January and February were predictably busy months for me at work. Two cases that, for completely different reasons, didn't go to trial as scheduled. One settled on the eve of trial and the other was continued after my opposing counsel got sick, also on the eve of trial. Still, the preparation for trial is where the all consuming work gets done, so the first two months of the year were crazy.
Originally, I had planned to take the family to Arizona for spring vacation but, in the end, we settled on the old reliable, returning to Santa Rosa Beach yet again for a week of relaxation on familiar turf for all of us. And I'm glad we did.
As I write this, it's Sunday morning and sitting outside Ama Vida in Seaside, FL, with a view of "the square" as visitors begin their days. Most, like us, probably arrived yesterday. Some, of course, are leaving today, as most of the weekly rentals run Saturday to Saturday. Already in the 45 minutes I have been sitting here, things are starting to hum as groups of people congregate over breakfast and others return from an early morning walk or run.
It's a beautiful beach morning, although a bit windy. Sunny with the temperature in the low '70's at 9 a.m. There's rain coming later today, though. Hopefully, JP and I, and maybe Joe, will squeeze in a run at some point this afternoon.
It's time for a week away, for all of us. A week away from work for Jude and me and a week away from school for JP and Joe. JP had Friday off, actually, and on our early morning run before I went to work, he was unusually talkative. My guess is that he was feeling relieved to be free of the stress of studying and preparing for tests and quizzes at school - grinding as he calls it - and looking forward to a week of down time. I get it.
I'm almost finished with Walter Mosley's first Easy Rawlins book, "The Devil in the Blue Dress" (30th anniversary edition). I read an interview with him, recently, in the New York Times, and he had some interesting things to say about writing in general and being one of few African American writing crime fiction in the early '90's. His books are as much of a social commentary of the times as they are hard boiled crime novels. Plot driven thrillers that make you think or so it seems to me.
I also brought Paul Newman's memoir, which I picked up at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin on Friday morning.
And, as I sit here in the middle of Seaside, I see that one of my favorite bookstores, Sundog Books, visible across the way, has opened up. I'll wander over there, I suppose, and see if anything captures my fancy.
Yep, it's good to be back at the beach.
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