More visitors

My sister is safely married. Wedding and reception went well. BUT:

My other sister is still staying here.

My in-laws have come by the for the day.

Too. Many. Visitors.

Too. Much. Family.

I just want to curl up with my laptop and have a cozy afternoon with the Internet. But it won't happen any time soon.

And now I need to go make more polite conversation. Which you, Internet, probably sense is probably not what I'm probably in the mood for. Probably.

Listy McListsalot goes shawpin and eats

1. Bought new washer and dryer at Sears. Not the sex-ay red LC HE model, but the boring white ones.

2. Went to the Kittery Outlets with my sister, who is visiting from Virginia. I needed pillows, so I suggested we go to the Cuddledown outlet. Score! They were having a big pillow sale. Which is good, because I bought eight.

3. Visited the Brooks Brothers outlet to see whether they had boys' clothing, but they don't. While my sister, who is virulently anti-prep, turned celadon green, and finally escaped to the store next door, bought two pairs of jeans for myself and handkerchiefs, underwear, and a tie for my husband.

4. While my sister browsed through the racks at the J. Jill outlet, I, who was turning a pale shade of celadon green because I am so anti-aging hippy, visited the Cosmetics Company outlet next door. Or whatever they call themselves. The Estee Lauder people. Score! My favorite moisturizer, now discontinued, was there. Also some shite you can only buy at the Duty-Free shop, because they don't sell it in the States. So I bought some miraculous anti-brown-spots potions called Cyber White. Because I'm not just white, I'm CYBER WHITE. Also? BOBBI BROWN. Bought awesome two-layer lip and eyeshadow palette; perfect for travel. Susie, Wendy, and Blackbird: spotted that awesome lip gloss palette I have. Let me know if you want one and I'll pick one up for you. It's makeup heaven in there.

5. Went to When Pigs Fly, a local bakery. Bought bread.

6. Tired. Went home. Energized briefly by changing all the pillows and throwing out the really horrible old ones.

7. Too tired to cook. Went to BG's Boat House for dinner. Too tired to deal with lobster shells; got Lazy Man's Lobster for dinner.

8. Then ice cream at the Ice House. Frozen coffee Heath Bar yogurt, to be exact. See how dietetic?

Things to do when you can't seem to get off your lazy fat ass

Start by not waking up until 11:00. And then let it go downhill from there.

1. When you're a lame-o, the laptop always beckons. With a cup of tea at your side, and still wearing a pair of cornea-searing hot pink Lilly Pulitzer pajamas, get straight to work.

2. Check Bloglines for updated blogs. Head over to Badger's. Read and enjoy.

3. Methodically go through Badger's links. Add everything promising to your Bloglines feeds.

4. Worry that so many people are dealing with cancer.

5. Upload pictures from camera to laptop and from laptop to Flickr.

6. Answer telephone. Find out sister wants to bring the kids to the beach.

7. Go to beach.

8. On the way to the beach, try to decide whether you're more of a lame-o for giving up a thriving career as a pajamas blogger, for spending so much time on the computer, or for doing what your big sister wants you to do.

As it turns out, I don't actually like long walks in the rain.

My pal L. came and visited with her daughter--even though they were here last year. A vote of confidence, yay! I'm not the world's worst hostess!

L. likes to go for walks. We always brought our cameras. L. has a fine eye for the picturesque.
So from time to time she ordered me to take a picture.


Above: a window filled with cranberry glass. Below: part of a headstone from a local cemetery.
It was lovely. But the clouds looked threatening.


Just after I took this picture


of the oldest house I've seen yet, the rain clouds burst open and we scurried to hide under a tree. We ended up under a little place that was sticking out over someone's garage door.

A few vans passed. I wondered what was wrong that these people didn't ask us if we needed help, but I figured it was because they were commercial vans and didn't have time. I decided to flag down the next car. The driver might have a cell phone.

A car came by. A van, but a passenger van. It was That Stud Muffin I Married come to rescue us. He'd driven all over the island looking for us.

He took us to the lobster place where we bought half a dozen lobsters.


All ended well.

You don't get to go out until you've unpacked.

First you have to get your stuff out of the Poppy bag and put it in the fake Botticelli dresser. Everyone knows that.

Then you get to go out for a walk.



Everything is very scenic.



People around here like window boxes.



Say hello to the history museum. It's so little and cute, you'd never guess there was actually a lot of history around here. But there is. A 1774 Revolutionary War skirmish where colonists stole gunpowder from Fort William and Mary, and the signing of the 1905 Sino-Japanese treaty. So there, doubters and nay-sayers!

If you don't have a purple front door, you are no one in this town. NO ONE.





And of course, you have to remember not to act like a