Ahhh, the beach--

I have now been to the beach twice. It was fabulous. The first day, the water was a little cool, but still nice. Saturday, it was Perfect for this weenie, no-going-in-the-water-unless-it's-over-90 sissy swimmer. Not quite bathwater warm, but darn close.

I really love the Gulf because the waves aren't strong and splashy. I can get out past the surf without much trouble at all and just let the water rock me, and that's what I truly enjoy. When the water's warm and the waves are easy, I've found my bliss.

The wind's been really strong from the south, pushing currents right up along the beach--Gulf water, especially in Texas, tends to be kind of gold--well, okay, brown--because of all the Mississippi sediment, changing to green water, then blue water at various distances. This past week, the green stripe has been really wide, with a very noticeable, distinctive color change not far past the end of the jetties. Which is where the shrimp boats have been trawling, and the seagulls, terns and pelicans fishing. It's really cool to see brown pelicans fly maybe 6 feet over your head, going out to catch fish...

So, yeah, the grandboys were visiting. It was great getting to see them and go play with them. We went to see the Cirque du Soleil "Saltimbanco!" show on Thursday night for the older one's 8th birthday (He had his birthday at our house last year, too). It was a great show--I really loved the sound-effects mime clown, and the tumblers, and the--well, just all of it, except the two-on-a-trapeze act scared the pee-wadding out of me. But they were great too. After, we went to Chuy's to eat, because we only had a birthday cake snack beforehand, and I had Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken. Yum!

I also was trying to get the book untracked. I did get my plot sorted and have been re-writing the opening and tweaking some of the stuff I already had written to make it fit. It's all in the computer now, and I think I have around 70 pages, which is pretty good. Now I get to start from scratch and write madly. I'm ready for the "Debate" scene, where they debate about what the heroine wants to do.

I am taking a "sabbatical" from the dayjob for August so I can really focus and get this book written--except my parents, sisters (and brother at least part of the time) and their families, plus my daughter and her son, will be coming down for a week or more smack in the middle of it.

I foresee more Taco Cabana time. Yeah, I spent a couple of mornings over there last week. The boys all went fishing or golfing the other two mornings... We ate angel fish one night, because they caught them on their boat fishing expedition, the gray-and-black striped kind. They're pretty good eating...

Pictures. My goal is to download pictures this week and post some, one day.