. . . they are my heart.

Ladies and gentlemen, I come before you today to dispel a popular myth. Namely, that one Caitlin Beauchamp does not care a-tall about automobiles.

It's simply not true.

See, here's the thing: does someone who knows exactly what kind of washing machine they want spend hours poring over washing machine ads? Does someone with a wonderful boyfriend spend hours reading dating articles? Well I ask you. And the answer is, no, of course they don't, silly.

The truth of the matter is that I don't give a bacon-wrapped fig about the automotive world in general because my heart was won many years ago by The Perfect Car. The Dream Car. The Car To End All Desire For Any Other Cars.

Namely, the VW Bus.

All other cars fade away in the presence of one of these.

I don't remember a time when I haven't felt this way. I have always known. This car is the love of my life, and nothing anyone can say will ever persuade me otherwise.

work is a spring monster

Yesterday was C.K. Dexter Haven's turn, and I got my car cleaned and detailed, inside and out, washed and waxed and shampooed. Now it's hard to walk away from him in the parking lot each morning, he looks so nice. I did my research, and it paid off. These people did an amazing job, and Dext gleams with pleasure. His carpets and upholstery look like new, and I don't think the outside has ever looked this good, even when I bought him. Maybe I shall take some pictures later to show him off. He and Elwood look very pleased with themselves sitting in our driveway all shiny and preening.

thank you Caitlin for making me think of my car more as a pet than a machine. that's what happens when you marry someone who lives in a world where there are no inanimate objects.

Coming to work every day this week has been very difficult. I'm enjoying spring this year more than I have in a long time (thanks in part to our little yellow house and its pleasant situation and many windows, which have all remained open for about 2 weeks now.) I get out in it in the morning, breath the fresh air, begin to fill with the thoughts of a hundred little things I would love to do in this weather, and then I have to come to work and sit at my computer for 8 hours in the Room with No Windows while spring runs out. It's enough to tempt me strongly to use several vacation days, just to enjoy doing all those other things instead while the weather is so scintillating. I did use one this week actually - I stayed at home doing things in the glorious weather with all the windows open and the wind rustling through the trees and it was everything I'd hoped it could be.

there goes spring, just slipping on by while I sit inside.

what a bummer.

pictures

There are so many pictures in my head of things I want to do and make and be-- not all of them very solid, or with clear edges, but I love the feeling that comes from them. I wish I could stop long enough to look at them real good and figure out what they are or how to make them happen.

For instance, I just had the most incredible picture flash through my head of what I want our back deck to look like, and how I want to be and feel in that space. And if I didn't have gobs of Stuff To Do Now Or Five Hours Ago Would Have Been Better Actually, I think I'd drop everything and make it happen, while I've still got that picture clearly. But alack.

On the bright side, I'm getting dear Elwood cleaned today which will be a Great Relief to both of us. Elwood never complains, of course, but I know he feels awfully shabby and it embarrasses him.

Lovely moment: hot shower with the bathroom window open, breeze, She & Him playing, a train whistling, doves in the yard, sun.

(so in love with she & him. oh my goodness. if you haven't met them, please do now-- perfect warm-weather music)

compendium

I sat with Dan last night during the Duke-Baylor game, doing homework (actually read an entire Faulkner novel from 3:00 to 10:00-- I heart my attention span), and noticed that Baylor has got some of Richard Scary's Best Names Ever on their team. I call your attention to the following gems:

Quincy Acy

LaceDarius Dunn

Tweety Carter

I didn't have time to make a bracket this year, but I was planning to base my predictions on which team had more Exemplary Names. Had I done so, this right here might just have taken Baylor to the top.

Sometimes I love being a writer. Today I went to Cafe Brazil after school to have a mocha and get some writing done, and an overheard speech pattern of the woman at the table behind me triggered a whole set of new ideas and three pages of notes for my next short story. Moments like that are what keep me going.

Got 14 packages of pasta for 3.50 last week. Oh yeah.

Currently Listening: to one of Pottery Barn's ever-beloved jazz compilations. It's just right with the weather and my window down. Plus it's Elwood's favorite kind of music, and puts him in a peppy mood.

"Maybe you got a lot to learn

Don't waste another day!

Maybe you got to lose it all

Before you find your way.

Take a chance, play your part,

Make romance, though it may break your heart. . ."

Recently decided that I kind of love the name Nolan. It's so cool, but in an old-man-cool way, not an "aahh!!-hugh-jackman-named-his-kid-that!!!" way.