Weekend fun
Aug. 11th, 2003 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esemeThis is going to be a very long post, I think. Enough cool stuff happened over the weekend to make it so. For those not interested, feel free to skip. A lot of what I write here is for me, so that I remember. For everyone else:
I made the drive down to Alfred Friday afternoon, but didn't leave Rochester until 5. It's a nice drive- long stretches of 390 going 75 with few other cars on the highway, then quiet country roads. I got there a bit before 6:30 and there was no sign of Chris or Garrett, who ought to have arrived back from Virginia by then.
There was, however a very lonely Gibraltar playing with his scratching post on the second floor landing. That cat has the run of the apartment building- my sister and her boyfriend leave their door open for him all day and even when they are out of state on vacation. He meowed piteously at me and ran in ahead of me to his substitute food dish, which was a rather large tupperware container and still had quite a bit of the food he'd been left while his people were away. I told him he was silly for wanting more food, then sat on the couch and gave him plenty of attention, telling him over and over just how handsome he is. Gibraltar is a love-cat. He will jump up and sit on you, demanding to be petted and adored, and lets you know how much he enjoys the attention with a rumbling purr that can be heard across the room. He is grey and white with the occasional highlight of gold. Grey and black tiger striped on his body, with a white triangle over his nose that extends down his neck in an impressive ruff. His front feet have white gloves, and his back legs are white to the hip- he could easily play the lead in Puss in Boots. His tail is almost entirely dark grey, save for the tip which is stark white and very eye-catching.
Chris and Garrett arrived not too much later, having had a late start for the day and then stopping at the little ice cream place in Almond. I'd looked over at it as I passed, thinking that we'd probably stop there after dinner- they were probably enjoying their cones at that very moment. Chris is very (for her) tanned and excited after a sumer of working outside in the organic gardens at the Sirius Community. Her hair is back to the length it was in high school, though it is dredlocked now. A red bob of dreds does look cute on her. And Garrett seems to be growing back his beard. I ought to have brought a camera and taken pictures- the last one's I have of Chris are a year old and I have none of Garrett though they've been together for nearly two years now. I'll have to remember to fix that.
We hung out for a bit as they unloaded the van, then walked into town in search of food. Alfred keeps odd hours in the summer- the town relies heavily on the two colleges for income and without the students places tend to close early. The diner had closed at 7:00, we got there at 7:15. Za's is a wonderful cafe which makes marvelous sweet potato cake with chocolate chips, but they are relocating and will be open sometime in the fall. We ended up at the pizza and sub shop and shared a pineapple and ham pizza. There were shakers of garlic salt and extra cheese, and the pizza was freshly made and so hot the toppings slid off the slice when you tried to pull it out of the box.
We walked back in a light rain, making a quick detour to look at the site of Chris's future greenhouse. She had made raised beds and the soil is brown and rich and full of nutrients. The cabbage has already started to sprout. This will be her senior project in environmental science- a greenhouse and a couple of raised beds outside of it, studying different ways of growing food trough the fall and winter.
I picked up a few things from their pile of stuff headed for the local charity shop. They are cleaning out their apartment, and I got a beanbag chair, necklace, candleholder, plastic water buffalo pulling a chariot, and a carrying case with 16 old Nintendo games. I also got three more of Chris' pots- she made so many of them when she took wheel last semester and was planning to sell a bunch of them. She let me take my three favorites which I will not try to describe because I know I will get it wrong.
We whiled away more time drinking wine and talking; alternating between the front porch of her apartment building (which is really a lovely old brick Victorian) and the living room. The wine made me sleepy and I curled up on the couch while Chris and Garrett went to a party at their neighbors. I doubt I would have had fun if I'd gone- I tend to stick to corners if there aren't more than five people I know.
Sleep was good, though interrupted periodically by Gibraltar in need of more lovin'. It's nice to have a cat lie on your chest and purr, just because you are there and wiling to reach out and pet him. You do have to more his paws so his claws do not dig into the more tender bits of your neck, but other than that it's a lovely thing. And Gibraltar is even more handsome in the moonlight- all silver and black and white.
Gibraltar and I were up first in the morning, and I spent the time reading and sending him in to attack my sleeping sister. He is not much of an attack cat though- it seems he merely alternated between begging them and me for petting. We finally had food around 12:30- eggs, toast, leftover pizza, and hot tea. We wandered into town again- Chris had forgotten to show me the herbs she'd been given at Sirius. She has decided to become a medicine woman, amongst her many talents.
Then we went for ice cream- Chocolate Panda Paws and Chocolate Peanut Butter are a wonderful combination. A sensory overload of chocolate and peanut butter. Mmmmmmmmm. I followed them out- they were headed to Stonybrook Park which is on my way back.
Good memory: Following Garrett's white Subaru down winding country roads, doing 60 as the cornfields fly by, singing along to "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" followed by "Love Stinks." He slowed down to 35 on the winding bits near Stonybrook Park- I usually take those at 45. We honked horns at each other and waved.
I stopped at Colleen's to pick up that shirt of Becky's that I borrowed for the Ren Faire. Colleen was lounging on the couch and was fun enough to talk to that I forgot to mention the Nintendo games, which I knew she'd be interested in. I ended up giving them to her at the Sabbat game, attracting the interest of darn near everyone at game. I told Chris I'd be able to find them good homes.
Game was fun- my pack won the night's game of instinct and Di finally lost all her humanity. Yay! Eugene was there, which was nice as he'd only come to game once and then vanished, leaving me with the impression that he hadn't liked the game. He's proved that not only do guys notice what girls wear, they are capable of remembering an entire outfit. All hail![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
keeblerjesus! And elasmo is also capable of this, if his offhand skirt comments are in any way related to me.
Got up early on Sunday for the Ren Faire. This time I had something approaching actual Faire garb. Jen gave me a bodice, Becky lent me a shirt, and I own enough long skirts that one worked. The bodice shoves a lot of cleavage up and on display, enough that a woman slapped her husband after I walked by. This visit was fun in ways completely different than the first. We saw no shows (aside from some belly-dancing that was frankly second-rate) but did a lot of shopping. I ended up with some nice new soap and a couple of pieces of pottery from the stall across from they gypsy camp. We went into the leather shop with the salesgirl Adam and Aaron had appreciated on our last visit. She and the other girl were quite happy to pay attention to Berardi while Colleen looked at bracers. I saw a couple of things I would dearly have liked to try on, but since the skirt was over $200, I decided it was not worth the effort.
Everyone else agreed it would be excellent entertainment to get me drunk for the ride home, but since I have episodes of car-sickness on occasion without being drunk, I vetoed that idea. I agreed to drinks at Colleen's place, but by the time we got there I had a headache. Dinner was good (despite being an apparent attempt to poison Aaron) and we all lounged on Colleen and Brian's far too comfortable furniture. Everyone was either so tired or so sober that conversation lagged.
I finally got a ride back to my car from Aaron, and went home to try and relax away the headache. I relaxed myself into sleep, and the headache was gone this morning. I'm feeling tired and listless today, perhaps a bit too much fun over the weekend?
I made the drive down to Alfred Friday afternoon, but didn't leave Rochester until 5. It's a nice drive- long stretches of 390 going 75 with few other cars on the highway, then quiet country roads. I got there a bit before 6:30 and there was no sign of Chris or Garrett, who ought to have arrived back from Virginia by then.
There was, however a very lonely Gibraltar playing with his scratching post on the second floor landing. That cat has the run of the apartment building- my sister and her boyfriend leave their door open for him all day and even when they are out of state on vacation. He meowed piteously at me and ran in ahead of me to his substitute food dish, which was a rather large tupperware container and still had quite a bit of the food he'd been left while his people were away. I told him he was silly for wanting more food, then sat on the couch and gave him plenty of attention, telling him over and over just how handsome he is. Gibraltar is a love-cat. He will jump up and sit on you, demanding to be petted and adored, and lets you know how much he enjoys the attention with a rumbling purr that can be heard across the room. He is grey and white with the occasional highlight of gold. Grey and black tiger striped on his body, with a white triangle over his nose that extends down his neck in an impressive ruff. His front feet have white gloves, and his back legs are white to the hip- he could easily play the lead in Puss in Boots. His tail is almost entirely dark grey, save for the tip which is stark white and very eye-catching.
Chris and Garrett arrived not too much later, having had a late start for the day and then stopping at the little ice cream place in Almond. I'd looked over at it as I passed, thinking that we'd probably stop there after dinner- they were probably enjoying their cones at that very moment. Chris is very (for her) tanned and excited after a sumer of working outside in the organic gardens at the Sirius Community. Her hair is back to the length it was in high school, though it is dredlocked now. A red bob of dreds does look cute on her. And Garrett seems to be growing back his beard. I ought to have brought a camera and taken pictures- the last one's I have of Chris are a year old and I have none of Garrett though they've been together for nearly two years now. I'll have to remember to fix that.
We hung out for a bit as they unloaded the van, then walked into town in search of food. Alfred keeps odd hours in the summer- the town relies heavily on the two colleges for income and without the students places tend to close early. The diner had closed at 7:00, we got there at 7:15. Za's is a wonderful cafe which makes marvelous sweet potato cake with chocolate chips, but they are relocating and will be open sometime in the fall. We ended up at the pizza and sub shop and shared a pineapple and ham pizza. There were shakers of garlic salt and extra cheese, and the pizza was freshly made and so hot the toppings slid off the slice when you tried to pull it out of the box.
We walked back in a light rain, making a quick detour to look at the site of Chris's future greenhouse. She had made raised beds and the soil is brown and rich and full of nutrients. The cabbage has already started to sprout. This will be her senior project in environmental science- a greenhouse and a couple of raised beds outside of it, studying different ways of growing food trough the fall and winter.
I picked up a few things from their pile of stuff headed for the local charity shop. They are cleaning out their apartment, and I got a beanbag chair, necklace, candleholder, plastic water buffalo pulling a chariot, and a carrying case with 16 old Nintendo games. I also got three more of Chris' pots- she made so many of them when she took wheel last semester and was planning to sell a bunch of them. She let me take my three favorites which I will not try to describe because I know I will get it wrong.
We whiled away more time drinking wine and talking; alternating between the front porch of her apartment building (which is really a lovely old brick Victorian) and the living room. The wine made me sleepy and I curled up on the couch while Chris and Garrett went to a party at their neighbors. I doubt I would have had fun if I'd gone- I tend to stick to corners if there aren't more than five people I know.
Sleep was good, though interrupted periodically by Gibraltar in need of more lovin'. It's nice to have a cat lie on your chest and purr, just because you are there and wiling to reach out and pet him. You do have to more his paws so his claws do not dig into the more tender bits of your neck, but other than that it's a lovely thing. And Gibraltar is even more handsome in the moonlight- all silver and black and white.
Gibraltar and I were up first in the morning, and I spent the time reading and sending him in to attack my sleeping sister. He is not much of an attack cat though- it seems he merely alternated between begging them and me for petting. We finally had food around 12:30- eggs, toast, leftover pizza, and hot tea. We wandered into town again- Chris had forgotten to show me the herbs she'd been given at Sirius. She has decided to become a medicine woman, amongst her many talents.
Then we went for ice cream- Chocolate Panda Paws and Chocolate Peanut Butter are a wonderful combination. A sensory overload of chocolate and peanut butter. Mmmmmmmmm. I followed them out- they were headed to Stonybrook Park which is on my way back.
Good memory: Following Garrett's white Subaru down winding country roads, doing 60 as the cornfields fly by, singing along to "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" followed by "Love Stinks." He slowed down to 35 on the winding bits near Stonybrook Park- I usually take those at 45. We honked horns at each other and waved.
I stopped at Colleen's to pick up that shirt of Becky's that I borrowed for the Ren Faire. Colleen was lounging on the couch and was fun enough to talk to that I forgot to mention the Nintendo games, which I knew she'd be interested in. I ended up giving them to her at the Sabbat game, attracting the interest of darn near everyone at game. I told Chris I'd be able to find them good homes.
Game was fun- my pack won the night's game of instinct and Di finally lost all her humanity. Yay! Eugene was there, which was nice as he'd only come to game once and then vanished, leaving me with the impression that he hadn't liked the game. He's proved that not only do guys notice what girls wear, they are capable of remembering an entire outfit. All hail
keeblerjesus! And elasmo is also capable of this, if his offhand skirt comments are in any way related to me. Got up early on Sunday for the Ren Faire. This time I had something approaching actual Faire garb. Jen gave me a bodice, Becky lent me a shirt, and I own enough long skirts that one worked. The bodice shoves a lot of cleavage up and on display, enough that a woman slapped her husband after I walked by. This visit was fun in ways completely different than the first. We saw no shows (aside from some belly-dancing that was frankly second-rate) but did a lot of shopping. I ended up with some nice new soap and a couple of pieces of pottery from the stall across from they gypsy camp. We went into the leather shop with the salesgirl Adam and Aaron had appreciated on our last visit. She and the other girl were quite happy to pay attention to Berardi while Colleen looked at bracers. I saw a couple of things I would dearly have liked to try on, but since the skirt was over $200, I decided it was not worth the effort.
Everyone else agreed it would be excellent entertainment to get me drunk for the ride home, but since I have episodes of car-sickness on occasion without being drunk, I vetoed that idea. I agreed to drinks at Colleen's place, but by the time we got there I had a headache. Dinner was good (despite being an apparent attempt to poison Aaron) and we all lounged on Colleen and Brian's far too comfortable furniture. Everyone was either so tired or so sober that conversation lagged.
I finally got a ride back to my car from Aaron, and went home to try and relax away the headache. I relaxed myself into sleep, and the headache was gone this morning. I'm feeling tired and listless today, perhaps a bit too much fun over the weekend?
