Thursday, August 13, 2009

August 13: Friends. . .



There we all are, just before our CT friends left. What a nice week of activity, visiting, adventure, UNO, and good food we had! The two womenfolk even got to go see "Julia and Julie" yesterday--with no kids! The house is quiet and empty now, with BH off fishing, Elder at Swimgirl's house, and Younger at Gameboy's. I have done and hung up four loads of laundry--humid nights and lots of swimming meant lots of musty wash, so it's up and drying, tho it's a half-sunny, chilly day and not great for drying. Tomorrow, maybe. Though we didn't fit in everything we wanted to do--a meeting surfaced that couldn't be changed, so the Saturday departure became a Thursday departure--we did a lot: I taught Daughter to knit, which she took to with great alacrity; we hiked Pemetic Mountain in Acadia on a GORGEOUS Sunday; we went fishing; we went to Lamoine Beach and did some kayaking/wading/rock skipping/lolling around; we swam in the river a lot; we ate out at Ben and Bill's, Jordan's, Martha's, and Julie and I snuck out to the Riverside too; we had lobster; Younger and I ran every other day, regardless; Elder got his braces off; there was minigolf and a trip to the Fun Park; we played two looooong games of UNO and took many walks. It was a very nice visit!

Starting tomorrow, Elder and I have to be more structured in our time, which will be especially hard for him--I use it/need it to deal with my approaching school anxiety! I have my Wabanaki unit due on the 22nd, and also have several pieces of work due as paid summer work (yay!). . . but I need to DO it, which means I'll need to set up a schedule of some kind. I am thinking that 9 - 11 most mornings will work quite nicely, but we'll see. If I could stick to that, things would get done pretty easily, and I'd be able to work out right after, and then the rest of the day would be mine. Pipe dream? Maybe!

BUT I did want to update my recent spate of lite whodunit reading with an excoriating review of Cordelia Frances Biddle's Deception's Daughter, set in the late 1800's amongst the highest and lowest of Philadelphia's social classes. Apparently the author comes from the former. . . but she is much, much, much too fond of mannered sentences and awkwardly stylized speech for my liking: the whole story is told in present tense, which is a jarring detail, and that's topped off with various grating descriptions of people's burning eyes and passionate gazes. It made me cringe, and I speed-read the last 1/3, but overall, I feel fully qualified to say: Don't bother. I'd read quite good reviews of it (my knowledge of BIddle as a writer came from the Daedalus catalog, warmly recommended), but: beware.

Sweater progress: I have fallen in love with the "House of Elliot" series, and between them and knitting with Daughter I have gotten about 3 inches on one sleeve done. I don't THINK I'll be wearing my FLS on the first day of school, but I am making (some) progress. And that counts! It's certainly a faster round with only (maybe) seven lace repeats and then a knit row vs. maybe 20 repeats and a purl! Again, if I can get my "gotta do" work done in the mornings, then I should have plenty of time for my "wanna dos" in the afternoon and evening!

I am hoping to swim a bit this afternoon, and hoping that will loosen up my shoulder. Mixed progress, but overall I'd say it's better--more a 5 than a 7 in the discomfort level lately. Let's hope the progress down the scale continues!

And, last but not least, on Tuesday, our quietest morning, I painted my toe nails, thus making myself inordinately happy AND saving myself at least $20 at the same time. I have to remember what a return I get on 20 mins of work!

(Color of toes not exactly as shown; I'm too lazy to take and post a current pic so this one's a rerun from a year ago, April!!!)

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