Saturday, August 27, 2011

Deep in the Heat of Texas


Yep, 110 degrees outside the vehicle on our drive home today . . .

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I'm Dreaming of Da Da

Let us establish a couple of things first:

"Da-Da Music" is specifically a Christmas album put out by my dear friend Doris Rosenblatt, an elderly (don't tell her I said that) Jewish woman from Brooklyn. Her memory is going, so whenever she forgets the lyrics, she replaces them with "da-da" (as in "I'm dreaming of a white da-da!"). Doris calls me every year on my birthday and sings to me the "da-da" version of Happy Birthday (how she remembers my birthday but rarely my name is just a wonder). This is truly the highlight of my birthday. One year she called on Christmas--I was verklempt. I have many stories--of my newlywed husband's first phone conversation with Doris, confused baby sitters, the missionaries (we put her on speakerphone that year, so they all could listen in to the fun) and the friends I've repeatedly made listen to the recorded phone messages and more. The Christmas album was a delightful Christmas surprise last year. It showed up as a gift from Dame Rosenblatt herself and I have to admit, we listened to it in the car with the children--a lot. My children may come to believe that "da-da" is truly a part of every Christmas carol written.

Now that we have the context for this Elliotism of the day, let us begin . . .

Elliot: Mom, do we still have the da-da music in the car?

Mom: No.

Elliot: Darn! because I LOVE that music!

(this is August in Texas mind you)

Elliot: Can I listen to it in bed?

Then there was the continued conversation in the car regarding the GPS (or as Elliot calls it "Joo Pee Ess" or as I hear it "Jew-P-S") and so I started asking myself just what would the JewPS say to me when I made that wrong turn? And would she sound like Doris?

"See, see what happens when you don't listen to me!? You just turn right back around . . . No! not now! WE'RE GONNA DIE! . . . alright then, I'm not sure how you pulled that off, but since we're alive, let's get moving already . . . schmutz."

I did find the Da-Da music and Elliot went to sleep listening to it last night . . . sweet dreams baby Jesus . . .

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Flamingos

I saw a flock of Flamingos overhead while I was floating in the pool. I don't believe I've ever seen flamingos fly before.

Day 19 of 100+ degree heat here. And this was the last day of the daily pool hours. School starts Monday (can you even imagine going to school when it's 100 degrees out?). Pool is only open weekends through September, then nothing. It better be 65 degrees by October . . . Except really, how refreshing can pool water be when it's baked in the sun all day? I've been contemplating floating blocks of ice in the pool, but somehow I think it'd be futile. I know, at least we have a pool to go to . . . no whining on the yacht!

On the health front, no real progress. Several months and a few thousand dollars later, I think we've determined that there may be more wrong with his foot than just the nerve pain (which is what we told them from the beginning). However, no one is quite sure yet what the other problem is (Medicine = 10% science, 90% hunch). But he's going to have a minor, yet due to the nerve condition, complicated surgery to further a strong guess. Let us hope the guess is correct because after that, we got nothin'.