After all that waffling, raspberries!
Well, despite sinus pressure up in the mountains and deluges in both directions, my husband and I have safely arrived home again. It was a little strange that what we ended up doing was Doing Nothing. Now, Doing Nothing is a code phrase used by my husband, myself, and several of our friends. It means gathering in one house, making a nice dinner together - usually a very simple one or two pot dinner with an inexpensive bottle of wine, unless someone is incredibly infused with Culinary Inspiration. Then we sit together, entertaining each other and ourselves - storytelling, reading aloud, reading quietly, playing boardgames and sometimes making up our own rules*, maybe taking a walk in the neighborhood, talking about stuff - whatever happens to be on someone's mind, maybe listening to music, or making it ourselves. This goes on for an entire weekend. One day is not really enough time for Doing Nothing. You've just gotten into the rhythm when it's time to do something.
The original plan had involved the boat, but the sticker to allow the boat in the state park was expired, and we couldn't renew it. Some barbequeing happened, but not a big thing. The skies were cloudy, so no observing took place. It was just a quiet weekend with my parents and brother, with a little visit from my sister, who was delayed in getting there. I found myself missing our dog, who died from cancer last year. His toys were still in the garage, along with a can of the special food he'd been on at the end. When I first got out of the car, I still half expected him to come out of the garage to see what was going on. I miss him.
Dad took my husband to an air show down the road, and introduced him around proudly. My mom and my brother headed out to swim and run by the farmer's market. I sat next to the humidifier I've sat over when sick since toddlerhood. That humidifier and I are old friends. By afternoon, I was feeling much better, and sat with Mom, shelling peas for a batch of peas and dumplings (made with soy milk so as not to irritate my sinuses any further and to be friendly to my brother, who is vegan.) We talked as we began dinner preparations, and my brother recommended a book, _Skipping Towards Gomorrah_, by Dan Savage. We ended up watching _Bend it Like Beckham_ together, which was cool, and we talked for a while more before heading to sleep.
My sister arrived late the next morning, and we all visited a while over a dinner of fridge-raiding. Dad decided I wasn't improving quickly enough and put me on medicines for the infection, and finally, we went to the backyard to take some pictures together. My sister and I found some golden raspberries and were eating them straight off the bramble, offering some to the others who came to see what we were up to, and looked at the blackberries (which won't be ready for a couple weeks, more's the pity.)
Overall, it was good. So often, it feels like I don't have time to slow down, and this was a pretty slow paced weekend. We kept stopping the movie when folks wanted to do something else, like make popcorn or talk, or whatever. The chance to reconnect without anything else going on. It's nice sometimes to just head home.
* Making up one's own rules can be a fun thing, and improves board games no end. I particularly recall a game of Calvinball disguised as a weekend long game of Monopoly - by the end, we were using Monopoly to experiment with various wealth redistribution programs.
The original plan had involved the boat, but the sticker to allow the boat in the state park was expired, and we couldn't renew it. Some barbequeing happened, but not a big thing. The skies were cloudy, so no observing took place. It was just a quiet weekend with my parents and brother, with a little visit from my sister, who was delayed in getting there. I found myself missing our dog, who died from cancer last year. His toys were still in the garage, along with a can of the special food he'd been on at the end. When I first got out of the car, I still half expected him to come out of the garage to see what was going on. I miss him.
Dad took my husband to an air show down the road, and introduced him around proudly. My mom and my brother headed out to swim and run by the farmer's market. I sat next to the humidifier I've sat over when sick since toddlerhood. That humidifier and I are old friends. By afternoon, I was feeling much better, and sat with Mom, shelling peas for a batch of peas and dumplings (made with soy milk so as not to irritate my sinuses any further and to be friendly to my brother, who is vegan.) We talked as we began dinner preparations, and my brother recommended a book, _Skipping Towards Gomorrah_, by Dan Savage. We ended up watching _Bend it Like Beckham_ together, which was cool, and we talked for a while more before heading to sleep.
My sister arrived late the next morning, and we all visited a while over a dinner of fridge-raiding. Dad decided I wasn't improving quickly enough and put me on medicines for the infection, and finally, we went to the backyard to take some pictures together. My sister and I found some golden raspberries and were eating them straight off the bramble, offering some to the others who came to see what we were up to, and looked at the blackberries (which won't be ready for a couple weeks, more's the pity.)
Overall, it was good. So often, it feels like I don't have time to slow down, and this was a pretty slow paced weekend. We kept stopping the movie when folks wanted to do something else, like make popcorn or talk, or whatever. The chance to reconnect without anything else going on. It's nice sometimes to just head home.
* Making up one's own rules can be a fun thing, and improves board games no end. I particularly recall a game of Calvinball disguised as a weekend long game of Monopoly - by the end, we were using Monopoly to experiment with various wealth redistribution programs.
posted by Plain Foolish | 9:30 AM
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