keeping out of mischief, mostly

The weekend passed uneventfully, for the most part. I didn't go to Sydney even though I half-heartedly tried to find a ride. Friday night the snow made it feel like Christmas, so I opted to stay in with Mum and watch a bad action movie and eat salt-and-vinegar chips. We watched as Nicolas Cage saved the US of A from a bad guy who wanted to steal the ________________. (Fill in the blank, win a prize.)

Then Saturday came and Mat and I tried to find a way to several parties and goings-on but that didn't happen either. So instead we made brownies and pasta with sauce, and watched a DVD of Diana Krall in concert. Then Sunday my family (Mat, Mum, Monty) went to a farm where there was a horse that had had a colt three days previous. That was pretty special--seeing a velvety brown colt running circles around his mother in the paddock in the sunshine, gangly and unsure, but so energetic. We then took a "Sunday drive" and went all over the place, dropping Mat in Millville (a half-hour away) and then me back at Dad's, where we took a walk around the property and admired little flowers just coming up. The dog, Hisaka, was most successful in getting me to play "Throw" with him--he knows the art of pestering well. He's such a lively dog, but also a little indiscriminate in where he places his muddy paws. Hmm!!

Today I went into Sydney with Mum. She went to get a massage and I met Elizabeth at the Bean Bank for coffee. We had an hour or two to hang out, so we did a variety of things--eating lunch in the "executive lounge" at the Maple Leaf (Bar and Restaurant), where she works, and having her make me a special chocolate milkshake; checking out wedding dresses at the Oak Hall Shop, and buying bobby pins at the Bargain! Bargain! Bargain! Bargain! shop. In the wedding dress shop, you had to remove your shoes in the back section where the dresses were kept, inorder to enter the padded, mirrored area where the dresses hung in long plastic bags. The lighting was harsh and fluorescent, and there was fake ivy climbing the walls. We peeked at dresses and commented on colors, lengths, details.

(It's odd how looking at a word over and over again makes you deconstruct it. Bar gain?)

On Thursday Mat and I fly out at 5:45 am to go to Newark and then Berkeley Heights . We are going to visit our dear grandparents Noble for a few days. It is going to be a mini-adventure. I can't wait to see my family, and of course sight-see in NYC again. I'm going to pack tomorrow--I'm sure all the stylish clothes I own will fit in a small suitcase! I'm not sure there are even that many. Ha!

At the moment I'm going to go start some roasted veggies and salmon fillets for our dinner. Mat will help me chop. I think Mum will do the fish. I dug up some jerusalem artichoke yesterday and they are good raw and chopped up, with dinner. They taste like white carrots, if you can imagine that. Not sweet like parsnips but crunchy.

There is nothing to really tie together this entry, so I'll just say "thank goodness for Elizabeth", and that I'm slowly getting used to being home, being part of this household again. It always amazes me how much time and energy change takes! But all is well. The weather may not be warm, but at least it ain't snowing!!