I miss all of you, reader darlings.

I am back. And it feels good to be back. I want to thank all of you lovely readers for your sympathies and thoughts.

Hmmm. Where to begin? Well, in list format (with bullets, no less):

• Last week, I was in Denver momentarily, Portland for five days, Denver momentarily again, Tampa, and then Sanibel, FL.
• I was a pall bearer in my grandma's funeral. Coffins are very heavy. Esecially with grandmas in them! Her funeral mass was lovely. It was the prettiest funeral I've ever been to; it was happy-sad, but it was punctuated with the loveliest kind of quiet...and somber-Ave-Maria-on-the-piano.
  
• I saw a lot of relatives and family friends and had some really yummy food. Molasses cookies are better than anything in the world. Especially when you're feeling glum.
  
• I did a wee bit of shopping and my rubber stamp collection has seven new additions.
  
• I just wrote "wee bit" and it's staying.
• My dad flew back with me to Florida on Wednesday night (last week) and we went to Sanibel to enjoy a vacation that was planned before my grandma's death. I have never laughed so hard in recent months. My dad is a real card. It was his mom who passed, but we were partying like my grandma would have liked us to do.
• My rad '95 Toyota Corolla got some major tune-uppage.
  
• We rode bikes. A lot.
• We experienced a red tide. As a result, we happened upon 345,796 dead fish, horse shoe crabs and (what looked like) eels, all washed up on the Florida gulf coast. It was a real stinky deal. Because some of those many fish were (what looked like to me, anyway) blowfish, I have had the Little Mermaid song, "Under the Sea" in my head for days ('and oh dat blowfish blow!'). You're jealous now, aren't you?
  
• Speaking of songs in my head...Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' has been in there for a few days now. ...War is not the answer....
• I dropped my dad off at the airport today. I felt like a little baby because I came home and had myself a good cry. I think it was because we were keeping each other glued and laughing and holy S! it's hard being so far from family when the family is grieving.

Okay my peeps. I'm holding back something else. Something REAAAALLLY big. Something REAAAALLLLY exciting. I got some new wheels.

Well. I got myself a bike.

I know. I know! You're dying to see photos. They're coming...I've been at war (even though it's not the answer) with my digital camera lately. The battery charger thingy is on the fritz (no, not that Fritz). So when I get the camera together, I'll make sure you see my pictures. I did sneak some in of a Portland sunset, too. And plane ride photos, as well. And then it died.

Okay, and I want to thank Harry Yak, my newest reader and Beatles fan, for his comments. And to all of you again, THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for your sympathies. It's hard to "miss" people you don't really "know," but I did. I really thought of you lots!! :-)