Monday, August 20, 2007

Back From The Beach

Well folks, I know its been awhile since my last post, but I have good reason, honestly. I was on vacation. And no, there was no easy Internet access. I went to the outerbanks of NC. Nags Head to be exact. In theory, they have free WIFI access throughout the town. Unfortunately, no one explained that to the cottage I was staying in. My computer could detect the signal, but it was to weak to do anything with. Oh well......
Except of the lack of Internet (actually not a big deal) the vacation was absolutely wonderful. The weather cooled off enough so that the days were warm and not hot and the nights were perfect sleeping weather. The surf was just enough so that most of the "big" people could enjoy themselves, but small enough so that we did not have to worry about all the "little" people. The water temperature was just warm enough so that you could stay in it all day if you wanted to. I was out there with most of my extended family and friends. There is nothing quite like breakfast for 20 or so people every morning! I did bring a couple of books and little projects to work on ( studying Latin), but didn't finish any of the books and did not even attempt to study Latin. I was the King of Doing Nothing.
One of the odd things about this year's beach week was that a niece and nephew both turned 21 this past year and both were present and accounted for. It is a little disconcerting when you have that first drink with a niece or nephew. I was happy to be able to share brew with them. It was a lot of fun to see people who were really enjoying their drinks simply because the "newness" hadn't worn off yet. Hopefully we old timers were able to show them that you really can have more fun when you drink responsibly. The old timers feeling, however, was not so much fun. It doesn't seem that long ago that both of these kids were scared to death of the ocean and would not even get close to the water. It seems like yesterday when I was carrying them out into the water because it was always over their heads. Oh well, what's one to do. Can't stop time.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Winnie-the-Pooh

I just finished reading Winnie-The-Pooh by A A Milne. It is actually the first time I have read the book. I have seen the TV shows, but I have never actually read the book. I chose the book because it was on the MLA (Museum and Library Association) list of 100 top books to read. (There were actually about 14 books on my list I took to the library. Out of the 14 books on the list, there were only two available at the library.) Winnie-the-Pooh is as endearing as everyone says it is. It exudes wholesomeness. You feel like a kid again when you read the book. However, there was one thing about the book that I couldn't quite figure out. The whole time I was reading the book, I got the feeling that I was missing something. I felt like there was some hidden message in the book that I was missing. Have you ever walked in at the tail end of a funny story and everyone is laughing, but you have no idea what the heck is going on? That is how I felt when I was reading Pooh. Everyone was enjoying the "hidden" message, but I had no idea what was going on. I am going to have to see if anyone has dissected Pooh; maybe there are hidden thoughts and ideas in the stories. Did A A Milne have a agenda with Pooh, or is it just my own flights of fancy? If anyone out there has any leads, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

The Dog Days of Summer

I can hardly believe that it is already August. Didn't the summer just start a little while ago? August is not one of my favorite months. Mostly because here in Raleigh, it is to hot, to muggy and there are way to many skeeters out. You really cannot fully understand and appreciate the term "dog days of summer" until you spend an August and September in central NC. Most of the gardens are spent because of the heat. They are waiting for the cooler weather of October to pick back up again. The mosquitoes swarm around any body of water bigger than a soda bottle cap. They are just waiting for you to step outside to commence an unrelenting attack. Repellent works fine, but after using it May thru July already you get really tired of smelling like DEET. Even walking the puppy dogs is a chore. They are not very interested in walking around for an hour or so when it is about 90, but considering it doesn't really start cooling off around here until about 10p, we don't have a lot of choice. Some things just have to happen; a dog walk is one of them. It's not even comfortable eating at an outdoor restaurant in the evening. The heat and humidity simply hang around to long in the evening.

It used to be that February was my least favorite month because of the cold and short days. I think that is probably gonna change. August is probably gonna take the honors as my least favorite month. Can one hibernate thru a summer month?