Dear Vacaction,

I love you.

Vacation

We're in Virginia. I am happy and relaxed.
Our trip down (which we usually dread) was not so bad. The kids were excellent. There was no traffic. We stopped at two Starbucks, three rest stops, and even managed a sit-down dinner. We arrived at a decent hour.

Today we spent the whole day in the pool. I took knitting and reading breaks. We went for a boat ride at sunset. It's 10, and the kids have been asleep for almost an hour. Shortly, I'm going to sit outside (it's 80) with a beer and a clove. Loving vacation so far.

waiting for the new portable DVD player


maintaining a sense of humor


this was too big. i ripped it out.


Dixieland: the south starts here?


my dad's backyard


chasing geese with the boat

Drunky

I have had three beers in the past 3 hours. Before I had kids, this was no problem. Now, either age or hormones (or a combination) has made it so I am extremely... pliable after three drinks. Tonight I found myself saying, "after a few beers, the fleas don't bother me so much." And it's true.

Our day:

this little guy was in our backyard this morning.
woodchuck? muskrat? groundhog?


this t-shirt belonged to me in 1982, and I am
really really glad my mom saved it.


dill.


this sunflower plant has 5 flowers on one stalk.

off my chest

-This flea infestation has been The Worst. After a few days of not seeing so many, I went down into the basement (which has been a relative safe spot) and had a bunch jump on my ankles. Then, while vacuuming the little fuckers up, I accidentally vacuumed a quarter and now we need a new vacuum cleaner. Is there another verb to use in place of "vacuum"?

-I can't stop looking at people's teeth. I usually look at someone's teeth before I look at their eyes. I think teeth are my favorite feature. The other day I met this woman with a cute cloth-diapered baby and I asked if she made the baby's soaker. When she opened her mouth to speak to me, her teeth were all brown and rotten, and I think I visibly recoiled. Must work on that.

-We had lovely little cookout last night. The conversation got around to blogs, and visitors to blogs. I really want to know why there have been so many downloads of this picture. Because really? It's a crappy photo of a crappy photo.

-I cut off all of my hair. There's a 19-inch long ponytail sitting on my bookshelf now. The hairdresser did a crappy job. I asked for this and she gave me this. Then she cut it again and gave me yet another haircut I didn't like. I left the salon before she could fuck it up more, and then spent a day in the most foul mood. I had no clue that a bad haircut could make me feel so terrible. I took a disposable razor to it and ended up with a haircut I can live with.

-When I went to pick Hannah up at camp, this boy came up to her and declared that another camper had been "hitting on him" the whole week. I've never heard a ten-year-old use that phrase. It sounded absolutely fucking ridiculous.

-I am working both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. It was that or come home from vacation a day early to do a Sunday shift. The last shiftlet I worked was crazy. My patient was fully dilated for the entire time I was there, which meant I did 19 run-downs, charted/did: 2 straight caths, 2 epidural boluses, 3 IV boluses, 2 vomit clean-ups, 4 cervical checks, and calmed one angry and frustrated husband. Tonight I know I'm the labor nurse, and I'm hoping that no one actually has or comes close to having a baby.

-I wrote this entire blog entry because I am procrastinating. I should be in the basement vacuuming and spraying toxic chemicals. I couldn't actually bring myself to read the wiki for permethrin, lest I decide it's too toxic to use.

Neglected garden

In the wake of the Great Flea Infestation of 2009/Summer of Rain, I found my garden to be utterly neglected.

I've been looking at it for the past few days thinking, "those weeds are really bad" and "it's going to take a long time to weed that." Today we finally got to it, with the help of Grandpa. Mother Nature's been chugging along, even with the neglect and the weeds. We have a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. My little herb/flower garden is doing well, although something has been enjoying my basil more than I.

Every year I plan on branching out and growing more unconventional things, but the closest to unconventional I've gotten is watermelon and eggplant. Maybe next year I'll go wild with some lettuce.

This year I bought some gladiola bulbs from Job Lot and stuck them in the ground in the beginning of May. I figured for $2.50 a bag, it'd be worth it to see if they'd come up. They did, and they're out of control. They need stakes. They're beautiful.

I haven't heard from Hannah, which is good. Camp doesn't allow parents to call- fine by me. I've sent two emails and two letters so she knows we haven't forgotten her. I hope she's having a blast. I HATED summer camp, but I mostly prefer solitude, and camp really isn't for introverts.









these sunflowers appeared because the birds got
sloppy with their bird food.

Summer Camp

This afternoon I dropped Hannah off at summer camp. Last year was her first time- she loved it and wanted to go back. She saved all of her holiday and birthday money, and paid for 75%.

Last year we went out to lunch before I dropped her off, and this year we decided to do that again. She chose Boston Market, but she could barely eat because she was nervous. She said the butterflies were eating her stomach.

When we got to camp, it was line-waiting time. There was the official check-in, and then check-in with the nurse, and then the line to leave some $$ at the camp store. Hannah got assigned to the same cabin she was in last year. When we got to her cabin, it was like Tweens Gone Wild; there were over-excited over-orthodontized awkward girls EVERYWHERE. The poor counselor. She's going to have a long long week.

I gave Hannah a talk about the Mean Girls and how to find the Not Mean Girls, we said a quick good-bye, and I was off.



trying to decide between a top or bottom bunk


running on empty. i got gas, but no T or A.


all of this is for one child


lines lines lines.
the lines for kids with prescription drugs was way longer
than the one for kids without.


Cabin 1!


top bunk.

Fostah

We spent the afternoon in Foster today; first at Nordland Farm, and next at the Tyler Free Library's summer reading kickoff.

Nordland Farm has fainting goats and a baby cashmere goat, so they pretty much made my day. However, it only got better when we moved on to a cookout in the backyard of my favorite library. When the grill and the citronella candles are going, it (finally) feels like summer.

Karen and the very expensive baby goat


Lou Goose. In back of him is his mate, Lucy. :)


Enjoying the tire swing


books and hot dogs




my little guy.

Vacationland, Part Two

We didn't spend our entire vacation at the beach. We also walked the Back Cove, visited the Portland Farmers' Market, and went to L.L. Bean. Chris and I went on two dates in two days, and Chris got to spend a lot of time helping his dad with the pizza oven.

Chutes and Ladders


Fierro Flatbread Company


helping Grandpa


yarn and tomato plants.


patriotic strawberries


swiss chard is pretty


Jake, the very old and very friendly Wheaten terrier.
Our recent flea... issue has convinced me to never own a dog again,
but if a Wheaten showed up on the front step, I'd have to keep it.

Vacationland

Last week we took off on vacation #2. Chris' parents live in southeastern Maine, about 15 minutes from the coast.

We had a wet start- a very wet start. Although, it seems like after we started ignoring the rain, it went away. It only took a very ridiculous walk in torrential downpour and an afternoon at the beach during a too-close thunderstorm for Mother Nature to get the message. We are having summer despite the rain.



little bridges


hermit crabs


(channeling my inner Connie Grosch)


this bathing suit belonged to me when I was 4




thunderstorm off to the right

snap back to reality

back home to fleas and camp packing and fleas.

but oh, I sure did a lot of this (in between the thunderstorms)