Cottontail of Leave
Oct. 22nd, 2018 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoOur travelers arrived about 10:30, and we heated up dinner for them. The Philosopher's friend is charming, and we enjoyed having her as a guest. We had a fun weekend. We visited an apple orchard and bought apples, hot cider, and cinnamon doughnuts, and saw a black walnut three that is at least 300 years old!! It was 200 years old when the orchard was founded 100 years ago. It was immense. I've never seen one that size. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain half the time, and the other half of the time, it was actually hailing. So we didn't get the leisurely scenic color tour that the kids had planned. Instead, we drove back into town and visited the city museum. On impulse, the Philosopher joined the queue at the planetarium, but once inside, we found that they were not showing the night sky and its wonders, but some very weird kind of light show to the music of Queen. I kept my eyes shut most of the time, because it occurred to me that this would be the perfect venue for brainwashing innocent civilians with some nefarious message. Even without a subliminal message, it was mindboggling and gave me a headache. Eventually the Philosopher got fed up and sneaked out with his friend, and we followed suit. We went to the tapas restaurant and enjoyed a tasty meal, and then came home and watched the Winter Soldier again, because the friend is gearing up to see Infinity War. She's trying to grasp the concept of super hero movies.
On Sunday, we accompanied them to the storage unit, which is now more of a closet, so the Philosopher could retrieve a couple of items and take them home in his rental car. I helped move a dresser that was saved for him into the back of the car, because he still doesn't have full strength back in his arm after the collar bone thing. I thought the Sparrowhawk could help, but it turns out that, although he can pick up furniture perfectly well, he can't really walk backwards with it. So it was pick up, one step, set it down. And repeat. But it was okay. He did enough steps to get the thing on a trolley, and then the kids and I wrassled it into the car. I fed them, packed them a lunch, and then they took off, hoping to visit the lakeshore along the way home.
And they departed just in the nick of time for me to assemble a giant fruit plate, with grapes and pineapple added to the cut up bosc pears and apples from the orchard. We delivered it to church, and I arrived in time for rehearsal for the four o'clock ceremony of ordination for a young woman who entered the UU seminary from our congregation and is now a minister. Our own minister was all choked up over this event, which apparently is a very big deal and validates our congregation greatly. I wanted to be there in support of her and her wife, because they've had a tough time lately, but I have to say, I don't really care about stuff like this. All during the inspirational talks, I was mentally commanding, like the Spacing Guild Agent in "Dune," "STOP YOUR SPEAKING." I guess everyone else found it more enjoyable. I was glad to have something to do by playing music. Even though, much as usual, we had hardly any rehearsal time, and I screwed up one piece royally because the instructions were unclear, and I started in the wrong place. I was somewhat relieved to hear the oboist pointing out to our leader that she had the wrong second page in one of her music pieces, too. So at least it wasn't just me! We sounded pretty great anyway.
Then there was a spaghetti dinner in the social hall, where the fruit plate met its demise, and I found something at least slightly palatable to consume. The trombone player made pasta with olives, tomatoes, and eggplant, and it was pretty good. UU potlucks are terrible. Everything is vegan or gluten free, and while gluten free vegan food can theoretically be tasty, it never is. Usually, I just don't eat it, and then I go home and have a sandwich. In this case, I went home and was so tired I nearly passed out while trying to talk to my mother on the phone. She has earphones now. Unfortunately, she has trouble pushing the jack all the way into the socket, which makes them worse than useless. Very frustrating. Tonight we did better.
On Sunday, we accompanied them to the storage unit, which is now more of a closet, so the Philosopher could retrieve a couple of items and take them home in his rental car. I helped move a dresser that was saved for him into the back of the car, because he still doesn't have full strength back in his arm after the collar bone thing. I thought the Sparrowhawk could help, but it turns out that, although he can pick up furniture perfectly well, he can't really walk backwards with it. So it was pick up, one step, set it down. And repeat. But it was okay. He did enough steps to get the thing on a trolley, and then the kids and I wrassled it into the car. I fed them, packed them a lunch, and then they took off, hoping to visit the lakeshore along the way home.
And they departed just in the nick of time for me to assemble a giant fruit plate, with grapes and pineapple added to the cut up bosc pears and apples from the orchard. We delivered it to church, and I arrived in time for rehearsal for the four o'clock ceremony of ordination for a young woman who entered the UU seminary from our congregation and is now a minister. Our own minister was all choked up over this event, which apparently is a very big deal and validates our congregation greatly. I wanted to be there in support of her and her wife, because they've had a tough time lately, but I have to say, I don't really care about stuff like this. All during the inspirational talks, I was mentally commanding, like the Spacing Guild Agent in "Dune," "STOP YOUR SPEAKING." I guess everyone else found it more enjoyable. I was glad to have something to do by playing music. Even though, much as usual, we had hardly any rehearsal time, and I screwed up one piece royally because the instructions were unclear, and I started in the wrong place. I was somewhat relieved to hear the oboist pointing out to our leader that she had the wrong second page in one of her music pieces, too. So at least it wasn't just me! We sounded pretty great anyway.
Then there was a spaghetti dinner in the social hall, where the fruit plate met its demise, and I found something at least slightly palatable to consume. The trombone player made pasta with olives, tomatoes, and eggplant, and it was pretty good. UU potlucks are terrible. Everything is vegan or gluten free, and while gluten free vegan food can theoretically be tasty, it never is. Usually, I just don't eat it, and then I go home and have a sandwich. In this case, I went home and was so tired I nearly passed out while trying to talk to my mother on the phone. She has earphones now. Unfortunately, she has trouble pushing the jack all the way into the socket, which makes them worse than useless. Very frustrating. Tonight we did better.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-23 12:31 pm (UTC)I hope you get to rest up from your busy weekend!