A day without posting

I missed my first day of posting in I don't know how long. And you know what? That's OK.

My friends came into town early this afternoon and we did quite a bit of running around. We spent a while at my house, where my friends were a bit, shall we say, amazed at the number of relics of my grandmother's life - and of her extended family's lives - that remain in the house. At some point these things will be dealt with. But I'm not about to, say, rent a dumpster and throw out all my grandmother's old stuff, or my mother's or aunt's or uncles' stuff, or a whole bunch of religious paintings just because they're old and belonged to someone else. Some things are worth holding onto for more than just their resale value.

We ate at the same Italian resturant that my friend and I ate at last week. Didn't run into the same cute waitress. Oh, well.

We then went down to the Poconos and met with some mutual friends from college. All their kids played together for a few hours, exhausting the adults and alternately amusing and terrifying the animals.

A note on the weather: It's just freaky to be having the warm temperatures we're experiencing this Winter. No accumulations of snow beyond a few dustings so far. Kids in T-shirts riding skateboards outside of my new house on Christmas Eve. Cherry Blossoms are already opening in Washington, D.C. And today the soil outside of my friends' house smelled of earthworms! Earthworms, active the first week of January? I'm starting to feel like I should be mowing the lawn or painting my garage or doing cement work on the grapevine wall and sidewalk. Is this just a fluke, or a preview of things to come?

After a long while it was time for everyone to head off to their respective beds. I lingered for a bit, but eventually got my butt back to my car and started the 70-mile journey back to my house. It's a 20-mile distance as the crow flies - if the crow can lift itself over some fairly substantial mountains. My Tercel is light and nimble but unfortunately is still a ground vehicle. I got home a little after midnight and had to deal with the effects of my computer being stuck partway through a spyware-removal procedure for the entire day. Several ungraceful reboots later, here we are.

It's late now, or early, depending on your point of view. In any case, I am tired and will be going to bed soon!