DebbieDay made me think of all the beaches I have been to in my life. Hmm. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Provincetown, Maine, South Carolina, Gulf of Mexico, California. (Not counting all the lakes and a few rivers, which are fresh water anyway and never seem like legit beaches.) You gotta have the salty smell and wide ocean vistas for it to count, sound effects from a crew of determined seagulls with their cranky cawing. Sand dunes are good and any kind of indigenous beach grass, then I expect to see shells and seaweed strewn here and there. I don't require boats and lighthouses but a few sprinkled on the horizon don't hurt.

Empty beaches with no people are best. Please - no surfers, boomboxes, droopy-diapered toddlers or bathing beauties with overweight midriffs joggling. Happy sandy dogs are always welcome, since they act out the goofy joy they feel and make me feel happy just to look at them. I like to see the occasional old person shuffling along with a hat and scarf tied up tight and I just love it when you see a single shoe lost by somebody having a mystery.

My son called Wednesday morning from Cambridge and said he felt like driving down to CT to fix dinner for me. Odd behaviour, but welcome. He came at 6 with his 6-year girlfriend and they fixed fajitas for me and Bro Phil and Sis Chris. Excellent meal, then we did a present exchange. He gave me a ring he bought for me in Seattle 4 years ago and lost in his stuff till now. He is scatter-brained at anything but mental efforts... He is doing his papers at MIT to get his masters and has applied for his Phd there afterward. If that does not fly then he has a choice of teaching or going to a friend's company in California. It all sounds like more academics for him, and this beautiful girlfriend (size 8, blond...but still nice) may have to marry him to get him to settle down. He will be 31 in January! And still fiddling with educating himself to the nth degree leaving me with NO grandchildren, lol. It's time to sell this house and get a condo since I will never be a full-time Mom again and the extra bedrooms are wasted now. I do love the ring he got for me, late but beloved.

I was in South Carolina and we stopped at this place called Sparky's. They had the best praline pecans I have ever had in my entire life. I know this is not a common request for our blog, but does anyone know how to make these? They take pecan halves and get a praline crunchy candy coating, then they are apparently rolled in a sugary-salty mixture...maybe baked somehow or made in a pan on the stove. This is NOT a praline candy: it is toasted pecans with this unbelievable coating. I have googled till my fingers ache and can't find out how in the heck you do this. (Yes, I can email Sparky's and order them at some high cost, but I would rather make them up at home...by the truckload!)

For all my friends who know I am NOT a cooking freak, no -- I have not gone insane. Just nuts for these nuts! If anyone can give me some tips, thanks!

We made it home fast. We left MB xmas eve day, stayed overnight in Boone, NC, then came home from there -- a straight 12 hour run. We tried driving up into the Blue Ridge Mountains but it was so foggy we had to turn back. What we could see was dreamy and quiet. Christmas Day in Appalachia. Who would ever think this Yankee woman would enjoy the south? I loved SC, all flat and palmy.

We hit CT at 11 or 12 last night and now I am home, the victim of cat love. Chaunce had two things on his teensy mind: LOVE ME and LET ME OUT. He keeps coming back in and loving me up then scampers out again.

I need to go unpack, then at 2 go get Becky (home from Sante Fe for xmas) then go back to Phil's for the present exchange. Then I need to relax and let the wash of depression roll over me -- home again, house still empty only now it reeks of catbox. Work tomorrow, hello office, hello Headmaster.

What a great vacation, it was da bomb. So long, and thanks for all the fish.