Catching up

Most of you following this blog know a lot of my updates are being posted on my Facebook page. For those of you who are NOT regulars to my page, I’ll try to give a brief rundown of what’s been going on in Sunset Valley.

Mom got a new car! (Pastel pink of course) It’s one of those classic roadster type deals. Myself, I’ve been looking at another scooter to replace my trusty Kenspa, which I will give to Sety, who’s now a teen.

And she isn’t the only one with new wheels. This little ditty belongs to Bassy. He claims it has 140 horsepower, and Neil, he of the new dame on his shoulder, is the one he says souped it up.

I got new neighbors over on Pinochle. They moved here from Twinbrook and I have to say, they’re a bit … strange. I walked in to introduce myself (which, most of you reading this blog know, is tough for me to do!) and I must have caught her by surprise because she jumped. Apparently she had been doing some kind of upgrade or something because she had a wrench in her hand. We kinda looked at each other in suspicion.

Andy told me later she was Clare de Visser and she’d come to town with her parents and her girlfriend, Shana Jeffries. Shana was in the athletic track with him, that’s how he knew about it.

Andy went to the consignment store and picked up THIS little ditty. When he surprised me with it, he said it was a ‘metal box’ that I might be interested in. Oh Andy. Anybody with eyes could see it’s a time machine. Any man that buys his wife a time machine – knowing how crazy she is about history – is a keeper.

I hired Joyce Ann Ward, a famous photographer, to take pictures of my family, particularly my parents. I’m not sure how much time they have left so I’ll treasure them while they’re still around. She arrived ahead of schedule, catching my dad by surprise.

Dad was in the art room. “Who are you?” he asked with his sideways grin.

“I’m Ms. Ward,” began the redhead. “Your daughter hired me to come and take pictures.”

Dad laughed and shook his head.

Of course, this presented another problem. Since Ms. Ward arrived early, Bassy decided to make his presence known.

She asked if she could take a casual portrait of him in his bedroom, and he said yes, so he led her into his room. I asked him about this, and he swears up and down that nothing happened. Of course, this is my brother I’m talking about, so I don’t believe him for a second.

This is because he made his intentions plain the next day by openly flirting with her.

“I’d like to take a hot picture of you,” I overheard him telling her. Ugh. Seriously, Bassy, could you at least conceal your lasciviousness? I mean, I hired the woman to take pictures of the family. Talk about mixing business with pleasure. I still don’t know for certain if they slept together… but knowing my brother, I don’t doubt it.

The next day everyone gathered slowly in the courtyard for the family photo. Ms. Ward told all of us to find a place to stand.

Well this is all of us... except for Satis and AJ. Satis showed up 10 mins AFTER this was taken. I was pretty ticked.
Ok here's who's who. In the back row are Daisy Ramsey (Sebastian's GF), Bassy, my half-brother Noah, his wife Sadie, and their son Neil. In the next row are Dad, Mom, Andy and me. And that devil in the front is Imsety.
Of course, getting the pic taken was a major challenge, partly because it's hard getting everyone together with their schedules... and the other reason is because my brother made no secret about his affection for the photographer. Bassy could charm the pants off of a nun, seriously. It's crazy.

Birthday Blues

So, this is my not-a-kid-anymore brother, Sebastian Ryan Plumb, otherwise known as Bassy.  Except he wants to be called Sebastian now since he thinks he’s so grown, hehe. Mom wanted to go the full Monty and name him Johann Sebastian (after Bach) but Dad said no to that idea. They compromised on “Sebastian.”  I tease Bassy and tell him it could have been worse -- he could have been Wolfgang Amadeus (after Mozart) or Ludwig (after Beethoven).

First thing he wished for when he blew out his candles... was to go to Egypt!!! Oh and we did NOT invite that lady who showed up in the pink evening gown, lol.  Sometimes I wonder what I’ve done to that kid.

Except… if my brother is so grown, how come he still watches cartoons every morning, has a collection of toy planes, and listens to kids music?  Right now, though, he’s dead set on going to Egypt. He's so obsessed now that he's sleeping with an Egypt T-shirt on every night and I'm not sure WHERE he got that from. So far there's no talking him out of it and I can’t say I’m happy about it. Mom says it’s my fault because I’ve surrounded him with all the relics from Egypt throughout his childhood.  So, I'm going to compromise with him. I'm going to ask him if I can accompany him. Look at the guy. When it came time to hand out genetic blessings, mom and dad saved them all for him.

 

“Sebastian, what do you intend to do with yourself?” Mom asked over the birthday cake.  “I thought you were going to put out that album.”

“I actually think I’m going to move to Bridgeport.”

“Bridgeport?  That’s all the way down the coast.  Are you sure?”

Meanwhile, I ate in the kitchen with Daisy Ramsey, Sebastian’s sort-of girlfriend.  Truth is, they’ve been pals since they were children.  She’s like 3 days older than he is and, truth be told, I think she’s got a teensy little crush on him.  The other boy is Michael Falcon, who went to his high school. 

I feel kind of weird.  My own birthday is coming up in a few days.  Gosh I feel ancient.