Somewhere a Child is Crying

Greetings from Memorial Day at The Beach. Cars packed into every driveway, pool yard door alarms screeching, and somewhere (everywhere--restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations) a child is crying. So far, on the cusp of High Season, it's the crying that's most indicative of a big change, but right on its heels is how damn long it takes to turn left out of the SRB compound.

While the previous week was spent hanging with the houseguests, this past week found us Going Out nearly every day, and enjoying Adventures in Dining much more frequently than usual (at the same time as we're stoically eating up the leftovers in the fridge): Shorty's finally opened (and the food was great and Henry a slightly flappable host); we met up with Charlie, Susan, Diane and Billye at Carrabba's for a farewell-to-Billye gathering (the party was entertaining, but the food--yeccchhhh!); on our way to Panama City to pick up bagels for Susan and us, we hit Liza's Kitchen again (reliably yummy); and on Saturday, tho it was raining so hard the farmer's markets were all deserted, Cafe Bouchee in Seagrove (site of the old Yanni's Seafood Grill) was open and we had a terrific breakfast (S especially enjoyed her fried egg BLT).

For the first time at the beach, we took Squeak to the vet for her yearly shots--and guess what? Appointments are required! For twenty years in T'oosa, we just showed up at the vet's office and waited until our cat's name was called, enjoying the parade of labs and pekes and turtles and kittens, but those days are clearly over. Meanwhile, poor ol' Squeak seems to have become a flea hotel, and none of the over-the-counter meds are doing squat for the situation. Aiiyyy. A properly scheduled appointment has been set for Wednesday. Stay tuned. In addition to the indignity of being shown the door, as S backed up the Rav, she managed to crease a rear fender on a fencepost. Bleh.

Perhaps more distressing was the effect of the weather on the local environs: huge wind blew a dead tree in Topsail Park (down the road, site of the Earth Day festival) onto a power line and started a fire that burned 100+ acres over the course of three days. It wasn't until Saturday's downpour that all the little smoldering zones gave up the ghost. And conditions have seemd ripe for garden pests as well: this week we've been on high alert, tracking the ravenous hornworm. It's not clear yet whether we'll emerge victorious.



We did, however eat our first homegrown tomato--and was it ever sweet! Plus check out the eggplant in the wings . . .


In other news, Wii contagion spreads: Vonceil called to report that she left here last weekend and bought herself a game!