thwaaaarted, but unreasonably cheerful
Jan. 8th, 2019 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_crowSo Friday Alice and I headed for my sainted mother's house on the edge of Penobscot Bay, and made it precisely at suppertime, having left precisely at lunch time and spent 20 minutes acquiring tasty food and three desserts at the Black Sheep. The short answer is that north to Augusta and east on 3 is a faster trip, the brutal truth is that with enough gas in the car and a fairly steady 75-80 mph the whole thing is surprisingly fast.
Alice is such good company - we talked about a lot of books and story telling ideas, I asked if she'd been thinking about picking up any new crafts, we made stupid jokes about everything, and generally enjoyed ourselves immensely. Visiting Sally was pleasant too - she was pleased with Alice and kind about her erratic hours (up waaay late, sleeping waaay late). Sally had just discovered the concept of mental models, and was joking about all the things she needed to create or update her mental models for. We talked a fair amount about stuff I generally don't mention; physical issues, ageing things, stuff with my dad. I taught her about using the comment "that sounds hard" instead of "have you thought about" and she used it for the next two days to good effect. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks. Or maybe we are both just mellowing.
Sun morning Alice woke up feeling scratchy in the throat, and potentially sick. And then the weather started to sock in... we had rain, snow, freezing rain, and then a cold front came barreling in from the NW with winds over 40 kts and the temperature plummeted to 12 F and suddenly a ferry trip 12 miles offshore looked substantially less appealing. My brother basically forbid us to go if Alice was ill, because contagion is crazy on a tiny island with a tiny population. Between the weather and the sick, we decided to head home Monday, bypassing island and cousin til next time. Instead we had chowder at Moody's, beads from the bead store in Epping NH, and a visit with friends from grad school. Alice and I discussed potential differences between English and American children's literature most of the way.
By the time we left Derry this morning the snow was done, and we made it home before the pelting rain started here. The Monday wather was so cold and blowy even my brother wasn't going out in it, so honor is maintained on that score. But we are home Tuesday instead of Friday, and now I have zero excuses to get back to my studio and start making the things I have been thinking about.
It was a good trip for patting other peoples (shedding but lovely) pets. Sally has two soft cats and a strange little chihuahua/beagle/heeler mix who barks and is worried but liked having her tummy scratched. The grad school friends have a monosyllabic son a year older than Alice, a small lap dog (who is an athletic princess) and a huge ancient golden retriever who is so fluffy I could just die. We both peeled off all our outer clothing and ran it through the wash on entering our house, because allergens.
minuses - no ferry, no nephew, no sister-in-law, no island
plusses - two cats, three dogs, lunch with brother twice, convos with mum
avoided - gale warning at sea, snowstorm, rainstorm, illness away from home
I have been unreasonably cheerful for, like, three days now. I don't understand it, but it is fun?
Alice is such good company - we talked about a lot of books and story telling ideas, I asked if she'd been thinking about picking up any new crafts, we made stupid jokes about everything, and generally enjoyed ourselves immensely. Visiting Sally was pleasant too - she was pleased with Alice and kind about her erratic hours (up waaay late, sleeping waaay late). Sally had just discovered the concept of mental models, and was joking about all the things she needed to create or update her mental models for. We talked a fair amount about stuff I generally don't mention; physical issues, ageing things, stuff with my dad. I taught her about using the comment "that sounds hard" instead of "have you thought about" and she used it for the next two days to good effect. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks. Or maybe we are both just mellowing.
Sun morning Alice woke up feeling scratchy in the throat, and potentially sick. And then the weather started to sock in... we had rain, snow, freezing rain, and then a cold front came barreling in from the NW with winds over 40 kts and the temperature plummeted to 12 F and suddenly a ferry trip 12 miles offshore looked substantially less appealing. My brother basically forbid us to go if Alice was ill, because contagion is crazy on a tiny island with a tiny population. Between the weather and the sick, we decided to head home Monday, bypassing island and cousin til next time. Instead we had chowder at Moody's, beads from the bead store in Epping NH, and a visit with friends from grad school. Alice and I discussed potential differences between English and American children's literature most of the way.
By the time we left Derry this morning the snow was done, and we made it home before the pelting rain started here. The Monday wather was so cold and blowy even my brother wasn't going out in it, so honor is maintained on that score. But we are home Tuesday instead of Friday, and now I have zero excuses to get back to my studio and start making the things I have been thinking about.
It was a good trip for patting other peoples (shedding but lovely) pets. Sally has two soft cats and a strange little chihuahua/beagle/heeler mix who barks and is worried but liked having her tummy scratched. The grad school friends have a monosyllabic son a year older than Alice, a small lap dog (who is an athletic princess) and a huge ancient golden retriever who is so fluffy I could just die. We both peeled off all our outer clothing and ran it through the wash on entering our house, because allergens.
minuses - no ferry, no nephew, no sister-in-law, no island
plusses - two cats, three dogs, lunch with brother twice, convos with mum
avoided - gale warning at sea, snowstorm, rainstorm, illness away from home
I have been unreasonably cheerful for, like, three days now. I don't understand it, but it is fun?