I Don't Know Why It Is

but it's just fun to go to Dollar General and get trash bags and dish sponges and other house knick-knack stuff. I can spend forever in there studying the shelves and finding little goodies I didn't realize I needed until I saw them.

Said little goodies available at dirt cheap prices. The best part!

Off To

the South Carolina Book Festival today. Plan to do a little shopping while I'm in the Capitol City today, too. And meet a widda friend for an early lunch, then another widda friend for a brew & wings later in the day.

The forecast? Some rain this morning, with a high of...75. So much for wearing blue jeans.

A 'Family Member' Lost

A gentleman who frequented the Widow/Widower Internet Support Group that has brought me so much comfort has taken his own life.

He lost his 8 1/2 month pregnant wife, their three daughters and his in-laws in a car crash with a drunk driver ten years ago. He had only just begun posting on our board about a year ago, and even then, not too often.

His posts were honest expressions of his pain, his immense loss, and his ongoing struggle to make sense of what happened and how, if there were any way possible, to move down the path of a new life.

His sister informed us of what happened on our board this morning, and it has shaken our Internet community. I've come to know many of these people personally, and feel there are so many more that I know, without having met them, through their posts about the struggles and triumphs they have faced on this journey.

May he now know the peace and quiet he could not find in life in this world over the past ten years, and may he have found his family, and please, may they now have their loving arms wrapped tightly around one another. And may the Good Lord have his loving arms around them.

The Weekend

was spent in Georgia, with my 'gentleman friend'. Who doesn't much care for the 'gentleman friend' appellation. Says it's too formal. The thing is, boyfriend just doesn't fit when you're facing down the barrel of fifty and he's been there, done that.

I cooked him some dinner Saturday night & I don't think it was my best pot of shrimp creole, but he hoovered it up, so maybe what do I know?

What was nice about that was the simple act of fixing a meal for someone. He hung around the kitchen while I cooked. I'd occasionally glance over at him from the corner of my eye, reveling in the pleasure he was taking in watching me cook. It's a feeling I haven't had in a long time.

Our date night was Gordon Lightfoot, live in concert. Gordon is the man. Gordon's bass player may well be the dude. Did you know Gordon is 69? Let me tell you, he and his band can rock. That voice is still smooth as silk and I don't think I've ever seen a performer take as much pleasure in an audience, save Ray Price.

The whole weekend was a great time. It was easy-peasy, as the kids say.

I still look to my past, but I'm beginning to see a little further into the future of this new path I'm walking.

Dear Goldie:

You're cool, you really are. I've always thought you were sweet and funny and ditzy in a way not at all annoying or that would wear on one's nerves in about oh, say, eight minutes.

But this? My dear, you are not twenty-five anymore. Or even fifty, for that matter. Juuust a few tips:

1. Wear a bra. Seriously.
2. Tall black everyday boots do not go with cream-colored dresses.
3. And I use the term dress charitably here.
4. Fire your stylist. Conversely, if you are picking out your own clothes, STOP! Immediately.
5. Can I see your panties? Oh.My.Dear.God, I can. My Eyes! My eyes, they burn.
6. But I guess you get credit for actually wearing panties. Said credit cancelled out by the whole not wearing a bra thing, unfortunately.
7. Don't ever wear this again. Ever. Burn it.

Picture via Go Fug Yourself.

You Know

you live in small town when an Arby's opens up 14 miles away, and you and your co-workers immediately begin plotting who you will send there to get lunch for the office.

And on what day.

With an hour of the workday spent perusing the menu online.

Hints of Spring

at eShactki-women's custom couture, a site I found quite by accident.

There is a dilemma. Which to choose?




This sweet tunic that screams pair me with white bermuda shorts and some kicky metallic sandals?


Or





This simple little sundress that could be dressed up with a light denim blazer for dinner out, worn alone with some great espadrilles for day-trippin' or would even work as a great beach coverup.

What to do, what to do.

Eight Days

until my 'Gentleman Friend' and I get to see each other again. He lives five hours away. And it's not the easiest five hours. I joked with him one time that I can't get to where he lives from here. And I was really only half-joking.

It never occured to me that I would be doing the long distance relationship thing. Mainly because it never occured to me there would even be another relationship after my dear Donnie.

He and I keep the Internets humming most evenings with our IM 'chat'. We take turns phone calling on the weekends. The distance is helping us get to know each other.

I told my dearest friend today that I'll always love my Donnie. I opened my heart to him and for him.

I've discovered there's lots of space left in there still.

The Storms

that blew through (and blew up, too) Tennessee and several other states came through here this afternoon.

We only got heavy rain and some blustery wind. I think its pretty much moved on at this point.

Hope all my cyber buddies are ok.

*Waves at Poopie, who weathered the storms with her parents and the rulers of the house*

Notes on Nashville

1. Cool town--Broadway is a great strip with a club for everybody's taste.
2. Tootsie's is the diviest dive ever. Lurved it.
3. The Stockyard is a way cool steakhouse. Great New York Strip, and the creamed spinach was about the best I've ever had.
4. Opryland? Better to call it Robyoublindland. There was a notation on our hotel bills that said 'No Parking'. At first several of us thought they charged us for not parking. And with that place, it wouldn't have been the least bit surprising.
5. And speaking of Opryland, take a snack and some water with you when you venture out. The odds of getting lost/turned around in the place are pretty good and there's no telling how long it will take you to find your room again.