Home of Hospitality

Spent a few days before Christmas in Charleston, WV. From across the Kanawha River Charleston sprawls along the valley line and up into the mountains like a modern folk art painting. Four or so inches of snow was still frozen on the ground when I arrived Monday evening but the temperatures while I visited were mild and in the upper 30s or 40s. Very nice.

This was my second 'adult' trip to West Virginia...my first being last November when a friend and I flew into PA and stayed in Thomas, WV...home of Mountain State Brewery and some very cool people. That trip was one of the best I can remember to date. I kept promising to visit again since that trip, and so a year and a month later, I made good on it. Explored a little in town while Rob was at work, fended off surprise attacks from his cat Almost and had the opportunity of meeting some of Rob's friends and the crew of KTM coworkers. Had a great time and hope to have the chance to visit again and explore some areas I didn't get to, perhaps even bring the Sur with for some mtb action.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and I'll be heading a little farther south to the parent's for our annual NYE gala. Then Monday I begin a new beginning in a new town 5 hours even farther southeast...it's a good job, and it's on the coast, so I shall make the best of it. I'm thinking kayaking in the marsh channels will be a great new hobby of mine.

Happy 2010 all ye bloggers and passers by. I sure do hope it's a good one.

occasional benefits of hypochondria

i apparently burned the shit out of my tongue last wednesday and of course have been fretting over it for DAYS now b/c it hasn't healed up as quickly as i wanted. no doubt b/c i've been messing with it incessantly. so tonight i finally determined it had not turned into cancer (because if my tounge had to be cut out due to cancer, i'd rather just die...sorry). then went in to the bathroom for a final gander in the mirror and just as i was becoming satisfied that the burned spot was indeed better, i discovered the underside of my tongue looked weird....

this is what happened with that google fret-fest...


http://boingboing.net/2008/06/10/what-is-on-keiths-to.html

239 comments over a 7 month period. i was so impressed i almost created an account to comment. made me laugh a lot ( StudioRobot, brundlefly and grisly are favs....among others) AND I  feel better particularly since my tongue doesn't look like that.

my hypochondria may still be a smidge out of control at the moment tho

since i also got paranoid today after my PPD test (for TB) was administered...i thought i felt a strange soreness in the side of my neck and jaw. was convinced it meant i was probably positive for TB. walked around all afternoon thinking of how i would respond to the nurse when she looked under the bandaid to surely find a festering sore where the solution was injected..."sooo, does this mean i dont get the job?"

i'm kicking myself into bed now. before i come up with one more reason why i could die very soon

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Home (or what is still "home" via mortgage) after a weekend in the mountains followed by a day at the beach...I seem to have traveled a lot in the last four days. Actually, there's no seeming about it. I've been in the car far longer than I'd like to be...but there are costs and benefits in everything, yes.

Friday found me driving to Hot Springs, NC to meet my WV comrade Rob at 'Hound Heaven,' a pet (and pocket) friendly cabin along the "dramatic climb" up Spring Mountain. Some of my few good friends and hiking buddies know how I feel about Hot Springs...so even after I had begrudgingly decided that a winter retreat with Rob before his hectic ski season began was just a little too impossible, he somehow managed to unknowingly find a place that no life crisis or rock slide could deter me from getting to.

There may be nothing blatantly special about Hot Springs. Certainly there's special stuff there, but there are countless camp sites along the French Broad River, I can soak in a natural hot spring right here in Georgia and there's plenty of teeny mountain towns that are within close(r) proximity to a grocery store or cell tower. What makes this place so compelling is difficult to explain but to me it just is. From the moment I first tumbled (quite literally, I might add) into this quaint little town almost 10 years ago I began to love it as if it held some magical hidden portal to another dimension where feeling and dreaming and living are impossible concepts to avoid...and maybe that's the best descriptive--or maybe it's just me--though Southern Living gave it a glowing nod in this November's issue.

Saturday morning we woke up to the stillness that comes with new snow. To my glee it flurried and peppered through our mid-morning breakfast and continued while we ventured down and about in town, dipping in and out of the less-than-a-handful of shops, finding super sale items in tucked away bins of the cozy outfitter store, trying to get the perfect picture from the bridge over the river and exploring nooks and crannies of the eversohumble neighborhood (which took about 45 seconds). We found new insoles for my shoes, strange voodoo dolls (craftily disguised as Christmas ornaments), uncommon wines and a favorite little cabin we both chattered about building for the duration of the drive back up into the mountainside...only interrupted by a discussion of how I would furnish a rocky crevice home if I were a small Faeiry creature and how to effectively heat it in the winter months... musings of mine that Rob always kindly humors and often graciously joins in on. We made a quick obligatory stop at a lookout for a few photos then hauled it up to the cabin, fully intent on taking the dogs for a long and rigorous hike--a hike that ended up being a not-so long or rigorous trek between the warm innards of our cabin and the warm innards of the hot tub on the deck...champagne and WV Melomel honey wine in tow.

That night we descended back into town for dinner at the bed and breakfast and post- dinner brews at Rock Bottom pub. This is a favorite activity of mine, not only because I enjoy drinking good beer (btw the Highland Gaelic Holiday Ale is superb), but because late night encounters in Hot Springs are one of the most entertaining parts of a visit there. After finding a few seats at the bar, Robbie's attention was snatched by Hank, a small old leprechaun-like man with frizzy reddish hair and beard, half a mouth of snaggle-teeth and lots of talk about life and hard labor. I caught up on the last few years of town happenings with our bartender, Brenda, who also shared with me her own family history, her two childrens accomplishments, and exactly what "stocking up" means when you live in a valley-town 20miles, 40mins and a hundred hair-pin turns from the closest grocery store. Rob and I sneakily loaded up the excessively modern electronic jukebox with Waylon, Merle and a choice few others and then were invited to a doubles game of pool with an older local who I called 'Chief' and a much younger 'Davis' who was in town staying with his uncle (and who was a little too into Widespread Panic). We left with full bellies, a night of laughter and the knowledge that we would most likely never see this selection of people again, regardless of when we returned.

Sunday morning we slept in and then began the task of packing up and leaving what had been an irreplaceable weekend getaway. We loaded up the cars just as the bells were ringing from the church across the meadow from our cabin. Missed breakfast-time in town and conceded to lunch at the diner where we laughed about our weekend, eyeballed my road atlas and the miles btw us, got the scoop from the locals on what time the Christmas parade was starting (aka, when to git while the git'n was good) and talked about the next time we might meet...when the waitress took our plates I assumed the frowny "don't wanna leave" face and Rob followed with "oh lord I know, we go through this every time"...and shortly thereafter we parted ways. He began the climb into hill country and I began the long swoop down through Blue Ridge, Saluda and Green River Gorge, stopping briefly for soup and conversation with the brother before heading home to Georgia.

Yesterday morning bright and early mom and I drove 5 hours southeast to St. Simon's Island where I had an interview. Along the way we completed two Sunday crosswords and discussed our favorite items in the L.L.Bean Christmas catalog. After my interview we grabbed a fireside dinner at Crabdaddy's (highly recommend it) and hit I-95 North to again head homeward. The ride back we were too tired for crosswords so we discussed school, family, how glad we were to have left SC when we did, relationships, flannel-lined corduroys, good books and the meaning of life.

I climbed in bed, appropriately delirious, around 1:30am only to toss and turn with strange and disruptive dreams of floods and annoying neighbors (though i live no where near a flood zone and my real-life neighbors are fabulous). Woke up this morning long before I wanted to and have been plodding around the house ever since... unpacking, shuffling things around without really putting them away, wondering if I should call my real estate agent and postpone our meeting until tomorrow, coddling my socially anxious cat, Stella...and, well, blogging.

And once again here I close my (apparently) monthly blog to cyberspace. Until next time.

"like twilights to her dusky hair"

...that was the subject line of the first message in my gmail "spam" folder this morning

i just had to share it with someone...

life

you just can't make this shit up

old meanderings

THE PACK-AND-SHIP BUSINESS WITH
TOM JONES
AND HIS GIRLFRIENDS OF FLIRT
AT FOUR DIFFERENT STOPS
EACH MAKING GIFTS AT EASTER OR CHRISTMAS
AT A DISCOUNT FOR HIS WIFE

HE'D SKIP LUNCH TO COLLECT TIME
THEN STAND ELBOWING A BOX
WHILE I COUNTED THE CASH DRAWER AND HE
TALKED ABOUT THE WORLD BIZARRE AT 20 AND
OF HOW THINGS WERE DIFFERENT BACK WHEN
THEN I WAS FOUR AND HE WAS....
BUT DRINKING AGES WERE LOWER ANYWAY

HE LEARNED WHEN WE SAY 'GOOD MORNING' WE SHOULD
MEAN IT, YOU KNOW--NOT LIKE HOW
HOT APPLE CIDER IS WARM AND TASTES FINE
BUT GROWS COLD, STALE

AND I LEARNED THAT RING BOXES CAN SOMETIMES HOLD
NOT THEIR INTENDED CONTENT, BUT MORE OF WHAT WE'RE
CONTENT INTENDING

HE SAID HE THOUGHT I'D BE JUST FINE
WHEN I FINALLY RESIGNED ON THE 15TH OF WINTER
AND HE CHANGED HIS ROUTE TO ELSEWHERE-
ONLY ONE WOULD LET HIM ELBOW BOXES DURING
OPEN HOURS
AND WE SEEMED TO HAVE CLOSED
AS QUIETLY AS AN EARLY SUNDAY MORNING
BUT WHEN I'M IN TOWN I STILL KEEP AN EYE
FOR AN SUV TAG READING
"MY OTHER CAR IS A BIG BROWN TRUCK"

R.L.BARNES 2002

observations in a bachelors bathroom

Visiting South Carolina almost always begins with a bang. Usually peeters out after about 72 hrs with is also my tolerance limit for being up here. I left Newnan yesterday around noon and had a pretty good drive up (even though somehow SC is hotter AND more humid than GA at the moment). When I arrived at our SC house my brothers car was there but the house was on lock down, so I figured he was undoubtedly out working the land somewhere in our 74acres of woodage. While tying out the doggies I heard the sound of a tractor coming up by our fathers old workshop...so I had been correct about where and what Stefan was up to (well, actually I never found out what he was up to, but he detached a scraper so I'm guessing he was out scraping something...?). I walked out to my old horse barn where he was and stood in front of the stable until he noticed me (he was wearing earplugs so between them and the engine noise I didn't bother yelling)...then I learned out to drive a tractor...weeeeeeeee!!!

So, not to stray from the usual day-one festivities I accepted an invite to attend a pre-wedding-party-party (I know...) with my aunt. The wedding will most likely be ridiculously lavish as the mother of the groom spends her free time hosting weddings in and around her gorgeous plantation home in Duncan, SC....so she's well-read in the wedding industry. Not to mention who in the world (other than a Newnan couple I've recently met) has so many pre-rehearsal party parties?? Okay. Anyway, Sheila and I attended a very nice little soiree in the downtown Greer area and then tore ourselves away after a few hours of tidbits, wine and lots of chatter, to have real food and drink a few doors down at BIN112...another nice little nook.

Once back at Sheilas I plopped on the couch and decided I'd probably just stay the night at their house since I'd consumed a modest amount of awesome alcoholic bevs and had a full belly to boot. Made a semi-buzzed dial to WV Rob and talked with him for entirely too long (per Sheila) about fleas...but, well, we're both having problems with them! so we were venting..."AHY KNOOOOOW! I can't get rid of them EITHER!!!"...

This morning I woke up pretty early (after sharing the bed with their greatdane/pitbull pup Mackie) and meandered into the kitchen to see who was up. No one was in the kitchen so I decided to go check out my post-festivities face and chicken-hair. In my cousins bathroom I found what prompted me to blog this morning. And I haven't been on here in a while so it's probably about darn time.

Washing my hands I begin to observe the scatterings on my cousins sink counter. To my right there are four different kinds of toothpaste (?), a pair of toenail clippers, deoderant and a few other "normal" bathroom accessories. To my left is where it got interesting. One camoflague walkie talkie (on it's charger), one metal protractor, one medium-sized rubber mallet, one pair of electric clippers, a small note pad, a ziploc baggie with kleenex and gauze pads inside, an electric toothbrush (unplugged but in the charging receptacle), 3 different phone chargers, a hand/knife-sharpened pencil nubbin, baby powder and a bottle of rubbing alcohol....fun huh?

Then I meandered back into the living room, let their four dogs outside, sat down in the Florida room to type this blog, let the four dogs back inside, checked my bank account (yessss, there WAS one last paycheck), paid a few bills and am now going to adios the blog and head for the coffee pot. Wondering what day-two will bring...

tootle-oo little blog :)

recovery, day 12

even though i have avoided semi-public announcement of my current situation, i felt inclined to blog this morning, and so this is the only large event that has occurred as of late.

ok. to begin at the beginning.
august 1st found me sprawled on a riverbank after having falling from the top, and landing quite heavily on a jutting root and a few rocks near the water. the first thing that crossed my mind after landing was, "damn i landed on my back, am i paralyzed," and while the pain was enough to make one hesitant to move, my second thought after assuring myself i had landed just to the left of my spine, "is anything broken." Finishing the hike was torturous but the dogs had fun. and for the next two or three days i hobbled around convinced i had fractured my pelvis. the pain was incredible. fortunately i had a good friend fly in the very same day of the accident, and he was there when it happened (equally horrified by my calamity) so graciously, although my guest, he probably served more as my asssistant until he flew out the following tuesday.

he had driven us everywhere since the accident, so tuesday he got us to the airport and i drove home and strait to the doctors office at st. francis hospital to get it all checked out. hours of waiting later i crawled onto an xray table and turned in all the painful positions the radiologist asked me to, even returning at his request to have more exams (god nows how many different kinds of "rays" went through my abdomen) to rule out spinal damage. only to find out later that my doctor was out of town and wouldn't read the results until wednesday. that was a bit disappointing to say the least. so i got my excuse from work for that day and drove home, moaning all the way, to wait.

once home i realized getting out of the car was nearly impossible. getting up the hill to my front door even more daunting, and once in the house i had no idea what to do. sitting down was painful so i hobbled around in the kitchen fidgeting with the mail that had accumulated on the counter. at this point it was around 6pm. the continuing tragedy began around 6:30 when i dropped a bill on the floor, accidentally of course, and kneeled--ever so carefully--to retrieve it. what can only be explained as the feeling of being hit with a cattle prod landed me in the floor in less than a second, and there i stayed for a few minutes, completely frustrated with my situation, and quite depressed from then 4 days of untreated severe back pain. all i could do was bawl and call my mom.

an hour later mom picked me up and we drove to newnan piedmont emergency room. at that point the pain drew tears immediately so i'm sure i looked like a mess. surprisingly they got me into a room after about 45minutes of waiting in triage. then went through the same routine of getting on an exam bed, telling the doc where it hurt, and heading for the xray room. but this time i had a little more care. kim, the radiology nurse, was fantastic. she wouldn't let me do a thing for myself, which i was thankful for. getting on the xray table was excrutiating, then turning ONTO my hurt side was as you can imagine, quite bad. so once that was over i finally got the answer that nothing was broken.

while i was relieved to not have 6-8 weeks of recovery and possible surgery ahead of me, i was overwhelmed with the disappointment of still not KNOWING what was causing the pain. the ER doc diagnosed me with contusion and severe lower back strain, gave me some heavy pain medication and told me to stay out of work for a week and follow up with an ortho as soon as i could if the pain didn't subside within a few days. being that the pain hadn't subsided in the 4 days since the accident, i was the slightest bit unenthusiastic of the notion it would miraculously remedy in two or three more, nor was i satisfied with the diagnosis.

fortunately as the days passed and with assistance from the pain medication i was able to do a little bit more with a little less pain. i saw the orthopedic doctor on monday who diagnosed a deep bone and muscle bruise of my left pelvis and left lower ribs. he prescribed an anti-inflammatory and was glad i had taken the pain meds and muscle relaxers sparingly (that stuff will knock you out for a day or more, not good) and then yesterday--11 days after the accident--i drove my manual honda for the first time with only moderate discomfort. granted i only went down the street and back, but it was a step in the direction of healing that i'm glad of. being home-bound for almost two weeks has been difficult. but going to work before i'm a little more put-together would naturally be impossible, so here i am. day 12 of what will most likely be a month or two of slow but sure recovery. the pain in my back is now more isolated to the hip area and what used to be occasional severely sharp pains has evolved into a constant ache, like having a migraine headache in my back....of course not pleasing and keeps me up at night more often, but i think it's a sign of healing. i plan to return to work monday, and see how it goes from there.

And as i close this novella--here's my shout-out. my sincere appreciation to Robbie and Mom, who carried the bulk of the weight of my injuries, the Newnan ER team, my dogs Maggie and Basil who have been very patient with my inability to take them for walks, my boss and coworkers Sarah, Melanie, Tonya, Jenny and Henry who have been very understanding or have checked in on me from time to time (despite my antisocial tendencies), and to dear Amy and the hilarious "ladies club" (as i call them) of newnan who took me under-wing and hauled my crippled butt out a few times so my cabin fever wasn't quite so bad over the past two weeks. Thanks. I mean it.

The End!

When life gets you down, look to the tao of pooh-

Many thanks to the person who emailed me this. Hopefully it'll make someone else chuckle a little too.

walk in the park

So. Basil can swim. Maggie isn't afraid of water (or big ass snakes) and we had a great time meandering around at Cochran Mill park on Monday. Here are my obligatory child-photos. I warn you, I will be almost as annoying as a new parent for a while! Haha :) Love them!

Women may be able to fake orgasms, but men can fake whole relationships ~James Shuber

Ahh. And just when I thought I couldn't quite pinpoint my sincere intolerace of some guys--a perfect quip just JUMPS out at me and I realize that if nothing less, someone else has gone through the same shit enough to have come up with a good line for it.

life is so rough

Saturday at the office with mom was very difficult. Evidently.

A quiet house is no place to live.

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment. ~George Eliot

well.....

this sweet girl was the reason I went back to the pound today. After the loss of my puppy finally became a too much to bear anymore, a close friend shared that the only other solution was to get another. I went to www.petfinder.com and visited her last week, then over Easter weekend she was placed on the "urgent" list, and that was all it took. I had to have her. I named her Basil.

She is 100% good old black labrador. And definitly has been someones indoor pet. I have joked that she has stated on several occasions since her adoption, "ahem, I was told I'd get a fan and tevo. Could you please check my contract?"



And this little pumpkin (below) was also at the pound the first time I went. She was so sweet and docile. Marked as 1 year old, so a little young for my age-range, but I promised her then that if I came back I would get her. Today after going in to pick up the big girl, this little Shepard-mix sat perfectly still, looked at me dead in the eye and said to me, "I have been quiet. I have been sweet. I have not barked once. If you leave me now, I know you'll never be back."

And I started to cry. So I got both. Her name is Maggie.





I am terribly in love with them both. And I suppose the feeling is probably mutual.

all dogs go to heaven

so this is all I can muster. I'm not sure it's possible to fully grieve the loss of a pet you have loved and raised. I'm not sure I'll ever get over it.























Here's to you sweet Louise. You are so very missed.




Louise Lu-Lu Barnes
March 13 2008 - March 30, 2009





The dog is a gentleman--I hope to go to his heaven, not man's.
~Mark Twain, letter to W.D. Howells, 2 April 1899

curiosity killed the cat...and the bank account!

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A WEAK TUMMY, DON'T LOOK ON!

After a long and late drive home from visiting family in SC, I walk in to find Stella Luna in a pickle. I cleaned and bandaged what could, gave her a good dose of antibiotics I saved from our last vet escapade and went to bed. The next day found me arguing with the local vet office, debating on whether to treat it on my own or making the drive to Columbus, GA to the tried and trusted Benning Animal Clinic. I choose the latter. A good dose of "kitty dope" later we got her cleaned up and discovered more than the one bite wound. I then shelled out all my birthday earnings to Dr. Keri for a job well done, yet again, on my mischevious animals.

This is what happens when kitty talks smack to the wrong tom.

Somewhere over the rainbow.....

The piceans united in Woodland Georgia for family commune and to celebrate our birthdays. Lauren and I had a wonderful time, everyone was fantastic and she and I both got a good dose of "attention" that was appreciated and enjoyed all night. As we tortured the "photographers" with our incessant judging of "bad shots" someone in the side lines was watching. Video camera in hand. And while potentially embarassing, this is why I love this woman as my best friend and soul-sister. to goofiness, happiness and being loved for who we are by our family....

some violent and disturbing content, and language

this was the precurser to the film i watched tonight (The Changling)

but. ahem. at what point in time did "language" escape the realms of "content" ??

and quinton terintino has been in the last two movies i've seen. and if i see one MORE film with the Burn Notice dude in it i'll scream. he's so...i don't know. something's just wrong with him. why is he so popular???

i am obviously way out of the movie scene these days.

and apparently in need of netflix. anyone want to gift me a few months?

have been flu-sick this week and out of work. my rest caught up with me today so i'm up late but beginning to wane. actually looking forward to work tomorrow.

even though my energy level is still faltering, i started feeling better around 7pm and am about ready to crash again for a few hours sleep. a few days of work (god help me. theres no telling what's in store when i go back) then i'm going to my parents for a few days. mom has met her limit on time away from south carolina so it means that daddy-wayne and i will have some paw-daughter time which is always a pleasure.
bed

Model Girl

got a few pictures from Kevin's recent trip to NY with his daughter Meg. Considering I bonded with her as "dad's girlfriend" for over 2 years ( I know that's not much to some of you, but it is to me) I feel privelaged to post some great photos. She's grown up quite a bit since I first knew her, and I have to say she's turned out quite lovely. So this is Megan Justice.

LISTLESS

adjective; having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless; indifferent

Isn't it such a blah way to describe oneself? But here's me in a nutshell these days. Not that I don't make great efforts every day to FIND something to strike my fancy, perk me up, pick me up.... but there isn't anywhere within reach at the moment to offer any comfort. Work. Home. both places I don't really enjoy being right now. Both places surrounded and filled up by insincerity and confusion.

It's odd when some relationships end you feel a little lost and eventually move on, and then in some you feel gutted. royally screwed. endlessly bitter. And then some just leave you feeling...for lack of less-cliche wording--wounded--not mortally and nothing catastrophic. but just enough to take your breath away a little and knock you off balance. and the amount of hurt surprises you with intensity. just enough that you have a little smidge of fear lurking in your mind whispering "look now. everything could fall apart if you just let go. look how careless you were with your feelings. look how clumsy"

And then some jobs seem promising. They start out really well and the little red flags that popped up from time to time were nothing to sniff at. Easy to get over and forget. Then one day a big fire-engine red one jumps into your face and you think "what the hell have I gotten myself into this time?"

For shits and giggles, lets toss into the equation that your house is quite literally falling apart. One cracked wall here, one sunken floorboard there, and oh, notice the ceiling in the guest room....or that stomach-sinking soft spot in the roof that you notice while cleaning the gutters.

All of it put together looks like a big kings chair. And you can't help but just sit in it and think...where do I begin now. Where do I start to work to make things better.

I'm sitting. And all I have here is this little miniature chisel--to craft something beautiful out of this heavy thing....