The worst part about a terrific vacation isn’t when it ends. No, the worst part comes several days after it’s over, when you’re back in the real world and wistfully remembering how much fun you were having exactly one week ago, while acknowledging just how much fun you’re not having right now. It’s the curse of a great holiday to miss it when it’s gone, yet we must remember that such passing misery is but...

Well, the Great Exodus From Texadus is over and we are back from the magic of Walt Disney World, left to wallow in our misery and warm gulf coast air. You know you’re almost back in Texas when you pass into the hideous stain of Louisiana, traveling west along Interstate 10. The smell of refineries begins to permeate the air and the odious stench passes into your soul through your nostrils, even as it concurrently settles on your body...

I’m taking the easy way out tonight. Throughout our time here, I’ve been sending tweets to my Twitter account about what we’ve been doing. So, instead of writing a lengthy blog after a long and rewarding – but tiring – day, I think I’m just going to post the relevant tweets from the past couple of days and leave it at that. I’ll be back next week with a more detailed retelling of the wonderful time...

I’m afraid I don’t have much energy to devote to much of anything tonight, creative or otherwise. Regrettably, the long drive sapped the entire family of our residual strength and we’ve spent the past twenty-four hours running on little more than fumes. Once we were finally able to get on the road after the unfortunate eight hour delay we were forced to endure, we made an arduous sixteen hour journey across the country,...

Embracing the dynamic spirit of the American dream and throwing caution to the wind, I recently decided it was time for a change. Just a little change, mind you. An insignificant one at best, but substantial enough to raise the eyebrows and lower the expectations of those around me, at least so far as their perception of my age is concerned. I didn’t set out to take a few years of the clock and pursue that most elusive and costly of...

I was giving thanks last week, all last week and to no one in particular. It was just a general blanket sort of thank you to the universe at large, I guess. Mostly, it involved me not doing any work whatsoever, hence the lack of new essays right here at Coquetting Tarradiddles. I did eat a lot, however, which turned out to be sort of like work after the fourth trip to the leftover pantry. Fortunately, gratuitous mastication seems to somehow...