Big Ugly Man Doll

I know, it’s been too long.  Life got ahead of me for a while, but I think I’m getting caught up, or at least maintaining my personal delusion that I’m getting caught up, which amounts to the same thing.

One of the great advantages of not paying enough attention to the rest of my life (which is a nice way of saying that I clearly have early onset memory issues) is the constant wonder and surprise I get when I wind up doing something I’d forgotten about.  Friday night I was reminded that I was taking the Human Tape Recorder to a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream at the local High School – she, of course, had not forgotten, since she is a human tape recorder.  Some of the actors are in high school, but most of those kids look like old pros on that stage – a very impressive performance from a crowd of 18 and under. 

Saturday morning also turned into “oh yeah!” when I was reminded that SOBUMD and I were taking the Reigning Queen of Pink to see a “Stringapalooza” with the President’s Own US Marine Corps Band, in this case with their string quartet.  Since she’s learning the viola, the RQoP was thrilled to see the violist was also a woman.  They were great, showing all the kids how the instruments work (two violins, a cello, and a viola) and playing everything from Mozart to Gershwin to, of course, Sousa – and then for an encore they did “America” from West Side Story, which she loves.  The final bit was “see if you can guess what this music is” and of course my kid comes unfreakinglued as they start the first three notes of Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter.  It was totally cute.

From there, since we were downtown already, we hit the Eastern Market for ingredients for the cassoulet I’m making (it has another half hour as I write this, then I need to cook some more things and toss them in the pot), plus an awesome small used bookstore (Capitol Hill Books) that SOBUMD let me rattle around in for more than half an hour – luxury beyond price.   More shopping, still more shopping, then home  – in time to get dinner ready for the kids before we went to, “oh yeah that’s tonight,” the neighbor’s wine tasting party for the Beaujolais Nouveau release.   For an even more pleasant surprise, one of the other neighbors attending remembered me from this same party last year and brought me two sci-fi books that her late husband had written – one of them a Hugo nominee in the late 1980s.  I can’t wait to read them – Edward A Byers’ “The Babylon Gate” and “The Long Forgetting.”  
 
This morning I did about the only thing that I’d actually planned for my weekend, which is my 10K hike – wonderfully restorative for those who might have had an extra Beaujolais the previous evening.   Now, I have the beginnings of a cassoulet bubbling in the pot, the beginnings of an idea for a new book, and the beginnings of maintaining my personal delusion that I’m getting caught up. 

Last year I did a Thinksgiving countdown of things for which I’m thankful.  I was going to do the same this year, but between trying to get and stay caught up with life and my obvious early onset memory issues, well – I forgot.  This year, allow me to say simply that I am thankful for you, Gentle Reader – for your reading, for your comments, and for your patience. 

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