I've Been Playing

I probably should have posted that I was taking a short blogging vacation. Sorry for the absence, but at least I left you something pretty to look at while I was gone.

I've been playing the last couple of weeks, in between working. First, my dear cousin Joan flew to the Keys for a few days and we logged some serious beach time along with a trip to Key West, a swim with dolphins at Dolphin Research Center, and lots of wonderful conversation.

This past weekend, I spent the night in Key West in a house filled with friends.

One should always make the time to hang out and have fun with the people we care about!

Since I last posted, so much has gone on in my world as well as the world at large, I can't seem to settle on only one topic for this post. So, I'm going to skate by with a couple of observations.

Rest in peace to all of the celebrities who passed in the last couple of weeks. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays. I can't help thinking that like many things, stardom is a matter of degrees. While people gather and leave tributes at MJ's estates and childhood home or Farrah's star on the Hollywood walk of fame, will anyone bring flowers to the supermarket and leave them on the floor by the Oxyclean in honor of Mr. Mays?

If I ever bump my head, or get hit in the head and feel even the slightest bit off, I'm going to the E.R. There are lessons to be learned from Natasha Richardson's seemingly little skiing fall and Billy Mays getting conked by some luggage on a recent flight. (If that's what they end up saying led to his death.) Clearly we need to take these things more seriously. Considering the number of concussions suffered during football season, it's a wonder more NFL pros haven't suffered similar complications.

While in Key West yesterday, our group decided to go to the "pirate store". I never knew that this is really a section inside the big adult toy/fantasy clothing store. There under one roof, you can find a tricorn hat, lacy baby doll ensemble, a replica saber, brush-on chocolate, and vibrators in an array of colors. I'm sure there are more than a few people who combine the products and come up with some truly creative, erotic pirate fantasies. I didn't investigate all corners of the store to see if there was a fetish department with a real cat o' nine tails.

I was greatly heartened to see numerous signs cautioning customers that intimate novelties cannot be returned.

Oh thank God! Not that I was shopping for a dildo, but I'm greatly relieved that if I was, I could be sure that it had not been used by someone else and then returned for a refund or store credit.