Just got back late this afternoon from a family-visitin' trip down south. Weeeoooow. Tired. *laugh* That aside, it was a lot of fun. My newest cousin is just two, and she experienced her first fireworks this week. Two words: EPIC FAIL. She took one look at the...what's the term in firework jargon...intro round, I guess, of fireworks and her eyes got really round, and then her bottom lip jutted out, and her eyebrows started quivering on her forehead. Next thing you know, her whole body was shaking and she was sobbing. Maybe next year.
No, I don't get all peaches-and-cream over every unit of my extended family, but these people a great, kind, generous, warm, fun, etc., etc., etc., and I had such a wonderful time. The trip isn't bad at all; less than ten hours. Still the same geographical region even. But whoa, you want to talk about hick! *laughing/shaking head* Not that there's anything wrong with that. I done grew up thinking I comed from a purty hillbilly area. (ha.) You can probably tell by the words/names I use in my stories, if you read them. But one less-than-ten-hour drive can totally prove that notion wrong. Wowsers.
The accent, for one. Mine can get "thick" from time to time, but ho-ly! Their accent is both so quick and so slow that its almost infuriating if you talk to a native who doesn't realize you aren't a native. The words themselves are spoken quickly but the vaaay---ooooww---eeell (vowel) saaayyyy---ooooooowwwww---nds (sounds) take forever and a day! Plus we were deep in the Bible Belt. For those of you outside the US, that means you just add in a Hallelujah and an Amen after every third sentence and pray over every lost french fry. Oh yeah, and we were in a dry county. *shudder* Which means even more people drank somewhere else and then drove home during the holiday than where I live. What an awful thought! But the local economy is almost booming there in comparison to most other places in this part of the country; it absolutely stunned me.
What else...hmm...GREAT food (yum yum, a big thank you to Lisa and Cindy!), great company, lots of hiking and playing and whatnot. A family member there has been deathly ill and in and out of the hospital for months; he was released just in time to enjoy the holiday with everyone and a good cup of joe with me, which is stellar. And there were snow cones (my new favie is blue raspberry, lime and coconut all in one). Yup, a good trip. What's better is that some of them will be coming up for a visit later this month! Hooray!
Anyway, it gave me time to amp up my creative juices a bit since lately I've been slacking. I've got what I hope could be a great TCE story in the mix right now BUT it's already late and it's not finished. errr.... And now I'm off to go do that.
So that's where you disappeared to ? Sounds like you had a blast !! Welcome back !
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