Monday, June 28, 2010

We're Home!

Got home yesterday afternoon. Sorry about not posting all weekend but wi-fi at the Super 8 was spotty at best. I think they need to unplug their router and plug it back it just to clear it and restore the service, kind of a reboot like you do with your computer if it's running slowly and has been on a long time. You all knew that, right? If your computer's slow and you've left it on all day, or for several days, turning it off will clear most of the fog and restore your settings. My computer guy also recommends downloading SpyBot and Ad-Aware (the free ones are fine) and running them weekly to clear out cookies and malware. There, that's your computer tip of the day. If you already knew all that, nevermind!

It was great to just get away and spend the weekend visiting friends. I got the biggest charge out of the Amish horse and buggy's all over (there's a huge Amish population around Goshen). I'll post a couple of pictures once I suck them off the camera and do a little dusting and flushing. We sat around the pool talking and laughing. We did a little sightseeing but mostly we just talked--and ate, of course. Ahh, so good. We took an unintended tour of the Loop when I sent us down the wrong fork in the road on the way down and into Chinatown on the way home (maybe Santa will bring us a GPS?) but the new/used Uplander performed well (except for dropping its rear view mirror on Thursday night [but we got it fixed at the Chevy dealer] and the gas gauge bouncing around for a day when we filled it up) and got us there and back safely. All in all, a good weekend. But now we're home and back on our eating & exercise plan (fit & healthy, that's my motto), and I'm off to work so I'd better get last night's writing posted and get going.

June27--Kampen, Sylt, Germany. The walk down the boardwalk over the dunes that time of the year was a study in neutrals. Kim lived for the early autumn days when the tourists went back to their office jobs and classrooms and left the island to the residents again. She could hear the wind swish through the long golden grass that held the dunes in place and the soft sound that the sea makes as it slides up on the sandy beach was the perfect counterpoint to the raucous calls of the gulls as they wheeled over the empty beaches. So many feet had trod the soft gray boards before her and many would come after her but today it was all hers. She reached the end of the path and started down the stairs to the sand. She looked up and down the nearly mile long stretch, shading her eyes with her hand. She spotted her neighbor's black dog worrying a pile of rags and turned toward him. "Luca," she called, "Luca, come." The shaggy head raised, woofed, and kept tugging on whatever it was. As she got closer Kim could see that it wasn't merely rags, there was a limp pink hand in the sleeve that the dog was pulling on, and the rest of the body was there to go with it. Kim reached out and curled her fingers under Luca's collar and pulled him away. "No, Luca, no," she said, afraid to look at the face. She turned back to find help, pulling the unwilling dog along the suddenly ominously quiet beach.

Yeah, yeah, I know, adverbs are bad, but this is my shitty, first draft prompt wiritng and I can do what I want. Enjoy your day!
--Barbara



No comments: