Let it Bleed

Hello Readers!

Welcome to a quick post to catch you up to date. I’m currently working on something about our time at the Palio in Siena a few weeks ago, which – considering the amount of time I’ve been working on it – should be terribly disappointing! HOORAY!

That said, here’s a little something that gets to the real purpose of this blog, which is letting our mothers know that we’re safe and sound. That’s why this post is about the multiple injuries I sustained today. HOORAY!

Yesterday we arrived in Zadar, Croatia. It’s a beautiful seaside town on the Adriatic, and we’ve had some sunny days while here. One of the first things we did was go to the waterfront, where we saw half of Croatia jumping and diving off the wharf into the water.

It looked like a lot of fun. And then we saw this little guy, as well:

(by the way, yes, that child is naked)

He was the hero of the day, jumping off the six-foot wharf into the Adriatic to get his ball. Every Italian, Korean, and German tourist, plus two New Yorkers, stood around and watched this little fella for about a half-hour. He was a real crowd-pleaser.

As a former high-school springboard diver who place 16th in the New York State Section Five regional championships in 1986 – and not to be outdone by a thirty pound dog – I told Amy that I wanted to come back the next day (today) and get see the sights, get some sun, take a dip, and maybe jump off the wharf about three-hundred times myself. Amy consented. HOORAY!!

So today, there we were, at the wharf, ready to go. I took a jump in, testing the water. It was actually very warm, but very salty. Then Amy went in as well, and executed a nearly flawless dive. The showoff…

She swam around for a while, and then seductively climbed out on the ladder built into the wharf, just like Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times At Ridgemont High.” Just like it…kind of.

There were also about 10 tweens jumping into the water, causing a big ruckus, just about breaking each other’s spinal cords as they jumped within inches of each other, trying to douse each other and all the girls with cannonballs. It was like Caddy Day at the pool.

So I got cocky. It was time to pull out the old ammunition, and fire off the kind of dive that gets you the 16th Place ribbon in the New York State Section Five Championships. In 1986. Off I went…

Did you hear that?! Or see it, anyway? That “One-and-a-Half” was about a “One-and-one-fifth.” I totally smashed my face on a wave. Here’s a picture of my red face:

And there it is, injury #1.

But to add insult to injury, or rather injury to injury, when I climbed up that same ladder, I somehow cut myself.

Injury #2. Yep, there were a bunch of mussels stuck to the wharf, and I don’t know exactly how I did it – I didn’t even really feel it – but I hacked up my knee on some mussels. HOORAY!!

But no worries. We’re fine, Mom.

And as a thank you for reading this, here is a bonus dog. Just off the wharf, in the harbor, was this poodle, with painted toenails, lounging on a boat. HOORAY!