I'm thinking that maybe if I write out these dreams of palm trees, sandy beaches, glittering water, unending sun, shimmering heat, coconut-scented sunscreen on golden bodies, a luxurious hotel room with a refillable fruit bowl, a candlelight dinner on the balcony of said luxurious hotel room, a sweeping gorgeous vista of islands and water in the view from my hotel room, driving down Gulf Boulevard with windows open and smelling the sweet ocean, eating conch fritters at Frenchy's, a vibrant sunset melting into the waves, lounging on the beach with sand between my toes, searching for scallop shells, hearing racuous seagull cries, black skimmers scooping little fish by the seashore, feeling like the world is at my feet and this beautiful freedom will never end . . . pant, pant, pant, that I'll get unburdened from them.

Yes, all that is cramped into my little brain right now. Yes, I say cramped. My head is hurting from all this yearning caged up inside it.

Summer time and the living is easy. Yeh, sure. Maybe if you're lucky enough to live beside a lake or an ocean. There's something about large expanses of water that ease my soul. So, if I lived beside one again I think all those cramped thoughts could escape out of my brain and go riding away on the water.

I have this road trip feeling. I haven't been on a road trip for some time now and my spirit is restless. Bill says we are going to Florida in the winter for our vacation this year. I am amazed that he wants to. We want to go to Lakeland and visit my buddy Lizzy and her husband. I'm all for it. But I'm having a hard time containing myself until we do go. There is hope that Mel and Serge from Quebec will be able to go down, too, at the same time. They want to but I think they need to wait till it's closer to December to see if they will be able to do it.

Which brings me to the other side of the coin. I am also sitting here envisioning being in Canada and my heart is just as yearny. We probably would have gone up to Bill's brother's cottage again this year if we didn't have to secure a passport now to get back in the States. Bill says he doesn't mind visiting Canada and then not be able to come back here. I totally understand. Realistically, it's just not doable right now. He'd have no job, no place to live, and a house back here to keep paying the mortgage on. He will have to get a passport in the next year so that he'll have it ready when it's time to renew his permanent residency status. We both think it sucks bigtime that there is now this new regulation about having to have a passport to cross between Canada and the U.S. I'm sure we're not alone in thinking that. Just more of Bush and his bushshit.