What's up, Aims?

I will not flip out like a mammal.

Tenant, boss, or family? Regardless, whomever it is is an asshat at the moment.

If you do flip out, all I know is that you were here with me, in DC, at the time.

Oh, misunderstanding re: payroll between me and our payroll company and then the company I'm supposed to make a payment to not accepting Money Gram online payments.

Tell them it's a Candy Gram?

Dude. You are literally close enough for me to pick you up on my way home from work! And, you're just down the road from the Grapevine. Plus, 35 will get you to tons of places south and north.

If you do flip out, all I know is that you were here with me, in DC, at the time.

yes, the three of us had lunch, right? I mean, two lawyers wouldn't lie! Also, Maria, are you planning on going the Detroit in the next 6 months? I'm planning a recruiting trip,and it would be fun to be there together

yes, the three of us had lunch, right? I mean, two lawyers wouldn't lie! Also, Maria, are you planning on going the Detroit in the next 6 months? I'm planning a recruiting trip,and it would be fun to be there together

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please please please please?????

My south is the south of my childhood, mostly at my grandparents' house. It's air so hot and full of water that everyone moves in slow motion, houses with the blinds closed to keep out the sun, so they're cool and dark inside. It's the smell of the river hanging over everything, mixing with the magnolias and honeysuckle that grow like weeds. It's the smell of my grandmother's Cashmere Bouquet powder and the lavender in the linens. It's fish fries on Fridays and a city full of relatives, half of whom call me Julia Ann because I look "just like your mother". It's the sound of the soft drawls and the vegetable vendors going up and down the street calling out what they have, the scissor grinder driving along calling for knives to sharpen. It's being sent to Baptist bible school, when I'm really not clear on this whole Christianity thing to start with, but trying to get with the program. It's fried chicken and cream gravy over mashed potatoes, homemade biscuits, and pies with oversweetened fillings and crusts made with self-rising flour. It's ice tea sweetened until your teeth hurt, except for the lemon juice and the mint it was brewed with. It's putting on a dress and gloves to go visiting and learning to be a lady. It's nostalgia for a time that's passed and knowing that you really can't go home again.

Mini Buffista island: [link]

My south is further south than y'all's.

My south is using coral rock for chalk, and tadpoles sprouting up in even the smallest post-rain puddles. It's red ants and horseflies and palmetto bugs and way too many mosquitos. It's the beach so hot you burn your feet on the sand and run from the shade of one palm tree to the next. All the palm trees near the beach are bent almost horizontal to the ground from the stiff off shore breezes. It's mangrove trees, and taking our cat-hull boat with the Evenrude outboard motor out onto Biscayne Bay for the day. Snorkeling and catching sea urchins and conchs and horseshoe crabs. It's conch chowder (with a drizzzle of sherry) and conch fritters and cuban sandwiches and mango daquiris. Mangos are best when either stolen from a branch hanging over a grove wall, or from a free box in front of your neighbor's house. Nobody has to pay for mangos.

It's big U-Pick fields of strawberries and corn and tomatoes, and a trailer in the field where they'll make you the best, freshest strawberry milkshake you could ever have. It's spending every third day of your summer vacation at the beach, and coming home in the late afternoon sundazzled and salty. It's the night air so warm and caressing on your naked skin. It's the trickle of sweat that runs down your back into your shorts as soon as you get into a car at midday. It's starting your car and aiming the air conditioner at the wheel so you can touch it.

It's huge tropical storms blasting in off the water, thunder and lightning. It's the sun shower every day at 2:30 that clears the humidity briefly.

It's the neighbor with an airboat in his backyard for going out into the everglades. It's alligators in your canal, and buffo toads in your back yard. It's how everything hangs on the first cool breeze of the evening.