Today I spent over $60.00 at the cleaners

Today I spent over $60.00 at the cleaners. I thought, " this is ridiculous" as I wrote the check. But there is something wonderful and therapeutic about dropping off a crusty pile of man-smelling work shirts and 3 year old bridesmaid dresses one day and picking them up the next day, clean and carefully sheathed in hygienic plastic. No longer do the words DRY CLEAN ONLY strike fear into my heart. It just means ONE PIECE OF LAUNDRY I PERSONALLY DON'T HAVE TO WASH AND FOLD. Lovely.

I would like to comment on a line in the song "Sweet Home Alabama." The line is "Sweet home, Alabama/Where the skies are so blue." I thought about this the other day because the sky was so blue it almost hurt my eyes. It was a very deep, vibrant blue, and I thought that perhaps the sky is bluer in Alabama than in other places. Or maybe it just seems so because of the line from the song. Whatever the case may be, I'm just glad I was able to cast my gaze up into the blueness and let it sink into me and make me smile.

The trees in southern Alabama are too tired to put on any fall colors. I think they have been so tossed about and whipped around by so many heartless storms this year that they took a vote and unanimously decided not to dress out in their autumnal best. Not only this, but a large oak in my yard has decided to muster up a springtime show of new, tender foliage to replace what it lost to the punishing winds. Today was 82 degrees, so maybe it is spring! Like Narnia locked in a never-ending winter under the wicked White Witch's reign, Mobile is held captive to summer and spring...maybe so hurricane season will never end and the weather channel can take over the world.

And now...the word of the day, lovingly dedicated to Jenny Witter Dye (give the I-man a kiss for me and Ruthie)---

innocuous: adjective (in-knock-you-us) 1)producing no injury, harmless
2) not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility: inoffensive

sample sentence: The Supreme Court Justice nominee's opinions seemed innocuous after my brief scrutiny.