Hug Your Mother Every Day

My sister-in-law's mother passed away on Saturday and yesterday we atteneded the funeral. It was a lovely service, but it was difficult. The woman being honored was the same age as my mother, and sitting next to my own mother, it seemed wrong that she should be gone. She was youthful, in great shape, and presumably healthy. And then she found out she had leukemia.

I've known a couple of other women in the same age bracket who died of leukemia. It's a horribly aggressive form of cancer and it takes its toll quickly, and without exception.

My heart goes out to my sister-in-law, her sister, brothers, nieces and nephews and her own children. I was standing next to her at the restaurant after the funeral and she said to me "It sucks." I agreed. Then she said "Hug your mother every day."

Words to live by.

A Case of the Frizzies

If you're on the East Coast, then most likely you are experiencing what I am at this moment. Frizzy hair. This tropical depression, dumping multiple inches of rain into our septic system, is making it necessary for me to hide out under a baseball cap. Barring that, a paper bag will have to do.

Bad hair weather sucks. Especially when I'm badly in need of a cut and a lot of color. The mousy brown is back highlighted with many non-blonde strands of silver. Or gray. Depending on my mood. I need a couple of hours in the chair, the scent of peroxide wafting over me, followed by a thorough blowout so that I'll have straight hair for a day.

The first time I ever had a blowout, about a year and a half ago, I was giddy with awe as I viewed my glamourous straight blonde hair. Why had I never done this before?

It's so short-lived that smooth-haired excitement.

I am contemplating waiting out the rain in a salon chair today. It seems the only logical thing to do. Nothing can disguise the fact that my head is a mess. Not makeup. Not jewelry. Not turtlenecks. Not even flossing my teeth seems to hide the fact that the pourous strands of protein floating around my head were once hair.

Or were they?

I'm also feeling as if an alien baby is trying to break out of my mid-section so it's possible that my judgement is impaired.

But that's what coffee is for, right?

Howling at the Moon

Tonight is the full moon. Not that we'll see it. It's been overcast since Saturday with some incredibly torrential rains on Sunday. Since then the wind has been quite blowy and noisy. So noisy that it sounds like rain.

But it's not.

I don't know if it's the influence of the moon, the lack of sun, or just the need for a large cocktail, but my alter-ego Cranky Bitch (CB) has emerged and she's not happy. If she was, she wouldn't be called Cranky Bitch. She'd be all happy rainbows and butterflies that would make CB want to hurl.

I'm not really complaining about the weather. I've been loving it and the joy of sleeping comfortably at night. With the windows open. Anticipating the arrival of Autumn.

Do bats come out on the full moon?

Just wondering.

We kind of live in the woods. It would be more like woods with fewer neighbors, but this time of year we can barely see any of them. This is a good thing. Unfortunately we can hear them yelling at their kids and they're not shy about turning up their stereos for their outdoor enjoyment.

So much for peace. You can make a peace sign from a full moon. When it looks like a complete circle. But the full moon is not making any peace (or friends) in my house tonight.

A good howl might be just what I need. And scare the hell out of the neighbors while I'm at it. Maybe they'll think I'm a feral cat.

Do cats howl?