2003-07-09 - 10:30 p.m.

Ah, M�xico! She treats me right! My dad is a genius for building his house where he did. It�s right on a beauteous rocky bluff overlooking zillions of miles of the Pacific Ocean. A tiny fishing village up the road. Dirt roads only for miles and miles. Dolphins everywhere. Not much else. I learned he pays $600.00 per year to lease the land. And he (being MacGyver) built it all himself with cinderblocks and planks of wood and odds and ends. And it�s a glorious shack. It�s got charm and character. As soon as you walk in, you realize someone with a vision put the place together. Sure, it�s random, incongruous, looks like it might fall over, an American building inspector�s nightmare, but every single bit of it has a story. I like homes like that.

I have become quite a handywoman in operating the place. I know to turn the butane tank righty-tighty for the luxury of hot water, to reach deep into the for-looks-mostly antique stove to adjust the burners, to undo the sprinkler valve to irrigate my dad�s girlfriend�s rose garden. (Shhh! No one tell my dad�s girlfriend - Karen - that Erik backed over one of her rose bushes in my dad�s current Mexico vehicle - an ancient Jeep Cherokee with the front license plate frame reading: Happiness Is Being Single.)

We had a swell time hiking about, exploring, lighting off scary Mexican fireworks, listening to much music (yes that�s an activity, especially for my music-industry-obsessed brother and his coworkers), playing board games, drinking, cooking, eating too much, lounging, playing Smashball, drinking, etc. Being there reminds me of how little is needed to be happy. And I don�t just mean that in a "Wow! Lounging about in the summer sun listening to Gram Parsons drinking margaritas all day shore do make me happy!" kind of way. (Although it do.) I also mean it in an "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life�" kind of way. Simplify, simplify�

And on that note, I sure am glad I got home in time to watch America�s Next Top Model. Godspeed you, Adrienne. A shining star is what you are. I did a cartwheel when you triumphed over Teethy-Darrel-Hanna-McTeethster. And then I cried. Tears of joy, of course.

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