WinterRye of Bluster

Behold me! I extroverted for a solid three hours this afternoon, and quite a bit of that involved DANCING. We went to a joint birthday birthday party for three friends who were turning 40, 40, and 50. It was held in a church gym with an indoor bounce house for the kids and lots of snacks, plus an Irish DJ who taught us three Scottish ceilidh dances. The Sparrowhawk did not care to try it, but sat at a nearby table, like the Dreaming Bunny in Margaret Wise Brown's lovely tale, who sat and watched the world from the immense folding leaves of a cabbage. I danced the first dance as best I could with the birthday girl (the other two birthday people were married men and were dancing with wives or children). We did pretty well, I think, although neither one of us could hippity hop in the approved manner. The second dance was done in sets of four, and I danced with a couple of lady friends. That one involved some rather arcane spinning and changing places and I fear I was not quite up to the beat. I can't remember the names of the first two dances, but the third, which I decided to observe with the Sparrowhawk, was Strip the Willow. Much to our delight, Dr. Nurse stopped by with Bird Baby! People introduced us to people, and I introduced people to people, and I greeted numerous people that I knew already, and some whose names I have forgotten. It was exhausting. On the way home, the Sparrowhawk had to remind me not to critique everything I said in retrospect. I did say some pretty goofy things, but I can only hope they are not important enough to be remembered. Dancing addles my brain.

We got home before dark, even though it was 6 pm! This is definitely a sign of hope. The bad part of partying all afternoon is that when you do get home, there's no dinner. I made a frozen pizza for a quick lunch, but even though the Sparrowhawk was willing to eat more pizza for dinner, I was not. That would just about kill my stomach at such a late hour. I quickly cooked up some pork loin I had thawed, with some maple-flavored pork sausage. I made soothing mashed potatoes for myself, and the Sparrowhawk opted for noodles. I did not have the wherewithal to cook vegetables tonight. Scandalous!