short holiday

... but so worth it! some very dear friends, ms. chak-a-khan and the hippie, invited me to join them on a portion of their vacation. jackie rented a beach house on the north carolina coast.


the drive down was much better than i anticipated (i don't like to drive. i'd much rather have a driver. no, i am not 70 yrs. old. i just don't like to drive). i drove down on sunday, and the traffic was light (for an interstate that connects both coasts), and the smaller highway was 4 lanes altogether.

i had wavered on the trip because of the time to get there and back, and the amount of time i could spend there.

i have this little "rule" ... don't spend more time getting to and from a place than you spend at the place .....

even if i had spent less time there than travel time, it still would had been worth the trip.

i was SO relaxed!

who can pass up on this?!








the last photo is of dinner preparation. jackie is (of course) a southern fried cook. at somepoint (whether there or not) we've had a discussion about this. she is southern. i am not. i was born and raised in the south, but i was not raised by a southern woman. that makes all the difference. seriously.

the food! holy crap, the food! when at the beach, it is only proper to eat beach critters, ie: shrimp, crab, grouper, tuna, ham/egg/cheese sandwiches (?) ....!

here's my thing. i am not a great cook. i am better than i use to be. and when i go somewhere i love, at the very least i can bring the "food" back home with me. when i came back from mexico, i was eating lots of mexican fare and avocados. and now, returning from the beach, i want the same foods i had there (sandwiches, seafood, quiche). the joke is, whatever i eat on sunday, it will be cooked again (by me, solo ... or with 'tech support') by tuesday. sigh. it's true.






last pictures? from the beach .... what's down time w/o knitting?! i was able to finish a sock, and mostly finish a blanket started ages ago. and stuart? he likes being wherever i am.

man, i had an excellent 2 days. 2 days. wow. i wish i could go back and finish up the week there, but i cannot. damn.

in the kitchen!

apparently, i can bake. and perhaps the measure is a certain recipe vs. the results. perhaps some recipes have a bit of leeway ....

and perhaps, i used the most fool proof recipe on the face of the earth!


but, it worked. i was amazed that it worked. my dough was quite gooey. it never made into a proper "ball". i even plopped it into my stock pot seam side down. so, lots of things working against this loaf.

but still, it worked.

and it was delicious. fresh from the oven, i went over to a friend's house, where we spent the afternoon in great company, filling ourselves on bread, butter, and wine.

and the weather couldn't had been better ... it was all drizzle and rain, and cool blustery breezes .....

perhaps fall is coming? and perhaps, next week, or so, the news will be all about the indian summer (as if it doesn't happen every year!).

communication

my parents crack me up. they send each other little messages based on how the toys on their bed are arranged.




... notice how goofy (dad) is falling off the bed .... hmmm .....