Catching up

Whew! It has been a very busy couple of weeks. I can't believe how time can slip by when you're really involved. Here's what we've been up to:

Fri 3/24: We met Bugsy and Roger for dinner at the Taco House. They are such nice guys, and we really had a good time eating and visiting with them. We also made tentative plans for them to come with us to the beach some weekend soon. Then, we met up with the Newlyweds and went to Ziegfelds. It was the next-to-the-last weekend Ziegfelds was to be open, so I invited some local friends to join us for a 'night of illusion'! The Newlyweds said yes, and my friend Michael also met us there. We had a really fun night! The drag show was fun, as always, and so was dancing. Ziegfelds is one of 5 clubs forced to close due to the DC Government's taking of the land they sit on by imminent domain in order to build yet another sports stadium. Some of the clubs are supposed to re-open in another location, but its unknown where or when. I've always had fond memories of Ziegfelds because that is where Joe & I met. More on that another time.

Sat 3/25: After sleeping in late, Joe, Jordan and I packed a bag and headed down to Kerry & Hugh's cabin in the Northen Neck of VA. A few years back they built a house in the woods from a log cabin kit! It is beautiful and cozy. It was still kind of chilly so they had a fire going in the wood stove. It was wonderful to just sit around and talk and laugh and goof off. Very relaxing! We came home on Sun afternoon.

Tues 3/28: We met Liz & Rob for dinner at the Taco House. They are both working full time and going to school, so their evenings and weekends are packed with reading, studying, homework, and papers. However, they were off that week for spring break and were able to have dinner with us and catch up. Rob was my roommate in the late 80s and Liz has been a friend of mine since the mid-80s. They're crazy about Napoleon Dynamite like me.

Fri 3/31: We went with the Newlyweds to a tiny local theatre to see a play called "Whole Against the Sky". Its the story of a gay man whose mother tries a little too late to be the mother she never was for him when he was young. It was neat to be in such a small theatre and to be so close to the actors. The play was alright, if not a tad over-acted. But we all agreed it was fun to do something different like that and to support local cultural arts.

Sat 4/1: Sat was painting day at Kathryn's. For several months I have been talking and emailing with my friend Kathryn about painting her living and dining areas. We finally got all the supplies and a few extra hands together and did it. Fortunately Kathryn and Karen had done all of the prep work like taping off the trim and repairing dings in the drywall. It went quickly, so we decided to go ahead and paint the stairway too. It was a really fun day, and her place looked beautiful when we were done. After a shower and little rest, Joe & I headed to Leesburg to have dinner at my colleague and friend Steve's house. He and his wife Amy invited us for a small dinner party. On the way there I started feeling a little congested, but dismissed it to 'seasonal allergies'. We had a great time and stayed until almost midnight.

Sun 4/2: Sun I woke up very congested and had a sore throat. I took some OTC sinus/allergy medication and just took it easy that day, watching TV, doing some laundry, tidying up the kitchen. In the late afternoon Joe & I took a drive on the parkway with the top down because it was unusually warm and sunny. That night I had a terrible time trying to sleep. I was so congested that I had to try to sleep propped up against the headboard to allow my sinuses to drain. I had to keep clearing my throat so I wouldn't choke on my own mucus. It seemed like everytime I dozed off, I woke up coughing or choking. I barely got any sleep.

Mon 4/3: Mon morning I felt so bad that I decided to stay home from work. It was the first time since I've worked here (3 1/2 years) that I called in sick. The pressure in my sinuses and face was incredible. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck... several times! I called my doctor's office and got an appointment. I had a sinus infection, so my doctor prescribed an antibiotic, nasal spray, and told me to continue taking the OTC sinus/allergy medication (antihistimine) and aspirin. I stayed home Tues and Wed too. I did manage to help Joe by creating a simple website for his new practice, along with a listing in the therapist directory on the Psychology Today website.

Fri 4/7: We went to the beach after work.

Sat 4/8: The cable company offered us a free upgrade to digital cable for a year, so on Sat we swapped out the cable box and I programmed the remote with my favorites. It was cold and rainy. We went to the Art House theatre to see "Cache", which is the French word for Hidden. It was an Indy film, in French with English subtitles. I enjoyed it, but Joe didn't like it very much. Here's a synopsis:
Georges (Daniel Auteil), a television talk show host, and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), are living the perfect life of modern comfort and security. One day, their idyll is disrupted in the form of a mysterious videotape that appears on their doorstep. The tape reveals they are being filmed by a hidden camera from across the street with no clues as to who shot it, or why. As more tapes arrive containing images that are disturbingly intimate and increasingly personal, Georges launches into an investigation of his own as to who is behind this. As he does so, secrets from his past are revealed, and the walls of security he and Anne have built around themselves begin to crumble.

Wed 4/12: I saw the Mullet Man again! This makes the 3rd or 4th time I've seen him while out at lunch, but at different places. We must like to eat at the same places. This day I was sitting in Quiznos, eating my turkey/bacon/guacamole sub when I saw this glossy black Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am pull up, and out jumped the Mullet Man. Once again, he was wearing a suit and had a friend with him. It just struck me as odd that I have seem him so many times!

Thurs 4/13: I left work at 2:00, threw some things in a bag, and Joe & I headed up to the beach. It was warm and sunny, but the forecast for the next day was cooler and overcast so we didn't go in the convertible. We went for a walk on the beach, went to the grocery store and video store, then had dinner. We watched "Memoirs of a Geisha", which we both enjoyed a lot.

Fri 4/14: My company gave us 'Good Friday' off of work, which is why we were able to go to the beach on Thurs. It was warm but overcast so we ran a few errands (Dollar Store, K-Mart, etc) and then had lunch at Grotto Pizza in downtown Rehoboth. We went for a walk on the boardwalk, which was cool and breezy. We went to see "scary Movie 4", which was fun - very much like the others in the "scary Movie" trilogy. Then we went to dinner at Adriattico, an Italian restaurant. During the night we were awakened by a terrific storm! Very loud claps of thunder, torrential rain, and so much lightening you'd have thought you were in a disco with strobe lighting! Jordan wasn't scared, but the lightening was so bright she put her head under the bedskirt.

Sat 4/15: It was very warm and sunny! We both put on shorts and went for a long walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth. There were lots and lots of people at the beach. There was some sort of Easter egg activity happening, with a man barking instructions over a very loud speaker. There were tons of people in bathing suits, getting started on their tans. It was a spectacular day. On the way back to the house we saw a thermometer that read 84 degrees - on the day before Easter! We got home from the beach shortly after 6:00 and made plans to meet the Newlyweds for dinner. We picked them up in the convertible and went to Shirlington to eat outside at one of the many restaurants there with outdoor seating. But all of them had waits for tables, so we went to the Taco House. We got a table outside and only had to wait for them to clear it from the last patrons. We had a spectacular evening, dining under the stars on the patio. Michael was telling us about his new job, and the used convertible he and Jamie had just test-driven. After dinner we went for a lovely drive down the parkway to Mount Vernon and back. We dropped them off shortly before 11:00.

Sun 4/16: Easter Sunday! I got up first and took a shower and shaved while Joe enjoyed some additional slumber time. Then I went to the Safeway to pick up some ingredients. I made two pear upside down cakes (my own doctored-up box cake recipe) to take to Louis & Karen's for Easter. We picked up my aunt Mary and arrived at Louis & Karen's at 2:00. We had a really fun time eating, talking, laughing, etc. It was another pretty day; not quite as warm or sunny as Sat, but still very pleasant. The kids and a few adults walked over to the field for a game of softball, a family Easter tradition. Then, as folks began to leave, we just continued talking on the back deck until 7:30. It was a really nice day. We took some left over honey baked ham, macaroni salad, baked beans, and Mary's famous jello sherbet home for later. We ended our Easter Sun by eating left overs and watching 'The Sopranos' and 'Big Love'.