I am re-acclimating to my solitary life. Takes some doing. I am not fond of not having someone to say good morning to anymore.

We went to the mountains on Friday. Beautiful. Sometimes I'm so stupid about geography, really. Why haven't I gone hiking there every week? I love the mountains. I love the mountain waters. Bash does too--we got ourselves good and muddy. Brother Joe made a million sketches. His notebook from this weekend will be full of Roman history and waterfalls. How wonderfully incongruous he is.

We forgot to bring any food, however. After hiking for several hours, we went in search of a grocery store. This quest took approximately one million hours because my dad is a stubborn man and will not, even on pain of death (as we were), ask for directions (so am I, truth be told--except in such dire circumstances). When we finally got to the store I stayed at the car with Basho. I told them that I wanted a "hardy meal." After their return we went to another scenic mountain type picnic area. It was only then that I discovered that they got me a salad made entirely of iceberg lettuce (blech) and a few anemic vegetables. No fork. No dressing. And a cherry coke for my drink. I hate cherry coke. I was very sad.

That was a boring story. My eye hurts right now. My back itches, too. That's from the sunburn. I don't know about the eye.

My dad asked to watch an episode of Buffy. I showed him "The Body." He liked. I like that he wanted to see. Brother Joe railed against Buffy. He's a one trick pony, a one-note piano. Or something. He does not change his mind about things, is what I'm saying. He wrote in his notebook all weekend and read my books on fantasy and drew some elfin-like creatures in a fiery pit in the 1000journals journal. My dad wrote my mom's full name in that journal. I told him they would be coming after her now. He said, "oh well."

Speaking of my mom, I blame her for the fact that my wallet with all my cash, all my access to cash, and all of my important identifications is now in Florida. She was, after all, the one who called us up on Friday night and begged us each in turn to keep my father here until 10am at least. She said, "use ropes if you have to. Tie him up if you have to." God's truth. My dad is renowned for wanting to get on the road at 4 or 5 am. My mom was not ready to have her family back. She was falling in love with her solitude. So, I, in my attempt to be a good daughter, took my dad and my Shawn and my Basho to the lake yesterday morning. I figured it was kinder than ropes. I drove my dad's car because the truck seats just two. I took my wallet along because it holds my driver's license and I am such an upstanding citizen. I'm sure you know the rest of this story. Bathsheba, luckily, gave me a spot of cash to tide me over until Tuesday when my wallet shall be returned to me via express mail. Hopefully.

And speaking of Bathsheba, that fair lady provided me with excellent bridge from my life of frenzy and family to my life of nothing and nobody yesterday afternoon. I went over to her apartment and her lovely and excellent sister V. and her punk niece Jude were visiting. I caught the tail end of A&E's Pride and Prejudice and then Jude made us lovely tea in lovely earthen cups poured from a lovely teapot and then she made a punk collage in the journal fast as you can blink and then Bathsheba and I went and bought (well, I went; she bought) an ice cream cake which said WWBD on it (and if you can't figure that one out, shame on you) and then we ate that. And then we went to some stores and looked at some things and then Bathsheba and I made slight fools of ourselves in front of an old student from our Fantasy and Science Fiction class days. Then we had some dinner and I'm still full.

When V. dropped me at my truck she said her goodbyes in such a way that I realized, oh. It's possible I will never see them again. Oh, but I love this family. I know I'll see them again. Not to have favorites at all, but I especially want to see Eva and RAR. It's a minion thing.

So this morning, I am doing my normal morning things and it's been so long since I've done them all by myself like this. So long since I've written a morning entry without feeling rushed. I have much to do today--I have to write my syllabus for one. There are other things. But they're terribly boring so I won't discuss them. I do plan to test out the new bike. And take Bash on a long walk, just me and him. It's been awhile. I'm glad to be back.