I see sick people.

What is up with my family? Evidently we are "germ-magnets", emitting some pheromonal welcome call to all viruses and bacteria. Since my last blog Kate has "dot diaweeahs", which she has shared with her father and me, and I contracted pink eye from a friend. These are no mean feats, considering I have only left the house 4 times in two weeks (twice to go to the doctor), but if there is an illness out there we will evidentially find it.

On a positive note we seem to be recovering, and my task today was to start getting us packed for the beach. As some of you know I am a compulsive organizer (doesn't mean I am clean) and I had already generated lots of lists: "What To Pack"- broken into subcategories of "food", "nonperishables", "for the girls", "for us", "for the beach"; "What To Do" (arrange pet care, hold mail, etc.), and "What To Buy" (diapers, Bloody Mary Mix, etc.). Janice and I (she is also, thank god, a list-maker) have even "assigned" various items to each other; for example I am responsible for flour, spices, dishwashing liquid, onions; Janice for sugar, cereal, laundry detergent, snacks. Thanks to my supreme list-making skills Tracy should be able to help finish packing mindlessly...at least that's my hope.

Today driving down our driveway I really looked at this tree for the first time in a long while. You would never know that we lost about a third of it during Hurricane Isabel and WORRIED so about whether we might lose it! It actually came back better than ever. I have no idea how old this guy is, but just compare it to the house to get an indication of it's size. The front part of the house was built in 1835...could the tree be that old? I don't know; I kind of doubt it. I love the ivy draping down from the branches. It's home to many birds and the occasional snake.

Have a great weekend and week and we'll see you soon, tan, rested and HEALTHY!