New Tunes

The new MP3 players are here. Not only does Lily now have her own, but it is permanently attached to her ear. Last night, I heard her mumble in her sleep, “plug it in, plug it in” because a dead battery is her worst nightmare. People frequently ask her what she’s listening too. Well, she’s got Owen and Ana’s Favs – a mix tape her friends made for her before she left. She gets out every third word of ‘Hey now, you’re an Allstar, get your game on, go play.” “Walking on Sunshine” is always a singing and dancing number. Jake has loaded some Beatles on there for her (his choice) and some Dixie Chicks (her choice). She spent her MP3less days on the Gulf sitting in Michelle’s lap with one of Michelle’s earpieces in her ear so she also wants the music from Happy Feet and Carolyn Wonderland’s “Bad Girl Blues.” Finally, she gets in Daddy’s lap last night with a few requests from his music. Can I have “He went to Paris,” she asks? Aaaaw. She and Daddy sing Jimmy Buffet’s sad ballad every night. It will choke up anyone with a beating heart. She wants the song about her, also known as “Lily of the Valley” by Charlie Robinson. Her last request is the Dark Horse. “Can I have the Heart Dancing In Our Eyes song,” she asks sweetly. Please? I tune in for the response. “Sure,” Randall says, pleased with her selections. John Prine’s guitar starts up the simple melody of “In Spite of Ourselves,” while he records the odd-but-happy, love struck duet for her. It starts so innocently with “She don’t like her eggs all runny…” With all the rhyming couplets, she’ll have it memorized in no time. “…She gets it on like the Easter Bunny.” It’ll probably be me hiding my face at the marina club house while she belts out, “She thinks all my jokes are corny. Convict movies make her horny.” I think she’ll actually skip Iris DeMent’s mince no words description: “Well he ain’t been laid in a month of Sundays. Last night I caught him sniffing my undies.” She’s only four but, at four, that’s still strangely un-singable. If you want to rate the song’s preschool appropriateness, follow the link below and comment back. If you couldn’t care less what crazy things parents do these days but are in a quirky relationship that needs a new theme song, this might be just the one. And if you’re a movie buff, please let us know what movie this is from. I am guessing that Billy Bob Thornton’s character is the one with “balls the size of a big brass monkey” but I could be wrong. Play song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8

Jekyll Island Beach Festival

We went to Jekyll Island Saturday with Mack and Shirley of SV Cats Paw. Hurricane Bill was sending a higher-than-normal surf to the area and it happened to coincide with the annual Jekyll Island Beach festival. Live music, barbecue, homemade ice cream and miles and miles of sand. The band covered Van Morrison, ice cream covered Lily and sand covered everything else. We hurried back to the boat as storm clouds approached. Four boats were hit by lightening in our marina during a Friday night light show. Not sure that our presence aboard matters much to lightening but Chewy finds it comforting to have someone to ride it out with.

Mad Puffer Fish

I hope you can make out the puffer fish in this picture. He makes a mean face. It must be especially appalling to be caught by a pink Barbie Net toting four year old.

Happy (late) Birthday Mom

Mom turned 73 last week. She's been telling people "63" and then realizing, a little alarmed, that she's off by ten years. Her computer has been down for several months and that internet stuff was cancelled a year ago due to lack of use. Now, she's taking a computer class, five days a week mind you, so she can keep up with her grandkid's activities on our blog. She and Dad get frequent telephone updates but she wants, of course, to see the pictures. She thinks her new computer will be up this week so, hopefully, this will be the first entry she reads. We miss you. I know you want to see Jacob and Lily pics but, surprise, this picture of you and Dad is too good not to share. Thanks again to Jan for sending me pictures of July 4 on the farm.

Trim carpenters just don’t get jobs like this anymore. The Glynn County Court House (top pic) in Brunswick is surrounded by restored Victorian-era Painted Ladies like this one. Most of them have law firm occupants rather than families. I hope they offer their clients sweet tea and peach pie with their “the law is really difficult to understand (and costly to explain)” speech.

Boat Bread

Randall made bread in the pressure cooker. When the lid came off, we weren't sure about it at all. Then, it had to be pried out of the pan. It came out looking like a cheese cake. It was, despite out doubts, incredibly delicious. Pressure cooking is an art on boats. It saves fuel by cooking fast and does not heat up the cabin like baking would.