attack of the seedlings

Every blinkin' surface in my house looks like this:

From what I understand, Spring will be here someday. Any day now. Yup. Any day.

the vacation endeth

Well, I've put it off just as long as possible. But I have to come back to the real world. Here's my vacation, the photo essay.

The vaca actually began in Boston the weekend before. I needed new clothes, and some citylife. We met Nora in Dorchester and the kids she works with. What a bunch! They're shelter kids with lots to overcome. Its clear that Nora is adored and vice versa. I mean, she's short enough to be one of the crowd, dontcha think? The classroom facilities were really impressive. Funded by the kind of people with money that don't choose to buy a Hummer instead.


I met Megan for lunch and met her two boys for the first time. Alex was a peach. I love kids who clearly have been treated like little people, and not babies. They're bright, inquisitive, and opinionated. Meeting up with someone you've not seen in six years can be a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, this wasn't one of those meetings. I really missed having Megan in my life. I tried to keep the nervous babble to a minimum, but you know...



Now, vacation. Wowee. It was just about perfect. The group was a good mix and I still can't believe we could have afforded a beachfront house in such a great setting. The beach was all beachy and you could hear the surf all throughout the house. We saw dolphins every day, fortunately not as close-up as Lizzie and I saw them once!
















This is the general tenor of our vacation: Wake up, brush teeth, get sunblocked, get on the beach. Nap, swim, eat lunch, have a float, read a book. Check the crab trap, de-sand, shower, have dinner. Have after-dinner fun. Sleep. Repeat.







One night, we augmented the crab trap with more crabs from the store and had an all-out crabfeast. One of the bags broke open on the porch, and we had to capture two dozen very pissed-off crabs with kitchen tongs. Sometimes, these make for the best moments. Five people, screeching like little girls, laughing our asses off.




















Our beach house has notebooks filled with the experiences of other renters. One family was approaching their 30th year in our beach house. More than one person recommended a float in the creek, where the ocean meets the march. It's tidal, and one day, Brendan, Nora and I tied some beverages to our floaties about an hour before high tide, and set off. It was excellent.







We're actually in this picture, but we're moving pretty quickly away, and Glenn didn't have that much time to take a picture. It was all fun and games until the sun set before the tide took us back out of the creek. We had to paddle for it, heading for the nearest dock about 4 miles from our house, where we met a semi-hysterical Glenn who had visions of us disappearing forever into the marsh. The voyagers, however, thought it was great fun.







































Here are Nora and Brendan, doing their patented day-of-departure sulking on the dock. It's tradition.










What kind of vacation would it be if you didn't stop for a cone at Jersey Freeze on the way home?










Murphy was not at all impressed with our disappearing act. He spent all day Sunday as you see. Can't say I blame him.









Already planning next year...