Throwback Dinners

Tonight is what I call a "college night" because I had cereal for dinner #1 and macaroni and cheese for dinner #2. Although I did have wine, not Other Erin's vodka and Diet Coke. Oops, now I'm sharing all my secrets.

Asheville

I spent this weekend in the south at my new home-for-a-year. I love the south. I ate chicken fried chicken, I ate grits (which Miss Bobbie said are just an excuse to eat butter), I went swimming in a crick with my clothes on, and I talked about bears for what seemed like hours.

Aunt Miss Bobbie was kind enough to pick me up at Greenville/Spartanburg, then on Friday we drove up to Asheville. My mom called us Jethrine and Cousin Pearl all weekend (from the Beverly Hillbillies, in case you're my age).

The rental house and the view are great. AND there was BEAR POOP in the yard. It was there on Thursday and I'm sure it's still there now. Robert kept trying to get me to fling it into the woods. So then the saying became "Does a bear shit in your yard?" As in, "Would you like another glass of wine?" "Does a bear shit in your yard?"

On Friday we had lunch and wine in downtown Asheville. There are a lot of hippies in Asheville. If I moved there I'd have to get dreadlocks, a nose ring, and a hippie baby with dreadlocks and a nose ring. And that sounds like a lot of work.

Saturday was the best day I've had in a while. I went hiking at Whitewater Falls with Amy and Cheri. First we ate a picnic lunch, which was pretty much fried chicken and hard lemonade. We laughed a lot. By the end of the day we had all at some point said our faces hurt from laughing. After lunch we hiked down to the water and my legs shook like crazy, maybe because I had just had hard lemonade. At the bottom we ditched our shoes on a rock in the middle of the water and climbed the rocks upstream. So fun. Then we came to a large tree that had fallen across the stream. All of a sudden Amy was ON the tree, scooting across to the other side. So I followed, less gracefully and a lot less quickly. I felt like I was on Survivor. We stopped at the swimmin' pool and went swimming in our clothes. Cheri took some convincing. The water was freezing. Afterwards, and after the grueling hike back up that liked to have kilt me, we went back to the rental house for a barbeque.

So, I didn't want to leave—the people or the mountains.









Elly May and Cousin Pearl

My Life As a Beach Bum

Yesterday I went to the beach for a few hours and sat near the professional sand sculptor who seems to always be there. I brought a sandwich and actually read a book. Not a whole book—maybe four pages. I was distracted by the wiffle ball game going on behind me. I think the sand sculptor and I were the only two who were there alone. I checked.

Today I...went to the beach again. Hey, if I have to pay for a beach pass, I might as well use the thing. This time I went swimming. The sand sculptor showed up late to build something small. I heard him tell a group of kids that he had a monastary in mind. Living here feels better on days like this.

I love the walk to the beach, especially now in the summer, and especially at night. But it's weird to be a girl with tight purse strings living amongst huge homes. I walked to the beach on Friday night and people were out having parties on their terraces, and as I walked by I felt like I should be offering to freshen their drinks or vacuum their libraries. Like I was overcome with the sudden urge to enter their backyards, sort of confused but unable to stop myself, and say, "I'm sorry, I seem to have left my apron at home for some reason..."

Peewee is doing just fine. I'm so glad she's here. She's been nothing but sweet and good—no incidents outside the litter box. Plus it's nice to have a buddy to watch TV shows on my computer with, and, really, isn't that what we all want?

Slow Weekend

On Saturday I went for a long walk and found a cute neighborhood pet store called The Fish Bowl or Not Just a Fish Bowl or Pet Smart. I bought Peewee what is supposed to be a catnip cigar but ended up looking like a giant log of poop. She LOVES IT.

When I walked to town I saw a little boy sitting on a stool in his front yard while his mom pulled weeds. From a couple houses away I could see that he was waving a piece of paper at me. I thought, Oh no, what's this about? because you know how good I am with kids. Then when I got closer I saw it was a picture he'd drawn. He asked sweetly, "Would you like to buy a picture?" I said, "Oh, no thanks" and continued walking. Ha! Ahh, I'm so mean. But, to be fair, it wasn't very good.

I went to a movie on Saturday night (Waitress—it was okay). I like that I can walk to the theater here, too. There are two good things about going to a movie alone. One, you can pretty much sit anywhere you want. Two, you can eavesdrop on great pre-movie conversations. Like the old ladies on either side who complained about how violent and awful Ghost Rider (aka, "the burning movie") looked, and said, "We don't have to go to that one." I wanted to tell them, "This is a commercial for the DVD."

Roomies

Peewee and I are having the time of our lives. Eating ice cream, drinking wine, talking, not talking... We have a fun new game where I lie on the floor and pretend I'm dead and she pretends that she doesn't care. I've also found that she likes when I sing "You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine." Well, she hasn't said she DOESN'T like it. She cried for a couple nights and kept me up, and she's afraid of the new noises (air conditioner, extreme winds rattling the windows, someone letting the door slam downstairs), but I think she's settling in. I still hate to leave her in the morning.

It's very hot here today, so I'm thrilled I asked the maintenance man to install my air conditioner on Monday. Mom and I tried to install it ourselves when she was here, but it was just a lot of "Are you holding it? You got it? Don't drop it! Are you holding it?" "YES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I'M HOLDING IT," and then my mom cut her finger and we were done. Plus I didn't want to drop it out the window like a certain uncle once did.

Peewee's Big Adventure*

I'm sitting here with a cat next to me, licking my arm. She licked the cactus earlier. She wasn't phased.

My mom brought Peewee yesterday. She was spooked for a while and investigated the apartment on a continuous loop before settling down. I worried about her all day, being here alone for twelve hours. She was so happy to see me when I got home I nearly cried. It must be stressful. It's weird to have her here, just the two of us. She's been following me around at my feet, and every now and then gets a look in her eyes that says, "WAIT. Where am I?" I hope she'll be okay in a few days.














My friend Val came to visit on Saturday. We walked to town and had lunch, then walked to the beach. It was a beautiful day, but very warm, and I didn't have my air conditioner yet (that came on Sunday because my mom and Robert bought it for me as part of cat support, which Robert had said he would pay long before I decided to take Peewee. So now I've been claiming everything as cat support, like, "I need a vacuum cleaner for CAT SUPPORT," or, "I need TiVo FOR CAT SUPPORT"). Val and I met Colleen and Christine (our friend from high school who was visiting Colleen) for dinner in Lincoln Park, then Val and I went out in the Andersonville neighborhood. We danced a lot and made up a new dance move because we dabble in choreography. Val held my head at arm's length while I pretended to try to punch her, like brothers. Or maybe we were actually fighting. Oh, who can remember. You'll see it in the clubs soon.

At lunch Val asked if I had heard from Allen the Real Estate Agent or Married Dan lately. I said no, and probably never will, and that's fine with me. Well, they BOTH called me that day. I didn't hear my phone ring both times, but only returned Married Dan's call. He told me to call him some time, and I said, "Oh, Dan, I don't call people."



I saw one!




HAHAHAHA.




* My mom emailed me last week and said, "I have a good title for your next blog: Peewee's Big Adventure."