Downy Ocean, Hons

I'm off, blogger friends, to the humid shores of Gimmebuyme, with my daughter and my parents—three generations of Dogfaceboy clan, a typical "boardwalk family" as we call people like ourselves (only we have more teeth, better accents, and nicer clothes, and my daughter, at eight, is not yet pregnant, so we're not really the typical boardwalk family).

It will be a week of Scrabble playing, beach lying, ocean standing, indoor pool splashing, ride riding, junk buying, book reading (The Whole World Over, by Julia Glass, which just happens to be about cake!), and good food eating.

Yet with all that fun, I will still miss you.

While I'm away, I'll be working on my next little essay—a piece on why summer frightens the bejesus out of me.

Hold down the virtual fort while I'm away, will you? But don't say anything important. My only computer access will be at Radio Shack at the mall, where I pretend to be checking out their amazing PCs.