Beachside: Day __???__ (who cares)

Just a run down of today--maybe mixed in with yesterday--possibly tomorrow too:

8:20: Wake up: I don't what is wrong with me...I can sleep and sleep and sleep here. Must be that 10 months of the year I don't sleep. So this is me, like a big mother bear hibernating, but in the summer, and at the beach. So nothing like a big mother bear hibernating.

8:30: Sporting tennis shoes, I head down the beach for a morning jog to the pier and a walk back. Whew! It was hot. I had to stop a few meters short of the pier though: the Daytona Beach Shores Lifeguards were running in front of me and they all ripped off their shirts and ran into the ocean. I thought this was what were were all supposed to do, so I ripped off my shirt and followed. haha. Just kidding. I planted my rear in the sand and watched them all dive into the water, swim their "lifeguard" lap, and swim back to the beach. This was a pleasant divergence from my run.

9:30: Hot and sweaty and back at my umbrella and chair, I rip off my shoes and walk through the water. Then head up to the room to make lunch and pack my cooler.

10:00: My rear again is planted back down on the beach. I'm trying to finish my Greg Iles book (my fourth book since I've been here.)

10:10: Ice cream truck...ding, ding, ding. Sounds good, but I pass.

10:30: oops. Think I dozed off.

11:00: I'm dying of a heat stroke so I head to the water. The surf is up today...waves nearly five and six feet tall. I steal a board from a little kid and ride the waves for a while. Not really, I made friends. We boogie boarded until after 12. I think my back is burnt. :(

12:30. Lunch...egg salad sandwich today. yum.

1:00ish: send hateful text msgs to friends and family not at the beach with me. hehe.

2:00ish: asleep...well, pretending to be asleep, but watching a group (I'd say 20) of college boys playing football about a hundred yards up the beach. This keeps me from sleeping.

3:00ish: finished my book...thankfully, this one has taken me two full days at 646 pages. Whew.

4:00ish...head back to the room to have my daily dose of the Internet.

Tonight...dinner at Boondocks...where I'll sit on the dock, feed the fish, look at the boats, and find a place to sit and dip my feet in the Atlantic. :)

The Sun Also Rises....

...on the Atlantic at 6:26 a.m. Delicious!

After a supposedly nine hour drive from New Orleans, (I took the touristy Beachfront Blvd across the Panhandle), I finally arrived in Daytona Beach Shores Saturday night.

Yesterday, I sat at the pool and drank my coffee and watched the ocean. That's it. Just watched the ocean. It wasn't going anywhere but I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

After that, a brief jaunt to check e-mail.

And then down to the beach to sit in my lounger under my umbrella all day. The first thing out of Cindy's (the beach chair lady)mouth was..."I bet Cindy (my aunt) is so mad at you!" And of course, I said "Yes, and I'm rubbing it in!" Then she instructed me to call to let her know how beautiful of a day it was on the beachfront. :)

At 2:30, the rains came. At 3:30, it was sunny again.

At 5:30 I came in and fell asleep on the couch watching Pretty Woman. At 7:30 I woke up, showered, and went down to Caribbean Jack's for dinner and Bananas Foster. I made friends with the valet guys, and they recommended the Ocean Deck. I've never been there, so that's on tonight's schedule.

So...that was my first day at the beach. Enjoy work this week Cindy and Caron and Dad! And Lindsey and Jordan. And Tonya and Whitney. I guess I've just covered my readership! :) haha. I will be thinking of all you while I'm snoozing this afternoon. Well, maybe not. I've just finished one book and starting a new one today. :)

the miracle of life...on sale at Wal-Mart

It was the 4th of July...a hot, breezeless Wednesday. Montana and I had packed up the car for a day at Aunt Cindy's pool and an evening of fireworks. A stop for gas in Mountain Grove ($2.59! YAY!) and a brief entrance into Wal-mart. (Don't worry...I left the car running with the AC full blast for Montana.)

I followed a couple in through the double doors. I was in a hurry. They were not. Bickering back and forth, she was limping, pushing a cart with two barefooted, dirty-faced children in it, and he walked with a cane and carried a diaper-clad boy. I wanted to rush around them when they stopped mid-stream...in the foyer...between the entrance doors and real entrance doors.

Their attention to their left made me look too. Between the quarter motorcyle ride and the 50 cent "Claw a stuffed animal" game lay a tiny Pug dog. "Wow, Mama! That thing sure is fat!" one of the barefooted kids in the cart shouted. Mama replies "Look at that thing, Denny...it's bloated." Denny, looking closing, says "She's not bloated, she's having a baby" and using his cane as a pointing stick he adds "look at it's butt." And sure enough, this little Pug dog was laying, pregnant on the cool tile of the Mountain Grove Wal-Mart, giving birth to little Pug babies on the Fourth of July.

Oh, the chaos that ensued. I felt for this little girl, now an exhibition. Wal-Mart employees were quickly notified, and by the time I left the building, the floor was being disinfected and the Pug lay outside under a parking lot tree with kids surrounding her watching the miracle of life...for free.

i've been googled...

I feel kind of bad for not writing anything recently. I haven't been on my blog much because of the Writing Project (which doesn't even make sense) and I've been trying to catch up on commenting on that blog, reading Janet's blog (and all my other blogging brothas and sistas), and blessing, pressing, or addressing pieces on the NWP's E-Anthology.

But I just checked my blog and SOMEONE out there was trying to find me. That's awesome! :) (Wink if you know who you are!)

In the last couple of days, my blog visitor number has jumped up dramatically...I've been googled twice...and someone else came to my blog by searching for Kermit the Frog! Sweet. I don't have the answer to why there are so many songs about rainbows...but there is some semi-good reading in bits and pieces throughout the blog.

So today Grandma and I at at Ocean Zen (my first experience) and, yes, Cindy, the California rolls were pretty dang good. Grandma overloaded on wasabi, but we didn't have to resuscitate her or anything. I enjoyed, ????, hmmmm, something so good I forgot what it was. Chicken with fresh pineapple and mandarin oranges and jasmine rice. Scrumptious. Grandma, nearly cleaning her plate, had Shrimp Fettuccine.

After a stop at MSU, Caron's, Bass Pro, Sears, Penney's, a mall walk, and Barnes and Noble, we headed back to Sparta with a cup of Cinnamon Sunset tea...just in time to watch Wheel of Fortune.

For the good of the people...

Liz sent me this site to rate my blog...and I'm rated "G" for all general audiences. I was curious if Dirty Santa would hurt me...but he didn't...although I did get docked for the word "kill."

But Liz...she uses big words like herion and murder. So you can't visit her blog until you're 17. :)

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