Sunday, August 13, 2000

 

1:55 a.m. This has been a weekend packed full of many things to do, many places to go. Today was the second day of a two-day celebration for the new Venice boardwalk, and by taking our time and getting a little bit of business out of the way, we pretty much missed most of the festivities.

The boardwalk is not really ready yet. People are still working frantically to finish, and there are piles of new tall palm trees still lying on their side, waiting to be planted. They have very small root balls, by the way. They look like giant leeks on the ground.

Every single newscast tonight made mention of the fact that we've gotten through day one of the Democratic festivities without a single arrest. The police are everywhere and they are very tense. Helicopters are flying back and forth, back and forth. Sirens weave through the Sunday air like forked red ribbons.

We took a long walk this evening and worried that we might be walking right into the center of something, but the various back streets and side alleys were all relatively quiet. I like walking through our various neighborhoods.

Many people have Christmas lights up and glowing year round. Sometimes it's a tree full of white lights and sometimes it's a series of red-pepper festoons. Many houses have music playing and people talking and dishes clinking. Quieter places flash with a blue-white light from their big TV.

Our own big TV is getting repaired. It seems we did actually break a board inside when we sort of dropped it a couple of inches. It will take a few more days and then we'll be back to our old mesmerizing ways, sitting quietly, bathed in the blue-white flashing.

Our seaside weather has continued to be so perfect that it feels fragile. Breezy at night, soft and warmly rounded all afternoon. I continue to have a whole lot of things that have to get done, weekend or no, day or night, tired or not -- it doesn't matter.

I'm bleary by the time I'm able to write here, so for the second night in a row, I apologize for my abrupt ending. At least tonight I don't have hiccups. Last night was amazing -- they were body shattering, really loud froggy gulps ... and rather than wait with my fingers hovering over the keys for the next one to knock me off the home keys, I just gave up and went to bed.

Tonight -- yawns. Aches from the long walk. But a really great photo, don't you think?