Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Stay Awaycation

I know that when the harassing emails from my sister begin arriving, it's time to tend my blog. You see, after the tree fell out of the clear blue sky last week, I said, "My vacation starts now," and I fled to the mountain house with the kids. On Saturday, Matt's entire family joined us. Matt came too. Now we are having a week-long mountainpalooza. I sorta forgot to mention it to you guys. There's no internet at this house, so I was going into town to blog but then I got distracted by a nail salon, and I got my toenails done. Later my mother-in-law said the color looks like leprosy. She's not really wrong. (Essie's Chinchilly, if you're interested.) It was cuter in the bottle.

So as you can see, that was a lot to deal with.

Otherwise it's been so relaxing that it is almost unnarratable. But I never let that stop me, do I? So here are some things that have happened:

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. You know, I read the second and third book in that trilogy with enjoyment, but I think they could have been way tighter. The first one is really the only one I'd recommend, I think. I loved all the Swedish stuff though--gender equality and hopping on and off the tunnelbana.

I also read Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. That was good, I read it in two evenings.

The boys (Matt and his two brothers) got smashed in the hot tub drinking Malibu Rum with pineapple juice. So macho, I love it. I had some myself. I don't remember the last time I drank Malibu rum.

I am also cross stitching. What? Yes. I am a stranger even to myself.

We went on a family tubing excursion at Deep Creek, just inside the national park. Awesome as usual. Hank's tube was, once again, bungeed to mine. He actually fell asleep in his tube as we floated down the creek. Imagine feeling able to do that, to just conk out in the middle of a river, in a small flotation device.

We went out for dinner last night and all ordered drinks and only Matt got carded. Odd.

And when the hostess was seating us in this little private room, we asked if she could turn up the air conditioning. While explaining that she didn't yet know how to work the machine (it's a new place), she said, "Actually you guys are breaking the cherry on this room." She said that in front of our four kids. My sister-in-law Robin and I turned and looked at each other with identical OMG faces. Laura goes, "What did we break?" And we said, "Nothing! She just means we're the first to be in here. We didn't really break anything, she's teasing!" Afterwards I wondered whether that hostess really knows the origin and meaning of that expression.

We are playing competitive Boggle on Robin's ipad.

That is really all there is to report. I am obviously a terrible blog citizen this week, as the only internet our various iDevices can find up here is the non-3G "Edge" network. You know that when you see that little "E," you better also be reading a magazine while waiting for your webpage to load. Once I even saw a little "O" up in the corner of my phone. I don't know what network that is. I think it stands for "Oh My God, stay right where you are and we'll come rescue you!"

I'll be back around to catch up with all of you next week. Muchas smooches.

15 comments:

Rebekah said...

Enjoy the rum and pineapple juice and keep the relaxing goin' on. We're at Sea Pines at Hilton Head this week ourselves having the required week at the beach that all South Carolinians must do every summer. It's our first time spending a whole week at the beach. It's good, but I think we're more like "long weekend at the beach" people than full weekers. Have a good time! Every other person is reading one of those Swedish books. Nora Ephron had a good spoof of it in the New Yorker last week. I haven't tried them yet.

Sjn said...

Be un-techie, go back in time before everything world wide, and enjoy the family and the mountain air.
All things good for healing.

Marie said...

OMG! You should definitely tell that hostess what she said! I am giving her the benefit of the doubt because surely she would not knowingly say that in front of the kids. You might save her job by making it a learning experience.
Hello to Matt's family and hope you all have a blast! Love you.

Bonnie said...

Sounds lovely. I just arrived in the mountains this afternoon, and am looking forward to similar activities, except the Malibu rum part. I don't think the baby is ready for that in his milk.

I just finished the second book in the Dragon Tattoo series, and I want to finish it out but I think I need a break from all the sandwich- and Billy's Pan Pizza-eating; I find the repetitive food choices distracting. So I brought some other stuff to read here.

I just realized that I am about to post this from my mom's account, but I can't log out because my word verification here is "deandork," and if I logged out I would lose the chance to say "deandork." Okay, I am done now. Love, Veronica (posing as Bonnie)

Jenni said...

I'm the last person on the planet to read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I'm loving it. It so good I'm worried about it ending.

I loved, loved, loved Never Let me Go. It's a heartbreaker, but I've read it twice.

Glad you are relaxing.

Christine said...

Malibu and pineapple juice- talk about the hot tub time machine. If you go up to that mountain house in winter, try Malibu in your hot chocolate> I loved that in college.

Ash said...

Please tell me they had those cute little paper umbrellas in the drinks - I'm totally picturing it that way until they defend their honor.

Enjoy your time off!

The Stiletto Mom said...

Just got all caught up....Tree? OMG Console Platter...to die for. Stay Awaycation? Have fun, the mountains sound wonderful! Hugs!

Lawyer Mom said...

I'm picturing that waitress's teeth . . .

So, on the Hornet's Nest, et al. . . . think Ellen Page could play her?

Keely said...

That sounds divine - don't hurry back on our account.

Really. We'll just be here...waiting...wondering what fruity cocktail you're consuming...

Meg said...

Sounds like a good time is being had by all. Enjoy yourself!

Fantastic Forrest said...

Are you going to see the movie version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? My friends took me to see it for my birthday and I thought it was really good. I think the movie people made the right choice marketing it under that title instead of the one they used in Europe, Men Who Hate Women. True story.

The broke the cherry story reminded me of when my mom used to say "he shot his wad" when referring to someone who spent all their money on something. She was dumbstruck when my brother took her aside and advised her not to use that expression, explaining how it might be misunderstood. Better make sure Laura doesn't start using her new phrase when saying someone does something new. Heh!

I have tubing envy. Stupid glacier-fed rivers here make it hard to get into the water without hypothermia.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's exactly what the 'O' stands for...I know it well! I saw that on my iPhone all throughout Montana this month. Might as well not even bother blogging when you see that sucker.

Sounds like a divine week. I spent my last week of vacation reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I liked it (esp the Swedish stuff, as you said) but didn't love it like the rest of the world. Something is wrong with me, clearly.

Anonymous said...

OK, I thought the "E" was a good thing. Thank you for explaining it before I said something dumb to my husband, who is certainly on top of the 3G vs. Edge situation.

gretchen said...

Sounds very much like my week. Well, without the mountains or the leprosy, or the reading, or the crossstitching or the tubing or the cherry...okay, it's really not much like my week, except for the being an absent blogger part. There it's very similar.