Sunday, August 4, 2013

"Long Time To Be With a Man" and "Leaving"

"Long time to be with a man..."

Every year around this time, there is discussion about how long my wife and I have been together. Every year, no matter how long that has been, although, oddly enough, it's a bigger number every year, my wife will say, "long time to be with a man." This year is 15 years of marriage. Well, just over, now, since our anniversary was a little over a week ago.

That particular line is a quote from a couple of blues artists: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. I don't know which is which when they're speaking here, but it goes like this:
#1: Do you know actually how long you and me've been together?
#2: Yeah, it's been right around pretty close to 33 years.
#1: It's a long time to be with a man, ain't it?
If you want to hear it, it's around about the three minute mark, just after.



My wife and I aren't to the 33 year mark, yet, but I'm grateful for the 15 years of marriage and the more than 16 years we've been together.

For our anniversary, we went out to Bodega Head and did some hiking around and, then, had lunch in what was basically a hole in the wall crab place that didn't have any crab. Well, they're not in season, so I guess it's to be expected. My wife had what she described as the best clam chowder she'd ever eaten. Unfortunately, I'm not much for clams or clam chowder, so I just had a sandwich, because, when they don't have crab, they really only have the clam chowder, which, evidently, they are very well known for.
Also, unfortunately, we didn't see any sea lions. Okay, well, we did, but they were on an island pretty far off and were only little gray dots. However, we did hear them, because MY GOSH they are SO loud. Which I knew, but you kind of forget when you're not around them, so I'd forgotten how loud they are. So... no pictures of sea lions, but I do have some other pictures:
That's the coast where I live, so, see, not all of California is long, sandy beaches and warm, sunny days. It's rarely warm at the beach around here, but it sure is pretty. So is my wife, but she won't let me post any pictures of her, so you'll just have to take my word on it. Maybe, she'll let me post something next year.

"Leaving"

"Leaving" has nothing to do with the first part of this post. Nope, not at all. It's just that today is the FREE! release of "Part Twenty-seven: Leaving" of Shadow Spinner! I'd tell you who's doing the leaving, but, then, that would be telling. You'll just have to read it to find out!
Here's the list of today's FREE! offerings:
"Part Twenty-seven: Leaving" (Also FREE! tomorrow, Tuesday, August 6)
That's 19 out of the 27 parts (not including "The Evil That Men Do") for FREE!, which is pretty good if you ask me. Some of you may have noticed that the beginning chapters have quit being free, and that's true. They're being transitioned into a collected volume which should be available in two weeks (August 19). And there might just be a special announcement along with that (okay, there will be, but we're just going to pretend that there won't be for the time being).
Now, go read! But send your friends over for FREE! stuff before you do.

25 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your anniversary, heres to many more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats to you and your wife! That is a long time and something to be proud of :). Pics were very pretty.

    And woohoo about the "Leaving" part -- that's very generous of you

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is pretty pictures and a pretty story. It made me feel good reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations on fifteen years. Guess my wife would say it's a really long time to be with a man since you can add about ten years to our total.
    That's a nice coastal area. We just have the beach. Long, boring stretches of sandy beaches...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy anniversary! Fifteen years is a milestone. That coastline looks gorgeous. Much different than the flatness here in southeastern North Cackalacky.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love those rock formations along the coast. I saw some of those arches around La Jolla. Thought it was beautiful there. And, yes, there were sea lions.

    Congrats on the anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations! A day of seafood and going to the beach sounds like an awesome anniversary. Being landlocked (and not having fresh seafood), I don't think I have to tell you how jealous I am.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A crab shack with no crab would be pretty disappointing. Is it sea lions that eat penguins down in Antarctica or is that a different critter?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats Man and that is a gorgeous place to spend some time.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think seals eat penguins. Aren't sea lions different?

    Congratulations on the anniversary. But I'm more excited about Part 27, which I downloaded before I left this comment.

    As for the pictures: I really like that tree in the first one. Was it superwindy that day or is that how it grew?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Anniversary! What a beautiful way to spend the day!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Suzanne: Thank you!

    Jean: Thank you, too! And, nah, it's not really generous. Well, maybe, it is, but it's not without benefit to me, so it's not completely philanthropic.

    David: Good.

    Alex: Well, there's something to be said for sand, too. But I do like the beaches here better.

    JKIR,F!: It is pretty gorgeous. And thanks!

    L.G.: Thanks!
    There are some cool arches here and there. We were at some place once with one that is quite large, but I'm not remembering where, at the moment.

    ABftS: Well, if you ever come out here on a signing tour when y'all are big and famous, I'll take y'all out to the coast.

    PT: Well, I don't really like crab all that much anyway, but I did want to try the crab cakes. Sea lions, which are actually a type of seal, mostly eat fish.

    Maurice: It is. And it's close enough that I always wonder why we don't go out there more often.

    Briane: They're a type of seal, but, yeah, they're not the penguin eaters.

    The tree grew that way, but it was because of the wind.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations on your anniversary, I wish you many more. You think that's a long time to be with a man, we are coming up to 41 next month, now that is a long time to be with a man. A bunch of other friends have celebrated their 50s and that's an even longer time.

    Love the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sounds like it was a nice anniversary. I hope every one is as nice :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jo: Thank you so much, and you're right; 41 years is a long time to be with a man. Not that I would know.

    Jeanne: Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. 15 years is something to be proud of. Congrats! My son has told me that the best Clam Chowder on earth is on the California Coast... me, I think I would be more on your side.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is year 41 for us, and it doesn't seem like it. I could do 41 more with him!
    Congratulations on your anniversary, with wishes for many, many more happy years to come!
    And thanks for the freebies. I have to get reading. I've not read much at all for so long, I forget I can now with glasses.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Rusty: I'm sure the best clam chowder is out here. However, that's kind of like saying the best dirt is out here, and I don't want to eat that, either.

    Donna: Yes, read! Get to it!
    Two 41s on my post. That's pretty cool. I have a hard time even thinking ahead to 41.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow, Andrew! A big congrats is in order. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hayley: And a big thank you to you!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy Anniversary! And those pictures are beautiful - certainly not the popular vision we have when we think of California. I'd visit your neck of the woods over L.A. any day.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Melissa: Thank you! And, yeah, my neck of the woods is pretty cool.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Happy Anniversary! The Engineer and I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of our first date in December. Married 21 years. Sometimes engineers take a long time making up their minds about things...
    A crab shack with no crab??? WTF? Although I'm a huge clam chowder fan, so I could have done with that.
    Gorgeous photos. I've been to that part of CA and it's really nice. We did see sea lions, lots of them. There was even a camera obscura in an observatory. (I think that's the right name...sea lions were reflected in a parabolic mirror). I'm guessing we were somewhere between San Francisco and LA...but I was 18...so that was 30 years ago. Yes, I married my high school sweetheart.
    Tina @ Life is Good

    ReplyDelete
  24. Tina: The last time we were out there, a sea lion swam right up under where we were standing on the pier and, basically, held a conversation with us. I imagine it was looking for food, but we didn't have any on us.

    That is a long courtship.

    ReplyDelete