Monday Mishmosh

Yesterday was JP's birthday...or as he would say "just another day".

God, I hate people who say that about their birthdays.

I get that it's his day and he can do with it whatever he wants, but I sort of like the idea that there's one day out of 365 "just another day(s)" that is not an ordinary day.  It's a special day because you were born on it and if you are not of the mind to celebrate that single, remarkable,God-given, life-affirming event...well, I guess that's your right to be a curmudgeon.

However! Your apathy toward the day can possibly drive other people nuts - especially if they're me someone who fervently believes in celebrating birth days.

So the day went like this:  breakfast on the back deck, enjoying the lovely cool morning we were lucky to have..a trip to Lowe's for some house projects stuff...a few hours of outside house projects...

At this point I was losing my mind from boredom and was starting to get a little cagey.  When I realized he had finally come into the house (4pm) and was now resting in bed like a grandpa...

I was not having it.

A little bit of excitement then ensued...

and then we were up and dressed and in the truck on our way to go do something, anything, somewhere, to make his special day memorable in some way if it was the last damn thing we did!

We wound up in Lewes - famous for the Cape May-Lewes ferry - possibly less famous for its amazing town but only by a slight margin, I think.  We walked and talked and ooh'd and ahh'd and bought some great food which are the things we love doing together.   

The town of Lewes is what small towns should I aspire to; it's walkable, shoppable, dine-able, memorymaking-able, etc. It's scenic and serene and emphasizes its history and historic value - very unlike the NJ shore (where I'm from) which paves over and knocks down anything remotely historic or beautiful and replaces it with gaudy and trendy.  You won't find a lot of gaudy and trendy in Lewes.

Lucky for us, it's just about 20 miles from home so we can go there quickly and easily as much as we want.

From yesterday, a few simple shots:

simple charm

One of the cases filled with deliciousness at Touch Of Italy -
where we got wonderful takeout

The weather has been filled with 'abundant sunshine' which is the term meteorologists use for the kind of days I dislike the most.  I know I know...sunny days make most people happy.  I get that.  But there are some of us whose best days are the overcast and even rainy ones.  

As I've said plenty of times before, sunny days are troublesome for me:  they are too bright, too agitating, the opposite of calm, and if I am outside too long - like, 20 minutes - on such days in summertime when the sun is at its strongest, I break out in a sun rash.

Which is what I am currently dealing with after being outside too much and too long this past weekend... and not dressing properly to hide myself from the sun.

Obviously I am not someone who spends time at the beach (I'm too restless anyway to just sit there for more than a 1/2 hour) and I would not be much fun on a vacation in a tropical location.  

None of this makes me sad and I do not in any way feel that I a missing out.  I don't look out the window on sunny, hot days and wish that I could be outside in it. On the contrary, I am more than content to be inside and comfortable in my dark shade-controlled environment and waiting until later in the day to go outside...where/when I have no risk of breaking out in a rash.

This past weekend I threw caution to the wind and recklessly went outside in daytime because I think I got caught up in an end-of-summer mindset. 

In a few weeks it will be safe for me to be outside as the sun loses some of its intensity but for now I will spend the next week itching; listening to JP telling me not to scratch; taking antihistamine; sleeping a lot because antihistamine make me loopy; and entertaining myself in the safety of my office, seated at my desk, creating nonsense drawings and posting them here.

I am under no illusion that anyone else but me finds them entertaining.

And that's okay.

Remember...

(sun background pic by Freepik)