Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sun's Up...
06/20/2010
It is 6:26 Sunday morning and here I sit comfortably situated in my car anxiously awaiting the opening of a Starbucks in Suffolk, Virginia. Last night after attending a Retirement Celebration for a friend, The Nancy and I moseyed back to the Hilton Garden Inn where we were staying and talked with some other friends until after midnight. Notice the relationship in that: 6:26am and midnight. Subtract forty-five minutes or so from that, and it won’t take you long to determine it was a short night.
My wife loves to tell people to make sure if I ask what time it is when we are attending an event or a get-together of some sort, just to tell me it is “9:30.” She obviously thinks it is enormously funny. The issue at hand is simply this, my built in alarm clock does not allow me to sleep in past sun rise very often, and on the few days each year when this happens I feel as if I should thank God and praise Jesus.
This morning as I lay in the bed at the Hilton Garden even with the curtains drawn, I could sense daylight, and though a little groggy, opened my eyes. At that point it was all over. My day had begun, but not The Nancy’s. My darling bride, you know, Miss “Don’t-tell-him-it-is-after-midnight,” is still in the bed. As I left the room about 6:05, she was flat on her back with a pillow over her head snoring like a banshee.
Now it may sound as if I am upset by this, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I am a morning person, and few things excite me more than watching a sunrise. There is a special joy, an emotional exercise, in watching the sun break the horizon. There is a glow preceding it, especially when it rises over a mountain top. It is as if God is lifting the sun into position, the sky is alight with His majesty. You might say the difference is night and day!
Speaking of majesty, it is time for me to go awake her, or at least begin the process.
And that is all I have to say about that…
PS: Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Gardening Woes...
06/14/2010
I worked in my garden on Saturday for about four hours; you know the one I doubled in size earlier this spring. It nearly killed me. I am not too sure now I knew what I was doing when I made the not-so-smart decision to go bigger. Now I am thinking The Nancy’s encouragement to make it larger (though my idea) may have had an ulterior motive. I remembered, as I pulled about a ton of weeds out of it, just how hard I had to work to keep the non-veggie, extra growth under control. There may be a padded room somewhere with my name on it. Surely I was out of my mind.
Having said all of that, I must admit the bounty of the garden in 2009 far and away out weighed the stress I put on this rapidly aging body. Last year I did acquire many scraps and bruises, bumps and cuts as a result of working in the cage I call “Hell’s Kitchen” (I stole that from a TV show). It is nice to walk up there and walk around it when most of what I view is plants growing that will eventually provide us with sustenance and future epicurean delights. At the same time I cannot help to think how tired we got eating zucchini this and zucchini that, and tomatoes this and tomatoes that, last year. We ate tomatoes every day, along with zucchini and yellow squash. We had so many peppers of various varieties we started tossing them in the trash; we gave away as much as we ate and we froze a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes right off the vine – they made some great marinara sauces last winter. In October I deemed the garden a complete success and that is when I lost my mind and decided to enlarge it.
The garden is as large as it is going to be, though there is at least another 1500 square feet of space left in the 40’X80’garden plot some former owner of the place had there. Having said that, if you should ever read here I am considering enlarging it again, please, send out the men in white coats to cart me to that padded cell. This cannot be what God intended for me?
And that is all I have to say about that…
Monday, June 07, 2010
Back to Reality...
06/07/2010
Heading home, Southwest flight #182, The Nancy and I having positioned ourselves in the very last row, seats F and D. Fortunately the flight is not booked full, so the seat between us remains unoccupied giving us extra room for all the crap we brought on board with us. I love having the middle seat open, especially on this flight given the number of anchovies The Nancy consumed last evening.
We were to depart Tampa 11:45 for the two-hour flight to Baltimore. Since we just had our breakfast around 9am, and being a brilliant and keen observer of feedback given by this machine I call my body, I recognized very quickly I was not very hungry as we approached Chili’s Two near our departure gate. After intensive discussion with my flying partner, we – meaning The Nancy – made the “unilateral” decision to just purchase a little container of cheddar cheese cubes, some carrot sticks, along with a few grapes and ranch dressing. Just to add a little variety to this epicurean delight, we also purchased a yogurt and granola concoction and two Diet Cokes for the extremely fair price of a mere $15.79. What a deal! I told the lady that took my hardly earned money (that was a joke), I was glad we really weren’t hungry.
Anyway, BS aside, we had a fabulous visit with The Nancy’s sister and brother-in-law. I think they are two of my most favorite people in the world, and we are looking forward already to plan another visit to Tampa to spend time with them. They are both gracious to a fault and a hell of a lot of fun to spend time just talking and relaxing. I could sit with them for hours.
I really like Tampa, but unlike Jane and Grey, have little desire to live there. Don’t take this the wrong way, it is a beautiful area. For a very long time in my nutty, youthful days, I always thought I wanted to retire to the coast of North Carolina overlooking the water, breathing in the salt-scented air and living the laid back lifestyle of a coastal retiree. The problem with that, after living on The Farm amid the verdant hills and valleys of my beloved West Virginia, I think the boring flatness of the coastal terrain and the never changing blandness of the waterside would eventually drive me wacko more so than I am now.
There is just something about those hills that draws me back when I am gone. While I love to go places and see things and visit with relatives and friends, there is an incomparable feeling that overcomes me when I see those hills and drive up that gravel road to The Farm. Even as I write this my emotions run high in anticipation seeing the first of the mountains as I drive westerly from Thurgood Marshall BWI International on I-70 toward the West Virginia line. This is truly The Best Day Ever.
And that is all I have to say about that…
Saturday, June 05, 2010
I Was Going To Tamper With Her...
06/05/2010
The title of this post is actually the punch line to a very old joke about a woman sues a guy for breaking a promise he made to her. The judge asks her what the promise was, wherein she promptly told the judge the man said he was going to take her to Florida. The man told the judge what he said was…
The Nancy and I are on Southwest flight 1197 heading for Tampa for a long weekend of fun in the sun. Actually we are going to attend, though it may be just an excuse to get to Tampa, a niece’s high school graduation. While there we may have to eat some good victuals, drink some fruity drinks with little umbrellas in them and dress like senior citizens in god-awful plaid shorts and shirts that don’t in anyway match or work together, and white shoes with black knee-socks. Perhaps we can spend some time hanging around the pool with me in my Speedo and The Nancy in her own age-appropriate poolside attire. Of course we know in Florida there is no such thing as “age-appropriate” attire. We may also have to pretend to drive like Florida seniors – no signals, have at least two tires either over the center line or half way off the road on the right side, never check traffic before changing lanes and drive at least 10-15 miles below the posted limit or at light-speed above it. We are thinking about having a blue tint sprayed on our hair for effect, well, The Nancy is, at least. Blue spray on mine would look more like a yarmulke, which might make me look even more like a resident of the state. This is going to be a blast.
All seriousness aside, we plan to eat, drink, be merry and cause a raucous wherever we go. We will be loud and make fools of one another and seriously disturb the peace. I plan to hang chads everywhere I go and wear my “Buchanan for President” t-shirt.
On the serious side, we will have a really great time with some people we love. If we get a little loud it will probably be in the midst of other party goers and heavy drinkers doing much of the same.
And that is all I have to say about that…