Dancing Lessons

Gainesville

The best laid plans, etc... Assuming I had all next week to shop, cook, bless the house, etc., I got up at a reasonable (for me) hour, started the crockpot, bearing in mind that Bill had asked for dinner to be delayed til 8:30.

All this was underway, when he got off the phone from his weekly call to his Mom with the news that the Gates family mansion (7200 square feet at Flat Top Lake, WV) had finally sold. She and Leslie are moving to an upscale assisted living arrangement. I said, "Oh, too bad I never got to see the place." Bill said, "Not necessarily..."

Seems he wants to make a trip up there in the very near future to get whatever stuff of hers he wants (more stuff, moan groan), but not until after the new library building opens. This throws my vacation schedule into a cocked hat. After rethinking things, looks like I will need to work next week after all, and the week after, aiming for the trip the week of July 31. If I push the other weeks I planned to take off forward by a week or two, and take some Fridays off, it still might work. It always was just a tentative plan anyway, so this is really not a big deal. Dancing lessons from the gods, and all that.

What is difficult is the prospect of cramming a week's worth of FL and other plans into one day, tomorrow: meal planning, shopping, blessing the house, getting laundry done. Was looking forward to some nice meals from magazines next week, but now it's back to Q&D. Waa Waa Waa.

But I'm looking forward to the trip, getting out of town for a bit. It's been a long time. We will take Moonbeam, which will be fun in and of itself. And any chance to get out of the mung swamp in midsummer is always welcome.

Meanwhile, the crockpot dish turned out fine-- a strange thing of Leanne's called Pork Marengo (including prunes and cauliflower!) -- but the cukes AND the bag salads I had planned were no longer viable. Wonder if Joe Cool is set too high? Ended up slicing some tomatoes and pretending that was a side dish.

Mom, I can make you a calendar countdown web page and set it to any date you want-- next time you are planning something you're looking forward to, let me know and I'll set it up. Just a piece of javascript code that a colleague passed on to me-- he snagged it from somewhere else-- who knows who actually wrote it?

I'm listening to the radio as I write this. I've become quite fond of the new alternative station that I listen to in the car these days, and it suddenly occurred to me that it would sound pretty good over my Bose radio/CD player-- and indeed it does! Nice for a change. Suits my mood too. Everything they play is new to me: I know none of the songs or groups, which is kind of refreshing. I'm starting to recognize things they've played before, though, so sooner or later I'll figure out who's who, whether or I want to or not. It's lovely to have a remote with a mute button so I can skip the obnoxious local commercials. We have two satellite radio systems, but neither of them can pick up a signal in the house.

Heard from Mike Peak this week. He sends greetings to Mom and Sandy. It's good to be in touch with him again. And Sandy, he's read Pullman!

Which reminds me, I'm still slowly making my way through the Colbert book. I'm trying very hard NOT to read Philip Roth's The Plot Against America -- it's just so depressing -- but it's so well done I keep picking it up and reading just a little bit more. Everything I want to read right now is just too heavy. I need something airy and/or escapist. Keep waiting for the latest P.D. James to come out in paperback. Or maybe I should pick up some chick-lit. Or one of the Jane Austen's I haven't read yet.

Our caladiums have rebounded! One more thing on my list of things to do tomorrow-- put cages around them.