The Heat Goes— Oh, You Get It Already

Sunday evening in Starbucks. I spent a few dollars this afternoon to buy car washing supplies and then I gave my new baby a bath. That would be the first time in 20+ years I've hand washed a car. It would have been easier to drive through an automated car wash, but my car is so small that I couldn't pass up the temptation to do it myself. It's nice to be able to wash the entire roof of the car without needing a stool— and without having to press myself against the wet car door.

Yesterday I spent the day with Pat and Lisa. The girls were at separate sleep-overs— all day even! It was a nice relaxing day in the comfort of their AC. (Today is the fourth day straight of temperatures about 105°.) We watched an old movie in the afternoon— Murder By Death— which still has the power to make one laugh. In the evening I drove us over to Victoria Gardens and we had a modest dinner at The Hat. I had a delicious pastrami burger and gravy fries. That's right, gravy fries— french fries with a brown gravy poured over them. The burger was great, the fries were so-so.

I started reading John D. McDonald's "Nightmare in Pink". This is the second of the Travis McGee novels. McGee is a self-described beach bum, living on a boat in Florida in the 1960's. If you've never read a McGee novel and you enjoy a good detective story, what are you waiting for? McDonald's prose is a joy to read and his grasp on McGee's voice is perfect. Hard-boiled, but not cliche, McGee solves his cases with persistence and bluntness. Like any good sympathetic yet shady character, he can call on violence when needed. What rounds these books out for me is the vision of old Florida. Widows in beach-front condos, dark bars, watered inlets under Spanish-moss draped trees— it's all there. And, like good books used to be, the books are long enough to enjoy for a few hours and short enough to leave you wanting more. Seriously, go read one now.

I'm hoping the temperature goes down this week so I can get more packing done during the days. It was just so hot this last week. I have approximately four weeks to go— 27 days if I meet my scheduled Saturday departure.

Back soon.

"The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in late and owns the worm farm."— Travis McGee (John D. McDonald)