Itchy & Scratchy, Connection Issues

It’s hot and stuffy. Lovely temperatures of 70s and lower 80s outside, but still, with no air conditioning inside, with no fans and the afternoon sun beating down the windows, it gets toasty. Dad likes it that way, plus, you can’t open the windows, because the mosquitoes are vicious and huge! They really are as enormous as I remember them as a kid. I guess the last few years we came home we’ve spent the majority of our time in the city and mosquitoes were never really an issue. And at Christmas time when we did come out here to the countryside it was, obviously, wintery cold and also not an issue. I can’t believe I didn’t bring OFF! I thought of bringing some from home as I had a hunch the critters would be a bitch, but forgot all about it. Should have known though… oh well. And, for some strange reason, the Parents don’t keep a drop of bug repellent at the house… they live in a veritable forest by water’s edge – very idyllic, but big-time mosquito country, and don’t have a single de- or anti-bug option available. So the big event this evening was running off to the store in search of bug spray. I searched and searched, and finally asked a clerk who pointed me to a small blue cardboard case and explained apologetically that whatever I could find in there was all that was left. It was slim pickin’s. Some wimpy wipes, a teensy weensy bottle of liquid repellent and a small can of after-bite cooling gel – but no spray. Who’d have thunk it, the only local convenience store deep in Norwegian mosquito territory out of bug spray! I bought one of each of the rather skimpy alternatives and went across the street to the only gas station where I armed myself with a small can of actual OFF in spray form. I paid upwards of $6 for this tiny treasure, but it was worth it – now I can go for a walk with the Mother Figure and stop and take as many photos as I please without being eaten alive!

Another thing that’s weird, is being completely without any cell reception whatsoever. Not even in the little town up the road, where Dad says he always has coverage. Me, nada. Being so used to being so connected in every way all the time and so suddenly being without connection is quite creepy. Creepy how dependent on technology you get, I mean. (Read Jennifer Egan’s “The Keep”). I really had no idea how much it would bother me. In one way I like it – it’s very relaxing in a strangely serene sense, but I feel like I’m having connection withdrawals at times. Electronic detox. Which probably is very good for the soul and healthy in more than one way but still, an adjustment. There’s obviously no wireless internet for my beloved MacBook, but I can check email on Mom’s old, slooooow computer with an even slooooower dial-up, so I get on for a few minutes each day to check email and such. And post here, obviously. And, scene – I think my time’s up. So long!