How I Spent my Summer Vacation

Yeah, OK, it’s been a while.

Seems that right after I finished revamping motormouth.com into the lovely, classic site you see before you, I got really sick of Web sites (might have had something to do with the fact that I was also knee-deep in a revamp of IBIS’s site at the same time).

To make up for my neglect of you, I’ve typed long and hard until the wee small hours of the morning.

I promise to never neglect you for this long again.

Well, for a while, at least.

***

My summer began with a camping trip to Yosemite with the junior-high youth group I advise.

Three advisers, eleven junior-highers, no running water. We all had a blast!

Steve, the male adviser, was quickly dubbed “MacGyver” for his now-I’ll-make-something-out-of-twigs-and-string prowess. Kimberly (the youth director) and I borrowed an extra tent — a six-person tent — from one of the campers. The kids called our tent “Buckingham Palace.” Other tents were nicknamed “Taj Mahal” (a dome tent, natch) and “Hearst Castle”.

One night I was sitting near the campfire with two of the boys in the group. They asked me, “Lynn, do you know how tents are rated as one-person, two-person or more-person tents?”

I had to plead ignorance.

They continued talking amongst themselves. Pointing to a very small tent, Josh said “I bet not even Yoko Ono could fit in that tent!”

Matt replied, “Yeah, but he has a really cool Web site.”

I was thoroughly confused, so it was time to interrupt. “Guys, I don’t think that Yoko Ono is that big.”

They looked at me and burst into simultaneous laughter.

I continued. “I really don’t think that Yoko Ono is more than five feet two.”

Then, a light bulb flashed above my head.

“You two don’t mean *Akebono*, the sumo wrestler, do you?”

“Of course!” they replied. “He has a really cool Web site, too.”

I sucked in my cheeks to keep from laughing before I could explain to them, “Yoko Ono was John Lennon’s wife.”

When Kimberly came back to the campfire, it took us five minutes before we could all stop laughing long enough to explain why we were laughing.

The Saturday we were there, we hiked up the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. It was exhilarating and humbling at the same time. There’s just so much water! My fingers prune up just thinking about it. A couple of the kids had a tough time making it up, but everyone arrived at the top in one piece. On our way back down, five of us sang “The Ants go Marching”. We got up to 20 before we ran out of rhymes, so we sang up to 20 another two times.

🙂

***

What else? Sabrina and Dave (my married neighbors across the street) have had members of Sabrina’s family in from France for the past four months.

Her brother, Michael, was a lot of fun and got me and Alex hooked on World Cup Soccer. So hooked, that while driving to my Mom’s house on the day of the championship game, I searched in vain for a radio station with a live broadcast. The only one I found was in Spanish. When I heard the announcer say en Espanol that France was leading Brazil 2-0, I thought “naah, must be my rusty Spanish.”

Upon arrival at Mom’s, and after presenting her with her birthday present (a wicked cool Coleman gas barbecue with side gas burner), I rushed in to catch the rest of the game.

I talked with Michael a few days ago. He said that when he watched the championship game (he was back in Bordeaux by then), it was in a large hall with a big-screen TV. “Lynn, it was great. People were smoking and drinking, and when France won, well, I partied until 8:00 the next morning,” he told me.

Sorry, Alvaro. But I wore my Brazil futbol cap for the weeks preceding the championship, so I feel your pain.

***

And, while I’m on the subject of Dave and Sabrina, they had their baby nearly two weeks ago. Their new daughter was 20 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, which, incidentally, is what I weighed at birth.

(Jeez… I’ve put on like more than 100 pounds since then… 🙂

The baby is really amazing. I got to hold her today and in the span of five minutes, she spat up a bit, and then she started hiccupping, and then her face like froze for ten seconds until she sneezed! Truly, she’s remarkably intelligent.

When they brought her home from the hospital, the song playing on the radio was “Daughter” by Pearl Jam. Honest!

***

The vegetable seeds I started four months ago are bearing vegetables. I’ve got 15 ears of corn and God knows how many tomatoes. I got some heirloom everbearing raspberry bushes today from my friend Larry’s grandma. The bushes grow wild on her property and bear the most luscious berries I’ve ever seen.

Larry has been teaching me how to shoot hoops. It’s really fun, and I even beat him in a game of H-O-R-S-E two weeks ago. “Larry’s a HO.” I singsonged. It was even more fun to sing when he had H-O-R…

***

Yesterday was Johnny P’s birthday. He’s 28 years old, so I get to be two years older than him for another few months, which I’ll be certain to remind him if the opportunity should arise.

I had dinner with him, his mom and his grandma last night and we had a great time. Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside is terrific. I’m eager to go there for breakfast. Any takers?

No, you wouldn’t nudge me, you’d meet me there. Smart aleck.

***

OK, so I guess I’ve talked about everyone and everything else by now so I have nobody left but myself.

My job I are no longer one. I’ve been doing some consulting and am *really* enjoying it. It’s so wonderful to work at home, and the projects have been right up my alley — tough to argue with that! My Duo is all hooked up to my 56k USRx2 modem and my Color StyleWriter 4100 (got a great deal on it at Fry’s — thanks, Dragon!). I’ve also appropriated the kitchen table as a desk: Figured I might as well because we never *eat* on it.

In my free time, I’ve learned how to sew and have two new dresses to show for it. I’ve read 20 books this summer, tended my garden, and have seen Kevin as often as his schedule allows. I think he enjoys suburban life, though it pains his citified heart to admit it. We went to Portland in June to visit his grandma, and recently spent a weekend at the Blackthorne Inn in Inverness Park. Magical!

***

Best of all, it’s still only August, which means hot days for corn to grow and long days for shooting hoops.

Aaah, it’s a good life.

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