Well, as most of you know by now, I drive a boat for a livin'. Das why they call me Cappy. Summer in South Louisiana is brutal hot with lots of afternoon thunderstorms.
The bayous are full of beautiful flowers and everything is lush and down-right tropical. I found these morning glorys vining on the bayou bank, almost dripping flowers down into the water. 
The humidity in the evenings make for soft, pastel-colored sunsets. I include this picture of a sunset that I watched slowly sink into the marsh. Truly a wonder to behold. 
The third picture I included, to show ya why I don't take pictures of the city, or lights in the evening or early morning. The exposure has to be long to get the sky, and well, ya can't hold still on a rocking boat. Das why my best sunsets don't have any lights in the fore-ground and ya never see pictures of the great moon scenes I see.
Our new wheelman/pilot, Robert, turns out to be a pretty good fisherman and it wasn't long til a friendly 
rivalry started up 'tween Robert and our apprentice mate, Asa. Robert pretty much 'skunked' Asa this afternoon when we were in salty water. These pictures are of Robert with a nice Redfish and a big ole Black Drumfish he caught.
Asa, good-natured that he is, manages to sit there smiling while Robert picks at him bout the fish. Asa had his turn to 'pick' a few days later, when we were in fresh water, and he caught a couple Bass. 
Well, Asa may not have caught those fish that day, but he sure did them proud the next day in the galley.
Nuthin' like fresh fried fish. Das one of the perks of what we do.
It's always been a tradition that on the Monday before Cappy gets off the boat, which is Thurdsay, I tell the dawgs, "Day after day after tomorrow, 'Daddy' will come home". They look at me, but never get excited. It's also the day I go around 'tying up loose ends' so that when he's home I don't have to spend a lot of time messing with 'peripheral' stuff. Today I plan on finishing painting the hall. No big whoop. The big whoop will be when he's home. We thought we might go on over to New Orleans one day; visit the Aquarium, check out the Riverwalk area, have lunch at our favorite Gumbo Shop, then to a Zephyr's baseball game.(Hey...I accidentally hit the wrong button and this thang posted the blog before I finished! Grrr.)This is just a bland kind of post anyhow. It's like when along the shoreline, the water is going out, out, out...
Only 6 more days til Cappy gets off'n da boat! The "adventure" he is on, which I mentioned on the last post, takes them way out to south-west Louisiana. He hasn't been to the Lake Charles area in about ten years or so, and has been busy consulting the old raggety maps, which the dawgs and I took him, and his GPS. Right now they are traveling West on the Intracoastal Waterway. He was up all night til around 6 a.m. this morning, then finally had to take a 'nap'. But he's up again, still navigating 'that a way'. When he's out there on the boat, he has lots of time to think and plan, then when he actually gets home, we have so much fun. This time off we plan on going to some baseball games, fishin', and then heading to north Mississippi to one of his neices' weddings...that will make "Four Weddings and a Funeral" in the last year. (Wow, they oughta use that name as a title for a movie or something.) We're looking forward to this one (the other ones were great, too) because the wedding and reception will have an Hawaiian theme. I found the "loudest, tackiest, parrot-festooned" Hawaiian shirt I could find for Cappy, as per his instructions, and some cargo shorts to go along with it. Since the wedding itself will be held in a church, the family isn't sure if the attire will be suitable for wearing IN the church itself. Kin have been asking Cappy about it, so he called his sister to find out, and presently we are all waiting to hear the decision. If we all have to change our clothes between church and reception hall, so be it. It's the Bride's day, we love her, and it's gonna be FUN, no matter what! Cappy heard that everyone is going to "get lei'd at the door" going into the reception, and being the 'salty seadog' he is, I can only imagine his response, but I'm not gonna ask. Seeing that the only thing standing between this next upcoming exciting two weeks yet to be had, is this long trek out to the Lake Charles area, and back again, I can only say, "Go West, 'young' man, Go West".
It's another holiday and the neighborhood has packed up and left for their family get-togethers. It seems they all left in one fell swoop, hitting the road about nine a.m. Earlier, there were a lot of sounds of hustling and clanging and banging, but now it's awsomely quiet around here. I remember lots of 4th of July's from, even way back, when I was a tiny little girl. My grandparents lived on the levee in Olean NY across the river from the stadium where they set up the fireworks. The family always gathered there at my grandparents' house, picnicked all day, then at dusk, gathered outside in sweaters, kids rolled up in blankets on the grass, in anticipation for the fireworks display. Even tho the house is no longer there, and my family has all either died or moved out of the area, the stadium is still there and so are the fireworks every Fouth of July.Holidays are a little difficult for me nowdays, unless my Cappy is home with me. I just spoke with him and he said that today they are "off on an adventure", meaning, the usual hither and yon places they run, back in the swamps and bayous, has been replaced with orders for them to go off into uncharted (for them) territory, with all kinds of other twists and turns in those orders. It's those kinds of things that make his job interesting. The other day, while waiting to load his oil barge, he and the guys got to do some fishing. They got a couple of huge fish...I'm sure you'll be seeing pictures of them when Cappy hits dry land next week.At home here,as usual, I tried pushing myself into other people's plans for today, but was told that they don't have any plans. Well, too bad for them, cuz this morning I made plans. I'm tired of sitting around waiting for invitations, or getting turned down, so I'm going to do what I did for Easter, and take myself out for a day on the town! (I think I'd better invest in a stronger deoderant and a better brand of toothpaste, not to mention a nicer attitude, if that's what's wrong with me.)One thing that's got me down, too...if you read yesterday's blog...one of the symptoms of getting off this 'medication' is weight gain. Well, that's never fun, and as it is, I was already "chubby", as Cappy calls us. That's a better term, I think, than what we really are. Ya know, I'm sorry I haven't been so very upbeat of late, like I usually am. And I usually AM upbeat and cheery, as you may or may not know. Right now I just feel as though I am kind of 'leaning' on you, even tho I don't know who you are, reading this 'detoxification mental flow'. I'm hoping I can get this 'stuff' out of my system and get back to the happy person I was, panic attacks notwithstanding, before I started taking them. Sheesh, I'm going to be Sooo embarrassed to look back on this blogging time in my life. But, friend...thanks for being an important part of Cappy and Pegody's World through it all. Thanks for reading. P.S. Plans have changed. Cappy called and had me look for some important maps he needs to be able to navigate where they are going. They were here and there in the house, but I found them and need to take them to him in the middle of the night sometime, because it's the only time he'll be where I can meet the boat. They're in a big hurry, so I'll take "da boys" with me so we can drop them off to him. I'll need to take a good nap today.Ahh well...my idea of a day on the town is a chintzy movie, with a tank of popcorn and a salad at a fast food place, anyhow. We'll live it up when da Capster gets home. We have another big wedding/road trip to attend. Whoo hoo!
My beloved grandmother, God rest her fun and wacky soul, used to say, "I believe the world has gone mad, except for thou and me; and sometimes I wonder about thou". She passed way back in 1977 from complications of a Swine Flu shot, which was supposed to help keep her healthy. That was around the same time Elvis Presly died of drug abuse, etc.
If she thought the world was a crazy place back then, I wonder what she'd think of the goings on today. Just when I hear something on the news or wherever that shocks my sensibilities, something more ridiculous comes along that leaves me reeling. You live in today's world; I'm sure you know what I mean. There's nowhere to run and nowdays there's nowhere to hide. (I feel terrible for the folks in Kansas and Texas, who are having so much flooding and devastation. We have friends who read our blog who live in those areas, and we care very much about their safety.)
I dunno, it just seems as though the world has gone wacko around us. Just when I thought I'd found a little serenity, six years ago, I discovered I was wrong. I came to South Louisiana, and found what I feel is a little slice of Heaven. I found myself alone in an entirely new environment. I spend a lot of time with Cappy on the phone, as you all may know, but have spent a lot of my time isolated from other people due to who I am and/or the culture or whatever. I started having panic attacks about a year or so after moving here, but didn't know what was happening to me. I ran to the doctor several times, I drove myself to the ER once, in panic, I drove to 'visit' our friendly paramedics while having a rough time, I called neighbor friends late at night during their favorite show, apparently, all to no avail. Finally, my regular doctor had me go see a heart specialist. After a battery of tests the heart dr. said I was totally fine, but my stress (what stress??) was causing all the terrible symptoms. I thought I was happy, maybe I was stressed and didn't know it. He prescribed Lexapro, saying it would help my body make seratonin. I balked because I don't like meds. He assured me they were perfectly safe. I, being what Cappy refers to as a "health nut", didn't check them out before I went right along with the flow and took them. The panic attacks stopped, anyhow.
Well, it's been a few years and I'm used to being alone and have a lot of things to keep me occupied, so I went off the Lexapro 'cold turkey'. I'm eating healthier now, too, so what da hey. Two weeks later I was a mental basket case. When talking with our friend, Pam over the phone, she asked me what in the world was wrong. When I told her I'd quit taking the Lexapro, she said, " Get right back on them!" So I did, but I knew I had a problem with them at that point. Another year passed...I didn't want to mess with all that again..not just yet. During that year, I learned that a lot of folks near and dear to my heart were taking them, or similar substances. Oh yow! Why??
A little more than a month ago, our local phamacist mentioned a plan for my getting off them, so I've been trying. Slowly...very very slowly. When I began taking half a pill every other day, this awful buzzing started in my head. I mean AWFUL. Then it began to feel as though I were having some electrical shocks inside my brain. My concentration was shot, also. One gorgeous day I was sitting out in the grape arbor trying to drink in the beauty of the day, but was so out of focus mentally, and it felt as though I had some kind of electrode hooked onto the back of my upper neck, zapping me. Well, I was angry, so I came in and checked out Lexapro withdrawl to see if I was going crazy or what. Oh migosh. You should just Google this sometime. There are tons and tons of posts by poor saps like myself. People cry, thinking it's impossible to get off this terrible drug, others give up, hating the withdrawl symptoms, so they just go back to taking them. Posts ask "Will I EVER get off these? Is it possible??" Only one, that I saw, said in huge HUGE letters, "I DID IT!" It took them five months to get off Lexapro, but they had to watch their nutrition carefully and take vitamin supplements, etc. Sighhh. I'm taking a quater of a pill every day, still suffer from occasional "brain zaps" and lack of concentration or motivation. I don't need these; I don't think I ever really needed them. I could've used something more natural, if I'd had my wits about me.
I know this posting has been a 'rant'. I'm just kind of upset with the pharmacuetical companies and the doctors, who fit-hand in-glove with them for nothing more than profit. I think if they had their way, they could declare that everyone's gone mad and in need of their 'junk'. If it weren't for their ineptitude, the world still might have ol' Elvis. I might have my Grandma around, yet, and she'd still be wondering about Thou.
The bayous are full of beautiful flowers and everything is lush and down-right tropical. I found these morning glorys vining on the bayou bank, almost dripping flowers down into the water. 
The humidity in the evenings make for soft, pastel-colored sunsets. I include this picture of a sunset that I watched slowly sink into the marsh. Truly a wonder to behold. 
The third picture I included, to show ya why I don't take pictures of the city, or lights in the evening or early morning. The exposure has to be long to get the sky, and well, ya can't hold still on a rocking boat. Das why my best sunsets don't have any lights in the fore-ground and ya never see pictures of the great moon scenes I see.