Uncle Mark took some shots of the kids while we were in Mexico. I love this one:
But then, I also like this one:
This one:
And this one:
Nice to see they missed us while we were gone.
Archive for May, 2011
I think they missed us.
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Northwestern Elementary
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
Via Flickr:
Northwestern Elementary, Crabapple, GA. Late 70s/early 80s. No longer extant.
We only had one first grade, if I remember correctly. I had Mrs. Hamilton. I think there may have been no AC, and they left the doors open in warm weather. Sometimes a dog would wander in and traipse the halls. Mr. Martin taught music. They had field days there with big wheel races. We also one time had a family bring an elephant. I think the family owned a circus? And we had, kid you not, Turkey Shoots. At the school. Awesome place.
The Power of the Dog
Sunday, May 15th, 2011The Power of the Dog
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie–
Perfect passsion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find–it’s your own affair–
But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone–wherever it goes–for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long–
So why in–Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?Rudyard Kipling
(Thanks, Toni, for your thoughtfulness in sending this to me.)
The View from the Golf Cart
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011Or: Of Friends, Sunset, Stars, Beach, Deer, Beer & Gator
I went to Fripp Island this past weekend with a bunch of girls from my Bunco group. (I wrote about them a couple of other times, like here and here.) They go to a beach house on Fripp for Mother’s Day every year. Can you think of a better Mother’s Day gift? Neither can I.
This was the first year I went, and while i did not feel 100%, and I didn’t get to go the whole four nights, and I did get my first speeding ticket since 1988 (I know the year, because I told the cop i hadn’t gotten a speeding ticket since i was sixteen, and he said, YOU WERE SIXTEEN IN 1988?! and I wasn’t sure whether he thought i was lying or he thought I was hot. I also know because I remember that Pierce, Mark, and Lisa were all with me at the time, and we were at the lake house. Side note: Mom and dad, what were you thinking sending the four of us off in a car together? Are you nuts?)
What was I talking about?
Oh, yeah. Bunco Mom’s trip. It was a blast. Megan hosted and the house is awesome and didn’t feel crowded at all, even with over ten people there.
When we got there, I needed a drink. (see aforementioned ticket.) So, i put my stuff down, poured a margarita and the rest is history!
It rained all day Friday, so it was really chilly on the beach, even before sunset. We took our drinks hopped in the golf cart (do you know how much i love golf carts?) and headed to the beach. Where we proceeded to drink and talk and be chilly. Then we headed back to the house and peed, before heading out to see the sunset, which is kinda their tradition, as I understand it. (You know me, pour me a drink and put me on a golf cart and say you’re taking me to the end of the island to watch the sunset, and I am in, even if you are a serial killer.)
Here’s some of us with the golf cart waiting on the sunset.
Emily, Jenn, Robin, Megan, and Moi
Here’s Megan, the hostess with the mostess.
Megan
And me being a little goofy. (Margaritas, duh.)
I can't tell you what Megan said that made my face do that.
And then finally the sunset.
One of two amazing sunsets I saw while on Fripp.
So, after the sunset, we went back to the house to have dinner. Dinners with friends are so much more enjoyable than dinners with my kids. And then, it also always tastes better when someone else cooks it. (Learned that from my wise Mama.)
After that, i think we headed back out in the golf carts to see the stars on the dark end of the island (amazing) and more importantly, to play Deer Beer. It goes like this: See a deer, sip your beer. See a male deer, take two drinks. See a gator, finish your beer and run like hell! I totally enjoyed the golf cart tour and the company, and the stars and was not even disappointed at a dearth of deer and gator. There is no feeling like looking up at the stars from an unlit spot. I love it. Even if you can’t see the gators lurking.
After that, it was back to the porch for some late night Apples to Apples action. Evidently, Lucy feels I am “too literal” in my apples to apples interpretations. This is funny, because before we quit due to drunkenness and exhaustion, one of us had more green cards, and it wasn’t Lucy.
In the mornings, coffee on the porch. (Perhaps my single most favoritest activity in the world.)
Then, off to the beach! I had only one day there and it is very important to maximize beach time. Sunscreen at the beach is tres importante, aussi. So is champagne.
That’s Megan applying sunscreen to her champagne-drinking sister, Kristen. Kristen, the only non-mom in attendance, is moving to Bahrain and plans to marry a Bahraini Sheik, and we are all invited to the wedding.
Lucy might have been a little overzealous with the sunscreen, but it was cute.
So, after a whole day on the beach, wherein we drank and ate our weight in alcohol and Spicy Thai Kettle Chips, all the while solving all the problems of the world, and looking at every People Magazine written since February, we headed in for showers and the sunset viewing.
Here is Lucy driving the limo cart with Stacey, Monica and . . Ashley. Hard to see. All you need to know is that it was the slowest golf cart in all of God’s Creation (God loves golf!) and it had nothing to do with being weighted down by a full cooler.
On the way, we ran across this big guy. Picture doesn’t do it justice, but if I were to have lain down next to him, he would still have a good foot on me. I thought the picture was funny, because I was still in the golf cart and when he came across the pond at these girls, it would be all “objects in viewfinder are closer than they appear” and i would have the gator dinner on camera, and then I would floor it, because I am a coward. Also, out of view are the family of three deer about 20 feet away from him.
The sunset thing is not a bad idea: Spending every night taking a moment to note the passing of day into night, the sun disappearing behind the horizon so quickly, just a symbol of our fleeting time on this earth. . . What? No, i don’t do that anymore.
Mostly, I stand around and take pictures of people at sunset because it makes me look like a better photographer than i am. Like Stacey. Windblown Stacey.
Or Megan and Monica. Aren’t they just glowing?
Lucy, Jenn, and Ashley. . .
Or the boardwalk from which we watched the sun set.
And a final sunset, because that is my current happy place.
Oh, and right before we left, we heard a Whippoorwill. I never hear those at home.
I had a great time and can’t wait to go again. (Assuming i am invited, as I didn’t break anything.) It was so awesome to get away for a while, and actually be able to relax. Also, Beer. And Beach. And wonderful conversation.
Oh, and I had a great drive back, too, with Lucy. We ate oysters on the way out of town, because that’s what you do. Good times!
Life really is just better at the beach, especially if you’re with friends, sipping a cold one, having someone drive your lazy ass around seeing the view from the golf cart.
Akumal & Tulum
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011Todd took me to Akumal for our tenth anniversary. It was great, except that I got really sick (sinus infection) and had to go to the doctor. So, i spent more time dealing with Doctor crap than enjoying myself (all of my first day, then almost two hours the second day, and a quick visit on our last day there), but it was still great. Beautiful place. We had never done an all-inclusive before, but i have to say that it was pretty awesome. It is nice to not have to deal with the money stuff (except for the doctor, which is NOT included, unfortunately).
View from the plane over Cancun. The reason i am able to take photos like this from the plane window is that i pop Xanax like candy before and during the flight so as not to give in to my fear and run up and down the aisles screaming, We're going down! We're all gonna die!
This is where we stayed. Love that towel duck we got every day. Except one day, it was a bunny instead. Talk about messing with my head people!
Little Coati dude. These are all over the resort and, of course, I got total Coati Tourette's whenever I saw one.
Lobby at the resort. Or one of the lobbies. There are three.
My feet. At the Pool. Good stuff.
Todd was enamored of the many different types of Tequila offered at the hotel bar. I think he tried them all. I abstained. Because Tequila in large amounts makes me howl at the moon.
Waiting to eat some cheesy Japanese Steakhouse dinner, but dang, it was really good.
Honestly, the food, other than the steakhouse, was not stellar, but it was not bad either.
Sadly, this marketplace at our resort is the place at which I spent more time than any other location at the resort, because it is also where my good friends the Doctor and Doctora are located.
After trying the doctor that second morning (I needed another antibiotic shot), we took off for Tulum. We decided to drive (we rented a car) because those tour bus deals are just not our scene. I was glad. It is fun to explore and be on your own time. It also allowed us to check out Tulum proper (there is a town there, in addition to the ruins) and to grab ourselves some stuff at a local grocery store. Highly recommend the rental option if you like to explore. The roads were good and the driving was pretty easy there.
These guys crack me up. They are EVERYWHERE at Tulum, just hanging out. Very funny.
This building was one of my faves of the smaller ones. You could still see the paint from these really old murals - so cool!
Hard to imagine what this must have looked like 200 years ago, or a 1000 years ago. Amazingly beautiful place. Also made me feel like I was either in the game Myst, or at Tikal with Indiana Jones and Sophia. (Sophia, Let's Talk. This is Crab Central.)
Me and Todd at Tulum. We swam below this later, in that very blue water.
Todd at Tulum
Here is me traipsing over rocks at Tulum. Seconds later a lady busted ass on the same rocks. I did not laugh.
After the ruins, we had lunch at this little place. Simple tacos. And beer. Good stuff.
These pigs made us laugh. Kind of reminded us of BBQ signs with happy pigs on them that you find throughout the South. You know, the ones with a pig on them, wearing a chef's hat or a halo and wings, holding a spatula and smiling real big? As if to say, Come on, Y'all! Come eat me!
This little old-school Coca Cola awning at a restaurant at Tulum made me a little tiny bit homesick. And then I remembered i had no kids with me and i was in Mexico, and I got over it.
After lunch, we headed to the cenotes. I admit that i felt so under the weather that I almost begged Todd to skip it, but I’m glad I didn’t, because it was my favorite part of the trip. We failed to bring an underwater camera with us, so there are no pics of the Cenotes. We went to this place called Hidden Worlds. You can take a gander here. They take you out in the jungle on a truck that can only be explained as looking like something out of Mad Max. You stand up in it (if you want to ride comfortably) and then bump over miles of hard, rocky, rough roads in this truck with an exposed engine. Complete deathtrap. I loved it. Then we put on snorkel gear and went down this very steep ladder and we were in a cave (cenote) and off into the water.
It was amazing. At points, the stalagmites (tites?) came down all the way to the water and you had to weave your way through to get to the other side. Definitely not for the claustrophobic. There were fish and we had these high power flashlights and we used them to see when we were deep in the caves. Lucky for us, it was just me and T and the guide. He took us into some parts that they don’t take large groups into, and we did fun stuff like sit in the dark caves and turn out all the lights. It is so dark you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. Bats swoop when you light them up. And then we came out on the other side and saw these amazing birds! Again, i didn’t get a really good look at them, or a photo (disappointing) but it was amazing to see them.
We spent our last day at the beach.
Yes, I finally got to spend one wonderful day on this beautiful beach. Fish swam all around us and it was absolutely crystal clear.
That night we had dinner, then wandered, people watching and then checked out a free show. It was a Michael Jackson impersonator. It was awful. And funny.
Michael Jackson show at our resort. OMG. It was so funny that I could only take two songs and then we had to leave.
. . . So that we could do our best MJ impersonations on the sidewalk outside. I am doing the moonwalk. Yep.
Todd is doing that other MJ move. Awesome.
The next day, we got up and packed and went into Akumal proper for lunch on the way to the airport. It is REALLY nice, with some beautiful homes all around the bay and great snorkeling. I could handle a rental there on the beach in Akumal.
Our last meal, in Akumal
And then we came back to the Real World. The End.
p.s. Huge shout out to my parents, The Big C and Virginia, and my Sis, who took care of the kiddos (and The Precious, Q) while we were gone. Round of applause also goes out to awesome neighbor, Lauren, who helped them out. Y’all are the best!