On the beach!

Annie and Phil were out for a few days' vacation on the west coast, so last Wednesday I left the house at 6:15 am (really!) and drove to Eugene, were I filled the car with Minnicks (all three of them!) and one Cohen. Then we drove out to Florence, to the Oregon Dunes.

This isn't one of the pictures they took (because they haven't uploaded them yet) but this is were we were, and that is what it looked like. The sky was clear blue, and it was GORGEOUS.

We spent most of the day there, mostly laying around and playing in the sand, grilling sausages and eating chips, and drinking IBC root beer, and some hard cider. Was a good day.

Only bad part for me was getting up and down the dunes from the car, and the sunburn. I shouldn't have gotten burnt, as I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and a big straw hat. But I fell asleep , and the rolled-up hem of my jeans pulled up while I was sleeping, and I got burned on the ankles, left one worse than the right. (More on this later...)

We eventually went back to Eugene, dropped off Stephen and Lydia, picked up the rest of Phil and Annie's luggage, and headed north. We got to Albany just in time to get burgers and onion rings and shakes at Burgerville. Then we went to Portland and took our sunburnt and sandy selves to bed.

The next couple of days we did the whirlwind tour of Portland- mostly eating our way through. We went to the Cameo for breakfast, then to Powell's, where Phil seemed nonplussed that they had a map to get around in the store. (Really, you need one the first few times.) Then we went to Voodoo Donuts and got bacon maple bars. Then we did some thrift shopping, and went home for a bit. That evening we went to McMenamin's Kennedy School for dinner with Karl and Linda (AKA Malcolm and Morwyn) which was yummy yummy. Friday we went to the Cup & Saucer for brunch, more thrift shopping, a trip to the Powell's on Hawthorne, and then back to pack up. I was not happy to have to take them to the airport (they even less so, because the weather was nice here but 102 degrees in NYC) but was very glad to have seen them. (And Phil is a peach, BTW. Teh Girleez were right. :-) He's cute, too.)

However, the sunburn on my left ankle didn't get better. In fact, it got worse. It got darker, almost fuschia, and was really, really sore. Tuesday it suddenly blistered up (I could practically watch the blisters forming), and the blebs were looking really nasty. I called the doctor and went in Wednesday, a full week after I got the burn.

Well, it wasn't just a sunburn. Apparently some opportunistic bacteria saw its chance, and now I have a lovely case of cellulitis. The area is pretty big, too. So we're throwing big antibiotics at it, keeping it propped up as much as possible, and watching it carefully.

Like I needed another thing, right?

I did manage to pass on a rush costume job. It was an area I'm not familiar with, and doing a short-notice job on something I don't know isn't a good idea. And I need a break. I have a couple of things left to do for Gabriel and Sumayya, and some stuff for James and I, and a couple of small things on the list, but nothing pressing. So I'm going to take some time off and just do... mostly nothing for a bit. I can't sew with my foot in the air anyway.