Monday, August 13, 2007

There's a Place Called Pocono ...

... that's where you want to go, to get away from it all.

OK, so it's not the Caribbean paradise that Jimmy Buffet songs are made of, but a week in the Poconos was just the ticket for me last week.

With the possible exception of the SCBWI Conference, there's no place I'd rather go. And not to be outdone by conference goers Jay, Robin and Eve; rilla; Stephanie Blake; or Elizabeth Dulemba ... with all their glamorous pictures of La La Land, famous authors and sparkly, sexy evening attire ... here are my photos from the mountains of Pennsylvania:

Here's me giving it my best shot on the resort's bocci courts. No, I didn't win, but I DID make it past the first round in both the couples and team tournaments.



Here I am with my little brother, doing my best karaoke version of "Safety Dance." No, I didn't impress the crowd with my singing, but I DID dress real neat from my head to my feet and surprise 'em with a victory cry.



And last but not least, here I am with my sweetie. No real reason to post this picture, except that it is one of the few shots of me I actually like. And Joe's not looking half bad either.

16 comments:

elysabeth said...

Looks like vacation was what you needed. Thanks for stopping by my blog and posting what planet - you should have posted it on yours for everyone to see - I do some of those fun things for no reason other than to just post something on my blog -

I'm heading to Decatur Book Festival the end of the month and will be volunteering in the children's activities area and my kids are dressing up like characters - from the book Where the Wild Things Are - I will post pictures of that weekend when we return because we are doing a mini vacation to Stone Mountain for Labor Day - so should be a fun weekend for us - I love volunteering at book festivals -

see you in the postings - E :)

Elizabeth O Dulemba said...

Hey Linda,
It was fun meeting you in LA - even if it was the very last night! Glad you got some relax time in. And who is Elysabeth? I'll be doing the Decatur Book Festival too, moderating the illustrator panel. Ironic!
:)
e (I'm a little "e")
Elizabeth O. Dulemba

LindaBudz said...

Hi, e!

Thanks for stopping by, but I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else ... I was one of the unlucky ones who didn't get to go to LA this year. I have found that about every third person in SCBWI is named Linda, so it's an understandable mistake! I do appreciate the coverage you have on your blog, and I do hope to get to meet you at a future event!

BTW, you can find Elysabeth here:
www.elysabethsstories.blogspot.com. Hope both of you have fun in Decatur!!

Anonymous said...

Wow.. is there any way to post the sound to that song on your blog... i bet it's a super version of the safety dance. "hey, it's Daniel's"

Anonymous said...

your younger brother is handsome........ i would love to get to meet a hunk of a man like him....

LindaBudz said...

Hee hee, hi there, lil' bro! You DO look adorable, and you sounded good too. Brought me up a notch or three on that song, for sure.

In the immortal words of Men Without Hats:

Say, we can act if want to
If we don't nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile.

rilla jaggia said...

Hey Linda,
GREAT pics...looks like you had at least as much fun as I did ;)
Wonderful to be with family and go crazy. The mountains of Pennsylvania are beautiful...the best part of the drive between Indiana and New York...even if the snow nearly kills you...ooops...that's a whole 'nother story for a totally different season...so glad you had so much fun!
BTW, I did meet e on the last day of the conference...and she's lovely, as is her art...

Anonymous said...

So glad you had fun! And you're my hero for being brave enough to karaoke.

-- and your sweetie's Simpson character is dead on! Too fun!

LindaBudz said...

Hi, rilla! Indiana to New York? In the snow? Sounds brutal! I'll be interested to hear the whole story some day.

Andie, if you could hear my singing, you'd admire my bravery all the more!

Stephanie J. Blake said...

Cute couple!

LindaBudz said...

You're a sweetheart, CW!

Katia said...

Linda, what is this boci thing? I had never heard the word, and yet, it looks strangely like our French pétanque ?

LindaBudz said...

Hi, Katia! Yes, I think it is the same as petanque. You throw a little white ball (which they call a pallino) and then each player throws their balls to try to get it closest to the white ball. Actually, I think I've been misspelling it here ... it is really "bocce" with an "e." I'm guessing it's Italian. It is not really a hugely popular game over here, but it does have its following,

Actually, the first time I ever saw this game was about 18 years ago in Le Mans, France ... and I'd forgotten what they called it, but now that you've reminded me, patanque sounds right. And I DO remember that they (or at least the guys who taught me the game), called the little white ball the "froggy." Is that what you call it? I loved that!

Katia said...

Hi, Linda, yes, sounds like La Petanque. Just googled "bocce" and found a bit of history with one mention that a Doctor from the Faculty of Medicine in Montpelliers - south of France, where else - once said that it was the best sport for people suffering from rheumatism. Anyway, I learned something. I always thought that la petanque was THE quintessential Southern French activity, along with drinking pastis in the warm evening. :)

Katia said...

Oups, by the way, no it's not called frog, it's called "cochonnet" which means piglet :)

LindaBudz said...

Piglet! Even better!!

I just looked up "pallino" on Google translations and it means "bullet" in Italian. Ick.

The Italian word for piglet, apparently, is "porcellino." Close! I'm going to call it the porcellino from now on. I'm sure everyone will think I'm just mispronouncing pallino. It'll probably drive my Mom and Dad (who take the game way too seriously) crazy. Hmm, looking forward to next summer already!

(Hee hee.)