My Secret Hideaway

I sometimes dream of a getaway - the chance to get away from my problems, from bills and job-hunting, from the stresses of everyday life. My ideal getaway location? Someplace hot, with swimming and my choice of adult beverages. Someplace nobody would bother me, where I can choose to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Someplace where I only need a bathing suit, a sarong, a hair clip and my sunglasses. Paradise.

Of course, because of my current situation, I couldn't possibly manage a trip to Paradise. However, I did just manage a couple of days at a spot just north of there. You may have read that I was house-and-dog sitting for friends of mine for the weekend. They have a really nice pool, and in exchange for 45 minutes of dog care twice a day (plus a couple of minutes of egg-collecting - who knew that I was scared of chickens?) I got to hang out poolside for the whole weekend. AND miracles of miracles - the weather cooperated. Yup. Here in Maine, we're having a heat wave (sing with me "a tropical heat wave...") and it's been 90 degrees and sunny every day for almost a week now!

Anyway, I had a great time, and took some pictures of my gorgeous locale.

This is the view from the upper deck. I took this picture around 9 in the morning, and that thermometer on the side of the tiki bar reads 80! And all this time I thought Mother Nature hated me.

A view of the tiki bar. This is where I ate breakfast and lunch and changed stations on the radio as my mood changed from classic rock (morning) to country (afternoon) to jazz (evening).

Here's a better view of the bar - home to many fabulous concoctions. I stayed mostly with Mike's Hard Lemonade, but I know the blender could have told stories of margaritas past.

In addition to their sled dogs, my friends had these adorable poodle puppies. They had six, but three of them have been sold so far. They're ten weeks old and apricot colored- aren't they cute?

One of them was forever jumping straight up in the air. I think they should call him Pogo. I had to take all the photos from outside their enclosure because when I was in there, they were all over me. Their fur is so incredibly soft, and I love how they don't have the long skinny noses yet.

Don't you just want to scoop this baby up and cuddle her??

Anyway, here I am, back to reality. Everything here is exactly the same - same miserable problems that were here before I left - but I feel a little bit refreshed. Sunburnt, and with some sore muscles (I guess I don't use my swimming muscles enough) but refreshed nonetheless. Now if only I could get them to go away for a whole week...