as usual, we decided at the last minute to dress up for halloween. really it was just for the trick-or-treaters who came to the door. i mean we didnt actually go out for halloween, no that would require leaving the house. well, actually we have in years' past, but anyway, we did have candy handy and i whipped up a pirate's outfit.
the highlight of the birthday weekend was the day trip over to cumberland island. a perfect off-season excursion from 9am ferry ride to return at 4pm. it was just enough time to take a ranger-led hike, eat lunch at the beach, take another hike back and soak up the indian summer. there was literally no one on the beach when we arrived, having taken the road less traveled, or simply having waited for others to choose their path and then take the one no one took. we collected sharks teeth, shells, frolicked in the ocean, dried off, hiked over the dunes, explored the marsh, and learned about the island's history on a ranger hike. the wild horses have been there forever, they arent 'maintained' so some look pretty scrawny. the dungeness castle remains are from the gilded age and there were some posh parties during the summer-long vacations folks took here back in the day.
september is my favorite month and its almost over. the climate settles down and the air is crisp and cool. you can sleep with the windows open and listen to the crickets and the train. since we enjoyed that on vacation it made me feel like i was sleeping in a cabin somewhere away from home on holiday. in fact i think i'll go on holiday for my birthday. actually we already have flights. were going to hit savannah antique salvage yards, tybee island crab shack, ferry to cumberland island and just soak up georgia's oldest city ambience. i was doing a little digging online for culture and found a tour company that rolls around the historic district on segways! now i would expect shiny new modern transit in singapore but not savannah georgia. we wont actually take one but i hope i see one so i can snap a photo as they overtake a horse and carriage on a cobblestoned street. with aubrey in decorator mood we'll be scouting for antique appliances and mantles and lighting. hopefully we get to tour some of the squares and historic homes like these.
post vacation finds me back at my desk, on campus, waiting in lunch lines behind throngs of students, wondering why there are so many cars on my bicycle route to work. but just last week, i had a lovely 10 days in the TN/NC mountains, a few even at a spa, to recharge me. i swam in a muddy pond, several pools, rivers, and a big lake. we spent time with a llama, goats, sheep and buck the very skilled farm guard dog, my extended family, and then just us 2 road tripping thru the hills. back home it approached 100 every day and we were cooling it in the 80s; perfectly timed escape i think. we managed to bring home some hwy127 sale antique ladders, saws, barrels, mirrors and parasols. then we saved our money for walnut encrusted trout, fine coffees, and desserts. we ended the week at the nantahala gorge, on the heels of diane sawyer's recent visit, and soaked up the beauty. unable to bring myself to return home, we then buzzed down to my other home and alma mater, young harris and hiawasee for the weekend and finished off the trip swinging lakeside at virginia's place in absolute peace. ahhhhh.
GMA was there this summer and told the whole world so i hope there's still water left in the river. that's my new plan for surviving the south, stay near water, yearround.
puppy sitting isabelle this week. i forgot what that involved. they are really sweet when they are tired and sleepy, but watchout for a freshly napped puppy. she's beagle/lab mix so there was fun to be had with a tennis ball. she also took well to instructions from luxi, the momma surrogate. within 2 days, she slept in her crate, did her business outside, and made friends at the fenceline. i think we're gonna miss her when she goes home...;-(
i have a new air conditioning system for the house! the other one died on the hottest day of the year so far: 104. also, we have a new boss at work, finally after a 1 year search. i got a raise for the new year which starts in January, ugh. hopefully aubrey's house will sell this week. oh and i'm puppy sitting for my brother soon. there's an option to keep Boss for Sean who left for afghanistan this week to work for KBR aka Halliburton for a year or more, which would require driving to colorado, but that would be in the autumn if at all. so, thats it for our summer vacation plans. i'm mostly hiding out indoors in the AC. still biking to work, but melting my face off, so i dont know how long that will continue. anybody who wants to send us to costa rica to caretake their home in august, we're available.
now, dont get me wrong, i hate 'em, have since i was a teenager. my inner ear just never could catch up and the thrill was gone early from amusement parks. but the kids had never been to six flags and one of them is 9 years old which is prime time for loving this kind of stuff! so we all went on UGA night at six flags where the university kindly arranged super discounts and openend the park in the cool of the evening for univ families and friends only. 
here are the head fashions that my nieces and nephews were fascinated by. i must say that they were more intrigued by that than any roller coaster which scared the daylights out of most of them. aubrey dragged me to a couple of ride lines that i just refused to enter, so i agreed to go and ride the old school roller coasters that i recall surviving in childhood. aunt connie and howdy, retired and also spending a fun evening with the kids, even agreed to get nostalgic and try the dahlonega mine train and great american scream machine again with me. what we experienced: stomach dropping plunges, neck breaking jerks and turns that still have me outta whack, what we learned: supposedly all the new rides, that seem like thrill seeking death challenges, are actually less jerky and dangerous. it remains a theory b/c none of us was willing to test it. i know where they get the ideas for shapes of those hats.
aubrey and i made a dash over to the coast, 5 hours is the shortest drive to any ocean from atlanta, and we chose the coast of south carolina. we camped where we could with no reservation on memorial day weekend. the first day we found a site at Hunting island and because the island was solely a state park it had a gorgeous landscape. amazingly, we were the only non-RV camper and given the tiniest site, but it was a site, against the dunes, with the closest view of the ocean and loggerhead turtle nesting grounds. however, what that really meant was, it was the site beside the boardwalk that everyone uses to cross the dunes, or thru your campsite, which was out from under the shelter of the palmettos and thus HOT, very hot. we made the best of our very windy, thus sandy, hot site and blocked the wind with the car.
in the morning, at 6am, we took our chairs down the shoreline to a grove of palmettos and read, yoga'd, and coffe'd in peace for a few hours. the water was really murky and with an oil rig in site, we decided to pack it up and hit edisto island, the next in a chain. as we left we felt a bit of RV and recreational bike envy. not really, but sorta.
Later that evening we decided 3 days was enough and that we would cruise charleston's waterfront and then head home, driving in the cool of the evening. a quick roll down meeting street and along the battery showed folks out and about headed to another pricey night of spoleto arts and culture. we agreed right then to get out of town, hit the waffle house on the road for dinner and get home before we developed another envy.
well i'm filled with good vibes and joy these days but i think its because of the shade trees (pecan and water oak) in my garden and all the blooming flowers vs. the cleansing routine. i tried it for a month and the results were regularity and feeling lighter. but now i worry that im dependent on the stuff. im taking a 5-day break so i'm not sure yet, but i'll try it again for another month and see. i'm also biking to work daily, trying to resume my yoga routine and perfecting a mean game of bocce ball. so soon, all will be right with the world. oh, the dog, luxi, is aubrey's and she's afraid of bocce so she investigates while we take a break for beverages and then runs back and hides on the deck while we play.
aubrey surprised me and arranged a truckload of flowers from the garden center on my front steps in the shape of a heart for valentine's day. we had talked about what we both expected on gift occasions in hopes of pleasing and yet still surprising each other. i told him of my favorite flowers and not to waste money on cliche roses or roadside stand flowers that die soon after purchase. it was springtime and i needed to spruce up the yard so voila, he made the wisest choice in ages, flowers for my garden. i like the way he thinks; and we planted them together. in fact, we went back to the store and bought enough to do his yard too!
spring has almost sprung here in the south so we busted out the bike and tennis racket and gave both a little whirl last week. but yesterday we had snow/sleet so the cold snap is back on for a few days. as you can see the winter didnt phase me b/c i had make bear-like preparations to keep me warm. but it is hard to play tennis while skating across the court, so i hope spring shows up soon. hey speaking of winter olympics, maybe ive just created the newest sport, skating tennis...tenskating. okay better get back to work...
after the hustle and bustle of the holidays, aubrey and i snuck away for a road trip up to DC. we passed thru Asheville, NC, Skyline Drive, VA, DC, and Virginia Beach enjoying mountains and the seashore all in the same trip. we stayed with friends on capitol hill and hit the museums during crispy winter days and played marathon boggle by fireside on new year's eve. it was a great getaway, affordable, relaxing, and just long enough. plus it was gratifying to put the long holiday break from academia to good use.
2005 was an eventful year for me...
to bike in this town. oh, I'm committed, but I could use a break. 2 weeks ago I got a ticket from a bored, power-tripping cop for "rolled thru stop sign, will do again"; fucking right i will if it keeps me safe and ahead of the yahoos. and yesterday I was attacked by 3 vicious dogs...for the 3rd time this summer...reported them finally after a personal appeal to the owner. and all the while athens-clarke county is holding forums to decide WHETHER to put bike lanes in on prince avenue or NOT. its a no brainer, its a main artery into town thru a quaint old neighborhood trying to preserve its pedestrian/bike friendly feel. let me tell you, the sharrows and lil yellow 'share the road' signs alone are not working! bubba in his big ass diesel truck and plethora of soccer moms who think they need a frickin suburban to haul kids around DO NOT CARE about sharing the road with me. they wonder how they can edge over to go around me with out sideswiping their precious metal tanks and well, they just don't, they barrel right on through. yeah, I could use a break and so could all of them, get out of your frickin trucks, SUVs, cars and walk the few blocks it takes to run an errand in this town of 35,000 students and in what is in fact, the smallest county in the entire state of georgia; yeah, smallest of 159 flippin counties. get out of my way people, I'm mad and I'm not gonna take it anymore!
a dear, old friend got married last night to his match. people came out of 3 decades of woodwork to be a part of the special night. the reception was held at kingpins bowl and brew with all the trimmings minus maybe john turturro. the faces and music that came out of the night just touched my heart. my facial muscles still hurt from perma-smile; not the kind that's plastered on and has no feeling behind it, but the real deal that you cant suppress and you have to go out and get fresh air just to continue. REM played a sweet wedding treat set with original drummer bill berry and rocked us back thru to the mid 80s heydey that we all love 'em for. clay leverett and the chasers and other clay configurations entertained several times during the night amidst bowling on the 6 lanes which were fully occupied at all times during the night. jot 'em down served up the best que in town with sides of mac cheese, slaw, white bread and sweet tea. the whole night was delicious.
ever mapped yours? biorhythm? theres a vicious curve to 3 components: intellectual, emotional, and physical. google it, they're as pervasive as horoscope sites. anyway my chart was "right on" this past month in terms of the downward plunges of the chart matching my monthly cycle, my occasional depression, my loss of vocabulary...still waiting to assess the synchronicity of the upward swing but i'm in it right now and feelin much better. thing is, its based solely on a date...as in anyone using that date of birth is on that rhythm, hard to believe but it has mirrored me so far...or have i mirrored it? hmmm. in any case, it made this the hardest birthday ever. half-full glass girl crashed. yeah, it wasnt fun. writing this now i see that my one strength was in feelin it, or just riding it out, and not trying to dodge it b/c it was unpleasant. therapist taught me that years ago. so i hit the bottom on my birthday, which the chart predicted as 2-3 days prior...close enough if the chart rules everyone ever born on 9/30/62...and then i just let it all out and friends rallied round, coworkers, family, and yes, my reluctant lover. reluctant only in the sense that he just wasnt ready for the pressures of a social engagement with a new lover and her posse where drinking and all sorts of elements change the dynamic. in the end, my sadness was lifted by that very lover, in the sweetest and most heartfelt and selfless way, and it didnt hurt that the evening became a bbq in my own backyard with just a few of my closest and favorite peeps. 
