Here we go again

Remember in the movie "Groundhog Day" how the day kept repeating? I don't have it quite that bad, but remember this? Foot? Short leg walking cast? Six weeks of hobbling around?

Well, folks, I don't have it quite as bad as Bill Murray, but I have a cast again. Same kind. Same color. Same foot. Remember that wreck I told you about? It seems I have a fracture after all.



The red arrow points to a red spot and that's what's cracked off my big toe bone near the arch. The doctor wanted to know how I'd been walking around on it for three and a half weeks. Well, I had to. And they kept telling me it was just bruised. But the orthopedic doctor has super-duper digital x-ray equipment and can enlarge x-rays so your foot looks a yard long. And that's how he found the fracture.

So I'm back in a cast for six weeks. But this time I have to use crutches for at least the first three weeks to keep weight off the fracture so it can heal.

~sigh~

Everything takes twice as long and twice as much effort when crutches are involved. I carry everything either in a backpack or a cross-body bag. My employer has been terrific about accomodating for my special needs. But I'm already counting the days til March 5 and this thing comes off.

Meanwhile, to put a positive spin on things, it's a new month. And it's a leap year, so all those February 29th-ers can celebrate a birthday. And what else?

* One for the Money hit theaters last week. I haven't been yet but I hope to go this weekend.

* Super Bowl Sunday is February 5th. I have no clue who is playing. But it's time for great new commercials!

* It's American Heart Month, and National Time Management Month. Watch your fats and cholesterols and get yourself a good desk calendar.

* Groundhog Day is tomorrow. Phil will let us know about the state of our winter. It's also Crepe Day, Marmot Day and Sled Dog Day. Go hug a husky.

* February 3rd is The Day the Music Died, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

* Solo Diner's Eat Out Week is February 1 - 7.

* Jello Week is February 12 - 18.

* Random Acts of Kindness Week is February 13 - 19.

* Get a Different Name Day is February 13. I think I'll get Katherine Hepburn. Or maybe Audrey Hepburn. Or maybe Audrey Meadows. Or Jayne Meadows. Or Jayne Mansfield.

* International Sword Swallowing Day is February 25th. I think I'll skip that one.

* And here's my absolute favorite: February 20th is Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day. Folks, I had to look this one up. At noon local time, you are supposed to go outdoors and and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and get ready for the first day of spring, which is a month later. Let's all do this, okay?????

And one last bright spot, we're a little bit closer to new episodes of Bones and The Closer. I cannot wait for Brennan to go into labor and to watch Booth's reaction. We know it's a girl. I'm thinking maybe they'll name her after Brennan's mother. Or maybe Joy, which was Brennan's name before she was Temperance. Just wild guesses.

Any bets on what they're gonna name the little tyke?

Life's a beach, and then you come home

I've spent the past two weeks at my mother's house, tending to her after she had some major surgery. That's why she hasn't been posting her pithy comments here lately. She's recovering nicely and should be back up to speed in a couple months.

But I got to thinking about something. I tell folks I'm going to visit my mother and that she lives on the coast of Georgia and automatically they jump to the conclusion she lives on the beach.

Au contraire. Yes, she lives on a small barrier island, which oddly enough has a longitude that's only -.33 degrees different from Cleveland, Ohio. See? This is why I don't worry so much about her during hurricane season. She is so far inland that their threat from a hurricane is quite minimal. That's not to say it can't happen, but it happens less than oh, say... Key West.



But I digress. She doesn't live on the beach. It's not far, though. 4.3 miles from her house to the beach at the old Coast Guard station according to Google maps. I've posted photos of the beach during past visits, but I thought I'd give you a little sample of how the everyday people live.

This is my mother's house. It's nice, it's comfy, it's beautifully decorated on the inside, but it's not on the beach.



And this is her houseguest philosophy. She's ~mumble, mumble, mumble~ years old so I suppose she's entitled to feel this way. ;-)





She has grass and shrubs and garden statuary like many people do. Here's "Frank" and a set of temple bells.




This is one side of her house and some positively gorgeous flowers called Agapanthus (also known as Lily of the Nile). Sadly, Huntsville is one cold-hardiness zone too far north for these to flourish. They could handle our summers, but not the winter.



And here's a close-up. Aren't they lovely? So you see, my mother has flowers, not sea oats growing in her yard.



She also has towering live oak trees. Because this is a barrier island, local ordinances prohibit cutting any tree with a diameter larger than a few inches. I guess they are afraid developers would chop away everything and the island would wash away. It could happen, you know.



She has spiders. I've seen plenty of geckos too. I'd be willing to bet there's a snake in the yard somewhere but I try not to dwell on that because I'd never set foot outside otherwise.



And there is the ever-present Spanish moss. It drips from everything -- the live oaks, her dogwood tree, the azaleas and camelias. And large chunks of it fall and get all over everything, like her backyard swing that hangs in the shade of a big live oak tree.




I hope you get a chance to visit St. Simons Island sometime (and the rest of the Golden Isles of Georgia too). It's a beautiful spot filled with history. The beaches aren't as pretty as our pre-oil spill Emerald Gulf Coast, but the wild Georgia shrimp here are to DIE for!

I'm back in town now and playing catch-up. I have mail to sort and bills to pay and dirty clothes to wash and an editor pitch to get ready for though I did get quite a few books from her line read during my time as Nurse Ratchett, Jr. (my younger sister holds the Senior title). The afternoon before I left I made one last jaunt to the Coast Guard beach and got there just in time for a storm with thunder and lightning to roll in.

Some beach.

Do any of YOUR relatives live in neat places?

P.S. Remember today is the last day to enter my "Red Hot Romance" contest.