While the cat ( that’s me) was away, the mouse did play ( that’s Han). Yes, my beloved companion was going to ‘ naughty’ sites while I was away. Do I mind ? No. I do not believe that looking at ‘ dirty’ pictures will change the man I have been with for over 20 years, the one who separates his garbage diligently, who has proved to be brilliantly creative in finding excuses for why he shouldn’t have to change poopy diapers. No, this will not turn Han into Ted Bundy.

However, his voyages have left a residue within my computer. In fact, I do believe that I could open the first female run live-bait shop in Brabant with the creepy crawlers which are crawling around within my computer. Even McAfee has tossed their hands in the air.

My computer must go back to the computer Dr. Should I ever have a normal computer again, I surely will enjoy answering- as well as reading- the comments left here.

Wish me luck.

Oh, it seems something is using my email address ( the url one) to send nasty bugs about. Bridget, you have been a target. Richard, your address has been hijacked as well.

August 29 was my ‘Polish Grandmother’s’ birthday. Really, she was Polish. She was born there. If you ( Edwin) are with a Pole, they would tell you that she was from the most…eh-hem..low class place in Poland. Really. Write for details.She always retained that sort of ‘ hunky’ accent, a rather familiar one, that I heard once again when the kids and I landed in Detroit. It’s almost- but not quite- as identifiable as that cajun accent. It was nice to hear once again.

Whatever. Mom died in May, we got married in August. We decided to get married on August 29 because we thought- in the way that the young do- that it might mean something to my mother’s mother. Well, it never did, to anyone all around. It was, in short, a failed beau geste.

So, the other day was our 20th anniversary- but, you know, for some reason, anniversaries have just never meant much to us, so, what do you know , it turns out, it’s a day in transit. One of those lost days, traveling from continent to continent, not knowing the day – really- or what time it is- really.

But Meggie might remember it, or not. It’s hard to say, at her age. The night of the 28th we spent in two lovely rooms Dad arranged at the Westin in Atlanta. We checked in the night before our flight, tried to enjoy the ‘dream beds’, and the next day, Han took the two older kids to the pool. They have an outdoor pool, which goes from 3 to 5 feet and an indoor pool, which goes from 5 to 8 feet feet.

Meg, left with me, carried on and on. Usually, she wears a life-jacket and an inner tube when she ’swims’, but they were all left at grandpa’s. Of course, I gave in. As she and I entered the area to the pool, we met Han, coming to get us.

With everyone swearing that they would watch Meg like hawks, we let her go into the pool. There was a broad staircase going into the pool, at the 3 foot level, and for a long time I stood there, watching her dip herself into the water. And then Sally, who can swim quite well, floated her into the 4 foot area. The 3 kids played. I went and sat in a chair, next to Han.

It was a small pool. I sat- in my ‘airplane clothes’ watching the kids. Meg, about 18 feet away, playing on the stairs. Mike and Sally about 12 feet away, facing me, doing that ‘ watch me, Mommy’ routine. And so, sitting on the recliner, Han next to me, I could see the kids. ‘Watch me, Mommy!’ . And I saw Meg slip off of the staircase, into the water over her eyebrows. I stood up. Mike and Sally saw my attention diverting from them and looked back, behind them to Meg. She was going under. The water was about to her eyebrows, but she followed Sally’s words : jump off of the bottom. She jumped, but her nose and mouth did not come above water. I moved forward, but I can’t say if time slowed down or I froze. I saw her go down again and took a step. I said to myself ‘ It takes longer to drown’. Perhaps I took another step, perhaps I said something, I don’t know. Sally and Mike were in the water, 6 to 7 feet away from Meg, had looked at me and were heading for her. Perhaps she went under again, perhaps I saw from the corner of my eye that Han had noticed what was going on. Perhaps he stood up, moving to-wards were I was at the end of the pool. Maybe I remembered that he was in his swimsuit, I was in ‘ airline’ clothes, maybe I recalled that he could dive better than I and was taller ( it was only 10 feet away). Whatever, before I knew it , a man within 6 feet of Meg had dived in and plucked her out. He said to us : ‘ I have little ones as well.

I took her in my arms and she screamed. She didn’t cough up water, no, she must have held her breath . But she cried and cried out how frightened she was. And when her fear was over, in her own, 3 year old words, she said (translation:) you were supposed to help me.

I could feel all guilty and such, but oddly, I only hope that she doesn’t retain a fear of water.. and the time we let her her down.

On the way to the lake today we stopped off at Horace and Sara’s. They have about sixty acres of heavily wooded land and even Dad had a bit of trouble finding the dirt road that leads into their property. The kids- of course- were hoping to catch sight of that black panther, but were happy enough to play with the three stray dogs that Horace and Sara have taken in. One looked like a slender, black newf and the kids begin to talk of how they missed Buddy and Elvis.

We admired their tractor and Sara’s canning kitchen and then took off to the lake. In the late afternoon, Dad and I and Han were sipping cold beers and talking about next summer, what might be possible, what people would like to do. Han- of course- suggested that we fly into Boston, that Dad meet us there and then we all drive down here together. This is a long time dream of Han’s. If I were home in my little room of my own, I would insert a music clip here. It would be that Simon and Garfunkel tune, you know the one : ‘ We’ve all gone to look for America…’. I have yet to meet a Dutch person of our age who doesn’t dream of getting in the VW camper and driving across America.

Then Jimmy came down from the house carrying a big bowl of sun-warm scuppernong grapes that he had just picked. Except for Dad, we had never eaten them before, so Jimmy told us how one splits them with your teeth and then pops the grape into your mouth, discarding the skin. They were very good and much fun, for of course Mike had to squeeze one with his fingers. Which popped out and landed on my lap.

Tomorrow we pack for 4 days in Florida and then on the 29th we head home. It’s been a fine summer and passed very quickly.

The other day when we were driving out to the lake for the afternoon, I saw some deer walking through a pasture next to the road. I’m such a ‘city girl’ that I must admit that I was charmed. Wow, deer !

Yesterday we went over to Granny Estes, to help her celebrate her 94th birthday. Horace was there and we were chit-chatting and I mentioned the deer that we had seen. He then told me that they have a few wild turkeys on their property right now as well as a black panther. Black panther, aren’t zoos the natural habitat of black panthers, not farm land in Alabama ? But I just smiled and said ‘Wow ! A black panther’.

You know, we still owe them a visit.

Black panther ?

I am rather shocked by the number of really fat, really young – under 10 to Meg’s age- children that I see walking around.

It’s a topic that deserves some time, but I hate being in a non-smoking computer room.

No fun at all.

Maybe back in my little room of my own.

I can’t help but wonder how much food those children must inhale to be so large at such a young age. Sally eats like a horse, I mean, she can eat more pizza than I can, but remains bone thin.

And I wonder how a parent can let it happen. Yes, up to a certain age, I blame the parents. After all, Meg can’t walk into the grocery store and buy a cart of junk food all on her little lonesome, can she ?

Han and I sit on the deck in the morning, watching the hummingbirds, drinking coffee, smoking and catching up on things. We laugh and laugh and laugh at what we are saying, two word jokes that would require three books of footnotes for anyone else to understand. I realize that there is no one else who’s company I enjoy half so much as Han’s.

To add to the fine morning, I learn that they are retiring their FrontPage site. Celebrations are in order, dontcha think ?

Han flies into Atlanta tomorrow. It will be fine to see him once again.

I made no secret of what delighted me when I learned that we would be going to New Orleans : I have always wanted to go to New Orleans and recreate that scene in ‘ Gone With The Wind’, you know, that one that takes place during Rhett and Scarlet’s honeymoon in New Orleans. They are seated in a fancy restaurant and she is gobbling her dinner like a small, well dressed hog. She points to passing trays, saying she wants that, that and that as well. Yes, I wanted to eat my way through New Orleans. I wanted to try gumbo, and Cajun- this and Creole-that. After my initial excitement, though, I had to wonder what in the world we were going to do with three kids while I honed my skills of gluttony.

Turns out, New Orleans is a great place to take kids, even ones as young as Meg. They had a great time. Top of the list ? Going for a boat ride into the swamps.

I liked that fine as well. We took The Cypress Swamp Tours ride. Now, I don’t know about other tours and how they go, but you will see alligators on this tour, no good timing needed, no luck of the draw and I shall tell you why : it seems that alligators have a sweet tooth. Let me be more precise, it seems that alligators just love marshmallows.

We saw about 7 or 8 alligators. This first one loomed out in the water in front of our boat, waiting. Then the captain of the boat made an odd sound and tossed a large marshmallow into the water, on our side of the boat and sure enough, the alligator swam over by us and ate the sweet.

A little further down the bayou, the same thing happened again, this time the Captain threw the marshmallows on the other side of the boat. Mike, Sally and Meg went over to the other side but the adults blocked their view and so the Captain took them up on a platform by him and gave them each a marshmallow to toss in.

Soon we caught on to the trick and noticed many alligators- waiting – in the waters, waiting for the call and the treats to appear. It was hard to fear an animal that so clearly loves marshmallows. They were beautiful to see.

And me, did I stuff ’till I busted ? Nope, after all, you can only eat so much on any given day and so I still have many dishes- including gumbo -on my list of ‘ must-try’ s.

We were originally going to stay at a W Hotel in the French Quarter down in New Orleans. But after looking at the rooms ( Daddy is very particular about the rooms which he stays in), he decided that we should stay over at the Sheraton on Canal Street. Fine with me, whatever.

I was rather surprised, however, that he managed to get any rooms at all, let alone the charming suite that we spent our three nights in. You see, there was a huge convention going on at the hotel, hundreds- I kid you not- hundreds of people were attending this convention. Every time the elevator doors opened, every time we walked down a hallway or stood in the lobby, we saw the familiar name-tags announcing that the bearer was attending a meeting of members from ‘ Overeaters Anonymous’.

Anyone else enjoying those gruesome clips for the TBS film Red Water ?

What timing.

For those of you in Europe who must wait to see this thriller, when I first saw the commercial, I thought ‘ My, they are making a new Jaws film’. Guess how that water gets red ?