Note to the deodorant industry: You have gone insane.

Since the last time I bought deodorant, apparently, things have gotten a little crazy. On the crazy scale, we’re talking the same level as when someone comes in and pitches "Alf" or "The A-Team" and everyone says, "Brilliant! Let’s do it!"* It’s difficult for me to believe that there’s been a precipitous drop in deodorant sales, economic downturn aside. So I simply cannot understand what would possess a company like, oh, Secret to launch a line with scents like Vanilla Chai, Jasmine Orient, Asian Pear, Arctic Apple, Brazilian Cherry, etc. (And, oh yes, there are more.) And might I add that the company has created "exotic" COMPUTER WALLPAPER for each scent?

If you want your armpits to smell like a vanilla chai latte, please slam your head into the mirror in your bathroom until you Stop Wanting That.

Not to mention that everything has been redesigned to appeal to either my grandmother or a 13-year-old.

My tried and true Soft & Dri conditioning silk hint of aloe (itself a bit crazy with the name) has been replaced with black and fuschia packaging that "pulses" on their site and makes me think of Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.

*Except, of course, that without "The A-Team" our world would shine a little less brightly. Also, without the Breakin’ series. But jacked-up deodorant? We can live without.

This week has been pretty incredible on the busy scale (somewhat unexpectedly) and I’ve missed the last two days of the daily photo challenge. Woe! I’ll attempt to make up for it later on this evening, with a three picture post.

I might mention, though, that Emma the Dog Girl has been doing some very odd things this week. And I’m not talking about the bug-eating (Emma "leaping" into the air to chomp a bug never fails to crack me up). For instance, last night after I kicked her out of the bed, she managed to wedge herself under the bed. I discovered this at 3 when she started to whine because she was trapped. Don’t worry, she’s free now, if still not down with random neighborhood fireworks. Or somehow having intuited the fact that I’m leaving for Vermont in a few days.

And, in other news, as I’m sure you’ve noticed (tumbleweeds!), I haven’t felt much like blogging for the last few weeks. I mostly chalk this up to revision (so close!), but also to needing a break. I’m also worlds behind on e-mail and that sort of thing, and I’ll be attempting to catch up this weekend before I take off. Blogging will continue apace from the residency.

Late, but I’m making it. One thing I love about Lexington is the downtown’s great old firehouses. We vote in a big red one, which I didn’t manage to take a picture of yesterday (I’ll add it to this post when and if I do). Here’s another example from a few streets over the other direction.

Cynthia Lord has started a photo challenge, which involves posting a shot of the area where you live each day for a week. Since I always get maudlin when I’m about to have to leave town for a bit–the residency starts next week–and like showing off Lexington, I decided to participate.

Today’s shot comes from a brief bike ride Christopher and I took around town. I needed a break from revision madness for a few, but the conditions appear to be pre-thunderstorm, so brevity was called for. (Don’t worry. I’m taking the rest of the night off, probably to finish rewatching the first season of Veronica Mars. Oh, such a good show.)

That’s Gratz Park–a block and a half from our house or so, and which the dogs get traipsed through a couple of times a day. The sculpture is called "The Fountain of Youth" and dedicated to a Kentucky writer, James Lane Allen. I’m guessing these days frolicking nude children would be voted down as a memorial, but no one is picketing these guys yet. To the left is the carriage house, the site of many court-ordered AA meetings.