My pretty
September 18, 2005Onemana, New Zealand
6:40pm
Home comes up more now. We are approaching the halfway point of the planned part of our adventure. By adventure I mean dinner at Carols. We are booked until the end of January, but we are desperately trying to skip the Canadian winter so options are being discussed. But we do talk about home now, and if indeed home is home, or home is somewhere near home, or home is nowhere near home, or if home is on the range, where the deer and antelope play. As mentioned, options are being discussed.
I think it is the fact we are set up here as a normal family, not as transient, and it feels very much like a home. Even with my allocated “work” schedule during the week, I find myself both relieved and disappointed on the weekends that I do not have those three hours to bury myself in the novel. I say I can write on the weekends, but the fact is, Steph takes Hud for most of the weekdays, and I want the time with Hud, and Steph deserves a spell.
This past weekend, after the enchanting meal across the street, and the even more enchanting post meal, back at home, fireside chat a la wine and nudity with my wife, was pretty dull. The weather is not co-operating with our grand weekend road trip adventure plans, so on Saturday all we did was drive up and down a mountain to a town called Thames. We went to a mall, and wondered wide eyed like a trio of yokels at all the pretty lights and shiny sales. We ate our packed lunch at a playground, where Hud ran hunched over, exaggerated arms flying, to all the new-to-him equipment. Finally we went to see the Wallace and Gromit movie at a tiny old theatre with about twenty other kids. I ate too much candy and not enough celery and almost, almost fell asleep with my ball cap over my eyes about an hour in. I am really getting old. I used to only be able to sleep, lying, in fetal position, with a pillow between my knees, and my head on a nice flat pillow, in a queen sized bed. Now I can fall asleep anywhere. ……………………………………..huh what? See?
We drove home and did not feel like making a big old dinner so Hud had the beef and barley soup Steph made last week. Ten minutes later, after picking at Hud’s, so did I. I told Steph it reminded me of the Campbell’s beef and barley soup I loved as a kid. Mental note: Comparing homemade soup to Campbell’s is not often viewed as a compliment. Hud went to bed pretty easily, so Steph and I got all cuddled and started to watch Passion of the Christ. I feel asleep reading the first five minutes. Steph watched the whole thing and fell asleep disturbed, tossy and turny.
Last night a storm ripped through Onemana and I thought it was going to tear the roof off. Carol mentioned that September brings strong winds through the Coromandel, but I honestly thought I saw a witch on a bicycle when I looked out the window in the middle of the night. And the rain. Massive droplets of rain for five hours straight. It sounded like machine gun fire on our roof. Needless to say, I did not sleep that well. I woke up at 5:30am and came downstairs; staring at the storm like it was a long lost enemy. I always went for my walk to feel the fury of this wicked wicked storm, but it was Sunday, my day of rest, so it was easy to decline.
Today we simply hung around. It pissed on and off for most of the day, so Hud watched a couple of movies and I finished one of the stupidest books I ever read. The main character was so arrogant, so unappealing, she managed to make me hate her even though she was the parent of a child molestation victim. Not an easy task. The only benefit I took from this book was the fact that if this woman can get published, over and over again, to acclaim even, then my hard-nosed, fun tale of booze, broads and diamonds the size of doorknobs may have a chance.
We did manage to buy more groceries and play at the pirate ship park for a little bit. Steph did a classic mother of the year move in between two other mothers and their respective children. She got Hud on the big swing, gave him a big push, and he fell off backwards. It scared him more than it hurt, but he still cried and we walked away smiling, Steph’s tail between her legs. It has happened to every parent I am sure at one time or another.
Now I am full after the steak, roasted Kumara and potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower meal I just made. I started another book, a mystery this time, my ninth read in four months.
What a luxury.
Love to all,
J.
posted by Jason @ 12:21 AM
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