Reading: Inside the Bungalow: America's Arts and Crafts Style

Moving: wandered through the park

House: bought a sander and a miter saw but otherwise took a break, including even a mid-day nap.

4 June 2000: Ahhh

At Nisou's wedding, I was reunited with HEBD after a separation of some five years. Nisou had clued her in to my nervousness and HEBD said, "But that was all a thousand years ago!" and when I returned to the house, HEBD turned from the lamppost she was decorating and said "C'mere" and gathered me into her arms and I burst into tears and we didn't let go for a long, long time. And all was well, and this made both of us and all our friends very happy.

Today has been nearly such another day.

I figured why be coy, and so in response to SEBB's tentative first email, I said the exact same thing I wrote here Friday: "I thoroughly understand someone not wanting to be friends with someone who repeatedly fucked her boyfriend while she was miserable in another country, but hey, if you're all right with it--now--then I would be so happy to set things right between us." And she replied, "Ah, Lisa. I see you still retain that delightful forthrightness that I always loved about you. You do crack me up."

Coyness is not my strong suit.

Ten years of gossip to catch up on. That and the nature of fish slices, spats, and Colin Firth. Gotta hop.

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Did I mention the three Lite-Brite pegs and the orange shag carpet RDC discovered in the closet of his study Saturday? Well, anyway the study is yet another leap away from completion and so Sunday RDC wanted a reprieve from the early up-n-at-em approach we've been taking. That was fine, because I got to correspond with SEBB a bit. A lot.

So then, after RDC came downstairs and told me that the leftover sandwich in the fridge told him to have a glass of orange juice, we went for a walk. I was supposed to call HAO and go for a walk with her sometime this weekend, but I'm a schmuck. We wandered through the park, discovered a bike race and at least two family reunions, and contemplated whether RDC2 could enjoy both the Museum of Science and Nature (previously Museum of Natural History) and the zoo in one day.

RDC2 labors under the impression Denver is some sort of Jurassic Park. If he goes to the Museum first and sees dinosaur skeletons, he might expect actual dinosaurs in the zoo. And as hot as this summer has been, I don't know where we can bring him to see snow. St. Mary's Glacier, I guess. I doubt he'd enjoy being cold, anyway, being that freak of nature, the Florida native. He's six. He should toughen up.

So then we wandered homeward and decided to look at another house for sale a couple of blocks over. We never made it to that house. We--or I--got distracted by a neighbor's garden. They were working in it as we walked by and ended up giving us a whole tour, front and back.

Rob showed me the different low-water flowers and Kevin and RDC talked about painting and getting water away from the house and things much more boring than flowers and buffalo grass. Kevin was listening enough, though, that when Rob pointed one plant out as "sweet william," Kevin corrected "sweet woodruff" and muttered to RDC that Rob's ex was William and sweet was the last word for him.

And--only partly because I want them to come and design my garden--I want to befriend these men. I ooh'd over something or other that I loved the color, and Rob pointed out their lavender plants. I clarified that the color, in addition to the plant, is a favorite of mine, and that we had painted our bedroom lavender, just about the color of my dress. He observed a few minutes later, "Oh, and you're so cute with paint all over you," and I looked with concern at my raiment. "No, not on your pretty dress--your knuckles." He had obviously picked up that any dress in my favorite color must be a favorite garment. Later I met their dog Gracie, who wanted to jump on me, and Rob chastised her, "No, not on her pretty dress." He was patronizing me! Sigh.

Between meeting them and reconnecting with another long-lost college friend, that day I really missed SLH. I want to be called Polly again.

Afterward we made yet another run to Home Despot. A sander for the molding, a miter saw to joint the moldings, felt pads for furniture...and my new favorite book, Home Improvement 1-2-3. In the check-out line, my body lost patience with the clerk who never could find a SKU to scan and wanted to put each individual thing in a separate bag and, knowing that if not for her slowness it would be sitting down by now, my body nearly betrayed me. I felt like fainting from exhaustion, which is in what bad shape I am.

Minutes later in Alfalfa's, the thought of food nauseated me, until RDC suggested a smoothie. I love that boy. I got a Deep Blue Dream mostly-blueberry smoothie and sipped it lovingly as he ate a tofu burrito (erckle).

When we got home we took a nap with Blake--very dangerous for him and bad and terrible of us, but so affectionate and bonding--until he got foot-fixated, whereupon RDC put him in his cage so we could get some real sleep. That lasted until Blake was bored, whereupon he began to scream, whereupon naptime was over.

I unpacked some more and measured closets and watered the grass (ack!) and we had bananas and chocolate cookies for supper around 9:30, which might account for our staggeringly good physical condition. A satisfyingly restful day--not that we had a good nap or rested particularly, but we--after two weeks--liberated ourselves from manual house labor for the day, which we needed.