Two stories from the weekend–

On the way to Austin, Saturday, noon-ish, we saw a cat on the side
of the
road (hwy. 290).  Ironically, Shelly spotted it just as I was
telling her a story about a cat I’d seen in our backyard.  She
thought it was a kitten, so we u-turned (twice because we missed it the
first time), pulled over, and walked through prickly, ant-infested
grass in flip-flops to where this cat lay.  It was obviously
dehydrated, but beyond that I could see no injuries.  Shelly said
it looked like it was either foaming at the mouth or had thrown
up.  We had no way of giving it water, no towel to pick it up
with and take it for help.  It had probably been hit, if only
barely,
and had managed to drag itself off the road a few feet.  So there
probably wasn’t anything to be done for it even if we had found
help.  I wanted to put it out of it’s misery–I kept thinking,
‘This is Texas, right?  Surely someone out here has a gun.’ 
But there were no homes or businesses close by.  I must admit, I
considered running it over. 
But I didn’t think I could go through with it (or sleep without
nightmares afterwards), so I didn’t even bring it up.  (My uncles
laughed when they heard that–and I have to admit, the idea of seeing
some lady stop on the side of the road, u-turn twice, and then a little
while later, drive down into the ditch is rather odd)  So we left,
feeling sad and helpless. 
I’ve seen hundreds of animals on the
side of the road.  Some mangled beyond recognition.  I’ve
never hit one.  I even stopped for a frog hopping across the road
on Friday–not because I’m so compassionate towards frogs, I just
couldn’t stand the thought of the squish it would make.  And I’ve
never had to leave any animal dying before.  I guess Jon is right:
don’t stop for animals on the side of the road.  Shelly wants to
have some sort of animal emergency kit to carry around so she can do
exactly the opposite.  I guess even if she can’t save them, it’s
worth it to her to try.  I’m not sure what I learned from
this.  All I got out of it so far was a drive-me-crazy ant bite on
my foot.

Okay, moving on…
On the way home, following Mom and Dad (we had to take three cars this
trip), I noticed some idiot following the car next to us too
closely.  When the little Honda in front of him didn’t pass Mom
fast enough, this nut-case in an older model car swerved behind Mom,
and promptly had to slam on his brakes.  As usual, I was talking
to the traffic–
“Oh, like that did you a lot of good….(as ‘older-model’ moved back into the left lane)…
“goofball.”
Then as the Honda moved on out of his way, and he stayed
put, I started to worry.  And then he started a little
weaving.  “He’s drunk.  Girls stop talking.”  (My
sisters’ conversations were too much at the moment.) 
It ran
through my head, briefly, what kind of angle I would need to bump him
off the road without really doing any damage.  Stupid, I know, but
I was terrified he was going to do something dangerous right next to
Mom, who had the little ones and the baby in her car.  He finally
zoomed on and disappeared.  I called Dad who was a couple miles
ahead to ask about the benefits of calling the cops that far out of
town, but we hadn’t gotten a liscense number so that was out.  I
called Mom to see if she had gotten the number and heard her version of
the story.  When I said, “I think he’s drunk,”  she replied,
“Oh, yeah.  Well, I’ve been praying for him.”  Pause.  “Oh.” 
Here I was thinking, ‘Run the guy of the road!  Pray
for all the other drivers!’  And my mom has been praying for
HIM.  Wow.  My mom is cool like that.  And sometimes I
forget.  I’m not as
compassionate as I should be about people…just pets.

I’d forgotten how delightful the “Anne books” really are.  Favorite quotes from reading today:

    “Anne seems to me real stately and
like a queen.  But I’d like Kerrenhappuch if it happened to be your
name.  I think people make their names nice or ugly just by what they are
themselves.  I can’t bear Josie or Gertie for names now but before I knew
the Pye girls I thought them real pretty.”
    “That’s a lovely idea, Diana,”…”Living so
that you beautify your name, even if it wasn’t beautiful to begin with…making
it stand in people’s thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they
never think of it by itself.”

And…

Davy had no sorrows that plum jam could not cure.

Ah, to be six again.

Blast and wretch!  I left my tuna sandwhich in the fridge at the
theater.  I knew there was something wrong when I left.  Hope
it’ll keep till Sunday.  I was really looking forward to cold tuna
for the drive home tonight. 

I miss my Grace.  And it’s only been 12 hours.  And it’ll
only be twelve more till I see her again.  Stop moping,
Sara.  How long can one day be?

I have been told to think about what I want to do for my birthday this
year.  Last year I spent in in Paris, and that’s kind of hard to
beat.  But I did miss my family terribly, especially the Bug
(Gracie), so I think I’d be happy doing anything as long as it was with them.

Speaking of Paris…
My cousin is making a DVD of my pictures
and videos from last summer in Europe, and he wants me to decide what
music to put in the background.  Classical?  Fine, I like
classical music, and
it suits the Old World.  But I like songs with words, too. 
Especially clever words.  (I’m a sucker for clever words.) 
What about all those old songs I like to sing to Gracie?  Gershwin, Sinatra,
Irving Berlin, Etta James.

Unfortunately, most of what I sing happens to be
love songs, and I had but momentary glimpses of romance in Paris–and none
in England.  (Robbie doesn’t count, Hannah.  And neither does
Laurent Roy of Canada.)   :-Þ
Maybe we’ll just use some of the stuff I listened to when I stayed up
till 3 in the morning packing the night before I left.  (And I had
such good intentions of starting out well-rested!)  We’re back
down to soundtracks again.

What’s a girl to do?

My mother has me intrigued by a race of machines.  Which is faster
at printing 24 copies–laser printer or copier?  Blast!  How
can it be that fascinating?!  She laughed at me when I stopped
typing to stare at the race.   Ha!  The copier has run
out of paper.  Now we’ll never know, and I am saved.  Saved
from caring too much about triviality.

And does anyone NOT think that this has been the wettest July
ever??  Little late for hurricane season…usually.  But
then, when is anything usual in Texas?  So we should be used to
it, right?

              
           
           
           
           
            nothing profound to say
               
                   
                   
                      
only that i am discovering
        
                       
                   
                   
                   
 
 
                                                                                                  
God

           such an inappropriately small word

Amazing how such a seemingly small thing can take up so much
energy.  And because it takes my energy, it seems to zap all my
time, too.  It’s a good thing I’m only driving someone to these
rehearsals and not actually in the play myself. 

Folks, the performances have started for “Anne of Green Gables” at the
A.D. Players.  It’s really good, so go see it if you can.

The other night I accidentally gave the baby what my Boston-born
grandpa would have called “whoopie apples.”  Well, tecnically it
was applesauce.  I mixed it into her her bowl of oatmeal and set
it in front of her and then somehow got a wiff of the jar.  (I’m
very sensitive to the scents around me.)

Smells like wine.  Tastes like sweet beer.  Whoops!

I interupted Dad’s story at the table to tell Mom.  I just thought
she should know I was trying to get her child drunk, you see, and that
the applesauce “tastes REAL good.”  (Mom thought that was funny,
Dad just rolled his eyes.)  She smelled it and I said,
“Sonya’s gonna be a little happier than usual tonight.”  We looked
over at her in her highchair in time to see her laugh suddenly for no
apparent reason. 
Snicker.

She appears to be none the worse for the wine–er, wear.  But if this story
ever gets out to the families I babysit for…  *grin*

                                    
Have you ever met
someone whose eyes you couldn’t get enough of?

observations from yesterday: 

~powdered sugar feels cold on your tongue.  I wonder how many foods we
eat–or don’t eat–for texture.

~Sonya has made two years’ progress in the last year.  Our work with her
is paying off!  Hallelujah!

~I realized this week that I haven’t been on xanga much lately, not even to
keep up with my friends, and I feel kind of out of it.  But it’s my own
fault.  Things have seemed so crazy lately.  Stacy and I are kept busy
taking Sandi to rehearsals five days out of the week, and for some reason, that
seems to occupy a lot of mental energy.  I hope to see some of you good
people soon.

Edit: 
painting your house takes up a lot of energy and time, too.  hmmm….

Amusing…no one commented on this quote from
the last post.  And it was my favorite.  I’m posting it again
because it’s a good reminder to me–the girl who knows she’s right and
would love to prove it.  “A word well spoken…”

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right
thing in the right place
but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting
moment.

-Lady Dorothy Nevill
(1825-1913), British author

I stood on the jetty this morning and looked at the ocean.  It was
so wild and excited.  It wanted to swallow me.  I just know
it did.  It called for me to come and play…oh, how I wanted
to.  When I said no, it roared up and covered me.  Odd having
only the front of you wet and not the back.  But convenient when
you have to sit in the car later.  Fortunately I had left my shoes
on a dry rock.  Unfortunately, my phone was in my pocket.  I also went out and stood on one of the monuments
on the seawall.  It’s the highest part you can walk on.  The
wind was incredible. 

I like seeing the tourists coming out to play before the sun gets too
hot.  I find myself smiling kindly at them and wonder if I look
like I’m patting them on the head.  “You nice little people coming
to our beach for vacation.”  It’s not like I actually live there,
but…I half grew up there, anyway.

Last night the waves were great for surfing.  I wasn’t sure they
would be until we actually got in them.  (That was exhuasting
after painting the house all day.)  Today the surf looked a little
crazy.  I’m not sure I would have wanted to go out there just to
take a beating. 
Oh, and we saw dophins–two of them–right out there between the
jettys!  So cool.  Someone yelled that they saw a fin, which
of course makes everyone think “shark.”  But my brother said, no,
it was curving up and jumping a little.  We’ve seen them before,
further down the island where it’s quieter.  One summer when we
rented a jet ski, they came to play with us.  I didn’t happen to
be out on the water at that point so I didn’t get very close. 
This time I saw one coming toward us, not forty feet away.  We’d
seen a ton of fish just a minute before and I guess they were following
the school.  Funny how, when you see a large creature swim your
direction, you tell yourself, “It wouldn’t come this close,” but you
find yourself looking into the water all around you and expecting a
huge face coming at you in the next wave.