alone

both kids got on the bus this morning to go to school. i dropped t off at the airport on his way to toronto for the weekend comic expo. he'll be there with his buddies, the blvd, for anybody reading this who may be going.

on the way back from the airport, i thought of all the places i could go, all alone, and take all the time i wanted, just looking. as i passed store after mall after strip mall, i thought that honestly i just wanted to come home and be ALONE. i have until 3:10 today, then 8 hours tomorrow to just be by myself, with my own thoughts.

being ALONE is something that has been utterly elusive to me as the mother of two, and the wife of a work-from-home husband. chaos and goings-on have been ingrained in my psyche for so long, i've forgotten the therapeutic quality of peace with oneself. there are a million things that need doing around here, especially outside. but THANK YOU ernesto for pounding us with torrential rains, granting me a temorary reprieve from yardwork. the house could use some work, too, but that can be done WITH kids and husband around. plus, my ipod is on the blink (sniff) and i can't do housework without it.

i think i'll eat yummy food, namely the QUART of delicious tomato-basil soup i picked up from nantucket cafe. maybe i'll take a nap. paint, knit, read, and pet the animals. maybe a soak in a blazing hot bathtub. perhaps play MY music REALLY LOUD in the house with no one to complain of my yodeling along. and at the end of my two selfish days, i think i'll be a whole lot better equipped to handle the rest of the world again. don't you??

tweetsie railroad

although s's birthday was over 2 months ago, her fondest wish was to go to tweetsie railroad-- a small western themed family park in the mountains. we meant to go before the trip to michigan, but torrential flooding near boone kept us home. the poor kid waited ALL THIS TIME for her birthday present! and when i found out kate was coming here for a visit, i bound her hands and feet, gagged her, and forced her into a trip to tweetsie with us. we rustled up our finest cowpoke duds, and went on a three-hour tour. well, only 2 hours and 40 minutes, but who's counting?

for some unknown reason, blogger decided to underline THAT WHOLE PARAGRAPH to make it more important.
while vacationing at kid paradise--disneyworld-- last november, s woefully lamented the fact that there was no mouse train like at tweetsie. the mouse train is a uber-creepy day-glo tunnel where animated mice "mine" for cheese while singing an inane song. even more bizarre than "it's a small world." luckily, the memory of the mouse train had tarnished-- we were only forced to ride it once. it was thrown over in favor of the throw up rides, namely, the tilt-a-whirl and the twister.
the weather in the mountains was sunny and gorgeous that day, and the views from the chair lift (and from the top of the ferris wheel) over the blue ridge mountains were lovely. we sat on big fake (yet anatomically correct) horses, pet goats and deer, ate a chili-slaw footlong hotdog, and rode on little cars. 6 hours worth.

the pinnacle of the tweetsie experience is a ride on a real live steam train, complete with skinny college boys making summer bucks playing unintelligible cowboys in a western shoot-em-up train robbery farce. whooooooo-weee! if i knew what they may have been sdaying, it might have been funny! as it stands, i really enjoyed the scenery. the best part of this ride, however, i'll share with you next. the woman sitting 2 seats ahead of us had arm hair SO Long that it was curling up about 2 inches off her arm. now, i'm not an impeccable groomer myself, but even i would have shaved this off. or at least trimmed it up. the photo doesn't do it justice. it was unbelievable.

the second first day

it seems so backward, that h should have his first day first, and s should have first day second, but that's the way it works around here. the rationale? staggered kindergarten first days. it makes sense that the teachers only have 5 or so kids in their class the first day to get them used to the whole idea of kindergarten. but now, after all this excitement, s doesn't get to go back until thursday. bummer.

she was just beaming with excitement, probably most of it over riding that pimped-out bus to school. jay queried the purpose behind the blacked out windows of the shiny new bus, and all i can think of is, you know, celebrity. the don't want the paparrazzi following them around.

anyhow, i'm officially childless for the whole rest of the day. one small leap for s, one giant leap for mommy. good thing the ^%#$ cat needs to go to the vet. it'll keep my mind off of not being a preschool parent anymore. a little bit of my identity in the past.

just a quick postscipt on the cat. james tiberius "tibby" cat. yes, i know, we're helpless geeks. he's almost 11 years old, and has been, is, and ever will be the living proof that even beautiful creatures can be E V I L. and he has just recently taken to peeing and pooping on the *only* good rug i have in the house. no, the vet visit isn't euthanasia-related, just his shots, but i'm still looking for the redeeming qualities in this cat after all these years.

magic bus

the magic bus came this morning.

the shining, brand new, air conditioned, blacked-out-window bus came for my boy. and took him away. for the WHOLE day.

yes, folks, that's right. it's that time yet again, the first day of school. more specifically, the first day of second grade for my big baby boy. it's so exciting for him; he loves school and the bus especially. he likes his new teacher and has lots of old friends in class. even his great pal and on again/ off again flame -- morgyn-- is in his class. how lucky can a kid be??

me, well, i'm not suffering the empty nest quite yet. that comes on monday when my baby girl boards that same magic bus with her big brother and goes off to the great big world of kindergarten. THEN mommy is stuck at home wondering what her kids are doing, missing them terribly.

luckily kate is visiting from michigan and she is helping me keep my mind off the empty nest syndrome by power shopping. we've been all over the area at all the malls, stores, boutiques and shops you can imagine. i'm sure we could keep ourselves busy for many more days, but i'd go broke. plus, she's leaving tomorrow-- with a heavier bag-- and we'll miss her.

huntin' dawg

we were just about to head upstairs for the night when t asked, "where's jane?"

"probably outside," i responded. "go call for her."

after calling her, he came in and said, "don't let her kiss you." and then, "i'm gonna throw up."

"what?" i wondered.

"go look on the front porch," he said, with his face buried in the collar of his shirt.

there, on the front porch, right in front of the door, lay (and still lays) a rabbit head. yes, a rabbit head, no body. again, i don't feel the need to take a photo for blogability.

and we thought border collies were herding dogs. guess this one has a dual purpose. maybe the mouse on the rug yesterday wasn't the cat after all?

hopefully the wild animals will dispose of the evidence.

GOOD doogy. GOOD doggy.

mac woods dune rides

this morning we were greeted with the sight of the lower half of a dead mouse body on the living room rug. no, i did not take a photo for the blog. it took all our strength to proclaim "GOOD kitty. GOOD kitty," while disposing of the little body, but somehow the dirty deed was accomplished. since that's the most interesting thing happening around here, i'll take you back to michigan again, to the day we went to mac woods dune rides.



this place has been at silver lake forEVER (at least since i was a kid) and although the ride is far less adventurous than i remember, it was still thrilling for the kids. they put you in these big red dune scooters then go up , down, and around the dunes by silver lake. the trip even takes you by-- and in-- lake michigan for a splash. grandma was adventurous enough to join us for the day, and even got an all new hairdo out of the experience.

i think we'll make the ride an annual summer tradition, after all, who needs a retirement fund anyway?

upstairs, downstairs

here in nc we're slogging, eyes at half mast, through the last muggy weeks of summer before the start of school. thus, not much of interest has happened, unless you count a bunch of playdates, a handful of video games, and some walks around the block with the dog. so, i'll take you back to michigan with me, a post i shoulda coulda woulda done THERE if the internet connection was faster and less fuzzy.

since i mentioned walking the hill to and from the beach so many times, i thought i'd give you some shots of the path i've pounded about a zillion times, in a few different incarnations, since i was about 6 years old. between the upper steps and the lower steps is a short hilly path with some homemade dirt steps, too.

see, where my parents now make their permanent residence was once our summer cottage, where we went to escape the suburbs of indianapolis on any available weekends or vacations. about ten years ago, after living in suburban detroit for a few years, they decided to make the cottage their home for good, and added some nice things like, oh, a furnace and such to make it more liveable. voila! a home on the big lake.

okay, i'm back!

we did somehow manage to arrive safely (if not quite mentally soundly) on monday night very late. don't know if i mentioned my wonderful pop, who flew to nc, drove us to michigan, then drove us back home, and flew back to michigan again. valiant man, and BRAVE! he is.

upon re-entry i needed to do some computer updates and the internet explorer one messed up my java and cookies or something, requiring some amount of instruction following and protocol. to me, java and cookies are a latte and a biscotti, so it was all very confusing to me. after all was said and done, i am finally finally able to post again.

i miss everyone, and look forward to getting back in the loop. more stories to follow.

fruitless efforts

been tryin' to post, guys. been tryin' to leave comments, guys.

not havin' any luck.

i'll be home tuesday, and will catch up then...

thanks for understanding!