When good friends of ours spent time in the Virgin Islands last year, I have to admit I was more than a little jealous. I mean, I am all about the island vacations. Sun, sand, surf, and sleep are the perfect combinations for me.

Fuzzy, on the other hand, hates the beach, and is afraid of the water, which is why I’m psyched about finding http://www.caretbay.com. What’s so special about this site? Well, is specializes in renting out St Thomas Villas, and not just any old villas, either, but villas with swimming pools, beach access, and luxury appointments.

In fact, the villa currently being spotlighted, Villa Nicolette, offers an eight-person hot tub, your very own Tiki bar, plasma televisions, computer access, and wifi.

Wifi in paradise: I ask you what more does one need?

What’s really great about these villas, as the website makes clear, is that while the rental fees change depending on how many bedrooms you choose to use, the entire villa is yours. (Presumably, they lock off the unrented bedrooms to save cleaning and laundering.)

Don’t get me wrong, I love hotels. I will always love hotels, but if you’re spending a week at the beach, having your own villa is definitely the way to go.

I bet even Fuzzy would agree.

Because people asked about the moon picture in my last Wordless Wednesday post:

It was taken from the rolling chair in my living room, looking up at the very top row of windows that form the back wall of my living room. The top of the window is about 18 feet off the floor.

The misty quality is because we have light-filtering screens on all our windows.

The blur is because it’s really difficult to stay perfectly still in a rolling chair.

Thank you all for your favorable comments. I’m still returning visits.

I have a friend whom I haven’t seen since before I got married, and whom I still owe a visit. She lives in England, and we used to plan elaborate vacations where I’d stay in one of the best London Hotels and we’d go clubbing and see theatre, because really, what is a trip to London without taking in a show? It just as wrong as visiting New York without spending a couple of hours in a darkened theatre on Broadway.

We recently reconnected through IM and FaceBook, so in case you were wondering if the latter is of any use, it is.

She heard her accent on my answering machine once, and thought she sounded common. I think she’s rather uncommon – baudy, funny, talented – she always made me laugh, and pushed me outside myself.

Writing about her accent reminds me of the time I had to chase down mortgage clients by calling a bunch of Glasgow Hotels, when there was a problem with their loan closing. I finally bribed a concierge by promising to FedEx money for him to take his partner out of a night of pub hopping. Yes, I really sent it, and yes, it was a business expense. And yes, after said concierge tracked down the borrowers in a toney restaurant, the loan did close.

While we’re on the subject of hotels, let’s add Edinburgh Hotels to the mix. I found a mystery novel set in one, picked it up, then put it down without buying it, and now cannot remember what it was, though the description of the story is sort of haunting me.

I like expensive hotels. I like them so much, in fact, that the narrator in my first NANO Novel, Illusions of Motion was named Zoe, after a character in a movie who lived in a hotel and had a famous musician for a father.

Continue reading →

Dinner is simmering in the crockpot and the pool vac is burbling in the back yard. Fuzzy is still at work, and House just started on TV. It’s a rerun, one of the last from last season, but I don’t remember paying much attention to it at the time it was on.

And let’s face it: there’s no such thing as too much house.

There are fifteen things I should be doing:
I should be working on my book instead of blogging.
I should be folding laundry.
I should be writing letters.
I should be reviewing One Dance In Paris for the bookblog.

I should, I should, I should…

But what I want to do is clean the bathtub, and then find a good book, and get into a tub full of hot water and citrussy-spicy bubbles, and just forget about everything external for a while.

Tubs should totally clean themselves.

I am sitting today at my favorite wooden desk with the sunflower drawer pulls, staring through the bar window at the family photos on the side of the fridge. Why the side? Because the front isn’t magnetic.

Among the pictures are cousins at Sioux Falls, friends in Arizona with their young son, and Fuzzy’s family: nieces and nephews who are tall, blond and athletic (he is only blond). His family is so affectionate and relaxed that their picture makes me want to put a couple soccer goals out on the front lawn and invite all the neighborhood kids to join of pickup game.

I don’t actually own any sports equipment.

I have, however, been browsing http://www.soccergoalzinc.com because even though I don’t actually participate in sports, I like the equipment, and I’ve got fond memories of playing badminton over the chain-link fence in my grandparents’ back yard as a kid, or breaking out the whiffle ball set or playing stickball, and I miss those days.

SoccerGoalz, Inc doesn’t actually sell badminton stuff, but they do have portable Soccer Goals (go figure) that you can use on the lawn, or bring to the park, and they also have equipment for street hockey. Better yet, their prices are reasonable, and their shipping is only $10.

If you have a family of budding athletes, or just a big lawn screaming for weekend soccer games, SoccerGoals Inc has popup goals, and portable goals, to fit your budget.

Soccer balls, however, are not included.

I’ve been leaving a pan of birdseed out at night, and in the early morning, to sort of atone for the grief my younger, larger dog, Miss Cleo, gives the birds and geckos in our yard.

The first night I put it out, I found footprints in it just a few hours later – not bird-feet, but something obviously mammalian. I’ve suspected that we have a resident possum for a while, because I’ve heard barking, and seen a shadow about the size of my chihuahua, but definitely a rodent, shinnying up the back fence.

Fuzzy was away the first night I put out the seed, and it was nearly dawn when we finally connected via IM, because he’d been in the air, and then had no battery left on his phone.

“I love you,” I said to him in text. “I’m glad you’re on the ground, and I hope you sleep well. I’m going to bed now. There are footprints in the birdseed.”

It’s really cool to have a spouse who doesn’t think you’re completely batty when you make statements like that.

185 kangaroos walk into a bar in one of the best Sydney Hotels… Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? Well, maybe I’ve watched too many specials on Animal Planet, but I’ve always wanted to visit Australia, especially after reading about a friend’s vacation there.

Reading actually has spurred a lot of my vacation fantasies, but some of my favorite novels did take place in Australia. The most obvious, of course, is The Thorn Birds (the movie was great, but I prefer the book) but I also loved Spearfield’s Daughter and All the Rivers Run, especially the river boating scenes in the latter.

While it’s true that none of these books talked about the Sydney Opera House, or offered details about Melbourne Hotels or Brisbane Hotels, they did instill within me a fascination for a country that shares a pioneering spirit and rugged outlook with my own.

I confess, I want to see Ayer’s Rock, and even though I’m not a surfer, I’d be willing to try for a taste of Australian waves.

I wouldn’t even mind if the only place I see a kangaroo is in the zoo.

Folks, I’ve just posted my first author interview over at my bookblog, Bibliotica.com.

The author is Patricia Klindienst, the book is The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans, and part one of the five-part interview is here. (The other five parts are already posted, and links at the bottom of each take you backward or forward. Alternatively, you can go directly to Bibliotica, and work backwards. )

1. What is your favorite American band?
I was going to say Billy Joel, but he’s not a band, just a person.
I’m listening to a lot of Plain White T’s these days.

2. What is your favorite song about America or with America or American in the title?
“American Woman” by the Guess Who. I know people have said it’s chauvinistic, and the band says it’s not, but really, it’s a kicky tune, and parts of it are kind of sexy. Don McLean’s “American Pie” comes in a close second.

3. Do you have any L.P. records? If so, how many and what is your most treasured?
I used to, but we finally got rid of them. I had an original copy of the children’s album “Free to Be You and Me” and I loved it. Recently, I bought the CD, just to have.

4. Name another use for an L.P. record other than playing it.
45’s make excellent coasters, and 33’s make great frisbees. 78’s are too brittle to play with, but look cool with a planter on top of them. Also, several 45’s strung on fishing line hanging from dowels = a kickass mobile.

You, too can mambo, here.