Sick and Tired

I am sick and tired of summer. Literally sick. And tired. (Two more days to prep for this trip and I got hit with some upper respiratory malfunction. Does it sound like I am always sick? I'm not, I'm really not. And actually the whole stomach thing has gotten quite a bit better.) I think it's this hellish weather that brought it on. This heat is the most oppressive and depressing thing I've ever experienced. Our entire family is crabby and snotty and wheezy (except for P who rarely gets anything). I can't wait to get to the pond.

I've been reading Franny and Zooey again. I want to create my own Glass family. I think that's where this new book is going. As much as families are integral to my other books, they are really peripheral to the central story (except for, maybe, Nearer Than the Sky). I want the family to be the main character of this next one. I'm dying to see "Little Miss Sunshine" for this very reason. It looks terrific. Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, the southwest, a roadtrip and a child's beauty pageant at the end...right up my alley.

Anyway, this may be the last post for a bit. Little access to the internet in Vermont. Probably not a bad thing for me...

Shiner

So there's a whole new attitude that goes along with the shiner. We're calling her "Bruiser" these days.

I've written what I think will be the first chapter of the new book...though you never know. I'm having a hard time deciding on the point of view, but my cast of characters is coming into focus. I also have a pretty good sense of the plot. Go figure.

I've been mostly reading about hunger and fasting, including Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" this morning. I also checked out "Hunger" by Knut Hamsen.

princess and the pea

The party was a tremendous success. Kicky found the pea for the first time and got to wear the tiara. After the shortcake, a rousing game of "Pin the Pea on the Mattress," and a terra cotta pot and glitter glue craft project, everyone went home exhausted but happy. Esmee and Kicky jumped in the pool and knocked heads. So...today the Princess has a big-ass lump on her head.

Before and After

I had a dream the other night that I was eating nails...it seriously felt like I was digesting straight pins.

Close Call

Last night I went out with L.D. for dinner. We decided on Utopia because my stomach is such a mess that I can't eat anything even remotely spicy. We had such a nice time, catching up. I had the seafood bisque which should be illegal, and then at around 9:30 I headed home.

So there is this intersection (Georgia Ave. and Aspen), which I drive through every day. I just made a comment last week to P that I'm worried that I'm going to get hit there someday. Every time my light turns green at that intersection, I make sure to look before going ahead...I've seen a lot of people blow through the red light, and so I always wait a second or two to go. But last night when the light turned green I waited a couple of seconds, and then I got the sense that I should wait a few more seconds. It was like some weird gut feeling that if I pulled forward something terrible would happen. And then, as I'm at a dead stop with the green light to go, a car coming down Georgia (on my left) at about fifty miles an hour runs right through the red light. If I hadn't waited, that car would have crashed into the driver's side of my car. There is absolutely no way I would have lived through that. I have no idea what stopped me. Maybe it was just me being cautious, overly cautious, or maybe it was something else. I don't know. I'm just glad I'm not dead today.

Stomach still hurts like a mother...L.D.'s going to send me some anti-inflammatory diet info. All the stuff I hate: dark green leafy things, whole grains.

The Princess Party is this weekend.

I have started the next book. It's about hunger.

Firecrackers 

Firecracker, firecracker, boom, boom, boom

Finally, something great happened today. I used my B&N gift certificate my sister gave me for my birthday to buy Miss American Pie (a memoir based on the author's childhood journals) and The Rich Man's Table (another Scott Spencer novel). The package came today after a violent storm, and I opened it up to find that the Scott Spencer book is signed. What a perk.

Did I mention that I think I'm getting an ulcer? I had the same thing happen when I was in college, and I'm worried that it's happening again. It's hard to believe that this stress is on the same level as the stress that caused that to happen, but maybe.

Tomorrow night I'm going out with one of my longest friends (she's actually quite a bit shorter than me -- ha, ha). She's got a great shoulder though.

Outage

I haven't written in so long, I feel like I'm calling up a friend I've neglected. Remorse over laziness.

I don't understand this place. Last week it rained for days. Days and days and days. Our porch roof leaked, an eighty foot tree two houses down just fell over one night, decapitating a telephone pole and leacing us powerless/phoneless/cableless for more than a day. And then, just as things started to look up, yesterday (the 4th of July, for Christ's sake), it came back and last night I spent six hours in a pitch black house while the air outside was exploding...I didn't know whether it was thunder or fireworks or some terrible Korean missile. This weather is killing me. It was also ninety degrees without even a whisper of breeze. The poor girls were drenched in their beds. I sent P to our friends' to celebrate the holiday...he would have gone mad, I think, in all that hot darkness.

Despite the recent weather, my birthday weekend was so nice...a visit from P's mom, rhubarb pie, and a night out which included Mexican food. Amen.

Only a few weeks left until the girls and I make our way to Vermont. P will be joining us for a whole week this year. I am looking forward to working on the new book. Meanwhile I'm reading like mad...just finished Men in Black (no relation to the movie) by Scott Spencer. I am his newest biggest fan.