Tiny thoughts.

I need to take more pictures. I didn't take this one, I think that "Salamander Seeker" took it on our epic adventure... I just played around with the image...

 

It's warm in here, and I would like a glass of wine, but I should drink a glass of water, but I think I'll just go to bed.

Random thoughts.

Part of the reason I haven't been posting much lately is because I haven't been thinking too many concrete thoughts lately, so I haven't had anything I could post. I've been having flashes of thoughts flit through my mind like lightning bugs, and then fade away. I try to chase them into the bushes, but I lose track of them.

So I've decided to just post randomly, and see what happens.

Actually, I'm multi-tasking. I'm also listening to a concert on NPR of the Avett Brothers. And I'm paying the bills. And I'm leaving up a tab on "posting" on my blog. And I'll do it all.

Who said you can't have it all?

If you want to listen to the concert, it's at NPR.It's the Avett Brothers at the Newport Folk Fest. I'm listening to the song, "Kick Drum Heart" right now. It's peppy.

Eww. I just killed a huge mosquito. Did I mention lately that I love bats?

Multi-tasking is hard when you are trying to pay the bills. For some reason, my check book is off by like $3000.00. This is not good. And I can NOT figure out why.

"... Hate sits alone on the hood of a car, lazily killing the last of a jar, of the strongest stuff you can drink..." -- I love the guy singing... this is unbelievable poetry, to me, at least....

Did you ever really think about all of the different kinds of love and hate? I really can't make much sense of that either. It would make a good post, if I could figure it out. It would actually make life a lot easier, too.

I've been reading alot about Buddhism on Vincent's blog. I think Buddhism is really simple and completely sensible. And very complicated, too. I guess I'm becoming a bit Buddhist.

Frankie played a lot of music today. It was all NOT Pearl Jam. WHAT? Hard to believe. My little boys is growing up? Maybe. He's at work right now. Nick's still at the beach house. I miss him. He should be home Sunday. Maybe even Saturday. Thor's working on the boat. We just got it back, and a big bill for fixing the engine.

"Always remember that there is nothing worth sharing... like the love that let us share our name..." Good song, even if it is called "If I get murdered in the City."

Wordless Wednesday

 

Let the shopping begin!

Frankie's going away to college in a few weeks. And he has a list a mile long of things he is supposed to bring.

I've gotten that list started, but I still have things to get. So, today begins the serious shopping and packing to finish it off.

And he's already started marking the calendar -- "Mom, will you pick me up on the weekend of the 19th, and bring me back Sunday Night at Midnight? And then two weeks after that... and then three weeks after that..."


I think I'll be getting a lot of mileage on my car in the very near future.

Well, vacation's over.

 

I spent one more weekend in Chadwick down the New Jersey shore... but tomorrow, it's back to work...

So, here are my pictures from my summer vacation...

Surfing

 

Stevie took a surf lesson, and I went along to get some snap shots. He did really well... he was up on the board immediately.

I'm going to miss Steve! I saw a lot of him over the last few weeks and I got to know him a little better. He's a great kid.

Beach Boy

 

Nick loves being at the beach house. He's staying another week, even though we had to come home to go back to work.

And Frankie had to come home, to see his friends. He's going away to college soon. He had a party to get to, and people to see, and things to do. And a root canal this week.

I convinced most of the family to color!!!

 

I had fun. I think everyone else did too.

We hung the pictures on the refridgerator.

The clouds rolled in...

 

... and we all rolled over to the beach to try to get some good photos of lightning...

Lightning storm from Chadwick

Jelly Fish

 

There are always jellyfish in the waters of the lagoon... at least, every time we are there. They don't look as obvious as this one; I played with this photo to make the thing really show up. But there are plenty of them under the bridge and around the bulkhead. And they sting.

I've heard that vinegar helps the sting feel better, and the kids tried it. They said it helped some. Of course we didn't have plain white vinegar, we had apple cider vinegar. But I guess vinegar is vinegar, right?

If your friends said they were going to jump off a bridge, would you?

 

If you jumped off a bridge, would your friends jump too?

If your friends all let their kids jump off a bridge, would you let your kids jump off a bridge?

What if it was really fun?

For Jozien

 

The swans at Chadwick Beach are one of my favorite things :)

Sweet dreams........

 

Dark and quiet cool sheets after a long day of sun. Good night...

The world is layered with beauty beyond what i can see or even imagine... I wish to create, to sing, to embrace the world, to spread my arms and fly.

Sitting on a bench at the beach

New Song from Saw Doctors :)

Family Vacation, Part 1

To paraphrase Frost:
Two roads diverged... and I...
I took the one less traveled by...
and that has made all the difference.


(this wasn't that road.)

 

So. I guess that my earlier "epic adventure" was certainly the road less taken. This one is the road taken by everyone.

On my "epic adventure" you would never have known we were in New Jersey. We often could (barely) hear anything that resembled an engine. We could hear birds and tree frogs.

But this is Thor's summer vacation, and as his family has been getting this beach house down the Jersey Shore, and this is the week, I went down the shore too.

I left on Saturday. We all left on Saturday. All in separate cars. I'm sure every family down the shore had several cars, hence the traffic. But I had to come back earlier than anyone else, so I needed a car to return in.

I drove and drove, slowly... and it took 2 1/2 hours to get there. I finally arrived around 6 PM. And once there, I went to the A&P to do some food shopping. I hadn't felt like shopping before I left. And when I got back from the A&P, I found out that my poor Nicholas had lost one of the lenses in his glasses. And he really does need his glasses in order to see. I know how miserable that can be. He would have had a horrible time, without his glasses.

So I got back in the car and drove home. Luckily, it was late enough by this time that there wasn't much traffic. I was able to get there AND back in about 2 1/2 hours. And also lucky for Nick, we'd gotten him two sets of glasses last time, so he had a spare set for me to get for him.

I really didn't mind the drive -- even in the traffic. My car is very comfortable, and I had my air conditioning on, and my radio blasting... it was quite lovely. I sang all the way there, and back, and there again.

I don't mind the drive. The thought of THAT MANY PEOPLE bothers me a little. On the other hand, all those people have to go SOMEWHERE on vacation.

And as long as they like to go to the beach, they're keeping the mountains nice and quiet and peaceful for me.



And today I drove home, so I can work. And I've got the house to myself, so I'm still on vacation.

Here's proof I really made it!

 
I'm not a big beach person... well, I love the beach. But I don't love it in the middle of the summer in the middle of the day in the middle of the weekend in the middle of a crowd. But I had to get there... at least for a little while... because after all, I'd driven that whole way, hours and hours, right??? So there I am. Proof I was there.
I bought a daily beach pass for $6.00, and lasted about 1 hour, for about 1 day.

But I really had a good time, in spite of my lack of beach time. The house we rent has a lovely back deck on the lagoon, with a canopy and some shade, and I sat there, where I could escape inside to the air conditioning every once in a while. I visited with a lot of friends and family, and we had a lot of laughs. It was worth the drive.

And now, I'm home again. I'd tell you I came home just so I could post this blog, but of course that wouldn't be true. I have work... but even so, being home with no kids (they are still at the beach house) is just like a vacation anyway! My music is on and blasting, I've been playing on the computer for an hour and a half, and I don't have to do a thing about dinner. Unless I want to.