Smells Like Corolla (NC)

30 Days

720 hours (approx.

43,200 minutes (approx.)

Can you tell I’ve been thinking about the beach? Or perhaps more precisely, I’ve been smelling like the beach all day!

The past few days have been so beautiful, especially with the cool breeze that has been blowing. It reminds me of the beach. To make matters worse – or better –, today Sarah took the kids (minus 1 – thanks Danielle for babysitting Ben!) to Randolph Park down in Dublin. Since backs are notoriously difficult to reach to put sunscreen on by yourself, she asked me to do it for her. Rub-a-dub-dub and a few minutes later, she’s set to go.

But now my hands smell like sunscreen. And sunscreen always reminds me of the beach. Add that to the beautiful weather and you get a recipe for day-dreaming at work!

Checking in

Ahh, our vacation was great and very relaxing. It was so good to be able to just get away and enjoy the family and not do much of anything. Sarah has some excellent photos on her blog, including some of Carlos' soccer game, so stop by and check them out. Oh, and don't forget to leave her a comment. :)

Now it's back to the grindstone. And I've hit the ground running. It seems like I've got so many deadlines looming on the horizon, most daunting of which is budgeting. (booo, hiss) Definitely not fun, but also very necessary.

Not much else to say at the moment. I'm hoping to go out and do some more railroad photographing soon. In the meantime, here's one I prepared earlier. It was taken from the 13th Street bridge in Roanoke, leading away west from the South Yard.

It's quiet -- too quiet

I unlock the door, push it open and walk inside the house. The only sounds are the trees rustling on the other side of the road. No sounds from the house. No scurrying feet. No “Papa’s home!!” followed by a mad dash to the front door, attacking me as I close the door. There’s not even the wail of those currently in the throes of either a tantrum, bad attitude or being remedied of them.

Nothing. Quiet. Too quiet.

But nothing is amiss. There’s simply no one else home. Nor will there be any time soon. I’ve got the whole house to myself for 5 whole days. Five lonely, quiet days. Then I get to go back to the beach and spend a whole week just bumming around with my wonderful wife and three beautiful kids.

I miss my family.