Weekend Update

Friday was J's WOW (Witches Of Wye). There were only seven of us. I prefer a small gathering, though; we are able to engage in one conversation. Some of the topics we ran through included: the west Memphis three; fly predators, the show '24', Steven Segal being a cop for real, books we're reading, wine, the death penalty, kidnapping an abused dog, religion, being a locavore, my not feeding the 'coons anymore, wine, and BP. I brought a cut-up watermelon I bought earlier in the day from a roadside stand and it wasn't sweet at it. I was so disappointed in it. I drank too much red wine that night, but didn't regret it the next day.

On Saturday we went to 'Despicable Me' in the afternoon, but the film broke down in two places -- the first time they spliced it back together, which took about 15 minutes. The kids in the theater were pretty patient and well-behaved about it. I heard more than a few of them imploring their dad's to 'fix it,' and one precocious little girl said she thought that Vector, one of the 'villains' in the movie, and had probably stolen the film. The second time we watched about 20 minutes more, and then it just... melted away and burned spectacularly, the way it does in the movies. No saving that! So we went to get a pizza pie.*

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Our favorite priest officiated and gave the sermon, while our interim was on vacation (two weeks! yeah!). CC's sermons are thoughtful and esoteric. Afterwards we went to my parent's house for brunch and met up with the rest of the family. Mom served pickled eggs and beets (an old German family recipe), home-grown tomatoes, brown-sugar cured ham, and cheese grits. Any day I get to eat cheese grits is a good day. (I need to post my recipe for all you neophytes. It'll be one of your favorite dishes, I promise). Later that afternoon my first boss at the first magazine I worked on, now a close friend, called to report on their move from DC to upstate New York. They are both newly retired, and bought a 1800s Victorian house close to their cabin to run a massage/yoga studio. Her husband loves to fly, so he's teaching cadets to fly and building things. They both are happy, and if the studio doesn't 'fly' itself, they'll just close it and have a really neat house. They worked hard to be able to play and enjoy life and I'm really happy for them. That night we watched 'Mystery!' on PBS and the premiere of 'Mad Men' which I have been eager to see again.

Today I spent the morning listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Lucinda Williams while reading. Phoenix and Lenny slept in, until the thunder drew them down the hall to the 'old' part of the house to hide next to the bathtub behind the shower curtain. I exercised in the pool and am now procrastinating on working on the book.

The Fox family is becoming more and more active around the yard. One of their favorite spots is the bamboo grove that has a large table-like rock the Mr likes to sleep on. One of the kits was eating on the terrace until it spotted me and tore off down the ramp, bowling over a baby coon ambling up to check out the eats. I think I have a picture or two to post on Wednesday. Feeding the FF and the coons during the day and not the night is working out well.

The BR is now almost totally dark and thunder is crashing around. I have moved on to Lyle Lovett and am afraid I can no longer put off work. Time is ticking down, and we leave for the Cleveland Clinic on the 9th. I will bring my laptop. We are in 'the eye of the storm' now, in all respects, and there's nothing to do but proceed forward.


* Excy's youngest son, Corey, quit his job as manager at the night-club Exit in Chicago, and is living with us through Excy's surgery until Excy gets on his feet again. It has been a god-send. He is doing all the Sanctuary and house chores Excy can no longer handle, and may not be up to doing for about 4-6 months. Corey's ultimate goal is to get back to his art and buy an airstream and travel throughout the U.S., stopping to work in places he likes. He's a fairly recent graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago.