommy that I am, it's an afternoon party, thus only cake required. Since it's a loosely themed party, I decided on Curious George books as the party favor and a monkey cake. Or at least I'll be attempting this cake. It is a Martha recipe, and I just don't have piping bags and various kinds of tips lying about, so I'll be making some adjustments that may not be "a good thing." But I generally pull off baking, and mom will be here to help, so it should be fun.

Chim chim charee

No, Abigail's prophecy did not come true; I did not turn 30 and die. I just got busy for a bit, then couldn't get to the computer, then just got lazy. It happens.

Oh, where to begin? Well, at least Abigail is watching "Mary Poppins" right now, which is a nice, conflict free, funny, long movie, so I've got time! Actually, I do want to get down there and watch some of the movie. It's still so funny, even as an adult! And lots of subtle lines that went way over my head as a kid. Did you know Mr. Banks references "noblesse oblige"?

So, quite a long time ago, I went on some trips. In early July, I went to Myrtle Beach, which was, you know, Myrtle Beach. But it was relaxing, and pleasantly overcast, so we got to spend a good bit of time on the beach itself. And putt-putt is always good.

After a quick trip home for laundry, it was off to High Hampton Inn in Cashiers, N.C., for Brad's bi-annual managers' meeting. Man, that was a sweet place. Three gourmet buffet-style meals a day, i.e. eat as much as you want, but be sure to save room for the smorgasbord of desserts. The grounds were beautiful, and our cabin was right next to a little lake, within earshot of the dam. There was no air conditioning, but the weather was absolutely perfect, and we got to sleep under a ceiling fan. Abigail and I met some nice moms and their kids, both from Brad's work and just other guests, and we were able to get out as a family on the weekend. We went to Whitewater Falls, though I did not let Abigail venture anywhere as near the edge as we used to get in college! We also went to the much smaller Silver Run Falls, which has a lovely little swimming hole beneath it where Abigail would have been happy to spend hours. She also thoroughly enjoyed gem mining, which was surprisingly worth the cost. It was such a nice getaway.




Then, after returning home for another laundry day, Brad took me on a surprise birthday weekend up to the Yadkin Valley in N.C. Bet you didn't know there was wine in them thar hills? We were only about an hour or so from home, but it's a totally different region. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in the little crossroads of Union Grove, in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains, which we were informed are the oldest in North America, but I'm not sure of that. Our hostess made wonderful, three-course breakfasts -- have you ever had broiled grapefruit? You should! -- which left us stuffed, needing only a light picnic from the nearby Amish store for a late lunch. Yes, there are Amish in N.C. wine country, and they make the most amazing bread. We got some rolls while they were still warm and just about died right there. We enjoyed that picnic at Laurel Gray Vineyards, Brad's favorite of any we've been to so far (we were near the vineyard we visited last year). It was all lovely -- except perhaps for the extremely loud gaggle of ex-sorority girls out for a stag weekend. But they eventually left, and all was relaxation again. It was a wonderful surprise. Three cheers for Brad!


The week after that was vacation bible school, for which I had somewhat foolishly agreed to be photographer. It was fairly fun watching the kids, and Abigail loved it, but man, by the end of the week we were all burned out. And this week, we've just been trying to keep busy. Summer has hit that point when everything is boring, no toys are exciting anymore, and don't even try to suggest crafts. Unfortunately, this is also the week from hell -- really, a nice furnace blast straight from the underworld. It was 104 yesterday, supposed to be the same or hotter today. Oooh, oooh, but we cool off Saturday with a chilly high of 97! At least I'm not in Columbia, which hit 107 with a heat index of 115. Truly the armpit of South Carolina.

And to cap off this disjointed post, a quick Abigail story. A couple of Sundays ago, the pastor asked all the children if they'd heard of the Lord's Prayer. Then he asked if anyone could say it. Guess who's precocious little angel piped right up? She stumbled slightly on the second line, and the pastor was obviously ready to say "good job" and move on, but oh no, Abigail was not to be deterred. She picked right back up with gusto and breezed through the rest of the prayer. The pastor had the other children and congregation join in, which only made Abigail get louder. With every line. She could have been on stage at Carnegie Hall. Everyone applauded when she finished. The pastor said, "I don't think I've ever heard applause for the Lord's Prayer, but I think it was merited this time." After church, at least a dozen people came up and congratulated me on what a bright daughter I had -- and wagered she'd be into drama one day.

The big 3-Oh-No!

So, Rambling, being temporarily unemployed, stopped by Rock Thrill today for the anniversary of my birth. What did she give me for the event? (besides an absolutely lovely set of plates and glasses with French newspapers screen printed on them)

A WIRED CHILD!!




Thanks for that. I hope you're sore tomorrow :)

And what was the little one's take on my milestone?

"You're going to be 30. That means you're going to be dead!"

Ah, to be 4 and find 30 ancient. Which it's not. Right?

Long as the mountain stands

I've been quiet lately, sorry, but this is my crazy July. I just got back from a few days in Myrtle Beach, with all the interesting people watching and miniature golf that entails. Today is my laundry marathon day, and then tomorrow we leave for the N.C. mountains.

I am so excited about this trip. It'll be my own version of "Dirty Dancing" -- minus the Patrick Swayze and the botched medical procedures and, well, dancing. We're going to High Hampton Inn near Cashiers, complete with mountain trails on the property, a lake, paddle boats, golf, tennis, a spa and just about anything else you can imagine. And best of all, it's a working trip for Brad, so we won't have to pick up (much) of the tab! Woo-hoo! I really hope there's a big sing-along where I can show off my knowledge of the Kellerman's song. And I was a pro at the fancy lift Johnny and Baby do at the end of the movie (underwater at the pool with my friend when we were 10), maybe I can convince Brad to give it a try ...

The next chapter

I am so fascinated with watching literacy develop. Abigail will be 5 in less than two months, and I just love watching that "click" as new concepts start to make sense. I got a phonics workbook last weekend, and we just flipped through it a bit. She's gotten really good at starting sounds and surprised me by figuring out several ending sounds, too. Then today, she was playing Starfall, a great little phonics website, and was acing the games on there -- as well as actually listening to my suggestion and clicking on each word in order to hear it sounded out.

As a huge reader, this is so exciting. As soon as Abigail learned to crawl, her favorite thing to do was go to her bookshelf and pull each book off one by one, methodically flipping through each one. I just can't wait until she does the same with actually reading the words! I even promised her a book light when she learns to read so she can stay up after bedtime like Mommy used to :)

Back for more

Okay, I promise this will be the last Jeopardy reference, at least until my prize check arrives, but come on, don't you want to read my article?!?!

Once

This weekend, the husband and I saw an absolutely amazing movie. "Once" is an Irish drama/musical. An Irish street musician meets a Czech immigrant who is also musical. The movie then follows their friendship/love through the creation of a CD. Rather than a story highlighted by music, it's music highlighted by story. It was stunningly simple and emotionally powerful. Go to the site and hear the beautiful music. Go to your nearest art movie theatre and see the film.

This means you, Rambling, a., Smitty, Dunces, even Diane if you're dropping in from Scotland!

Sing it, Al

I have been dying to post this for months:

"I Lost on Jeopardy" by Weird Al Yankovic

Thursday cometh

Okay, so since people insist on remembering, my Jeopardy appearance is this Thursday. There's even a video clip of me online, though it makes me squirm to see myself -- I talk too fast! My head is really big! Why didn't I smile?!

I also received my fabulous commemorative picture with Alex last week. Okay picture, though he looks kinda like a cutout and it was printed off a computer. And no, I didn't really get to talk to him. There's all kinds of legal stuff around that dating back to the big quiz show scandals of the 50s. He just sort of snuck up behind me, said "Come back out and show 'em no mercy," smiled for the picture, and moved on to the next contestant.

And by the way, my sister obviously won't be able to see this. Can someone tape it for me? I don't have the official remote for our VCR, so I can't set it to the right channel to tape. Thanks!

Bet you didn't know I was gone

We just got back from a week at my mom's house, probably the most relaxing vacation we've had as a family. We didn't really have an agenda of things to see, Brad forswore the computer, and Abigail was able to play by herself for a bit each day -- even, gasp!, going out into the yard alone as long as she let a grown up know. It was a good time in Bagdad. (Yes, that's where mom lives. It's also the home of Mary B's, those fabulous frozen biscuits.) We went shopping, ate good Mexican, ate even better off the grill most nights, visited the Naval Aviation Museum, and went to the beach a couple of times -- though it actually was a bit cool, go figure.

So, in good mommy form, a few pictures. First, an up-close encounter with a heron in Navarre. Second, Abigail taking out the bad guys at the museum. Third, feeding fish along the Blackwater River in Milton (the gulls were a no show).

Hip hip

Hooray! Smitty is getting married! Yaaay for Smitty!

Ooh, ooh, and I just bought the perfect dress for a Florida wedding! I had no specific purpose for buying said kick-ass dress, but I even said to Brad that it would be ideal for a warm weather wedding and that it was too bad no one I knew was getting married. Thank you, Smitty!

Our new addition

After seven and a half looooong weeks, we have a second car again. Brad now gets to play with a brand new Hyundai Sonata. And it's purdy. And it's stick, so Heather has a learning curve ...

Witness the new ride, followed by a side-by-side comparison of what he is now driving versus what he had been driving for three weeks.

Class of 2007

Abigail graduated from preschool today. It was a bit absurd, but oh, it was cute. Adorable, actually. The kids were so proud of themselves and well behaved -- and they loved their tassles. Abigail was a ham, of course, waving to everyone like the princess she is as she walked down the aisle of the church. They sang a few really cute songs about going to kindergarten, which I'd share if someone could tell me how to post videos ...

And so, onward to kindergarten! (with a quick three-week preschool "summer adventure" session thrown in next month ...)

Sorry about the picture quality -- dark church and we were way at the back even though I got there 25 minutes early. The second photo is with her grandparents.

Trail blazing

So, yeah, two weeks. I know, that's really awful. No good reasons. I'm addicted to a mommies forum, though I'm trying to cut back.

Anyway, today Abigail and I made our annual trip to Landsford Canal State Park. It was time for the rocky shoals spider lily, but mainly we went because it was a sunny, cool day, and Abigail's 4-year-old legs can handle the two-mile round trip without a piggy-back ride. We had a great time. She was even more aware of her surroundings this year, noticing frogs and strange bugs, listening to the sounds of the forest, talking about how "wonderous and beauty" the trail was. The lilies, which are stunning but grow out in the middle of the Catawba River, were a let down to her since she couldn't see them up close, but she loved playing in the sandy river bank and climbing on rocks in the middle of the river. It was a really great morning -- and then she took a big nap when we got home, an added bonus!

For your viewing pleasure, pictures:

Stealing

I'm stealing this from a., but given my collegiate history with Monty and the gang, I simply had to let everyone know about the record-breaking number of people clip-clopping with coconuts to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

No word on whether African or European swallows were used for the coconut transport.

"But they could grip it by the husk..."

By the way, if anyone can find this as a sound clip, I'd love you forever. :)

May I be struck with lightning if ...

Thursday night, while getting Abigail ready for bed, a tremendous BOOM shook our house. I could feel the concussion of the sound waves in my ears. I've never heard such loud thunder. Brad saw the flash of the lightning and said it was timed exactly with the boom, so we knew it had been close. Yeah, try the tree 50 yards from our townhouse.

The energy blew bits of bark and branches all the way back to the blue slide.

And up onto the porch in the background of the second picture.

The new leaves were burnt to a crisp still on the branch.

And the hole in the last picture was a root.

It's a small world after all

Abigail has returned from her week at Disney World with my in-laws, bubbling over with excitement at what she saw and proudly proclaiming herself a princess. I wish I could have seen some of the stories we heard, especially meeting Cinderella. I believe she had dinner with Cinderella, as well as the mice, the fairy godmother and the prince. What I loved: She asked Prince Charming to dance! Not following her mother's wall-flower ways!

The night after she came home, the Disney effect was still evident. She announced to us at dinner that: "Romantically big loud flushing toilets are scaaaaaarrrrryyyy!"

No Carolina sweetness

This weekend, it was colder in Charlotte than Fairbanks, Alaska.

The strawberries are gone. The peaches are gone. The mountain apples are gone. Not just the normal panic every spring from some small frost. Apparently, the crops are totally destroyed.

This is very, very sad. There is nothing better than a sweet South Carolina peach in the summertime.

Georgians, please let me know if there's any peachy hope left from your state!

ADJUSTED PROGNOSIS: Apparently, the strawberries weren't hit too badly. Small consolation.

The agony of 13

I just finished yet another excellent book by David Mitchell. "Black Swan Green" was a very convincing coming-of-age novel about a 13-year-old boy in Worcestershire. Mitchell never lost the adolescent voice but still managed to make some beautiful/poignant/amusing observations about nature and sexuality and finding yourself. Really very good. I still prefer "Cloud Atlas" -- and strenuously, highly recommend it -- but this was a very interesting read.

I find this funny

I have before mentioned some of the joys of living in a somewhat small town. There are even greater joys to be had living in a county that is still half rural. And one of them is County Councilman Curwood Chappell, our very own Boss Hogg.

Damn, that's a drawl! Or a drunken-sounding mumble! And the swearing at the end! That's priceless. Almost enough to make you want to be a county reporter. Almost.

UPDATE: And at the next meeting, Curwood apologized. Kinda.

The knights who say "Neh!"

Abigail has decided that she no longer says no. Or nope. When she wants to express herself in the negative, she says, "Neh." Part of me is quite delighted that she does this. The other part finds it a bit odd and wonders where she picked it up.

On another note, she is watching "Cars" for the first time. The pace is a bit slow for her, and she's totally not into the racing scenes, but her little friend Jacob talks about it all the time and she wants to see it. I personally think it's pretty funny, though a bit slow, and the animation is absolutely AMAZING. Wow, the things they can do with a 'puter.

Checking for a pulse

Yes, I am still here.

Last week, all my computer time was eaten up working on freelance articles. This week, well, this week we bade farewell to the Taurus after a rush-hour wreck. Not that we're really sad. It was a 10-year-old Ford that was starting to act up in many ways, and we'd already been seriously planning buying a new one. The time frame has been shortened and the trade-in value reduced, but that's okay. Thankfully, Brad wasn't hurt.

So anyway, yeah, still here. Still working on freelance stories, too, so I'll probably be silent a bit more. But I will say one more thing: POLLEN SUCKS! I don't normally have allergies, but this year is so out of control that even my nose is twitching constantly. It's so thick out there I feel like I can constantly taste it. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow though, so they'd better be right!

Cheers to you, too, buddy

I'm writing some stories advancing our local, happy little spring festival. I just called a man in charge of one group of events, just to get a fluffy little quote, you know, promote his events. So I call the only number given to me by the festival office. He answers, I introduce myself and say why I'm calling and ask if this would be a good time to speak with him. Some kind of unintelligible, evil-sounding grumbling, then "What is this about? Who are you with?" I'm writing some stories about the festival for the local paper and was hoping to find out a little more about your events. "How did you get this number?!?!" Uh, I called the office. I'm sorry, is this not a good time? "No, it's not a good time. I have two people in my office! This is not a good time! Call me tomorrow if you have to, then I can talk to you allllll you want." Okay, sir, thank you very much! (she says cheerfully, mentally giving him the bird)

Come on, dude, not my fault. Tell your office not to give out your cell number. Or, gasp!, if you're that freakin' busy, just don't answer your phone. Get a life.

And get this, he's in charge of community events, as in, we all love each other so much, isn't our town wonderful! A bit miscast in that role, I think.

City of Angels

Before last week, the furthest west I'd ever been was San Antonio, and that was when I was 9. I've obviously seen lots of pictures, but it's very different seeing a totally different region of the country for myself.

We flew from Charlotte to Atlanta and then to Los Angeles, and when the clouds broke somewhere over southern Arizona or Utah, I was amazed. It was so brown. And there was no civilization. Not a glimmer from a house or car, not a single track through the dust. Of course, from 30,000 feet, dimensions are skewed, but it all looked so flat and dry, broken only by the carved edges of mesas. But even from above, I could see the striations of the rocks. A bit further on, rocky mountains jutted up from the desert floor -- no snow line, so scrub line, just rock and dust. I could even see the swirls of huge dust clouds kicking up over the valleys. I really need to go to the desert in person.

I really didn't see much in the way of people until we got near Palm Springs, Calif. Suddenly, there were perfectly straight lines of roads carved through the dust, complete with little glints of passing cars or isolated houses. Slowly the vegetation started to come back, but it was so different from the lush green of the Southeast. So scrubby, such a dry green. We approached what I'm guessing were the Santa Ana mountains (there was insipid TV on the inflight screens, not much more interesting directions), I saw snow dusting the tops of the mountains, as well as a blanket of clouds curling slowly over the peaks, as if it really were a solid fabric.

Then we crested the mountains, and there was L.A. I have never seen so much development. It was a quilt of gridded streets, houses packed together, and it went on for miles and miles and miles and miles until it ran out of room at the mountains. We flew over it for something like 45 minutes. I was overwhelmed. Sure, I lived in Chicago, but this was nuts. I have enough trouble finding my place in a little town like mine, I can't imagine how lost I'd be in that many millions.

The next day was our planned event. I don't want to risk talking about it, so if you want to know more, e-mail me. I will say it was fun overall, lots of nice people and an interesting thing to watch in production.

That evening, we went out to Santa Monica for the sunset, some wandering and some food. It was, obviously, gorgeous. And wild watching the sun set into the ocean in less than two minutes. (See that itty bitty tip of light in this picture? The last edge of the sun.) Even after the sun disappeared, the color was beautiful on the clouds and San Gabriel Mountains, especially seen through silhouetted palm trees.

I was fascinated by the flora: gnarled trees with little bark; droopy, fuzzy plants arcing a good three feet in the air; 10-foot tall shoots jutting up from some kind of succulent. And of course, there were the dinosaur topiary fountains in Third Street Promenade, but they weren't quite as impressive. Nor was the upscale shopping that I could have found at malls here in Charlotte. Nor was the grill we wound up eating appetizers at, but that wasn't too bad since we were so screwed up with time that we weren't hungry.

Thursday was wide open, and we decided to go to The Getty Center. Wow. Not the biggest or most impressive collection of art I've ever seen, but the building itself and its view of L.A. were amazing. As one of my many architects first pointed out, the entire complex is designed on a grid, and you can follow any gap in the limestone squares throughout the complex -- floors, windows, walls, stairs. Incredible attention to detail. And beautiful gardens and a wonderful walkway cutting across a man-made creek that was designed to have a different sound at each crossing.

I did have some favorite paintings: Jeanne Kefer by Fernand Khnopff and Houses near Orleans by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. We didn't make it to the vast photography collection, but hey, a reason to go back, right?

We finished off the day by yet again going to Santa Monica. We had talked about going to see the freak show at Venice Beach, but we were tired and just wanted to relax. We grabbed a beer at a pub, window shopped, caught another sunset, and shivered through the gale-force winds. We wound up the night at Lula Cocina Mexicana, which had great margaritas, awesome salsa verde, and decent food. Interestingly, they served cooked carrots marinated in vinegar with the chips and salsa, and this is apparently typically Mexican. Wonder why I've never seen it on the East Coast.

To get back to the hotel, we took yet another cab. We spent more money on cabs than food, though it was probably worth not having to drive on the freeways. Our cabbies were from Guatemala, New Jersey, somewhere Arab, Ethiopia, Eastern Europe and Morocco. You literally saw all kinds of people in L.A.

And voila, the next day we flew home. We were stuck on the plane for an hour at the gate in L.A., stuck another 45 minutes waiting for passengers in Atlanta, and didn't get home until 1 a.m. But it could have been worse: our flight from LAX was going on to Tel Aviv, another 11 hours after Atlanta!

So there you go, more than you ever wanted to know about my trip, except perhaps for the part I can't talk about. I definitely recommend a trip out there, even if, like us, you don't care about celebrities. And we definitely want to go back, though perhaps more like the central coast and wine country. Ahhhh, vacation.

Postcard

Santa Monica at sunset. More to come.

EST to PST to EST again

A lovely long blog will be coming soon, loaded with lots of beautiful pictures of The Getty Center and Santa Monica. I may even have time for it tomorrow. But for now, may I state -- categorically -- that Wednesday was not my day.

Countdown

Well, in about a day and a half, we'll be off to the West. We've got a loose itinerary for our free day, including the Getty Museum, crazies in Venice Beach and sunset and dinner in Santa Monica. Of course, depending on how our scheduled event goes Wednesday, we can probably do the sunset and dinner that night so we're not as pressed Thursday. We're both getting excited about the trip, though not the numerous hours in planes. There aren't more of these ice storms in the forecast, are there?

And I'm not nervous about Wednesday's planned event -- yet. Just pray for fast reflexes, fast recall and favorable topics!

Did I like that?

I finally watched "The Last Kiss" last night after it had languished on top of my entertainment center for a week and a half. I think I really liked it. I could obviously relate to a story about 29-year-olds trying to figure out if their lives were heading in the right direction. And I liked it visually, all the use of neutral colors. I even thought the acting was good; Jacinda Barrett has come a long way from "The Real World."

But I'm conflicted about Zach Braff's character. Now, I like him as an actor, really liked "Garden State" and dig his taste in music (he loves Jump, what else is there to say?). But I wanted to claw his character's heart out last night. Eviscerate him. Castrate him. I won't necessarily say why in case anyone is planning to see the movie, but GRRRRRRRRRR, you don't DO that to a pregnant woman!!!!! I could forgive and even empathize with the character up to that one act, but now I'm not even sure I'm okay with the ending!

Can I thoroughly despise a character and not be 100 percent about the ending of a movie and still highly recommend it?

Answer: 480 out of 25,000

Question: What is the number of people chosen as Jeopardy! contestants each year out of the thousands that audition?

That's your factoid of the day. I haven't posted in a while, have little to say and am valiantly resisting Jenny's meme, so this is what I came up with. Yes, I did get sucked into a few minutes of a Jeopardy! behind-the-scenes show on TV Guide channel last week, and the number above was an interesting tidbit, so I thought I'd share.

By the way, in a totally unrelated comment, 12 days till we go to L.A.

Pilotless drone

I know I've got at least a couple of copy editors checking in here, as well as several word buffs, so here's a good laugh for you. First, go to this clip from the San Francisco Chronicle to get appropriately ticked off. The Chronicle has begun podcasting audio letters to the editor, and this guy is out of control. As a former copy editor, I just want to smack him and scream, "You have no idea what we do every night!!!"

Now, go here and laugh your ass off! That's my kind of dance music!

Thoughts from last night

I couldn't get to the computer last night, so I "blogged" old-school in a notebook. Le voila:

I just finished watching "Elizabethtown," which was a really good movie. Not great because it dragged a bit, but really good. In watching it, three things occurred to me:

1.) In 2000, I had scheduled an interview with the paper in Elizabethtown, which I cancelled after I took the job here. Who on earth would I have become if I'd wound up in Kentucky?

2.) I have always wanted to be a marvellously quirky girl like the character Claire. I wanted to wear odd vintage clothing and hats, know all kinds of indie music, and say incredible things to men at the drop of a hat. Yet I'm me.

3.) I really, really have to take a cross-country road trip. Maybe it stems from growing up near Route 66, but I have always wanted to have that quintessentially American experience. I want to see the bizarre roadside attractions out west, get stuck at stoplights in small towns, eat at diners, and lose myself in the loneliness of the plains. I'm just not sure when I'll do it or with whom.

Woo-hoo, winter!!!

In the words of Bing, Danny, Rosemary and the other girl: "Snow ... Snow ... Snow ... Snow ... Snow!!!"


Yes, we got 4 inches yesterday! Lovely fluffy stuff, great for packing. I took Abigail out for two half-hour snow sessions, the first at 7:45 a.m. -- I wasn't too sure how long it would last! The first time, the snow was coming down in huge, beautiful flakes, the kind that muffle all other sound and land with a plop on your shoulder. Abigail was delighted. The only other snow she's experience was the dumping back in 2004 of more than a foot, but she was only 18 months old. So this was her first real snowfall, her first snow angel, her first snowman, her first snowball fight (which was more like just smushing snow onto mommy's coat). The second time we went out, the snow was starting to get quite wet and what was falling was more like slushballs, but it was still good fun. Even I plopped down for a snow angel -- which are really darn big when you're grown up!

But alas, this is South Carolina, and to my husband's delight and my daughter's dismay, the snow is almost gone this morning. Snow melts, one of those harsh lessons Abigail must learn. I just don't want to deal with her reaction to the current state of Frosty:

What to see out West

So I'll be going to Los Angeles at the end of February. I'm very excited, though I'm not supposed to blog about why I'm going, but I've never particularly wanted to go to Southern California. Central Coast, sure. Wine Country, oh hell yeah. San Fransisco, of course. But L.A., nope. And I'm not in any particular awe of famous entertainers. So what should I do out there? I'll have a couple of evenings and probably one day. I've heard that L.A. is infamous for bad public transit, so I also don't want to pay a ton in cab fares toodling around the city. Right now, I'm thinking the tar pits. Where else can you see tar pits? And maybe a museum and the Chinese Theater since it looks so cool. But really, I'm clueless and would love suggestions!

And if you know of any good trivia books or Web sites, that would be appreciated, too :)

Rock on

We are slowly exposing Abigail to the wonderful world of the computer. This is of course good, since she'll be using it starting next year in school, though it now complicates my e-mail checking time since she thinks it must be game time. She and Brad were on the PBS Kids site last night playing Curious George games. Now, my kid is brilliant and can do all kinds of math games that we thought were way above her, and she was amazing at Count Your Chickens. When the child gets the right answer, George makes some monkey noises of approval and the Man in the Yellow Hat says something encouraging. Like, "You rock." Call me crazy, but that's not something I ever envisioned him saying -- and it's nothing like his character on the show, either, he's a pretty uptight unspecified academic. (We watch George A LOT, probably two episodes a day, which is four stories) Anyway, Abigail was told repeatedly that she rocks, and she finally looked up at her daddy, beaming at getting the game right, and said, "I rock!"

Now we just need her to learn how to make devil horns and head bang at the same time.

In all Earnestness

A friend not too terribly long ago posted a funny snippet from "The Importance of Being Earnest" (I was going to link, but damned if I can find the post. It was funny, about muffins.), and I quickly added it to my Netflix. After my recent amusement at Edwardian literature, I bumped it to the top of the queue. And thus it became my naptime entertainment for the day (I told you I adapt whatever manner of speaking I hear -- and I can't seem to stop myself!).

Anyway, it was really, really funny! I may have to watch it again before I return it, just to catch all the tricks with words. Why is Colin Firth so appealing? I don't think he's all that attractive, don't get why some people get all gushy about him, but he's a great comic actor! As was Rupert Everett. And all the funny flashes of daydreams and tattoo parlors were great! Hmmm, maybe I should actually read the play and see if they're in there ...

Strictly scientific purposes

Discovery Place, the Charlotte science museum, has a new exhibit opening this weekend that I must see. Normally, I'm not much of a science museum person, even if hands on, but geez, this one is Candy Unwrapped, an interactive look at sweetness. Mmmmmm, science.