Here it is almost the end of July and yesterday was the first time I went swimming in the icy waters of the Atlantic. The official family gathering for Elizabeth's 8th birthday was at Donald & Michael's house on Salisbury beach. The multitudes assembled at 1:00 for swimming and beaching it before dinner at 4:00. Elizabeth and her Keefe side cousins turned into regular water babies even though the water was predictably cold. Andrea is not into swimming. She likes to dig around in the sand.
Being my mother's daughter, I love swimming. I got in the water and stayed in until little red spots broke out all over my skin an hour or so later. Maybe it was longer. I was so into bodysurfing the waves, swimming (parallel to the shore of course) , and just being in the water I lost all track of time.
On the way to D&M's house I passed a surf shop near the cat shelter . A big sign advertised boogie boards. I had this overwhelming desire for a boogie board but didn't stop then to buy one. D&M's tenants Nancy & Sue a sweet lesbian couple around my age were out paddling around on their boogie boards when I arrived. I really wished I'd bought one.
Nancy & Sue were beaching it with guests : two other lesbian couples and the 80-something neighbors from up the beach. I looked down off the porch at one point and noticed Mom surrounded. A circle of women had formed around her. It's the same wherever she goes. Lesbians and sometimes gay men find her by some kind of radar. We don't know why.
Later in the day Elizabeth finally opened her presents. I gave her "Lulu", Muffy's dog. Ma gave her a world globe. There was the usual assortment of clothes from various relatives, and a couple of sets of earrings since she just got her ears pierced 5 weeks ago and will be ready to take out the original earrings next week. She took Lulu walking on the Globe to the top of the world. We had a great time finding Bosnia on the globe. (It's labeled BOS-HER.).
This was the first time any of the Keefe relatives had seen us do the ritual "Hi Bob" photo. They were quite puzzled by the obsession with spelling out "Hi Bob" in ever more innovative media. Elizabeth explained to her cousins that we do this every time we get together. Explaining to beach walkers to please not walk on the "Hi Bob" until I'd finished it and photographed it was a different story. But eventually we got it done. One of the more artistic ones I think. What the other construction/humanitarian workers think of these bizarre pictures their supervisor gets from his family we can only imagine.
So, like today I had great hopes of buying that boogie board and heading back to the beach with that and my snorkeling gear for a little total immersion in preparation for dipping myself in the waters of Peter the Great Bay in the cause of science. Unfortunately, once I went back to bed, I slept 'til 11:30. Once I finally got up I stumbled to the Coffee Connection, err I mean Starbucks, for a grande latte and conversation with Tom. Always a delight. Tom had to take off to drive Julie to Lowell for a job interview and I zipped back home here thinking surely the travel agent would have called by now.
Maybe I shoulda gone to the beach.
I haven't seen or heard the mockingbird all day. What I did hear this
afternoon unnerved me a bit. As I was sitting in the living room
reading The Size of the World, I heard a chant rising and
falling in the front yard. The refrain was "I love Bud". The chanters
were in their early teens, all male, mostly white, some Latino. I
couldn't catch all the words, but each verse was a hymn of praise to
the great god Budweiser. This went on for like 15 to 20 minutes.
These kids are not old enough to be drinking Bud or any other beer. Hey, I try to be a hip, kewl, laid-back, kind of aging dyke but I started to feel really worried about the "younger generation", not to mention angry at Budweiser and whoever their advertising agency is. Get kids singing about how much they love Bud with a snappy little tune and their hearts and minds and livers will follow.
And I thought the mockingbird was getting obnoxious...