What I did on my summer vacation

I haven’t been writing for two months but it feels like a longer time than that. I think because life has been a blissful cacphony of happy,sad,hard,easy, delightful, and annoying.

I spent a lot of time taking pictures these last two months. Here’s a few of them:

We can’t agree if these are sunflowers or black-eyed susans. I think they are the latter. He disagrees. But whatever their name they were abundant this summer. Looking at this picture I’m stunned how green the prairie was in mid July.

We took a couple of trips together and in quick succession. Our first trip was to Palm Springs. We spent a few days floating in a pool. Before I became a slug at our hotel we had lunch on Palm Canyon. Here I am with Marilyn. He has a special filter that makes me look thirty years younger. Gotta love that in a guy. I love Palm Springs and I can’t wait to go back next year.

 

This Hipstagram snap pretties up Bourbon Street. To say I was underwhelmed by New Orleans is an understatement. Most of the French Quarter felt as tatty as Blanche Dubois. Bourbon Street smelled like the worst parts of New Delhi. I kept watching for cows wandering around. I was supposed to write articles about my few days in New Orleans but somehow I don’t think the publication would appreciate “Like Old Delhi but with more vomit and piss on the sidewalk”

We spent time with friends in New Orleans and it was an exhausting four days. The heat, coupled with a sudden tragedy at home tampered with my sunny approach to travel even if the place is less than ideal. That new boyfriend of mine is so deeply patient. This picture reflects the depth of his patience with me. The sign on the building: “you are beautiful” His timing was intentional. He watched the shoreline of the Mississippi river for just the right moment. I was deeply moved by the gesture. (still am)

late summer’s golden light. It’s a bittersweet time of the year for me: I love summer and want to hold her to me twelve months of the year but the light on the plains in August as the grass goes tawny is magnificent.