Road

I liked being in the car with Eric today. We drove across the Mojave, all brown and grey with a few twisted, sparse, whiskery, trees. It was beautiful, in it's fashion, and from the comfort of our air-conditioned vehicle.

We're good together on road trips (and cruises and work weeks and mornings, evenings, afternoons). We listened to the Smoke Signals soundtrack -- a good choice for the landscape. And then we arrived here in Barstow, California, where highways converge at the corner of Fast Food Lane and Outlet Stores Drive.



The parking lot landscaping of Barstow meets the high desert

BUT... we had Tommy's Original (that Los Angeles classic) for dinner, and now we're lounging about the hotel room.



The glorious fast food of my childhood (and many others' who grew up in the Los Angeles area): Tommy's Chili Tamale . A beef tamale, smothered in chili, and served with a slice of American cheese. God Bless America!

Life is good, even if it doesn't feel all that long.

All's Fair

It's a travel day, but I'm no where near ready to travel. Eric is ready. He just babumped babumped his bag down the stairs. Me? I'm drinking a lazy cup of coffee and fussing with the web machine. I haven't begun to pack, or considered what to bring.

Here are a few pictures from the fair:



Nothing unusual about disco balls hanging from the trees at the OCF. We attended a disco party at the Cajun booth one night. They were slow getting started -- not unlike my current lallygagging re: packing -- and I threatened to leave them for a square dance down the way that was "all set up".

It was funny at the time. For reals.



Before picture-taking began to feel burdensome and alien to just plain having fun, I planned to take pictures of anything I saw that was "new". This crazy tree was new (to me, anyway).



What would the Oregon Country Fair be without friends? Luckily, I've never had to find out.



Leah and Michelle are fun. In fact, they're so fun that next year I want to be on Team Michelle. If I have to wear red lipstick, so be it. Who's that fella who snuck into the picture?

No more excuses. I'm off to pack!

Briefly

We're leaving again tomorrow, but it's nice to be home today. It's been such a good summer so far -- lucky, lucky, me.

Home Again

The fair was fun this year. It was definitley different -- the group of folks we camp with were divided among different camps, and there were additions to our camp, as well. One of the new folks was a member of an iconic rock-and-roll band, and he was so nice that he went a long toward reversing my strongly held preferance for NOT meeting musicians.

They usually kinda suck.

I danced & danced and laughed a lot, saw oodles of friends, received one of the most lavish compliments ever, ate cheesecake, had a massage, learned a few dirty jokes from a 92 year old woman, spent time on a super-lux rock star bus, followed the Eric Train from show to show, and the porta-potties weren't even that bad this year!

We're home now, but will leaving again shortly.

What a nice summer!

Yawn II

Here we are in OR -- saw my brother Paul last night, which is always a hoot. Now we're getting ready to eat some breakfast & head to the fair.

Let the Hippie Fest begin!

Yawn.

It's a travel day, but I just woke up! Clearly we weren't planning an early start, as I haven't even started packing yet.

Today we'll drive up I5 to Ashland, Oregon. Ashland's a pretty town with outstanding public spaces and a perennial Shakespeare festival. BUT, it's a little quaint for my tastes. Too much potpourri for sale, if y'know what I mean, and so few non-white people that you COULD shake a stick at 'em (and for all I know that occasionally happens).

In all the times I been to Ashland I've never seen a play...it's kinda crazy. But we're always visiting friends or passing through.

Ashland, OR DOES have the finest breakfast I've ever encountered. And that's what I'll be having tomorrow around this time.

Guess I'd better start packing....

'round and 'round

How the Wheel of Fortune spins! One day you're swimming in the warm Pacific ocean, and the next day you're hooked up to an IV and sitting in a blue plastic recliner. The Aredia, while not a "chemotherapy", has laid me low. I'm tired, achish, fevery.

I read today on the web machine that "jews are outraged" because the Pope has ruled that the old, Latin, pre-Vatican II, mass can be performed by priests again. This is outrageous because the old school mass calls for the conversion of the jews.

Duh.

Isn't that a hallmark of Christianity? Conversion or extermination? Well, not so much extermination as CONSCIOUS, ETERNAL, TORMENT.

Personally, I'm happy when religious people start acting like religious people. It's good to be able to clearly see them for what they are... including the folks who try to wash their hands of the nastiness by claiming they are just upholding a "cultural tradition".

What would the Flying Spaghetti Monster do?

We're baaaack!

We're home! Travel days are difficult... particularly so when there's not a beautiful ocean to swim in at the end of it!

I loved our trip, but i'm glad to be here. Unbelievably, I have to go for an infusion of Aredia tomorrow. I'd totally forgotten, and the realization is an unhappy one.

Phooey.

Happy Birthday, America

It's the Fourth of July, and Eric and I are finishing up the last full day in Mexico. We'll go swimming in the morning, but it won't be the same. We won't have a full day of sun and waves stretching before us. We won't feel rich.

We swam & swam today, just as we did yesterday. Yesterday, the last swim-of-the-day was a loooong one for me. The ocean was choppy and more turbulent than is typical here. Even the big waves here are usually just towers of marshmallow fluff, but yesterday afternoon they were stronger.

The waves had a little more oomph, and I was delighted. I played in the roughish waters for a full 1.5 hours as the sun hung low in the sky. Oddly, when I returned to the beach the waves CONTINUED! The waves followed me to the lounge chair, and later followed me to dinner. After dinner the waves followed me to my room, and to bed! It was wiggley Waggley world, and I have no explanation for it.

This has been SUCH a good vacation. It was really perfect... perfect to begin our summer with a few days at the Atlantis Casino and Resort, Every Player's Paradise, our home away from home, and then to come to this amazing beach and ocean.

These are the books I've read, all of which were recommended to me for my trip, or given to me in the week before:

No Touch Monkey by Ayun Halladay

Not So funny When It Happened edited by Tim Kahill

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

The Truth About Diamonds by Nicole Ritchie (I said I didn't want any celebrity tell-alls, but I read this book in one relaxing afternoon.)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (I'm a Sherman Alexie fan, and this was an uncorrected proof of his not-yet-published book for young adults. Thank you, Tomas da Silva!)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I can't believe we're going home tomorrow.

We'll be home for a few days, then we're heading up to Oregon to meet friends for the Fair, which is an annual roadtrip and exercise in silliness.

And then I have a Mission.

I'm not going to tell folks what my mission is until it's completed, because there's no real explaining it. It's just something I want to do before I die. Something that I want to do because I'm dying.

It's going to take a few weeks.

Y'know, when I was first diagnosed as terminally ill -- and I hate to keep harping on it, but it's the unfortunate truth -- I was broken hearted. My heart was absolutely shattered to pieces, because I wanted MORE. I wanted more time, more life, more Eric. I wanted to grow old with him, anad I worried about who would take care of him when I'm gone.

I looked around at a world that suddenly seemed brighter and healthier and more full of promise for everyone but me, and my body ached with envy.

That was two years ago, and the truth is that most of those feelings have stayed the same. But good gosh, the last nine days on the beach has felt like an eternity! Two years is too long to carry that kind of sadness and worry, and so I don't. I just visit it from time to time.

Two years.

But by the time the cancer stopped making me hurt, the treatment started to make me sick. And by the time I was granted this chemotherapy reprieve, I was kinda thinking that maybe dying woulda been better. And now I feel pretty darn good, and I figure there's a thing or two I should do while I can.

So I'm going to try. And I, the least goal-oriented person you're ever likely to meet (or NOT meet, maybe), have a Mission. It's small and it's doable. We'll see.

Hoy

We went into Puerto Vallarta last night to walk along El Malecon, eat American food (onion rings), and have a look around. The sunset was beautiful, and there were interesting statues all along El Malecon. Once the sun went down the street came alive with performers, music, families strolling and older people positioning themselves on benches.

There were many billboards touting luxury condos and Hard Rock Cafe as we approached Puerto Vallarta, but prominenet among the advertisements for Senior Frog's was a sign for "CryoGen - Stem Cell Banking". Odd.

We're leaving our beach again this morning -- probably for the last time, until we have to leave -- to check out the little towns and beaches to the north, Sayulita & Punta Mitra.

Only three nights left! It feels like a long, long, vacation, but the end still approaches too rapidamente.


sunset in Puerto Vallarta


One of many statues along El Malecon


Sand sculpture of the Virgin Mary