It would be fair to say, at this point, that cats and me? We're like this. And seeing as how I love me some funny cat pictures, I couldn't help but share my latest discoveries: kitlers and Ron Swansons.
HUBS and I made July 5 an all Jersey day. After leaving Cape May we drove a couple hours north to Atlantic City, hung out with a feral boardwalk cat, walked the boardwalk until our feet hurt while dodging numerous inconsiderate sea birds, got lost inside a casino, ate mediocre BBQ, saw downtown AC at night, did a lighthouse drive-by and headed back to our hotel exhausted. All in all? It made for a good and not totally sad day.
July 5th was an interesting day. Seeing as how we got the news about Luanne that day as we were driving to Cape May, NJ to do some prime beaching, I thought I'd spend the entire day crying.
Actually, I thought the trip was pretty much over for me. I didn't think I'd be able to enjoy anything for the rest of the week and I was sure I'd be bursting into tears constantly. Luckily, while I was plenty sad and did cry randomly quite a bit, there is something to be said for non-stop activity when you're blue.
HUBS right before we hit the beach.
Cape May is a gorgeous little town. Seeing as how tourism is huge for them, the houses are no joke. Maybe there's a trailer park or ghetto hidden somewhere far away from the beach, but everything we saw was huge, awesome and very well-maintained.
HUBS and I ate at a little seafood place (The Sea Shanty) right across from the beach in a quaint little shopping plaza. The food was plentiful and amazing. I was able to finish my lobster roll, but we both had fries left over and HUBS couldn't finish his clams.
We didn't bring the cooler with us, so we made the decision to hide the fries under a pillow in the back seat for taking back to the hotel (they were fine the next night after some refrigeration). We also made what might be a controversial decision regarding the clams. We wanted someone to be able to enjoy them, so we dumped them on the sand near the walkway that led to the beach. And you know what? Within a couple of hours a gull flew over head with what looked to be a beak full of fried clam strips. That made me feel awesome, you guys!
Also helping my mood that day: the nice lady who was coming out of a nearby shop as we ate, heard me sneeze and said "Bless you." I needed that. I needed the kindness of strangers on Tuesday, July 5th. Special thanks to you, I hope you had a splendid vacation!
A random beach couple. I like to think that their names are Harvey and Sal and that they've been married for 35 years. Free time does wonders for the imagination.
We did some souvenir buying and then hit the sand. You need to buy a day pass, which I believe was $5 each, but it was plenty worth it. I was able to clear my head to the sound of ocean waves, HUBS was able to swim like a maniac, we got some good rocks and shells off the beach and we even saw a couple schools of dolphins before we left hours later.
I don't know what kind of person Amy Winehouse was, but whether she was nice, flirty, bitchy, sad or a brawler it doesn't matter now. I really wish she had been able to get her shit (whatever the cause of that shit was) together. She had a great, original voice. Too bad she was ready to join the club.
Obviously not her in the video, but it is her singing.
I'm going to just ignore the heatwave (Yesterday's high in St. Louis? 104. Yowza McFuckBuckets!) and tell you more about our Philly trip, instead.
After spending a restful day moored to our Philly hotel on Sunday (watching cable TV, ordering in pizza and blissfully finding a gas station before E became unusable fumes in a strange city), HUBS and I took to the streets on July 4 to see what all the Philly fuss was about. Several guidebooks had warned us about driving into downtown and trying to park; spaces are limited, garages and meters are hella expensive and the rules of when you can park where and for how long tend to shift. Or, so we had read.
We were planning on taking the bus into downtown to avoid all the parking hubub, but on Monday morning HUBS just wanted to get going. He convinced me to drive into the city from our home away near the airport. After a couple turns around the waterfront area, we found a spot right across from many of the seafaring attractions. We got six hour parking for about eight bucks. Not too bad, and just good enough to keep us driving into the city for the rest of the week.
Our sight seeing goals were Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and any other historical stuff we could cram in during a downtown visit. One of the greatest things about traveling is coming across awesome stuff by accident. Our walk to Independence Hall was more entertaining because of the July 4th parade that happened to follow the same route we were taking.
We crammed all our history in before the Liberty Bell closed for a special party at around 2 p.m. After doing downtown and heading to a posh restaurant on a sailing ship for lunch (you'll hear more about that later), we drove to Valley Forge.
HUBS then took over the driving and we headed back to our hotel room. We got a kitchenette so we could store leftovers and reheat them. Best idea ever! We had planned on going into downtown to locate some fireworks, but were too exhausted from the day to move out again. Luckily, we found the local July 4th celebration with three hour concert and mega fireworks display was being broadcast on TV.
Leftovers and colorful explosions in the comfort of a cool hotel room? Yes, please!
Me, on the shooting range. I am now in love with a Glock 9.
On our way to and from Philly HUBS and I made stops with our friends Zombie Apocalypse and his wife Gentle Teacher at their home in Ohio. They have actual acres up there, and Lake Erie passes behind their house.
This is their driveway, people!
As much as I love HUBS, it was nice to talk to someone other than him. I know how that sounds, but I did tell him that and he agreed! We both have fairly solitary jobs, and rarely do much talking with other people aside from each other. Zombie and Gentle showed us around their place when we got there (after about eight hours of driving and a few infuriating wrong turns that took us several miles out of our way) and made us an amazing dinner of grilled hamburgers, steaks and chicken with tater tots, Zombie style baked beans and fresh corn on the cob. Crap, y'all. It was so, so good!
Some of their ducks at the watering hole.
They have three dogs, a cat, ducks that they use for eggs, blueberry bushes and tons of flowers. They just moved in back in January. The house already had a guest room and a guest apartment with its own bathroom and kitchen. It also has granite on the walls in the kitchen. Swanky! They live out in the middle of nowhere, but it's beautiful there. Being a city person I couldn't spend my life in an area like that, but it's a lovely place to visit.
Even though we were exhausted we stayed up talking for a few hours, retiring at about midnight. The next day they took us out to breakfast at a local place they like to visit Mr. C's Restaurant. The food was amazing! God, I am a true sucker for breakfast.
After that we headed to the gun range. That's right, folks. Gun range. We shot a couple of revolvers, the aforementioned Glock 9, a civilian version of an AK 47 and a .357 Magnum. I did pretty good considering that I wasn't wearing my glasses (the safety goggles wouldn't fit over them) and I hadn't shot since I was about eight years old.
HUBS and Zombie getting ready for some long range shootin'.
The one drawback was that I was wearing short sleeves and an open neck top. Why was this a drawback, you ask? Because the shells would pop out of the gun, blazing hot and hit my bare skin. I even got one in the chest that almost went down my shirt. Yowza! I have a tiny scar on my right arm from a burn mark left from one of the shells. Is it weird that it makes me feel slightly badass?
Man, Philly was worth it, but that vacation definitely wrecked us! The photo above is proof of that. What you're looking at, my friends, is a baking soda anti-itch mask on the chesticle area of yours truly. Now, I was expecting to get a heat rash in Philly. HUBS and I did tons of walking, and since I sweat like a robber on a chain gang the minute the temperature goes above 75 even when I'm standing still, I was prepared for some part of my face or neck to break the fuck out.
However, I was not prepared for the itchy, red, bumpy, irritated-by-the-slightest-bit-of-clothing patches that invaded my neck, ears, chest, face and now arms. I've been battling this rash, which, by the by, looks like a serious infectious disease, since the Thursday we were in Philly. That's almost two the fuck weeks, internet!
For that time I've been covered in extra strength hydrocortisone, cold milk compresses, calamine, the blissfully new clear calamine and, as you've seen, baking soda packs. For a brief moment this Saturday it looked like I was rounding the corner; my ears were cleared up and my neck and chest infestations had dried to less itchy but still physically unappealing dark, scaly patches. But by that night I noticed a new infection on other parts of my neck and chest, and now my arms and a bit of face are screwed.
I write to you now covered in Caladryl Clear and having made a dermatologist appointment for tomorrow morning. I hope I don't have scabies or a parasite or something really horrible and odd like that.
Also messed up in our neck of the woods? HUBS. He started getting sick the same day my rash appeared in Philly and, after his own brief period of feeling better, has taken another turn this weekend. He had to take three and a half days off work last week! And now his voice is so hoarse that he sounds like Darth Vader. Poor HUBSY.
So, I want to know, is this what you do Philly? Lure vacationers in with all your history and awesome food and murals, let them spend all their monies and tire themselves out and them make them sick just in time to go home? Is it, Philly?! IS THIS HOW YOU HAVE FUN, PHILLY?!?! SHAME ON YOU!!!
I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I got a sympathy card today from the vet specialist office about Luanne and reading all the nice things they said about her and me and HUBS made me cry. But, other than that I've been doing pretty good. Though I have to say, the house feels different without her.
Remember how I said her dying wasn't quite as simple as I made it sound? Well, we weren't with her when she died. HUBS and I were on vacation. More specifically? We were on our way to the beach when we got the call that she passed away.
On to brighter things, I suppose...
HUBS and I were in Philadelphia from July 3 through 8th. We drove, so we were car bound on the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th. We packed a lot of doing into that amount of time and we've been exhausted since getting in around 2:30 Sunday morning*.
In fact, HUBS and I slept most of the day on Sunday. We woke up to eat a late lunch and bury Luanne in the back yard (We buried her with a favorite string and planted wildflower seeds on her grave), and then went back to sleep. I slept so much on Sunday I only ate the one meal!
I'll show lots of pictures (I took around 3,000 shots. No. Not kidding at all.) and give you more details in the coming days. Right now, though, you should know that I had a very productive morning.
About a month ago I signed up on fiverr to do some little gigs for $5 each. I finally got some legitimate hits last week (hours before Luanne died, actually) and today I got to complete my first paid gig. I reviewed a screenplay outline for someone and you know what? It felt really fucking good!
It felt better than writing chef and bartender interviews or film reviews and definitely felt better than watching aimless hours of TV. For the first time in years I felt like I was using my whole brain and was seriously in my element. I like this, people! I got to help someone, write and work with film industry stuff. How is that not awesome?
Well, yesterday at around 11:30 am, Luanne passed away. It's not quite that simple, but I can't get into all the details right now.
I'm really sad. I feel like I'm sadder than when my grandmother, uncle or cousin died. I know time is severely compressed for cats, but they had all been sick for so long that the possibility of death seemed more imminent. Plus, I wasn't directly caring for any of them on a daily basis. Even though they were people and family, I think that proximity to illness is a factor in how much this hurts.
As you can see from the dates in the title, Luanne wasn't even two years old yet. What sucks is that just a couple of weekends ago (on June 24 and 25) she seemed to really be starting to adjust to her anemia. She started jumping around onto things and into windows that she'd ignored for weeks. She jumped up in my lap and curled up there for a bit. She even spent most of Saturday night that weekend in bed with HUBS and I. The power had gone out and I think she was nervous. After chasing a little flying creature around on our dresser in the light of a flashlight, she jumped right over to the bed and curled up between us.
It was pretty sudden, on Monday she was fine. On Tuesday morning she took a turn and died on us.
Luanne's most recent nickname was Poodle Paws
I'm always going to wonder if I had done just one, or two or maybe three things differently if she would still be with us. Long enough for her birthday at least. I am glad for the time we had with her, though.
Man alive, y'all! Last week was packed with frustrating and yet exciting stuff for me. I'm looking forward to getting back to a week with at least some peaceful, restful moments, and if this weekend was any indication, HUBS and I are off to a good start.
Well, I hope the weekend was good to you, too, and that the work week will find you happy and fulfilled.
I did it again! I did something new and different last night; I went to a writer's group.
Remember last week, when I went to my first networking event? Well, I said I was going to another one this week, and though this wasn't strictly for networking it was nice to get out and get some EXPANSION accomplished.
I had signed up for another networking event, but when I was looking at Meetup.com, I saw that there was a writer's group having a meeting last night also. It sounded like there was going to be some good info dispensed, and part of the reason for the networking is to get to know other writers, so I opted for the writer's group.
It lasted for about two hours. Our leader is a business woman/consultant who's (obviously, I suppose) written some books on business and a bit of fiction. She reminds me of Amy Sedaris: tiny, fit, blond, tanned, talks a lot and kinda fast, and she likes to joke around.
They meet every two weeks and I believe I'll be going back. Afterwards I talked to one of the other writers who had come in late with a book on screenwriting. I was nervous to strike up a conversation, but I couldn't not talk to another person interested in writing movies, right?
EXPANSION, HO! (That's like "WESTWARD, HO" not expansion is a ho...Get it?)
