9/7 My big excitement

was running into Jan and Kris at the grocery store. Wahoooo!

Unfortunately I'm having a bad day, so that took all the energy I had. Came home and slept--sweet Gussie right beside me.

All I have to do yet today is put things away so the cleaners can clean tomorrow. Wonder if I can handle the excitement?

Last night was fun though. Went to dinner at Cassano's with Jane,, Pete, Jordan, Sarah, Joe, Cindy, John, and Paulette. Yum.

2/10 A near-perfect day

Yesterday was wonderful. It started with a relaxed morning playing with my dogs. Then I took them to the kennel to stay overnight. I wanted to spend the day doing things with my friends and I knew I wouldn't be home until late. It was cool, and my guilt was relieved, when we got there. Two of Q and C's playmates were there and were spending the night too. Maya is a beautiful Weimereiner, and I forgot the other one's name but she's a combination of a yellow lab and a pit bull. She's quite lovely and very friendly. So the four "girls" were going to have a slumber party.

So that freed me up to have a day out with friends. Caroline and I went to the driving range and it was great. It had been a while since I had my golf clubs out. It felt good to be doing it, and I look forward to playing golf with her.

Then she and I met up with Lorena and Rosemary at the Vietnamese Seven Martyrs Catholic Church for a Vietnamese festival, celebrating their new year. Oh my, we ate so much food. I had a vegetarian soup with noodles and vegetables. These huge piles of vegetables came on the side and I added them bit by bit and savored every morsel. The others were able to share their dishes and seemed to enjoy everything. Rosemary then ordered three desserts that we all sampled. Interesting and very different. Fried bananas (yum), a sesame seed encrusted bean paste (very good), and a pudding-like substance with four different kind of potatoes in it (I didn't like this one).

Also there--a sight to behold. A Vietnamese priest sang. He got up with a microphone and really got into. Found out afterward that he was selling his CDs there as well. Wonder if he was a performer prior to entering the priesthood, or if he still did this. The pictures on the CDs didn't show him in his Roman collar.

It was such a beautiful day that we didn't want to go home yet, so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to sit outside and have coffee. Oh my, it was absolutely lovely.

Okay, have to get ready for church, so I'll finish this post when I return.

12/23 Another wonderful day

We had fun yesterday and hardly left the house. Rob and I played games most of the day, including online poker. And we played lots of cards, especially Spite and Malice.

Beata had to work from 11-7, so we went to Maurice's so I could buy a pair of jeans. Beatka is a great salesperson. I left with five items--jeans, shirt, camisole, necklace, and earrings. And no buyer's remorse.

I made dinner. At Rob's request I made sloppy joes. Yeah, a real gourmet meal. Made some vegetarian sloppy joes too. We stayed up until after midnight playing poker.

And I didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning. Can't believe I slept 9 hours.

11/10 Fun fun fun

I backdated a few hours so this will show up on Saturday, but it's actually close to 2:30 AM on Sunday.

My flight was more than four hours late on Friday, because of navigation problems with the first plane. We tried to take off, had to abort, and then sat on the runway for an hour. I slept through it all. Hell, I was tired! It's rough getting up at 4 AM.

At Newburgh airport I checked in to get my subcompact car and all they had was a Lincoln Town Car which I got for $30 per day. Not too shabby. And I'm glad I had a big car as it started snowing or freezing rain or something as I drove up the mountain.

The weekend started on Friday night with dinner and some games. My team won Scrabble Scramble--how could I lose with DF on the team? We all won a prize. I ended up with a Scrabble mug which someone will surely get for Christmas. After the organized activities we stayed up late playing games. I managed to stay awake until 1:30 or so, and then hit the hay. Dave and some others stayed up until 4. I would have never made it.

This morning I got up at 7 and met friends for breakfast. Will post tomorrow about the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun, but I'm yawning. Love to all.