life goes on, bro, lala howthelifegoeson

what a wonderful weekend in charleston harbor and johns island, ending with a baby kiss.

i'm a little perplexed, at first, when i drive up to the house, happy that is wasn't yet 3:30 pm and the afternoon stretched before me, because no scout on the porch. hmm. probably no ford focus. no, and no diana. why on earth would this seem unusual? after a brief check of my senses, i see where i went awry. the surprise was in response to the impression i had that diana's call to me in charleston a couple of hours ago "whatchudoin?" meant that she actually wanted to spend some time with me. goob! surely this was a clear case of a better offer. no harm.

so now i can tell about my trip while it's newly past.

i crossed the savannah river at 2:15 pm and rolled into the maybank highway food lion before five in search of pomegranate juice, only to emerge fifteen minutes later with a six pack of peroni and a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay, some salt and pepper organic potato chips, a lemon and some limes. what an easy drive. i'm there before angie and bruce, and cookie sees me heading down the main ramp of the marina. they've changed the marina location since last june, sadly the last time i've been there. a european developer has purchased their marina, preparing to built dockomeniums to sell. those living there who chose to stay were relocated. soon after i arrived, brad quietly said, "hi, sandy." cookie and steve always have friends on the dock; brad stayed, too.

cookie and steve and i hug. we have much love and history together, and it is good to be here. soon, here comes angie and bruce, bags and groceries in tow. we are aiming to get to the city marina for dinner, so once the food's put away and the beer and wine iced down, we are headed out to the harbor, skiff tied behind the houseboat.

i'm the extra, and at one point this weekend i notice the pattern is familiar and cookie agrees. by the time steve has anchored the houseboat and we've reached the marina via skiff at charleston harbor - i think this is the same place clark and martha loved last year - we are getting hungry. rather than go to the restaurant, we find a good table in the "salty mike" bar. an interesting place, with really good live music in the form of a guitar and two voices. after we ate sandwiches and crab dip, cookie played pool with bruce and steve.

around eleven, the warm feeling began to chill as the crowd thickened with alcohol and pickups. or maybe it got stifling. we skiffed back to the houseboat, and cranked up the stereo. all five of us danced to most of the rob orbison dvd that cookie pronounced "the best in the world."

i think diana is home.

more later.