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Last night, I was at my neighbor’s for a carnivore’s delight – I brought the dessert champagne and cannolis from Angelo Brocato’s. We got to talking about guns and having one and when would you use one. I said unless I was protecting somebody else’s life, I’d have a hard time pulling a trigger.

Fast forward to this morning – I was walking in the park with Loca having already gone around the bayou with both dogs. It’s a little cooler here but still very hot. We got into the park and the grass had all been cut and the moss was hanging fat from the trees and the quality of light was striking – an overexposed feel to it like it had just rained (it hasn’t). I was marveling over how unbelievably beautiful and tranquil the park looked and felt glad to see it coming back around two years close to the anniversary of Katrina.

As we rounded the lagoon, I saw this blonde haired woman who has an overweight black lab – she was yelling at the dog to come out of the water – and when it did she started hitting it repeatedly on the head – and then she started running with it again and still was punching it hard in the head – my stomach was tightening up but I didn’t say anything. Then she took the leash that she was holding and hit it hard across the head and the dog yelped in pain and I couldn’t bite my tongue. I yelled out, “you stupid ugly bitch don’t hit that dog!” And she yelled back, “Shut up, you idiot.” And I said, “Hit that dog again and I’ll hit you.” She kept running and said, “Shut up.” I said, “You should be locked up with Michael Vick you stupid ugly bitch hitting a dog for going in the water when a lab’s very nature is to go in the water. Stupid ignorant bitch.”

I had to sit down and meditate on a bench after she ran off. I put my middle finger to my thumb and said LALALALALALALALA repeatedly until my breathing calmed down. Loca flopped down by my side, pink tongue hanging out of her black lips, she looked up at me sensing something wrong. I thought I could have hit that woman. Could have taken the leash and hit her upside the head the same way she had hit that dog. But you know what? Her dog would have probably attacked me in order to protect her. And there you have it – loyal to a fucking fault – and yet these precious creatures get in the hands of stupid ignorant ugly humans.

No, I shouldn’t own a gun. I already own a temper.

Someone who spoke with my mother at my house-warming party said your mom is “so dramatic” and then she looked at me and said, “the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.”

I was at Pilates yesterday and L said, “was that you in that big blue truck?” and I said yeah, that bad ass truck is mine. She said, “I couldn’t believe you’d drive a truck.” Weird, I totally see it. And back to Louise Nevelson – I have made my world – I remember watching Cast Away and when Tom Hanks gets back to the states and goes looking for the address where the Heart sculpture came from, he finds that woman working in her large open hangar studio – she’s an attractive woman in her 40s or 50s and she drives a beat up pickup truck. That’s the image I wanted for myself – so I couldn’t wait to get back home and get me a truck. Now that Big Blue has all the dents, and a light busted out, and scrapes all around – it feels more like me – seasoned.

But what is this penchant for drama? It’s not just in my family. My friend K in San Francisco and I used to go to the gym and she would get on that rowing machine and row like a maniac. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was pretending that she was a damsel in distress and in her mind, she was screaming – help me, won’t somebody help me? She was originally from Atlanta.

Is it just the South that breeds women who strut around like actors on a stage? Could be. Here is a great quote from another drama queen from around these parts:

“I don’t believe in dullness. I believe in passion and wonder and excitement. I believe in people having a storm in their hearts, a great big furious storm that sweeps all trivialities away like scraps of paper or dead leaves.”

— from Tennessee Williams’ Mister Paradise

Denis Leary is hilarious on the Colbert report.

I had dinner with P on Monday, dinner with K on Tuesday, dinner tonight is with R&A, dinner tomorrow with B – I’m making my way through the alphabet. This weekend is my 30th High School reunion with my high school friend AA – I went to Lakeside High School in Atlanta. Then on Monday, I’m flying out with F to Turkey where M awaits us on the boat.

No complaints.

One of my neighbors wrote about our little community in his blog – I couldn’t have said it better except to add that why is this man not buying green onion sausage from the Terranovas – surely that and Hubig Pies are the main reason to patronize the store.

I’m taking mom to the airport as she is flying with my sister to Florida to some doc who professes to be an expert in RSDS. She said she had to go by the bank and cash a check. I said why don’t you have an ATM card? She said, I’m scared of those ATM machines.

What goes on?

Up at 5:30 this morning and by the time the dogs and I got out the door the sky was awash with dawn’s rosy glow – ah, these are the morning where you just know it is going to be a special day. And it is – today is a day in my life and a day in yours – how special is that?

Last night K and I went to Baru and had a delicious meal of tuna tartare, ceviche and grilled meats with charrusco sauce. Yum yum. The food was a knock out. The issue is it is tiny tiny tiny and we had to wait outside in this unholy heat. The chef was so hot that we told the woman who was clearing out table to bring him a glass of our wine (they don’t have their liquor license yet so we brought our own) and we said, he’s hot – she said, thanks, he’s my husband! Oh my. Then he came out to thank us – a big honking man’s man with the most beautiful eyes.

Before Loca – clean windows and floors

After Loca – three foot swash of nose smears and foot prints everywhere

I have long held that wishes should never be specific because sometimes you wish for what you think is going to make you happy and you get it and it doesn’t make you happy. And then sometimes someone or something is not even on your radar and they appear out of the blue and bring gobs of happiness into your life. Well, it has caused me to be a cautious and conservative wisher – because I think I don’t know what is best for me – but in the process of shedding old fears and habits, I have moved into being a person who is now issuing wishes left and right for exactly what I want – I’ll let you know the outcome.