In Which Vacation Ends

Today is my last day of freedom, and I am spending it writing a paper. diid I mention I'm taking online classes through Regent University to get a special certificate in autism? It seemed like a good idea at the time. It's been a long time since I've had to write a formal paper. it's amazing how annoyingly time-consuming it is to make sure everything is in the correct format. Sigh.

Well, good luck to all the teachers out there, and best wishes to the students. We're all in this together.

In Which it Shakes and Floods

It's been quite a week in Virginia. I feel a little like Garrison Keillor saying, "It's been quite a week in Lake Wobegon".

The old news is the 5.8 earthquake we had on Tuesday, epicenter in Mineral, VA. I had just got home from a training for school (I know now how to escape when a student tries to choke me. Not that that's ever happened.). I was about to call the cable company to complain about how much it costs me to watch tv stations I don't want, when the floor started shaking. I was a little confused because I don't live close enough to the road to feel the shake from the construction trucks across the street. Then the shaking went on. And on. And on. I was really proud of myself for remembering to stand in a door frame. None of my tables are sturdy enough to crouch under. It ended up lasting at least 40 seconds where I was.

Then yesterday Hurricane Irene came through. I live far enough inland that all we got was rain. 16 hours of rain. I think it came out to about 3 inches of rain. It was badly needed, as it's been so dry the grass has turned to dust. today, there aren't even puddles on the ground in my neighborhood. It's been quite a week, but not anywhere near as dire as the news makes it sound.

In Which I Go Green

Happy End of Summer! I have to go back to work next week. Actually, for half of this week. I spent last week, the last week of my vacation, painting. Painting a lot. I inherited 4 partial cans of green paint, so I went green. The green movement is all the rage now, right? I also went cranberry, to add a touch of daring to my surroundings.

I am taking online classes this year, towards an autism certificate. It does not certify me to teach kids with autism, it just certifies that I am an autism guru and smarter than anyone else. It also looks good on the resume. unfortunately, it means I will be spending a lot of time in my apartment (and at Panera) reading and writing. So much for any free time I had hoped to have. At least I can alternate my study spaces between peaceful, serene greenness, and dramatic, bold redness.

In Which I Head Further South

In the previous post, I shared the wonders of Pedro's South of the Border. After a total of 15 hours, we finally arrived in the greater Tampa area. There was a lot of water. Apparently, Tampa is on the ocean. Who knew?

The weather was warm and sunny, and it was a perfect evening to jump in the pool. Apparently everyone in Florida has a pool. Like in the North, everyone has a snowplow. I had many adventures in Tampa. Including a close personal encounter with a crocodile. Ok, it was in the aquarium, but it was still pretty close. The aquarium had a bunch of odd birds running loose inside. They were fascinating to watch.

The real highlight was the manta ray pool, where patrons could pet them! The rays seemed to really enjoy it, swimming right up to the edges of the tank. they feel like squishy, wet, sleek foam.

We also ventured into the wild and wacky world of Salvador Dali. He was nuttier than fruitcake. But his art is rather entertaining and the museum is unique. I think I found his photographs to be the most amusing. There was a car in the lobby that rained on the inside. the car, not the lobby. There was also a hedge maze outdoors, and a bench with the melty clocks.

The day after my arrival, it started raining. And raining. And thundering. So I did not get to the ocean or outdoors for more than a few minutes the entire trip, until the morning we left. Then the summer sun of Florida came out from the clouds, blazing in a sunny burst of happiness. So I finally got to the ocean. It was very warm. I expected it to be cold. Guess I'm more used to the Great Lakes, which never warm up.

In Which I Go South of the Border

Greetings! I am back from beautiful, rainy Tampa. While on a 15-hour car ride, it is important to stop frequently to stretch. The best place to stop on I-95, if passing through South Carolina, is Pedro's South of the Border. It is the most garish, gaudiest, most tourist-trap mini-city I have ever seen. It looks like it must have been the coolest thing ever in 1958, but now it has withered away to "just passing through" status. The stores are tawdry and cheap. The diners look scary. The famous hat shop has fewer hats than your local toy store. On the other hand, it is definitely worth seeing. I couldn't believe my eyes. To make it even better, there are billboards advertising it for a hundred miles in each direction. the website, thesouthoftheborder.com,  has a collection of them to read. It makes driving more interesting, I'll tell you that.

In Which I Live in a Watermelon

The bathroom we had when I was a kid was pink and brown. It had Pepto-Bismol pink floor tiles, sink, and tub, and the walls were tiled in brown. My mother vowed she would never have another pink bathroom. I was certain I would never want to see pink in my living quarters ever again.

A colleague of mine gave me some leftover paint last week. I had been talking about painting my apartment because I am tired of all the white. So I sanded, washed, and painted. Now my bathroom is a very pale cherry-blossom pink. My towels are green. it looks like I have a watermelon room. My brother suggested painting black send on the walls. If I can find a watermelon-patterned shower curtain, I just might do that. It's a little odd, I admit, but it adds some color. It doesn't show up too well in the pictures, due to lack of natural light, but here goes:

Before:

After:

                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                

  



In Which I Camp with Uncle Ted

I spent a week in Chicago recently, visiting a college friend and her family. She has three little boys. We spent a lot of time running and playing trucks. One extremely hot day (over 100 degrees), we stayed indoors and set up the tent to "camp". The boys insisted that Uncle Ted camp with us, even though he takes up half the tent. Uncle Ted is also pretty much useless, though the boys love him immensely. He's also very pudgy.


I'm glad we didn't really go camping because Ted would be very annoying to keep around. He's very sedentary. The boys ran in and out of the tent all afternoon, sang songs, squished as many toy trucks into the test as possible, and Ted just sat there. I will admit that he was a good sport when the boys wanted to play doctor. He let them poke and prod and bandage and give pretend shots. All in all, I guess Uncle Ted's not a bad guy.

********************************************************************************

Scroll Down for pictures.

********************************************************************************

Uncle Ted is a 5-foot-tall squishy stuffed bear.