Ugh

I've often said that it sucks to be sick when you're travelling. It doubly sucks to be sick when you're travelling for work. As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm 300 miles from home in a hotel room, and I can't keep anything down. I've ordered soup from room service, and am hoping for the best.

I have a presentation to give tomorrow, and I haven't finished it yet. This is gonna be great. . . .

Back to Reality

The last-minute extension of summer is over, and it's back to work and school for us. Already the pain of being a parent-who-works-outside-of-the-home is making itself felt. I had planned to be home every night this week. At least for the first week of school I wanted to pretend that we have a normal family life and that we can literally be there for our child. Then a late afternoon meeting 100 miles from here was called for tomorrow. I have to go. I won't be there when my son gets home from his first full day of high school.

Then I got pulled into an all-day meeting on Friday---300 miles from here. I'll leave on Thursday and not get home until late Friday. Damn it all. Really.

Ahh Vacation

We're at the beach. Even in a tacky falling-down last-minute rental condo, life is good. We got here with the help of my son and Isabel (I'm testing out that name for my GPS.) We made only one wrong turn and drove in circles for a while waiting for the satellite to figure out that we didn't do what she was telling us to do. Other than that--perfect!

The weather is here, wish I were beautiful. The ocean water is warm (or what passes for warm in these parts--70-71-ish. That's just barely tolerable on my warmness scale.

We had dinner at the Backyard restaurant to celebrate an anniversary---it was nice, and brought back memories of many other dinners we've had there. some happy, some sad. I could see the table by the fence where I cried through the entire dinner. This is a happier time.

This is a town where my husband and I have spent much time together. About five years ago I decreed that we would come here no more. Enough! Enough tangled memories, Enough enduring beach traffic through PA and NJ, Enough complications with my in-laws and vacationing in close quarters with them. Enough! Basta!!

But, clearly I've relented and it's good to be back. I planned the trip to be here for half a week, and crossed paths with my mother-in-law. we arrived on Tuesday, she left on Tuesday. it's better for everyone that way.

so many posts waiting to be written---but for now, the boys (my son, my nephew, and my husband) are all itching to get to the water. Me too.

N

going to the beach--phase one

Half the family is now at the beach.  It's quiet here, and I'm wishing we were there--although this morning I was glad not to be part of the packing rush.

I have a new Magellan GPS system, and he/she is in need of a name.  I spend a lot of time being lost, so I'm looking forward to having this system. I'm relying on it to guide me to the beach on Tuesday morning.  My son tells me that naming or anthropomorphising one's digital accoutrements is hopelessly old-fashioned, and yet it seems that the human voice guiding me through the maze of interstate highways ought to at least have a name.  

I've googled women explorers, and come up with Isabella, which has a nice ring to it, but I'm not sure yet.  I'll keep looking, and I'm open to suggestions.  She seems to be a she, but perhaps only because I haven't figured out yet how to change her voice.

I'll keep trying . . .   with any luck, inch 'Allah, and with her help, my next post will be from the beach.

Au revoir

N

He's Home

My son is home after 8.5 weeks away at summer camp. We picked him up this morning, fed him, and then he fell asleep. Reminds me of bringing him home from the hospital.

He looks good---I think he grew a little taller. I just looked in on him, sleeping soundly in his bed. When he wakes up we'll work on unpacking, and all the work of re-entering home life.

For now, it's just good to have him home.

Back to School

I'm holding on to summer as hard as I can, but even I know that nothing gold or green can stay.  My flower beds are blowzy with tangled blooms of russian sage, purple coneflowers, verbena, oregano, thyme and basil gone to seed (but blossoming beautifully in the process) and three tomato plants that arrived from some distant garden, all competing for space.  The lovage has once again decided that it needs the entire garden to itself  and is threatening its neighbors with determined offshoots.  The petunias and impatience are all but buried in the resulting mess.  The beds are alive with all manner of bees, birds, butterflies, and moths conducting their business and ensuring the success of future blooms.  

The autumn bloomers haven't come into the picture yet, but they are out there warming up.  The white dwarf chrysanthemums--always a bit precocious--have started to bloom, but they remind me of the type of person who looked forward to back-to-school efforts.  It's just too early to think about school or chrysanthemums.  They should be quiet for now.  The sedum is still gathering its strength, the golden delicious sage doesn't even have buds yet, and the Japanese maples all still have their summer look.

But last night we had a group of friends over for dinner, and we sat outside until late in the evening.  It was a lovely night, and the crickets and cicadas were singing loudly.  That sound, pronounced one man well-past school age, was the sound of back to school.  Once you hear that sound, it's time to shop for sweaters and notebooks, time to look at schedules and re-establish routines.  "Yes," most people at the table nodded in agreement.  "Summer is over" they all agreed.

So today we made plans to spend next week at the beach.  My son comes home from camp in the middle of this week, so we'll all go as a family.   Fall can be put off for another week.