Musikfest

Today is the start of Musikfest in our town. It’s a 10-day music festival of mostly free performances, although there are headliners like Blondie, Chris Isaak, David Cook and others on the main stage that have ticket fees. Over a million people descend on this town over the next 10 days, and traffic and parking are a mess.

Because of our house’s location, we are only a couple minutes walk from it all, and as a result, our street is very popular for parking. Fortunately, we do have two spaces in the alley that are on our property, so instead of parking on the street as we normally do, we have to park behind the house. It’s a minor inconvenience, but most of our neighbors are not lucky enough to have off-street parking.

This is the one time of year when our neighbor, whom I refer to as “Dipshit”, is out of luck for parking. The rest of the year he hogs the street and usually takes up a couple of spaces, since he doesn’t know how to parallel park properly. It serves him right that he’ll have to scrounge for parking for the duration of Musikfest.

I’m not very neighborly, I guess.

Not so Dreamy

I had the strangest dream last night. Actually, I very often have strange dreams, but this one was especially so. The beginning of the dream I found myself in water, and I was sinking down, and taking in mouthfuls of salt water.

Then, all of a sudden it shifted to this very weird prison setting. The place was on a mountain, and there was this almost vertical conveyor belt that was transporting the prisoners in individual little vehicles. After they reached the top of the mountain, the conveyor belt continued to the entrance of a prison, and all along the route there were guards with guns. It was dark, and strobe lights were panning the area.

Ed and I were going to the prison to visit this woman who had murdered her husband. I have no idea why we were visiting her. So, we get escorted to this basement area, and there she is. She looked like a nutcase and only had about five teeth. All of a sudden she lunged at both of us like she was about to attack us, and a guard had to step in and hold her back.

Next scene, Ed and I are on our way out of the prison, but it requires walking along these very narrow pathways high up the mountain, and I’m so afraid I’m going to fall….

Then, I woke up.

Of Bubbleshooters and Thunderstorms

Ed and I are both addicted to this silly little arcade-type internet game called “Bubble Shooter”. It is the most mindless game, but very addicting! Every game I play, I think, “oh, I can do better next game”, and so the addiction continues. It’s a good thing we only took one computer to Maine, since otherwise we would have both been playing the dumb game all night long. Bubbleshooter is the devil!

The weather was strange today. It looked like it wanted to rain all day, and it finally did. Now it’s cleared up again, but I did hear on the radio that there were tornado warnings in the Poconos. All this rain has not been helpful for the growth of our vegetable garden. There are no signs of beans yet, and no ripe tomatoes except for the little orange ones. We need sun!

Post South Coast Blues....At Work

The guest blogger was "forced" to post tonight. Look, no pictures. So we'll keep it straight forward. I MISS the past week in Maine. Sleeping in, taking it easy, dinner in, dinner out (although we are going out tonight, much too muggy to cook out, hehe...) the water around us, and the dog just sleeping in the non-conditioned air. Well, the planning has started for next year, at least in our minds. The blog owner wants to go south of Bethlehem in 2010. Not happening. We are no longer beach people: we prefer that colder water at this stage. Perhaps next year should be on a lake, but, I do believe we will do the Midcoast of Maine. In thought, it all depends on our dog, Amber. She has been a living rock the past 3 years: close to 2,500 miles in the car over 3 trips (those are just driving miles back and forth to where we stayed and Bethlehem).

For the moment, the South Coast edition writer is signing off. The blog owner now has to take over. I'll be back in the future. Thanks for reading.

Back to the Grindstone

Oh, boy. Back to work after a week’s vacation is a drag. At least the boss is preoccupied. We are getting a new server installed, so the software consultant guy is here all week getting that running. I found out we do have training this Saturday from 8:30am – 2pm. I’m not thrilled with that, because Ed and I are going to see my mom on Sunday, so there goes my weekend.

Tonight is The Bachelorette finale. Who will she choose?

Recuperating

Today has been a very lazy day. We slept in, went to Staples to replace my mouse, and get a new flash drive. On the menu for dinner is grilled pork ribs, corn and baked potato wedges. This is quite a departure from the lobster in Maine.

I've been watching junk TV all afternoon, and Ed and I have been on separate floors...me upstairs, he downstairs. It might be a good idea after all the "togetherness" this week.

Back to work tomorrow.

Home

It was a long, annoying car trip. That is all.

Last Day of Vacation

I can't believe vacation is almost over! It went by very fast. Today was sort of a rain-out type day. The rain was very heavy all last night, and continued throughout the day. We took a drive inland again, this time towards the northwest. We went for lunch at a home-cooking restaurant called Cole's Farm. Lunch was very good....meatloaf sandwich and fish chowder for Ed, and I had the hot meatloaf with mashed and gravy. The waitress forgot my salad, and given the fact that Cole's Farm makes and sells their salad dressings, I did insist that she bring me the salad with my entree. We ended up buying a bottle of the dressing, a blackberry jam and Flo's hotdog relish.

We continued on to Freeport, and made a very hurried stop at LL Bean, but at least I can say I was there at the "mother store". I was looking for summer flipflops, but saw nothing I wanted. We then continued on the Rt. 1 path, and here we sit...on the last night of vacation. *sad face*

South Coast4: The Marsh Amber Edition

When Amber was a little puppy, the guest blogger tried to get her to swim. Here we were in the creek in Bethlehem, and she did not want to be in the water. A lab no less: what is wrong. Well , over the years, even pushing her into a lake made no difference: Amber doesn't like water, except for rain and snow, then she goes nuts.

The photo is the difference. The guest blogger was getting pix of the marsh at high tide just to show the difference in the water levels. Of course, Amber came down to the lower porch. I turned and the next thing, after the splash, was Amber in the water scurrying around. Amber, up to her belly in the watery marsh. She moved around the marsh, and I was trying to get her to come to me. She finally did, but I couldn't get her out. Off came the shoes, stepping into the water, and getting her to move to shallower water, I finally lifted her out. She is 12 1/2 years old, and on this trip she's acting like around 6. What a dog!

Now onto the "pod" village. We went to "All Day Breakfast" for brunch/lunch today. JoAnn had the hash/cheese omelet, which I should have had, bye the bye. Breakfast overall was excellent. Then we decided what to do: basic argument, we had left the Nikon behind. We drove around on two different shore routes, and by the George Bush waterfront estate. (We would come back later to take photos: quite the place.) On the way home to get the camera, we also stopped to get some pickled beets, and two jellys at a roadside, honor friendly, stand. These should be good; the beets will be given to the blogger's mother for the ultimate taste test.

Back to the "pod" village: JoAnn punched into Noreen the address for Willowbrook Village, about 35 north/west of our location. Off we went over one of the worst roads know to man. 22 miles of bumbs, woods and no traffic. One would have thought we were in Stephan King land waiting for some roadside attack. Willowbrook Village features exhibits on 19th century crafts and livestyles. Some great displays done in separate buildings. Wish we could publish all the photos that the blogger complained about downloading from the camera. Felt like pod village; I doubt there were a total of 50 people there visiting. Laid back enough to be enjoyable: worth a visit and then never again. (I love the blog's owner and I do like that she wanted to do something different than the South Coast running around.)

Bottom line, we have rain coming on Friday. The lab will be kept on a short leash for the balance of the vacation. Things are good.

South Coast 3A Edition: Portland Art Museum & Wednesday Boat Ride

As you can see the owner of this blog failed to mention a bunch of activities for Tuesday. I suggested that we go to the Portland Art Museum. That met with some resistance for her. Rain was happening all day, and she didn't want to get wet. Anyway, we drove to Portland and went to the museum. Created in 1983, with major funding from the Payson Family, this is a great work of art in itself. Designed by the internationally know architect Lei, this building of 4 floors oozes with quiet elegance. The major exhibit this summer revolves around New England artists, included a major exhibit on N. C. Wyeth. Absolutely great. The blogger liked the overall feel and artwork presented. Needless to say, PMOA was a hit. (Shown in the pix is the main lobby.)

Lunch again was a smash. J's Oyster & Raw Bar just off Commercial St. A locally attended restaurant, it doesn't have any fried fish!!!!!! Local people sit at the U shaped bar. Place was started in 1973, and it shows. However, the food was over the top, starting with the fresh oysters, a plate of "baker's dozen" for only $10.95. You can't get any better than that!!!!!!

We both had the lobster salad plates: coleslaw worth taking home, potato salad that makes anything at Wegman's look not-homemade, and some of the sweetest tasting cold lobster ever. Served with a side of mayo, one could add what one wanted. Absolutely something that any other upscale restaurant in Portland would not even hesitate to charge $19.95 for than the $12.95 at J's. One of the finest meals the guest blogger has had. Period.

As an aside, let the guest blogger catch you up on today (Wednesday). We took another cruise today on the Casco Bay Line. Missed the Peaks Island normal run, but, instead took the "Black Diamond" cruise to 4 ports on the inhabited islands in Casco Bay. Turned out to one of the better boat rides we have taken. Got to see what visitors and locals that live on the islands go through.
The two hours were fun, and very relaxing. Lunch at The Dry Dock, outside and upstairs, was good. We bought 4 1 1/4 softs at $3.49/lb at Three Sons Lobster Co. for dinner. This should be a nice evening, staying home, doing laundry, talking and just chilling. The guest blogger will be back on Thursday: no more mosquito sightings.

I'm Bugged About Something

It's me again. The guest blogger is doing a great job, isn't he? It's 7:15 am, and I might go back to bed, but right now I'm just enjoying the quiet of an early morning on the marsh? Bog? I guess its' technical name is estuary. It fills up from the ocean with the tides. One thing we didn't know before we got here was how bad the mosquito problem was going to be. Both Ed and I have got bites from head to toe. They itch something awful, which is only made worse by scratching them, but I have to scratch!

I have no idea what today has in store. We don't have any real plans, and it looks like there is going to be some rain today. I leave you with a picture of a chipmunk that showed up on the deck yesterday morning.

South Coast 3: The Boat Trip Edition

No summer in Maine would be complete unless we take a boat trip. And this summer, the trip was the lighthouse tour from Dock Wharf in Portland, Me. This guest blogger has always liked Portland.....I worked there for 3 years, saw the start of the changes to the waterfront in 1977. Boy, what a change! JoAnn calls Portland the "Seattle of the East". And I would agree.

Now on to the picture to your left. Ducks on an island during the boat ride. Why is it important? Here's the story. While waiting in line to board our ship, there were a bunch of seniors in walkers, a wheelchair and helpers trying to get them on the ship. An employee of the line apologized later for "the inordinate number of wheelchairs" for this trip. Hey, just let us on the ship. Anyway, it looked like these ducks on the rocks. Slow getting on, and last getting off. Lined up with no where to go.

Well we were near the tail end of the embarking people. However, the blog owner came through. As we were walking forward, she noticed some chairs under the staircase to the upper deck. We immediately took them. Easy to exit from, interesting because the only people next to us was a couple from Germany, and a GREAT post to take pix (which when we got home, the blogger-owner said "96 photos": hey, I thought we were on vacation. Trip was great: sun and wind and just a good time. After the end, we walked up to Commercial Street; JoAnn took a seat on a bench, and I got the car from the garage.

Oh, yea. On the trip, we had a gentlemen discuss the ducks on the rocks. He stated that they were amazing. Thinking about sitting up there, etc. And then, while waiting for me, he walked by JoAnn on Commercial Street and greeted her again. I guess the ducks are an omen. Of what I don't know. But this I do know, no boat trip in Maine has ever been without something interesting to remember. And, the South Coast is no different.

As an aside, the spoiled chocolate lab, Amber, is also on vacation. Noticed that she slept on the couch while we were gone, and on the rug, sound alseep, when we got home. Maine.....time seems to be slower here.

South Coast 2: The Bob's Clam Hut Story

JoAnn had been to Bob's way back when. She even remembered the gravelly parking lot. And she has always commented about the soft-belly fried clams. Thus one of the missions today was to take in the best of Maine eats. It started with the blogger hinting that we should have breakfast/brunch/lunch at The Maine Diner (featured on the Food Network, etc.). Well, when we got there, she decided that we would have lunch because "I can get breakfast anywhere." Sure. After all, they have a neon clock that states "Breakfast Anytime". Thus she did what she always does: change her mind. The order was for the famous two's : 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, 2 blueberry pancakes, and, of course, 2 toasts. She gave me a pancake, so she could get some of my potatoes. Breakfast was alright...hehehe.

Thus, the day well in hand, we proceeded (after some driving around and visiting lighthouses, and the Strawberry Banke area of Portsmouth, NH, we ended up at Bob's Clam Hut. Lots of people for lunch at 2 PM in the afternoon. "Clam Roll....$13.95" said the handwritten board. Of course, she made a suggestion, "Let's get and split the fried clam platter." Great suggestion, we got more clams, and spend less cash. Ok, the clams. Sweet, batter is over-the-top, and what can you say, they are the best in the world according to some. Mission accomplished: 2 Maine attractions visited in one trip. And without getting lost: thanks to Noreen at the Garmin Station.

As an aside.....the blogger is on vacation this week. And I have been forced to sum up the day's activities.

Maine 2009: The South Coast Edition By The Guest Blogger

Saturday night, quarter to 9, sitting at a table, looking over the salt marsh at high tide, I am the "guest blogger" tonight. Our drive from Bethlehem, Pa to Kennebunkport, Me of 402 miles was uneventful. No real side trips. Navigation with Noreen is always a trip however: some suggestions are plain stupid or plain brilliant. I don't know which. Got to the place at 56 Dyke Road (after Noreen could not find it). Exactly as advertised when we leased it. Even though we have not been here a full 12 hours, I know we will love the location to explore southern Maine. Quite different than Martha Stewart Downeast, the Boothbay Harbor midcoast location. The week here is going to be different: not much rushing about. I did promise JoAnn that she could go to antique shops this week, probably down in Wells (Kennebunkport will not have those tourist traps on their streets, hehe). Well, Saturday night would not be complete without the 1st dinner in Maine. Lobster, of course. But the Maine steamers were over the top. I had had them in the past, but never with JoAnn. She loved them. Anyway, Amber, the chocolate lab traveler, is now asleep on the rug; very much the vacation dog. We are sitting here, and ready to talk, liking the evening, and prepared for Sunday. Perhaps the Maine Diner for breakfast, featured on the Food Network, and then some shopping. It feels like Maine, again, and it feels right.

Stupid Twit

So, over a month since the first entry to this blog, and the same problem person had to be dealt with today. What's worse, is my boss always takes her side. I'm so glad I'm officially on vacation...

Work, Blech!

DVR It!

“So You Think You Can Dance” has gotten more interesting now that they are down to the final 10. I like when the dancers are forced to change partners. It makes for some challenging competition. The couple who waltzed last night had such a height disparity that the guy was in heels and the girl danced in her bare feet. Maybe if I remember, I will DVR the opening number for Ed to see. He’s never home in time, and I think that’s the best part of the results show.

Tonight is also eviction night on “Big Brother”. I missed the power of veto competition on the Tuesday night show because we were at the concert, and I forgot to DVR it. I do follow a website called http://www.jokersupdates.com/ that posts minute to minute updates of what is going on in the house, so I do know how the competition went.

I love my DVR!

Hide in Plain Sight

I spoke with my mom at lunch today, and she is still hiding out from Kathy. Kathy’s dad died, and she should be in my mom’s area on Thursday for the funeral, but if you knew this person you would know why my mom is avoiding her. She is 58 years old, never married, never held down a decent job for long, very poor grooming, etc. etc. She recently took all the money she got from the sale of her house in New Jersey, and purchased a house in North Carolina that she thinks she is going to “flip”.

When we were growing up as kids, her family lived across the street. Since she was 5 years older than me, I never really had much contact with her, but she was a strange bird back then, too. If she starts telling any type of story, it goes on and on past boredom to pure agony.

I know my mom feels badly about being deceptive, but if Kathy gets a hold of her, she’ll literally want to camp out at my mom’s house for through the weekend at least. So, meanwhile, my mom is not taking her calls, she’s keeping the house closed up, and won’t surface until she’s sure Kathy is gone. Then she plans to call her and act like she was out of town with me.

There was a big write up, front page, in fact, in our local newspaper about the concert last night. I’m so glad we got to go and see most of it. I really don’t have any regrets about missing Willie Nelson, and even the article said that John Mellencamp was the highlight of the evening. Bob Dylan, eh…take him or leave him, but I will acknowledge that he’s a musical legend.

Ed has been out and about today, doing lots of the last minute vacation related things that need to be done. He’s stopped the paper and mail for the week, and purchased filters for my aquarium so we can give that a good cleaning before we go. I checked the 10-day weather report for Kennebunkport, ME this morning, and was disappointed to see a lot of overcast, rainy weather predicted. Hopefully, the forecast is all wrong, like it is half the time anyway. Predicting the weather is a crap shoot at best.

No Cameras Allowed

The concert tonight was great, after a faulty start. Ed and I both left work to get to the stadium early, but when we got there the line of people waiting to get in pretty much double encircled the perimeter of the parking lot--a VERY long line. It was hot, and neither of us wanted to stand in that, so we decided to go to dinner and come back later.

We missed Willie Nelson, but got there just before John Mellencamp came on. He sang a lot of my favorite hits, and we were having a great time until one of the event workers confiscated our camera. We knew that cameras weren't allowed, but practically everyone in the stadium had a camera if they had a cell phone. I was pissed.

So, Ed had to be escorted to the stadium office and turn over our camera until we were ready to leave....

"I fight authority, authority always wins."

Mondays

I hate Mondays. Especially today; I was just very tired and very much not in the mood to be at work. The boss comes back tomorrow, so no more goofing off. In just a few short weeks, I'll be too busy to even entertain the thought of random web surfing moments at work.

Tomorrow night Ed and I are attending the Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson concert. I'm hoping we're able to find decent parking and seats. The youngest among the bunch is John Mellencamp at 57. When did all the rockers get so old?

Where's the Pepper Mill?

Other than not getting fresh ground pepper offered for my salad, and service that was a little bit slow, we had the best meal at this place tonight: http://mirabellacafe.com/

Nails

I went to the nail salon today. The first time I swung by they were too crowded, so I left and went to the pet store, filled up my gas tank, grabbed a burger, and came back. There was a pedicure chair free, so I went in. I had a pedicure and a manicure. The little Vietnamese lady said "You not been here long time!". I told her, "You got that right!". I had to have the soles of my feet shaved....since I have alligator feet normally. They now feel so nice and soft.

A new addition at the salon are two tv's. So, during my pedicure I watched some Adam Sandler movie on FX while the chair massaged my back.... Ahhhh.... sheer bliss.

I Forgot My Drugs

Product Review: Sonic Lime-Cranberry Ade is delicious!

So, the weekend is finally here. I’m doing my grocery shopping after work in the hope that I can free up my day tomorrow for other things—not sure what, but I’m tired of my Saturday being tied up grocery shopping.

On Sunday, we go down to South Jersey to see my mom. We travel to see her about once every three to four weeks. I wish she would come visit us sometime, but she is afraid to make the trip herself. So, since my dad died, and actually much before that, we make the trip to see her. She usually has a few chores for Ed to do around the house, and then we go out to dinner. I always try to pick up a few things from Wegmans that I think she would like. We also exchange a months worth of magazines.

Next week, we really have to start getting ready to go on vacation. Amber goes to the groomer on Wednesday, so at least we’ll be taking a clean dog with us. Ed usually makes lists, and we manage to pack everything and get going without forgetting anything. That is, EXCEPT for the infamous start to our first vacation to Maine three years ago; the “I forgot my drugs” trip. We were over an hour from home when Ed suddenly remembered that he didn’t pack his prescription medications, and we had to backtrack to pick them up. I was not happy.

Next week at work is going to drag, since I’ll only be thinking about getting out of there on Friday the 18th for a whole week of freedom.

Headed for Gamblers Anonymous?

We had a good time last night at the casino. We ate at the Cobalt Café, and had a pretty decent meal. It’s the kind of restaurant you expect to find at a casino. The menu had a limited number of full dinner type items, sandwiches, soups and salads, and they serve breakfast as well. They also have a buffet on the weekends that we would like to try some time.

After dinner we went to play the poker machines, and both Ed and I couldn’t remember the PIN for our comp cards, so we played without getting our free 5 bucks since the line for customer service was too long. We’ll have to get new PIN’s some other time. We figured after playing a voucher from last time, and cashing out two vouchers last night, minus the money we spent, minus the tip for the cocktail waitress, we came out $3.00 ahead! I’ll try not to spend it all in one place!

Tonight is the start of my ultimate guilty pleasure reality show, “Big Brother”. I can’t wait! I hope it’s an interesting group of people. Several years ago, I was so obsessed with the show that I would subscribe to the live feeds. Obsessed now? Not so much…

Scattered

My eyes are about to bleed. I have been translating orders from last year into current orders that can be entered from this year’s catalog. It involves a lot of going back and forth and substituting varieties, packaging, etc. My eyes hurt!

Ed and I are off to the casino to try our luck tonight. I’m not sure where we will have dinner…

After that, home to watch “So You Think You Can Dance”.

Silly, stupid entry, but I’m in a hurry.

The Bird

I ran over a bird today with my car. It was the strangest thing. I was on Rt. 22 headed to work, and I had just moved over from the left lane to the right, and spotted this white bird…a gull? a dove? I’m not sure what it was, but it was sitting smack dab in the middle of the road facing me. I was almost looking into its eyes. I was traveling at 65-70 mph and had nowhere to go, no way to avoid it and my car hit the bird. I felt the thump of the impact, and when I looked in the rearview mirror all I saw was a flurry of white feathers.

I like to think the reason I hit it was because the bird was injured anyway, and was unable to fly away, some sort of fate, karma. I felt just awful about it, and the feeling hung with me all day. Sometimes I’m pretty sure I care more about the welfare of animals more than that of many people. I’m not going to shed a tear over all the hoopla with the Michael Jackson memorial services today, but the death of a bird at my hands tears me up beyond reason.

Vacation Countdown

Back to work on Monday, and waiting in my email box was a response from the owner of the Maine rental house we will be traveling to in just 12 days! She apologized for taking so long with my check, but she said she was on vacation and deposited it today. She gave me the final details on the combination of the lockbox at the house and when we have to put out the trash. So it's official! Vay-Cay time in 12 days!

Work was work....it's always much harder to return after an extended break. The only good thing about it is that my boss is out of the country for the entire week. That makes me a happier worker.

The Guest Writer Is Back

Let's start the day with wanting to sleep in. OK. The blog general was not in the mood to do much today. "I don't want to go out," she said. And proceeded to take a shower, hint at wanting to go to the casino, and continued to play "Bubble Burst" or whatever that game is called.

However, I can understand this. There are days that all of us want to do nothing. Weather doesn't matter. Attitude doesn't matter. Just let time drift by. Perhaps that's a way of just making good with yourself. Don't have that many chances to explore that path.

And, that is why she didn't want to write today. It's her day to do nothing. And, I can respect that.

Happy 4th of July

We got a chance to practice our fireworks photography skills last night. Our minor league baseball team, the Iron Pigs, have fireworks after the game every Friday night they are home. We drove over there just as the game was ending, and found a good viewing spot, and snapped away. I think Ed's pictures came out better than mine, so he will have control of the camera for the big show tonight. I'm going to DVR Macy's Fireworks and the Boston Pops, so I don't miss a thing.

On the menu today: Ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob

Good Intentions

Well, I really did want to get my hair done today.

Apparently, every other person around here had the same idea today. I think almost everyone had today off, since the 4th falls on Saturday. I went to the one place I go most often, and the stylist looked at me with a forlorn look when I said I was there for a cut and perm. She said, "I'm going to have to go very slowly because I hurt me finger. Is that okay?". I said fine, and then she looked even sadder when I asked if she could roll it as a spiral perm, and then she flat out told me she couldn't do it. Neither could the other two stylists...one was going home, and the other one was busy coloring her own hair.

With that, I left, and I stopped in at three other, no-appointment type hair places, and they were all packed. I'm hoping to fit a visit in on Sunday. Hopefully, the hair cutting craze in the valley will be over by then.

Holiday Weekend

Today at work, I was making accounts receivable calls for a good portion of the day. It’s definitely not my favorite task, but it is my responsibility, so I dutifully make the calls whenever I can fit them in. The excuses that people have for not mailing payment are just incredible sometimes. One garden center that I called today said they haven’t paid because they have a new accounting system, and nobody knows how to use it. Okay….I’ve got a checkbook, but I don’t know how to open the cover. Riggghhht……

I’m looking forward to having the long weekend off. It’s not like we’re doing anything special, because Ed will still be working his normal schedule, and he even has to work a short day on the 4th. But still, it will be nice to have some time off. I need to read up on my new camera so I can get some good fireworks shots.

The house across the street has gone on the market. I can’t wait until they have an open house, so we can go see it. Realistically, it doesn’t make sense to move, but it is a big, single home as opposed to our twin. The disadvantage is that it’s broken into two units, with the upstairs rented. Each space is only a little over 1,000 square feet, so not much living space there if the one unit is still rented out. Anyway, I will still be curious to see inside the house as soon as they hold an open house.

Death

Death. I am sick to death of death.

Farrah, Michael, now Karl.

I had no idea I spoke with my father 2 and a half hours the Sunday before he died. Ed said I did. All I know is that I cherish that day, and any reminder of it still makes me cry.