Catching Up

It's been all go, go, go! here in the land of Chai; forgive me for not writing for several days. (Not really.) I think I didn't write Friday because I went home early from work; as for after that, I have no excuse.

Let's see, what have I been up to. I walked home from school yesterday, as the Hubs and I are now sharing a car. I promised him I would get a ride from someone, but I wanted to walk, so I did. I needed the exercise, and it wasn't really raining, just a heavy mist. I live about a mile away from the school, and I was fine the whole way until about five house down from my house and I thought this was it, I was gonna drop right there in the gutter and no one would hear from me again. But I managed, and even stayed upright so I could get dinner in the oven and then collapse. I made little cornish hens, along with potatoes and brussels sprouts, which we like in our house, but the aroma of the sprouts seems to be still with me somehow.

Some English teachers brought in a guest speaker yesterday, and I offered the library as the venue, and I was delighted to see that she was my college Shakespeare professor. (The teachers had gone to a workshop at the college where the professor did a workshop, and they invited her.) I must have been in one of her first classes, in 1974, and she was as wonderful yesterday as I remember her, very dynamic and full of life. She turned me into a Shakespeare fanatic, which in turn I did to my kids. (The Hubs claims he is "not smart" and doesn't know anything about literature or drama, a total lie on his part, since he is much more adept at quoting Shakespeare than I am.)

I got a small, non-electric water cooler delivered to the library today so that I can continue to drink my seven or eight glasses. I've been good. Now if only I could get someone to deliver a porta-potty to the library, I'd be all set.

I'm in a wedding etiquette quandary of sorts. I'm not sure who gets invited to the shower. I'm not so much a shower person myself; to me, it's asking people for yet another gift, which I think is tacky. But this is how it's done, so this is what we'll do. I've already decided not to invite the family that lives far away and can't come anyway; that's just asking for a gift. Family is easy, and small: one grandmother, two aunts, two old aunts, three first cousins, and me. (Do we invite the two old aunts? I guess I ask the MIL on that one.) I don't know what to do about non-family, which is to say, friends of mine with whom I am close, and who have been nearby for all of R's growing up years (certainly nearer by than the old aunts): those to whom I refer as the Chum, the Colleague, E, and the Other Chai. Is it greedy to invite them (in which case I don't want to) or is it rude not to? I may ask the Other Chai, whom I see every day, how she feels about it. I know she'll say she wants to be there, so I guess that'll be that.

Other than the spectacularly beautiful weather we had for four days a couple of weeks ago, March has been a most depressing month here weather-wise. We have really only had enough nice weather for people to take a long breath after the water subsided from the basements before the next storm. We've been under almost constant flood watch all month, and it's raining hard again today. Again, the floods don't affect me because I'm on a rise of land and not that close to a river, but soaked ground could lead to water in the basement, and many nearby towns are under, people evacuated and their houses a mess.

Time for a drink.