A lazy Sunday around the neighbourhood

I slept in this morning, at least until 11 AM or so. The past week required a great deal of energy; while my reserves aren't exactly running low, this was a good an opportunity as any to recharge a little, esp. with nothing particular on the agenda for the day.

While Kent was in the shower --he always gets out of bed after me-- I delivered newsletters for our local civic association to my neighbours in delivery zone 6. I have to remember to do this on Sunday mornings more often: I hadn't realized how many of the people around me are away on weekends and it's a much faster chore when folks don't try to engage me in chatting, etc.; when I'm on a mission (even as boring as delivering newsletters) I much prefer to steathfully place the newsletter in their mailbox & dash to the next. During the summer I can always claim that my delivery-and-run technique is designed to avoid exposure to heat & humidity, not to mention unholy levels of UV radiation. With the cooler fall, the best I can claim is that I'm somewhat antisocial while focused on work.

Kent had a chorus planning meeting in the afternoon so I had the house to myself. Hmm... watch zombie movies recorded from SciFi last night, or invite some men over for an orgy. Eh, go with the zombie movies... less work involved in setting up.

I did take advantage of Kent's absence to tackle some minor xmas shopping online. I won't mention the ordered items here for fear he might stumble across them with a Google search or something. Some additional batches of square dance records were up on eBay but the latest batch hasn't arrived yet and most of the labels were not to my liking so I gave those a pass. I did win a copy of Office 2003 though ($50).

Most of my evening has been spent transcribing into longhand a couple hours of A2 calling by Dayle Hodge, Saundra Bryant and Tom Miller. There's some interesting material in there but my writing hand is cramping severely so I'm taking a break for now. I'll probably type up my notes at work tomorrow if there's a break in activity. There's lots of interesting ideas in the lot, as well as validation for some of my own choreographic choices. There's also a lot I wouldn't try, even with a gun to my head. Both are educational in their own way.

A lazy Sunday around the neighbourhood

I slept in this morning, at least until 11 AM or so. The past week required a great deal of energy; while my reserves aren't exactly running low, this was a good an opportunity as any to recharge a little, esp. with nothing particular on the agenda for the day.

While Kent was in the shower --he always gets out of bed after me-- I delivered newsletters for our local civic association to my neighbours in delivery zone 6. I have to remember to do this on Sunday mornings more often: I hadn't realized how many of the people around me are away on weekends and it's a much faster chore when folks don't try to engage me in chatting, etc.; when I'm on a mission (even as boring as delivering newsletters) I much prefer to steathfully place the newsletter in their mailbox & dash to the next. During the summer I can always claim that my delivery-and-run technique is designed to avoid exposure to heat & humidity, not to mention unholy levels of UV radiation. With the cooler fall, the best I can claim is that I'm somewhat antisocial while focused on work.

Kent had a chorus planning meeting in the afternoon so I had the house to myself. Hmm... watch zombie movies recorded from SciFi last night, or invite some men over for an orgy. Eh, go with the zombie movies... less work involved in setting up.

I did take advantage of Kent's absence to tackle some minor xmas shopping online. I won't mention the ordered items here for fear he might stumble across them with a Google search or something. Some additional batches of square dance records were up on eBay but the latest batch hasn't arrived yet and most of the labels were not to my liking so I gave those a pass. I did win a copy of Office 2003 though ($50).

Most of my evening has been spent transcribing into longhand a couple hours of A2 calling by Dayle Hodge, Saundra Bryant and Tom Miller. There's some interesting material in there but my writing hand is cramping severely so I'm taking a break for now. I'll probably type up my notes at work tomorrow if there's a break in activity. There's lots of interesting ideas in the lot, as well as validation for some of my own choreographic choices. There's also a lot I wouldn't try, even with a gun to my head. Both are educational in their own way.

Family is coming to visit. Raise shields.

My eldest sister ("Three of Six") just called to update me on their pending visit next week. Her husband, Ted, is coming to Laurel, MD, for training next week so they were planning to cash in some air miles to bring her and their two children down to be tourists around DC. We had chatted about this a month ago and I was arranging work to allow some time off to spend with the family.

News flash #1: they've decided not to stay in a hotel and will instead be staying chez nous Monday through Sunday, Oct. 24-30.
News flash #2: Ted's mother, Kathy, will be joining them.

I haven't seen Kathy in about 20 years. During my teen years in northern Ontario, my best friends on the planet were Lynn, Kathy & Mickey, three then-middle-aged mothers of my parents' generation. I used to babysit Mickey's three kids; my brother was engaged to Lynn's daughter; Kathy is now my sister's mother-in-law. When I moved to southern Ontario for university in 1986 and my trips home became more infrequent, we gradually lost contact.

I visited with Mickey the last time I went back to the family farm, Lynn now lives only a few miles from me in DC, and Kathy will be coming to visit! I'll now see about getting her and Lynn together for dinner some time during the week.

Since we're going to be off to Roseland to winterize the trailer this coming weekend, I have to move faster than anticipated to (a) de-gay the place a little for the sake of the children such as hiding the porn in the attic or something, (b) lay in some supplies and (c) figure out accommodations for the lot. I figure I can stuff Irene & Ted into the main guest room, then quickly clean up the sewing room for Kathy; the kids can either camp out in the basement or in with their parents as they please.

Oy!

Family is coming to visit. Raise shields.

My eldest sister ("Three of Six") just called to update me on their pending visit next week. Her husband, Ted, is coming to Laurel, MD, for training next week so they were planning to cash in some air miles to bring her and their two children down to be tourists around DC. We had chatted about this a month ago and I was arranging work to allow some time off to spend with the family.

News flash #1: they've decided not to stay in a hotel and will instead be staying chez nous Monday through Sunday, Oct. 24-30.
News flash #2: Ted's mother, Kathy, will be joining them.

I haven't seen Kathy in about 20 years. During my teen years in northern Ontario, my best friends on the planet were Lynn, Kathy & Mickey, three then-middle-aged mothers of my parents' generation. I used to babysit Mickey's three kids; my brother was engaged to Lynn's daughter; Kathy is now my sister's mother-in-law. When I moved to southern Ontario for university in 1986 and my trips home became more infrequent, we gradually lost contact.

I visited with Mickey the last time I went back to the family farm, Lynn now lives only a few miles from me in DC, and Kathy will be coming to visit! I'll now see about getting her and Lynn together for dinner some time during the week.

Since we're going to be off to Roseland to winterize the trailer this coming weekend, I have to move faster than anticipated to (a) de-gay the place a little for the sake of the children such as hiding the porn in the attic or something, (b) lay in some supplies and (c) figure out accommodations for the lot. I figure I can stuff Irene & Ted into the main guest room, then quickly clean up the sewing room for Kathy; the kids can either camp out in the basement or in with their parents as they please.

Oy!