It was a rough week work-wise, and I am so ready to relax and have some fun. We're going camping in our little baby trailer. It's 11 feet long and we can pull it with our Honda Element. How cute is that?
Our camping philosophy is to hike hard during the day and return to our luxurious base camp for happy hour and steak. We take books, magazines, music and board games, and we just hang. What could be so wrong? Maybe I'll have a story or two when we get back.
I needed reading material for the trip, and the library was closed. I ended up at the closest bookstore, which was Borders. The forecast shows possible showers, and I was getting panicky that I wouldn't have enough to read. This is like going to the grocery store hungry. I walked over to the checkout counter with a just-published hardback, a paperback and three hairstyle magazines.
The hardback is Hardball by Sara Paretsky. She created the character V.I. Warshawski. Kathleen Turner played V.I. in the movie. I'm a sucker for hard-boiled detective fiction, and I love it when the protagonist is a woman. But back to Sara. I've been reading her books for years and years, and guess what? She rocks the silver! Check out her website. She is a silver celebrity in my book.
So, I'm paying for all these pleasures, and it's cha-ching, cha-ching. Hardbacks and magazines add up to real money. The clerk asks if I am a teacher or anything because they offer a discount. I said no.
Her: Are you sure? I mean, yoga, knitting, anything.
Me: I write a blog about gray hair.
Her: Really? How interesting!
Me: Do I get the discount?
Her: No.
(uncomfortable pause)
Her: So, if you write a blog about gray hair, what's up with the hairstyle magazines?
Me: I'm feeling bad about my hair.
Her: Why? I like it.
Me: Really? I'm trying to grow it out, and it's at that painful stage.
Her: It's cute. But then you are dressed cute and trendy, so it might not look that cute if you were dressed differently.
Me: Oh, I always dress cute and trendy.
Her: So, there you go! My mother is a hairdresser. I would tell you if it looked bad.
Poor stylish young coworker has been listening of late to all the whining about my hair. I thought I would call her and tell her the funny story. I have hands-free dialing in my car, so I'm on the speaker phone calling her. She answered just as a guy in a Jag pulled out in front of me.
SYC: Did you just say ass wipe?
Me: Oh, you're there.
SYC: Is this Donna? And did you just say ass wipe?
Me: I didn't know you had picked up, and a guy pulled out in front of me, and I called him ...
SYC: I know what you called him.
We must have laughed for five minutes. It was a good start to the weekend. But back to my hair. I am hanging in there. Will give it to Christmas and see what happens. Thanks to all who gave me ideas for how to preserve its natural waviness. Leave-in conditioner helps a lot. So does the diffuser attachment to the blow dryer but only at low speed. High speed produces the Harpo effect.
Above is a progress pic of my hair when it is blown out. I am hoping the magazines will give me some ideas for bangs. They are getting long, and I need to decide if I will go for the sexy side swept, the funky choppy or the blunt. All will be revealed as I sit around the campsite this weekend with my books and magazines dreaming about possibilities.
I just bought Hardball, too, and it's going to the beach with us. Marcia Muller is another good writer of women's detective fiction. Have fun camping.
Posted by: smilesga | October 02, 2009 at 06:02 PM
Love reading Sara Paretsky.
Intelligent and beautiful, what a combo. I did not know, that she's a silver fox. Great.
Also my favourites: P.D. James and Henning Mankell.
But,as I saw your baby trailer, I was so excited! How much PS are neccessary to pull it? In german we say: it's a knutschkugel.
So sweet. Immediately I thought about how to get such a trailer.
Donna, the progress of your bob is so visible.
But give it more time than till christmas.
And, you exeggarate, as usual.
Harpo. You're kidding
Posted by: barbara | October 08, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Barbara -- we had our knutschkugel custom built. Our Honda Element is rated to tow 1,500 pounds, and most commercial trailers are too heavy. Ours weighs 1,000 pounds. If you can pull something a bit heavier, we also liked the T@B, Casita and Scamp.
http://www.tab-rv.com/
http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/
http://www.scamptrailers.com/
I don't believe the company that built ours is still in business.
Posted by: Donna Pekar | October 12, 2009 at 04:12 AM
The tab is very sweet.
Will ask, how much weight the MINI can pull.
Think, my Smart cant do it...
Our distances aren't too far and the roads are so much smaller in Europe.
I love the idea of staying in the wilderness of Bavaria.
Posted by: barbara | October 14, 2009 at 02:11 PM