Publication Day!
I have an appointment at a car dealership tonight. I have to turn my leased car back to them next week and I have to either buy or lease a new one before then. This is one of my least favorite things to do. My father-in-law, on the other hand, loves it. He sometimes test drives cars and negotiates with dealers just for fun! I can certainly think of a lot of things I'd rather do. A necessary evil, though, I guess.
Next week I'm taking a week of vacation--just staying home, maybe taking a couple of day trips. I hope I don't have to spend it looking for a car. . .
Well, I leased a new car last night--a '95 Ford Contour, "champagne" color. It's really pretty. I think I got a good deal. I can afford the payment, though, so I guess that's good enough. I held out for a free CD changer, so at least I feel like I made them give me something they didn't want to give me.
I picked up the new car last night--I left it at the dealer's to be cleaned up and get the CD changer put in. After spending three hours there last night driving the car, negotiating the price and signing papers, I had to spend another hour tonight inspecting it, going over the owner's manual, signing the checklists, etc., etc., etc. I finally got to drive away. I still have to go back in a week or so, though, to pick up my new license plates.
I was sitting on the couch this morning reading the car manuals when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and didn't see anything unusual, so I went back to reading. Then I saw something move. I looked and there was a big toad sitting in front of the fireplace. My husband, Bob, had been cooking outside last night and must have left the door open. This was a familiar toad, though, one that lives in my garden and I see all the time. I guess he decided to visit last night and got locked in. He hopped away from me and I had to chase him behind the stereo speakers. I picked him up and took him back outside. It must have been a scary night for him, but maybe it was cool and nice--carpeting, air conditioning. . .
This is the first day of my vacation. I'm going to work on my pages for a while, then get in my new car and go for a drive.
Today I visited the motor vehicle bureau, did some shopping, and drove around A LOT. My dad came over yesterday and fixed my leaky sink. This vacation has turned out to be neither very exciting nor terribly restful. Tomorrow Bob and I are going to the state fair. It's always very pleasant to visit the swine pavilion in 100+ degree heat.
We had a great day at the state fair yesterday. It was cooler than it normally is this time of year--it was probably only 92 or 93 degrees instead of over 100. We went later in the day than we usually go, too, so we were there in the late afternoon and evening instead of the hottest part of the day. Bob's friend, John, and John's son, Christopher, went with us. John and Christopher had Cajun dogs as soon as we got there, and Bob had a Polish sausage. Continuing the ethnic theme, I had some refried beans. Actually, we didn't do too bad on the junk food index. Bob, John and Christopher had ice cream and I had a caramel apple while watching "The Lee's," a daredevil father and daughter act, on the "Amazing Space Wheel." Later, they had pork chop dinners at the Pork Pavilion, and I snuck in with a baked potato and ate with them. We rode the Ferris wheel, but it just kept swinging back and forth like a pendulum. It would get just so far up, then swing back the other way. They finally said they were having trouble balancing the wheel and that was why it wouldn't go up. They made us and several other people get off and change seats. They finally got it balanced and it went up. Then the guys threw rings around knives at a game on the midway and cleaned up--they won six knives between them.
A friend of Bob's always has a Fourth of July party at his house, but two years ago their pool collapsed and they haven't had the party since. So they made up for it today, with a July 4th, 1993 party on August 27, 1995. Bob worked with these guys about ten years ago, and most of them have changed jobs a couple of times since then, but they've all kept in touch, getting together for each others' birthdays, various children's weddings, etc. They cooked hamburgers and hotdogs outside, all the little kids swam in the new pool and the host of the party got dunked. It was a nice day.
Aack! Re-entry trauma! It's my first day back at work after last week's vacation. I could definitely get used to not having to go into the office every day. Maybe I'd feel differently if it was a job I loved, but it's just a job. I had a headache by 8:15. My friend, Lisa, came over and rescued me for lunch, though, and that was nice. I wish I could just spend my days working on Web pages.
I went to bed at 9:00 last night; I just couldn't stay awake. I worked on my pages for about a half hour, did some accounting work for my husband's business, and crashed. Must have been all that fun last week. Part of it is the heat, too, probably. It's supposed to be 100 today, but only 95 tomorrow (cold wave!). It's hard to believe that the summer is virtually over. It has seemed like a strange summer--when it wasn't unbearably hot, it was raining. I didn't get much done in my garden, and I never started walking in the evenings like I intended to. Oh, well, I guess there's always next year.
My major accomplishment this summer has been to get internet access, learn HTML, and get my Web page published. I was ready to give up a couple of times when I couldn't get things configured and couldn't get immediate answers from my provider, but Bob encouraged me to keep at it and wouldn't let me give up. His moral support has been worth a lot.
Another clue that summer is winding down--it's getting dark earlier. I have yoga class on Tuesday nights from 7:15 to 8:15, and last night was the first night I had to turn my lights on coming home. It was too dark to water last night, so I had to go out and do it this morning. Why does the early morning feel so delicious when you're not used to being out in it? Everything seems hushed, soft, newborn. I keep a shallow terra cotta dish full of water for the neighborhood cats and when I went out this morning a toad hopped out of it. He left too quickly for me to see whether it was the same toad who spent the night in the living room last week. There was just a splash and he was gone in the bushes.
There was a fat bumblebee tasting the flowers on the anise hyssop, and a little, pale green butterfly in the chocolate mint. The only food plant I have in my garden right now besides the herbs is one cherry tomato plant that my mother gave me early in the summer. It's now taller than me and has produced LOTS of tomatoes. I picked a handful this morning. We have a neighbor that keeps us supplied with full size tomatoes and peppers in return for watering their garden when they're out of town. Fair trade.
More wildlife stories--there is a large flock (gaggle?) of Canada geese that hang out where I work because there is a man-made pond on the property, as well as a large fountain. When I went out to lunch yesterday there were about 40 geese wading in the fountain, which is only about six inches deep. When I left the building to go home, I didn't see them near the fountains, so I looked around for them and found them playing in the lawn sprinklers. They were all standing under the spray of the sprinklers, spreading their wings and dancing around, looking for all the world like a bunch of children enjoying the cool shower.
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Copyright © 1995 Willa G. Cline