Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hopefully, A Quiet Sunday

The kits and I spent a quiet Saturday: we all laid around, just trying to ignore the heat, and I read a good deal.  I have finished reading the series of the five Blending books by Sharon Green, and am halfway through the first of the Blending Enthroned books.  I need to do two loads of laundry today, and purchase my bus pass for August.  And since the Powerball lottery is up to $160 million, I'll probably buy a couple of chances on it.  If the government defaults, and I don't receive my Social Security check on Wednesday, I (at least) have enough money in the bank to pay my rent...  And Tuesday afternoon I see Dr. Pohlman for my surgery follow-up.  I'm still draining gunk from two distinct places, and my backside feels as if it's been scoured with a wire brush made for rust removal.  Ah, well....

After my trip to Florida, I'm going to start saving for a trip to Chincoteague.  I know that I spent most of my life living away from the island, but there is something in my blood, mind, and genetic makeup that insists that Chincoteague and Assateague are "home."  I hope to first visit during the off-season, and then to return again for a Pony Penning.  The sound of the surf, the feel of the humid sea breeze, the smell of saltwater and marsh mud, the sound of older voices speaking Elizabethan English - I miss all of those things in my very soul.  This week's monitoring of Chincoteague's Pony Penning brought back lots of joyous memories of wandering alone on both Chincoteague and Assateague when I was between the ages of 8 and 21.  I can go home again, and I plan to do so.  Of course, in the years since I've been on Chincoteague, there has been an influx of large luxury hotels and motels that have sprung up on the Chincoteague Channel (the west shore of the island), so I do realize there has been quite a change in the way Chincoteague looks.  And the biggest change for me will be that the old draw-bridge across the Channel is no longer in use, and the new bridge will spill me out onto Maddox Boulevard, instead of Main Street in the downtown area....  All that means is I'll arrive on the island just 5 blocks from my grandmother's parents and grandparents houses.

Stay Thirsty won yesterday's Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, while Zagora won the Diana Stakes.  Today, 8 colts will contend in the Haskell Invitational, where Shackleford (the Preakness winner) is the betting favorite.  ....  And I'm starting to get excited about the beginning of football season!

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