Skylark of Celeste

And we have hard dock! The travelers, Tron and the Lumberjack, arrived last night and successfully transited through the airlock into our little space station. The roads were clear, and they got here earlier than expected, so instead of just crashing, they were able to sit with us for an hour or so and have a bite to eat. If nothing else happened this season, I'd be happy with the gift of seeing them enjoying a bowl of soup and a thick slice of toast, Tron wrapped in a blanket leaning against me and saying "This is perfect." It is.

It does feel a little bit weird to have people in our house after so many months! The other night, I dreamed I went to a con, and one of the other participants, someone I used to know, made as if to hug me, and I could not for a moment figure out what she was doing. Then I thought, "Oh! She wants to hug me. Yes, we used to do that." And someday soon, will again. Meanwhile, there are hugs in the this house.

Skylark of Celeste

We had a nice relaxing day, with Tron and the Lumberjack finishing up some work, and the Sparrowhawk on two Zoom calls. I spent a good part of the morning making out another grocery list to get all the things I hadn't been able to obtain before! This time we tried a different, bigger and fancier grocery store. Success!! The Sparrowhawk and I were just about to go out for a walk, when the store texted that the order was ready. He drove over to pick it up, and they had everything, including hazelnuts, pistachios, and phyllo dough. (The Lumberjack is going to make baklava one of these nights.) I got back from my walk just in time to unload the groceries while he got onto his first Zoom.

One of the things that made me a cranky PITA yesterday was the fact that the dryer venting tube had come apart again and was spewing damp linty air into the basement. I probably could have used it anyway, but I hauled my damp clothes out and hung them on rack and clothes lines in the basement to finish drying. At least the basement is nice and dry now. The Sparrowhawk called Dryer Vent Wizard to come and look at it. He arrived this afternoon, just as I was settling down to work on that darn synopsis. I shepherded him around, because the Sparrowhawk was still on his call. I could see at once that he was a cheerful and competent person, even with his mask on. We had to put our masks on too, which was weird. He explained in some detail just what was wrong with our current installation. It really was a horrible, grimy old clusterfudge. We did not commit this abomination. It was done by previous residents, but since it ran through the crawl space under the addition we had not been inclined to crawl in there and change it. Our Vent Wizard cut a new hole in the exterior wall and installed an entirely new run of clean, new, properly attached tubing. It's a treat. We were happy and he was happy. So now I'm glad the old tubing fell apart yesterday, because it's so great to have it fixed.

We ordered the kids' favorite pizza for dinner, and I made a big salad. Later, I thawed a few slices of cake from the freezer. My stomach was hurting so much yesterday--definitely a contributing factor to my crankiness--that today I just avoided eating. I had a little bit of oatmeal when the kids made some this morning, and a little rice before tasting the pizza, just to make sure my tummy was still functional. I ate one little piece of a verde pizza with no tomato sauce. It's all right so far. Naturally, we're watching baking! I can imagine the yummy treats. I just can't eat them.