Red Nose

Ocean City Love List

I am in my favorite place in the whole entire world, with many members of my family, enjoying the first day of a whole entire week off work.

I could get used to this.

So, in honor of relaxation and rejuvenation, I give you this Friday's Love List! I love:

• Dozing off on Kent Island (100 miles from Ocean City) and waking up on Route 90 (10 miles from Ocean City).
• Breakfast at Coach's Diner.
• Sitting on the porch watching the clueless boaters clog the one block road to the boat ramp.
• Walking up to the Wine Rack to buy the paper.
• Sitting on the porch reading the paper.
• Walking up to the combination wine and beer store and fine dining restaurant to collect the free newspapers and buy beer.
• While at the fancy wine and beer store, discovering that they stock ginger beer! Hello, Dark and Stormy!
• Finding a refrigerator full of food at the house.
• Sitting on the porch, eating a bitchin' lunch.
• Public Wi-fi.
• Sitting on the porch doing the crossword puzzle.
• Taking a nice long ride around the area on a beautiful afternoon.
• Inflating and filling up the lounge pool. (I did not go in the pool, however. The water was too damn cold. Next time for sure!)
• A choice of refreshing beverages.
• Sitting on the porch drinking refreshing beverages.
• The ocean! It's pretty much right next door!
• Sunsets over the bay.
• Cookouts with hamburgers, hot dogs, and strawberry shortcake.Lounging int
• The faint smell of hot asphalt. (Go on. Mock me. That smell says "summer" to me.)
• Being here, with no agenda, no to-do list, no meetings, no nothing.
• Sitting on the porch, just being.

Ahhh!

Zebras Are Reactionaries*

Last Sunday Joe and I took a trip to the Land of Irritated Parents and Cranky Children to view the various species of wildlife on display there.

The National Zoo. Yes, we saw a lot of animals too!

We got our first shock of the day when we parked in one of the lower lots: TEN BUCKS for an hour! It jumps up to $15 for up to three hours, and skyrockets to $20 for three or more. Thank God we made it out of there in 2 hours and 50 minutes. The Zoo itself is free, so I guess they have to make some money somehow.

(We didn't even pause to look at the refreshment or souvenir prices, although we're used to getting soaked for seven-buck beers at hockey games.)

There's a strategy to parking in the lower lot, because by the time you're ready to leave, it's all downhill.

We picked a pretty good day -- it was really crowded, but most of the animals were actually out. We saw lions and tigers, small mammals and great apes, big ol' birds and deadly snakes. I took a lot of pictures; here are some of the highlights:

A  sleepy tiger:

An alert meerkat:

A curious little girl admiring a swimming turtle:

A flexible flamingo:

And a labyrinthine snake:

The people were every bit as fun to watch and listen to, especially when you overhear comments like "When I die, I don't want a traditional funeral" or "It's my wedding and I'll invite who I want!" and "What in the world is WRONG WITH YOU?"

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*Two pats on the head to the first person who can identify the song and artist that contains the title.

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Rest In Peace, Cosmic

I started keeping an online journal on January 1, 2002. I don't remember exactly how or when I found Karen Murray's diary, but what I do remember is how much I enjoyed it. Here was a woman who pulled no punches, who had a wicked sense of humor, who had battled breast cancer through a double mastectomy, and who was my age in what seemed to be a sea of kids.

I've followed her ever since and she's followed me. I always loved her comments. I knew I had made it when she put me on her email joke list! She sent around some great jokes, too.

I met her in person at JournalCon 2004 in DC. We had lunch together with several other women of our age; it was a highlight of the conference for me.

Karen -- but I'll always think of her as Cosmic -- died yesterday. She had serious chronic lung problems, and pneumonia was the last straw. She died her way, refusing a ventilator. I hope I'm that brave when it's my time.

Rest in peace, friend. I'll miss you.

A Clown, A Captain, A Count

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Before we get started, I gave up on the audio quiz from Friday and posted the answers.

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Last night Joe and I went to a world premiere movie at the AFI Theater! It was a documentary, part of the theater's renowned documentary series, Silverdocs. I read about this film in the newspaper yesterday morning and immediately knew we had to go.

Had. To. Go.

The film was Every Other Day Is Halloween -- it's about the career of Washington D.C. personality Dick Dyszel, who worked for the new UHF television channel WDCA back from the early 70s to the late 80s. Some people remember him as Bozo the Clown -- yes! Bozo, that famous franchise clown. Other people remember him as Captain 20, pointy-eared host of the Captain 20 Club, an afternoon kids' show with cartoons and contests.

But Joe and I remember him best for his late night horror movie show, Creature Feature, which he hosted as Count Gore DeVol. Here's the Count in person, posing with the Countess Von Stauffenberg, a recurring character on the show.

Count Gore was a vampire. He was a more, say we say, adult character than Bozo and Captain 20. He had a full size poster of Vampirella on the inside lid of his coffin. He had Penthouse Pets as special guests. He hosted champagne parties on set.

And he showed terrible horror movies late on Saturday nights. They were so cheesy, and so much fun; just the thing for hippies who were too stoned to get up and go out on the town. Much better to sit in the lounge and laugh at the Count!

The movie was a hoot. The audience included other horror movie hosts and a whole bunch of Count Gore's fans, from grown-up kids who watched Ultraman on Captain 20 in the afternoon and then snuck out of their bedrooms to watch Creature Feature with the sound turned low late on Saturday night to people like us, horror and monster movie fans who got their fix from the courtly Count.

We had a great time! Now we keep in touch with the Count and the movies on his site, where he still runs a weekly movie. The Count is dead; long live the Count!