Strange phrase related to me at work tonight:

"You know her, she's the crazy one who slept with Gerald Ford's son."

Big goings on in the Golden household. Kelsey turned 25 last week. We celebrated by taking a couple of day trips. We visited Mepkin Abbey on Friday, where we both saw our very first monk in the flesh. The grounds were also neat.

And Kelsey found herself a tree nook to peek out of:

Then we scooted down to Mount Pleasant for lunch, and zipped up through the historical district of Georgetown on the way home. From the highway Georgetown looks like a skeezy, rundown slummy sort of town. But once you take a few side streets, it's surprisingly nice. Of course, the stench from the paper mill persists, but at least the view is better, if not the smell.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early (it's been a long time since we've been awake at 6) and drove 3 hours to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. Kelsey made friends with an endangered lorikeet there:


And I made friends with a goat:

A good couple of days. And aren't digital cameras fun?

Another condo-related discovery:
When the hot water heater in the unit above develops a leak, it's our carpet that becomes moist and spongy. I knew there was a reason we owned 15 towels.

I made a disturbing discovery the other day. The condo that Kelsey and I spent an obscene amount of money (for us) to buy can be vaccuumed in its entirety without changing the outlet the Hoover is plugged in to.

Today's selection from "The Best Loved Poems of the American People," copyright 1936:

The Manly Man

The World has room for the manly man, with the spirit of manly cheer;
The world delights in the man who smiles when his eyes keep back the tear;
It loves the man who, when things are wrong, can take his place and stand
With his face to the fight and his eyes to the light, and toil with a willing hand;
The manly man is the country's need, the moment's need, forsooth,
With a heart that beats to the pulsing troop of the lilied leagues of truth;
The world is his and it waits for him, and it leaps to hear the ring
Of the blow he strikes and the wheels he turns and hammers he dares to swing;
It likes the forward look on his face, the poise of his noble head,
And the onward lunge of his tireless will and the sweep of his dauntless tread!
Hurrah for the manly man who comes with sunlight on his face,
And the strength to do and the will to dare and the courage to find his place!
The world delights in the manly man, and the weak and evil flee
When the manly man goes forth to hold his own on land or sea!
- Unknown

Hurrah for the manly man!

It's like Christmas! After months of self-imposed budgeting, the money floodgates are inching wider, and I tempted fate by buying a new CD tonight. So far, the latest offering from The New Pornographers isn't half bad.

One of these days, the people at World Market are going to figure out that we just walk around the store to take advantage of their free coffee. Hopefully not soon, though.