Actual email I just sent to the doctors I work for, while trying to make my way home from vacation - submitted for your amusement, but maybe really only for mine.

Hi F and S,

Some jerk did a hit and run on the highway east of Toronto today which resulted in them completely CLOSING the highway while they looked for the guy. The end result is the victim died and we are still in Ontario (which is better than being dead by my reckoning - so it's hard to complain). It took so long to get anywhere that once we realized that we were looking at getting to bed at 2 or 3 AM (if we weren't further delayed by the storms we keep hearing about), we decided to stop overnight and drive home at a more sensible hour tomorrow. We're still pretty far out so I am sure I won't make it in tomorrow, but I'll be in touch as soon as I get in to the office Tuesday morning.

F, please try to find a way to last one more day without me.

S, I hope your drive in to Mazinaw is less ... interesting than our drive home.

See you soon,

-Helena

Reading:

Just Finished - Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

Now Reading - Brothers by Da Chen
Outstanding book. Read it or else.

Hearing:

The Man flipping channels. Apparently there's nothing on on Sunday night in Canada either.

Playing:

The Only Known Game with Fantasy Forest
Take 4
Quiddler (like Rummy but with words)
Heroscape (A game that The Man and The Boy love but which I play pretty much only to humor them. You have a bunch of guys with different abilities and they run around bashing and shooting each other. At least the figures look really cool. had me down to one robot that was hard to kill but couldn't do anything. I kept begging them to kill me so I could read my book, but they refused to put me out of my misery, darn them.)

Needing:
To find where we put our toothpaste.

In My Car:
Everything: The stench of six anxious and irritated humans. A canoe. A box of snorkels. Tarts. An onion. Stinky water shoes. Little People. Mad Libs. Four blankets. Three pillows. My teddy bear. Floaty noodles. A stroller. Garbage. Cereal. Fruit snacks. Two MP3 players. Two cameras. Suitcases. Three awesome hiking sticks - two found by The Boy and one found by me. Three "magic wands". Countless rocks - we keep finding them in our pockets and bags. Hoodies. Dirty clothes. Towels (clean). A torn pillow case and sheet that we decided to make "disappear" because the cottage owner (my boss) never throws anything away. A box of blueberries. Orange juice. Tandoori Sizzler Doritos (God I love Canada!). Green apple soda. A tripod. The Man's new ball cap. Movies: The Princess Bride; Santa Claus vs. The Msrtians; Here Come The ABCs; Mystery Men; I Was a Teenage Startship Captain (you'll have to ask The Man about that one). More rocks. Sand. An Angelina Ballerina Book. Three noisy electronic toys. Water bottles. Tissues. Yogurt. Granola bars. More rocks.