My favorite part of Fire Island is when Jay Ferguson sings "I held her close, until the storm passed, and we fell down, laughing in the wet grass, both our bodies drying in the sunshine, sweet sunshine"

*Sigh* Summer love.

That song is all chorus, have you ever noticed? It starts chorus, stays chorus, and wraps up with chorus. You'd think lennie kravitz wrote it or something.

Been listening to a lot of Dire Straits lately. Mark Knopfler is so fucking cool. Come on. He just is. I love that song Water of Love. I feel like I'm floating down a space river in an enso-shaped inner tube when I listen to that song.

We're selling our house. Could things get any more dynamic? Lived in L.A. for two months. Come back to Colorado, sell house, buy other house, go to Europe for a month. It will be November before I have a day off. But who wants a day off? I have never had more fun.

Am also finishing my book up. My editor is going to castrate me if I don't get this baby in. I am happy to do so, cuz now I have the most kick ass ending to it EVUHHHH.

How are you guys? How are you doing? Can I get you something? Do you need a hug? A tug? Some meta-love drug?

Screw it! I'm going to give you THE BEST summer salad recipe EVUHHHH. I'm serious. Make this, and if you don't like it, get a knife and cut your tongue out, cuz you don't deserve the taste buds! This salad is SO GOOD. And simple.

Get a ripe, seedless watermelon. Carve it out in squares, or spheres, or whatever your favorite geometric morsel is, and put all the chunked water melon into a big salad bowl. Add pitted kalamata olives. Good ones. From the most expensive deli in town. Next, add French Feta. REAL feta, OK? not those cubed, preserved saline bricks they sell at Safeway. Go to a damn deli and get REAL feta. It will be expensive. You'll thank me later. Then, get a bag of limes. Half all the limes, and extract their juice using a juice machine, or your bare hands. If you don't use fresh lime juice, stop reading now and perform self-flagellation. Next, get FRESH MINT leaves. chop a full cup or two of them. If you don't use fresh chopped mint leaves, you will contract ghonohrea. that's a fact. i don't understand biology, but consider yourself warned. next, chop one half of a fresh purple onion.

mix all that together, pour the full cup of fresh lime juice over the watermelon, fresh chopped mint leaves, kalamata olives, chopped french feta, and diced purple onion. if you want it to look cool, put it back in the open halves of your watermelon. refrigerate for two or three hours.

one more thing. when you begin to MOAN uncontrollably over this infusion of savory summer simplicity, this delectable belly-melting goodness that makes supper super, SAY MY NAME. Say it. Scoop that melon to your quivering lips, and whisper "stuart... stuart..."

that's all i ask.