monkeys so naughty, they pretend to be donkeys

If you've never lived in a small town (or rather, outside of a small town), you're really missing out. Spending time at home is reawakening all of the old familiar struggles - part of me wants to 'escape' again and go off in pursuit of fabulous amounts of money, while another part of me wants to take up the ancient and dying arts of quilting, canning, preserve-making, etc. while living in a farmhouse and appreciating the simpler pleasures in life. Call it 'Dior vs. dimestore', perhaps. Thus far, Dior has been winning out (as evidenced by my perfume), but small town living does have its charms.

Then again, 'charms' are in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I had a lovely time at lunch - my parents took me to the tavern in the back of the American Legion hall, where the walls are covered in fake wood paneling, the stuffing is coming out of the decades-old chairs, and everyone in the restaurant talks to everyone else. Case in point - we were joined at our table by the local undertaker, and ended up having a lovely conversation about killing possums. You can tell that possums are a complete scourge in these parts, and people seem to take delight in figuring out ways to kill them with whatever happens to be on hand - just as possums seem to delight in playing dead and then walking away after you've stabbed them with a pitchfork or smashed them with a rock.

At least the funeral home director was talking about possums and not people; and the cheeseburger was delicious, regardless of the nature of the conversation. After lunch, I spent the afternoon researching Regency-period weddings, which increased my desire to spend a couple of weeks in England/Scotland this spring. If I'm going, I need to start making arrangements, but I should really be focused on the book right now. Sigh.

Tonight, I went to a meeting of my secret society - my mother and grandmother are members, and I've known many of the other members all of my life, so it was nice to catch up with some of them. I was initiated when I was a freshman in college, but haven't attended regular meetings because I've been in California - so as long as I'm home, I think I'll go. I can't tell you what happened at the meeting (it's a secret society!), but it was a good time, even if I missed 'Big Brother' because of it.

That's all you're getting out of me tonight - let's see how much writing I get done tomorrow. Goodnight!