You're Not Sick of Beach Pictures, Are You?

Super Cool Jellyfish

Super Cool Mom

Super Cool William Surfing the Perfect Wave

Faith Diving for Super Cool Shells

Super Cool

Super Cool Chick Thinks She's Super Funny

Super Cool Googles

We Thought This Guy Was Super Cool, Too.

I'm Never Going to Get Tired of These Pictures.

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More Tide Pool Pictures

Margo takes beautiful pictures. I wish on everything holy that she would do something with this talent, something that makes money, I mean. She's especially good with children. She can get kids to make the perfect face. I also wish I felt more comfortable with showing you examples of those perfect faces but, alas we don't live in a perfect world.

When she posted pictures from the tide pool (speaking of perfect), she left out some of my favorites.

I swear Ray is one of the funniest people that has ever stomped this planet.

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The World According to Jude

I know, you're all dying to hear the scoop on Jude and R. Well I've got it; and I'm dishing! Ready? They're perfect. If I had met them individually, I would have loved them. But together, they're like a wink and a smile, peas and carrots, Gilbert and Sullivan.

Jude, in a word? Sweet. Guys, listen. Jude is very possibly the sweetest soul on this precious earth. She is gentle and soft-spoken. She tends to R with such attention! Always asking if she's OK or if she needs something. Jude obviously in word and deed adores R. (It occurs to me that I've made R sound like an invalid. She's not. Her toes are broken.)

About Equality, Jude is passionate without being a fanatic. She brings a cool head and vast knowledge of the law and the history of civil rights struggles, gay and otherwise. She's fighting the good fight with her words and her photos. With unrivaled resolve and stoicism, Jude too "has a dream."



R, for her part, dotes on Jude. With what's left of her Jersey Girl accent, she lovingly tells the good and the bad with brutal honesty, self-reflection that would make Freud proud, and always a casual but mindful hand on Jude's knee or shoulder. She watches her when she's any distance away, and smiles when Jude turns to come back. R has style, class, wit and brains. Nobody could fault Jude for being smitten.

They are a testament to love, the enduring blessing of forgiveness, and the promise of good things for good people. I feel wholly honored that they came all this way to peek in on us and the kiddies. We had a blast.

Our First Pride Weekend

They called it "The Hot Mess Marsh."

Dawn said, "If someone asked you what the opposite of gay is, wouldn't Arkansas Razorback be a not untrue answer?"

Our next tent neighbors. They had great music, of course.

Scott is Dawn's friend's husband. Not gay, but he got A LOT of attention on the beach:) I liked that he brought a cooler and a shaker.

Dykes with Kites.

The Surf was pretty high all weekend because of the storms. This guy is not gay, but he may have wanted to be by the end of the party.

Awww. Even our shoes love each other. Dawn said, "I'm on top." I said, "OK."

3 asses. It's not as good as Jude's pic of the assey surfer, but is anyone complaining?

There were only a couple of rainbow umbrellas at the beach. Just Kidding.

If you can manage it, don't look at me being decidedly un-photogenic. Check out the rub-down behind me.

For you tataphiles out there - She wanted to know if I was going to photoshop her clothes off. I said, "No, your shirt is so cute."

I believe Solo calls them "Cute Baby Dykes."

Girl with a Guitar - Carol Plunk at Peg Leg Pete's. She is rockin' good and has a huge following of like-minded ladies:)

My Great Love lost her aphrodisiac in her shoe. She laughed so hard I thought she was going to wet her pants.


We had a Great Time! Without kids, it would have been totally different, of course. More debauchery, more drunkenness, more shocking stories for you guys. We have plenty of years for that, though. So stay tuned.

We still haven't been to a Pride Parade. I really want to do that. Anyone want to fly us to wherever yours is? And put us up? And put up with us? OK. I can wait. Again, I've got plenty of time.

Wade in the Water

Florida’s Beaches were segregated. I swear that had never occurred to me. I’m from Mississippi, ground zero for the civil rights movement and the integration battles. I think of lunch counters and the Little Rock Nine and George Wallace and James Meredith. But not beaches.

I heard the program “Florida’s Frontiers” on WUWF yesterday afternoon. It was about the Forgotten Women in Florida’s history. It highlighted a woman who led the charge in integrating Florida’s beaches. Instead of sit-ins, the demonstrations were called swim-ins and wade-ins. And yes, they were as bloody and ugly as their inland counterparts. There are pictures of grown (I hesitate to use the word adult) white people in swim trunks wrestling and pummeling African-Americans also in swim trunks with uniformed policemen in the mix, all of this in less than 2 feet of water. If you don’t know the context of the photos, it looks fairly ridiculous. When you do, it is terrifying.

March 2009. We’ve just finished Black History Month and are now in Women’s History Month and are staring down a Legislative term which includes bills on Civil Unions, Gay Adoption, and Hate Crimes. Rallies are planned, lobbies are scripted and the bravest among us are converging in Tallahassee to turn the tide once more.

It’s warming up. Dawn and I will soon be spending oodles of time at the beach with 4 brilliant and curious children, 2 of which are bi-racial. This season will be different for me. The pictures will show an unlikely family paying homage at hallowed ground, a battleground. And I will marvel more at the whiteness of the sand and the green of the water and the blue of the sky. I will revel in Dawn’s energy and be grateful for my children’s innocence. And the song that will be playing over and over in my head is “Wade in the Water. Wade in the Water, Children. Wade in the Water. God’s gonna trouble the Water.”

Memorial Day Weekend in Pensacola Beach

March is here, so it's time to start making plans for Memorial Day. Big Pride festival. Big. Big like the-population-of-our-town-doubles big. Anybody coming?

How could you not? We have the most beautiful beaches in the world, and for 4 or 5 days they'll be covered with lesbians. When I went for the first time, a friend of a friend said, "Yeah come on. Wear a top and boardies." I had no idea what she was talking about. "You know, a bikini top and board shorts, like surfing shorts." I told her I didn't have any boardies. Blair said, "You're going to want to get some. I mean, it's a beach full of lesbians. Know what I mean?" As it turned out, "a top and boardies" did seem to be the official uniform.

Nightlife, however, requires a funny or crass t-shirt. Here's a few of my favorites.

"To do list. 1 - Your Mother. 2 - Your Sister."

"Excuse me boys, we've come for your wives."

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." -Pat Robertson

"I love Spicy Tuna."

"If you disagree with Gay Marriage, don't have one."

"Yes, we are and No, you can't watch."

I think I've settled on mine for the year. It says, "Nerdy Girls Make Me Hot." If Dawn would let me post her picture, it would make sense.

Here is my first and most important suggestion. Book now! The beachside hotels fill up quickly. The Hilton is really nice and the Comfort Inn is really convenient. You can also try VRBO.com. That stands for Vacation Rentals by Owner. We've found some really great deals there. If you stay in Pensacola proper instead of at the beach, you have to get to the beach pretty early in the day because they'll close the bridge if it gets too crowded over there.

More advice to follow as the schedule of events is released.