Bubba Gump Peach Co.

On our way down here to Atlanta, we stopped in Gaffney, South Carolina, self-proclaimed "Peach Capital of the World." In less than the ten minutes we promised Richard it would take, we had ourselves a half bushel of delicious golden globe freestone peaches. Even though they were conveniently packed in a range of ripeness, it turns out that 50 peaches is kind of a challenge for the six of us to eat.

Oh, not that we haven't given it a pretty good try--

Peach slices, peach smoothies, peach galette, grilled peaches, and chili lime peach upside down cake have all been on the menu so far, with talk of  peach jam, peach pancakes, peach muffins, and maybe a little peach salsa, but still

That's a lot of peaches!

New Dog Old Tricks

My sister's new puppy has been a welcome distraction from losing our own sweet dog. Things that Isabel mastered long ago are still new to Panda, and being around her is a reminder of that canine learning curve. One day in the future, that might come in handy again.

One thing we have been working on teaching her is to recognize her toys by name, and so we got her a little squeaky goat at the pet store today. It is tiny orange velour with a wispy brown beard, and she seems to love it.

It is also kind of fun to tell her, "Panda, get your goat!"

Figuratively Speaking

There were dragonflies everywhere a couple of weeks ago when we went to visit the field of sunflowers famously blooming at a nearby wildlife management area. Darting and wheeling in the washy blue sky, they landed and perched on tall grasses and branch tips like emerald Christmas ornaments in July.

I thought of them today as we criss-crossed Piedmont Park, 650 miles south, scores of dragonflies floating and sailing along overhead. "Look at all of them!" I said to Richard.

"It's an armada of dragonflies!" he exclaimed.

Good one!

Post Glass Ceiling

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Richard asked Annabelle somewhere in North Carolina. We were in the middle of our epic road trip from Virginia to Atlanta, between pop radio stations and Cheetos. 

"An artist," she told him. 

"What about president?" he continued. 

"Nope," she said, "an artist."

"You could be president," he said.

"I know," she tossed her head, "but I want to be an artist."

Dogless

Sail on silver girl,
sail on by--
Your time has come to shine.

Progress

I was working as a chipwich vender on the boardwalk in the summer of 1984 when Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. "They'll never win," a friend shrugged dismissively, but having a woman on the ticket made a big difference to me.

As such, I was heartbroken eight years ago when Hillary Clinton lost the nomination to Barack Obama, and it took me a while to get behind him (hello Bernie Sanders supporters). John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate that year did pique my interest just a tad, but crazy is crazy no matter how many x chromosomes you have. And now, tonight, a major political party in our country has nominated a woman to be their candidate for president, and I am elated.

No matter that we are behind Sri Lanka, India, Israel, Argentina, Central African Republic, United Kingdom, Portugal, Bolivia, Dominica, Iceland, Norway, Malta, Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Ireland, Bangladesh, France, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, New Zealand, Guyana, Switzerland, Panama, Latvia, Finland, Senegal, Indonesia, Sao Tome, Serbia, Peru, Macedonia, Ukraine, Germany, Liberia, Jamaica, Chile, South Korea,  Moldova, Croatia, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, Brazil, Kosovo, Thailand, Denmark, Malawi, Slovenia, Latvia, Namibia, all of whom actually elected women to be their leaders.

We'll get there.

What Heat Wave?

Even in the hottest days of summer it is possible to find relief in the early morning hours when the sun has not yet risen above the trees, and a warm breeze lifts the chill from your air-conditioned skin as you and your dog make your way slowly up the empty hill with only the birds and cicadas for company.