7.10.99, Saturday

    Right now, I'm working my way quickly through a box of Kleenex Brand Cold Care Tissues, lotion-enhanced. I'm a veritable fountain of snot. If only I could charge people to watch my nose drip. It's the eighth wonder of the world! Where does it all come from? Where does it go?

    A few moments ago, I beckoned T. to come out with me on the porch. He's inside watching the Women's World Cup match. I'd watch, too, but out here I can hack and cough and sneeze and blow without offending anyone. Some people on the next balcony over were throwing food to the seagulls and they were doing circular formations past the edge of the building and this balcony, catching the wind and floating by for the pickings. Every once in awhile one would come within touching distance, notice me standing there and look over at me as if to say, "Got anything good?"

    These aren't the kind of seagulls I'm accustomed to. When I picture 'gulls, I picture those large white and grey things with orange beaks and white heads. These are smaller with black heads and smaller beaks. Their bodies are white but the tops of their wings are black and the tips of their wings underneath are black. They're kind of cute.

    These creatures float on the heavy wind and stretch out their wings with little effort. As I watched them swirling so close I noticed a few with real finesse. One would swoop down and then let the current carry him right back to where he started. Another would barely drop one foot and then the other to sort of zig-zag glide across the sky lazily. It became eerie watching them so close. I felt some apprehension as I recalled one of the most famous of Hitchcock's movies, The Birds. It actually all looked unreal like some virtual dreamscape. The birds floating by, the waves crashing in the background, the flock of pelicans that flew overhead in formation like some preserved form of the pterodactyl.

    They don't seem as agressive as the other kind which we saw tearing apart a piece of bread in the grocery parking lot this morning after our Kleenex mission.

    I ran out of Kleenex this morning while packing up. I found a box in the car last night and was grateful for it. The toilet tissue and the paper towels were about as soft as newspaper. My nose, though still raw, was getting tortured by that paper. I barely slept last night since I kept having to reach for the box. When I ran out about 9 o'clock this morning, I screamed. First stop after check-out was to get me a box of tissue. I've been carrying it around all day saying, "All I need is this tissue — nothing else. Well, except for this thermos and this lamp. Just tissue and this thermos and this lamp — nothing else. Well, except for this chair." I think T's the only one who really gets the joke.

    He's been such a sweetie about me being sick. Although, his idea of being a nurse is to pump me full of over-the-counter meds and ride the narco-wave to healthiness. After awhile I feel like those things hold me back from getting well. When he's sick I really baby him. He's not much of a babyier but has been good this round.

    Yesterday, I stayed at our condo/apartment and slept and watched teevee as I had nothing to do and nothing to read. I had a fever off and on but the Tylenol Cold meds seemed to snap me out of it. T. went with his family to The Riviera and picked up a few bargains. Some towels, some 250 count thread, cotton, sheets and some tools from Black & Decker. I'm not convinced the tools were that much of a bargain but we would have ended up getting them eventually. What is amusing me is that T. thinks he's actually going to build things with his tools. I laugh to myself because there is no way that any building is going to go on in that apartment. It's too small for that stuff. If we rent a house or someplace with a shed or garage he can saw and sand and nail to his heart's content.

    I managed to make it out to dinner for "all you can eat" shrimp at Bubba's. It wasn't the best but I certainly ate all that I could. You have to do that at least once on vacation. Today, for lunch, we went to The Spot and I had jambalaya. It was decent jambalaya but my Dad's is better. And, of course I had to excuse myself three times to blow my nose. On one trip a lady came in with two small kids, a boy and a girl, and brought them into the stall with her. As each of the kids completed the task at hand they each yelled "Hooray!" at the top of their lungs. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.

    Tonight's our last night here. Tomorrow we'll drive back to Jonesboro, Arkansas, and from there to Little Rock, on Monday morning, for the trip home. It's been fun but T. and I will be so happy to get home. We miss Oz and we have so many things waiting for us, not the least of which is our new jobs.