Hippo, birdie, two ewes...
2008-06-01 08:27 am ... each to hofdave,
catalana, and
madtom_o_bedlam!!!!!! (That would be six hippos, six birdies,
and a dozen ewes total.) Hope it's a great one!!!
... each to hofdave,
catalana, and
madtom_o_bedlam!!!!!! (That would be six hippos, six birdies,
and a dozen ewes total.) Hope it's a great one!!!
The morning was almost entirely eaten up taking chaoswolf and
selkit to the bank so they could set up a joint account. The
bank we've been using since before we were married, Union Bank of
California, is one of the few with a branch in Canada, which made it an
obvious choice as well as convenient for all. It still took two
hours for them to figure out how to handle a Canadian's identity.
Feh!
After that, we piled the whole gang plus the wheelchair (Igor), into the
flower_cat's minivan (the Rambling Silver Rose -- yes, the song was an
afterthought) and went to the local Greek Orthodox church's Greek
Festival. It's not about the music, the dancing, or the hucksters: it's
about the food. Everyone in the family has something
they like there, even the normally-super-picky Younger Daughter, who
invariably has the deep-fried squid strips and a big box of honey-dipped,
deep-fried dough balls for desert. Colleen had lamb, and I had a skewer
of pork cubes; both of us drank retsina. Yum. The Cat and I finished
lunch with Greek coffee (sometimes described as caffeinated sludge served
in tiny cups at knife-point) and baklava.
Went over to the stage, and I joined a line dancing a Syrtos. Took a while for the pattern to come back to my feet, but I eventually got it. Left after that because the music really was a bit too loud. No walkies, but I got my exercise with the RollyCat. I'd parked only a couple of blocks away, so it wasn't worthwhile going around for a pickup.
After that, I took selkit to Fry's to exchange the Fujitsu
tablet laptop he'd bought back in March, and which has been giving him
considerable trouble, for a new Sony. Tedious but straightforward; I got
a smile out of the salesdroid by mentioning to Selkit that one of the
reasons I really like Fry's is their return policy.
Welsh rabbit (yes, that's really what it's called, not "rarebit" -- hint: it's an English dish) for a quick, light dinner.
After dinner the Cat, Emmy and I got dressed up and went out to the Mountain View Masonic Center for the installation of the Y.D.'s best friend Kaylee as Worthy Advisor of the local Rainbow Girls assembly. Needless to say, this was far, far outside my experience, or Emmy's for that matter. (Colleen had been to one, four decades ago.) K. seemed a little surprised, but delighted, to see us (it was her Mom who had given us the invitation). But, you know, you have to support your friends.
I found it fascinating. Girls in long dresses floating in precise patterns across the floor, simple but effective ritual hand-offs from the old officers to the new, a little bit of ad-hoc silliness to lighten things up... Light reception afterwards -- we came home with a plate of cucumber sandwiches. Emmy's sotto voce remark was that it was too religious for her -- too explicitly Christian, in fact; she described herself on the way home as "spiritual but not religious". It's a part of her friend's life that she's never going to share to any great extent, but we were all glad to have been there.
I said the Pledge of Allegiance as I originally learned it, without "under God". It's a small protest, but I do it anyway.
My weight was down below 182 this morning! Considering that it was more like 197 at the start of the year, I think I'm doing fairly well on my improvised low-carb, low-glycemic-index diet.
Had brunch at El Torito again today, this time with the whole (extended) family (and no guests). Their Sunday brunch is delicious and comparatively cheap.
Colleen then went out to collect one of the Y.D.'s friends, and I went out for walkies. Rose Garden again.
After that the Cat and I went out to Costco. We'd signed up several months ago when their badge-maker was out of commission. We'd put Johnny (Colleen's new purple walker; origin of name should be obvious) into the trunk of my car, but she decided when we got there to just use a cart. It's a dangerous place, but we escaped with only $300 or so in damage, and all for stuff we actually needed.
Most expensive single item was a set of Panasonic DECT (wireless) phones. Our old office phones are ageing, and the batteries are almost dead. These have an intercom feature, which is good. Three handsets expandable to six. The only downside is that you can't just pick up a second handset; calls have to be transferred explicitly. Grump.
Needless to say, not a whole lot else has gotten done. It's sort of an open question whether I end up doing more web work or writing the next promised [river] post. Need to do some practicing, too. Maybe I'll do that next.
(About two hours later) well, I did get in some noodling. Then we went and snuggled for about an hour. And... There's something deliciously perverse about lying in bed with one's wife while she's on the phone. We're definitely going to make a habit of early-evening snuggle time. Besides, it saves gas and neither of us has to be sober.