Today was this perfect, sunny, 70's fall day. I spent a part of it unpacking my van from our trip to Chicago this past weekend, and part of it reading on my back porch, and part of it burning some lawn detritus and leaves. I'm sitting near an open window right now and it smells crisp and cool, with just a hint of rotting vegetation and campfire. I love the smell of fall. So warm and brown. My husband likes to remind me that I'm actually deeply inhaling and enjoying the scent of decay. See, this is why I love him - always ready to give me that kick in the rear of reality. Well, bud, I already knew that, so this time the jokes on you. Hah!
Trip to Chicago - my dad got married to this fabulous woman we all love and we drove up for the wedding. Earlier this year she asked me to sing in the wedding. I have terrible stagefright - I simply do not sing in public anymore, it's too stressful, but I couldn't say no to her. I sang two songs, and my voice didn't crack or sound awful, so that's good. I was very visibly nervous, as evidenced by my first conversation with sister R's new fiance - "wow, you were really nervous, weren't you? I mean, you started to relax at the end there, but you were seriously freaking." Yeah, thanks. Anyway, it was a nice trip, although I packed for November in Chicago, and it was more like spring in Texas, so we spent a lot of the wedding and after stuff very very hot. The reception dinner was held at an Indian restaurant, much to the delight of my kids, husband, and me. Yum. Later we hung out with the sibs, playing Rock Band and swapping photos off our various memory cards (love the digital age) and Sunday we went to Chinatown for dim sum. This was a first for me on a few fronts - I lived in the Chicago area for 30 years and never went to Chinatown. It was this whole convergence of languages and people and smells - we definitely want to go back next time we have some time in the city. The dim sum - my kids loved it. (I love the fact that my kids will try almost anything.) Monkeybutt and sis R were bonding over all sorts of steamed whatevers, and the Girl Child spent much time in her own little blissful world of shrimp and crab balls (and who doesn't love to say 'crab balls.') Admittedly, I did not much enjoy the food - the texture didn't sit right with me. I didn't really go for the food, though, I went for the experience, and that was worth every minute. Plus I got to bond more with my baby niece, who is absolute sweetness and light.
We went for Thai tonight at our favorite place (Mai Thai on Rt. 42 in Florence - so so so good, if you live in the area, you must try it.) Studmuffin and I spent the entire ride over discussing books. This is such a rare occurance, I felt I should jot down for the future. We did not discuss money, or the kids, or health, or anything - books. Namely, Crime and Punishment and Catcher in the Rye - both books he loved and urged me to read, and I have written about in this blog before, so I won't bore you with the details again. He doesn't understand why I need to like, or at least, be able to slightly relate to, the main characters - this was the subject of our discussion, which was actually a discussion, and not an "I'm right, you're wrong" lecture. The kids were actually quiet for the whole thing. Maybe they learned something. Or maybe they were plotting a hostile takeover of the family unit. Who knows. What I do know is I've had enough of eating out for the week - I will definitely be cooking the rest of the week. I want to make soup, but nobody here ever likes my soup. I'll have to find some good soup recipes.
I wanted to add at least one pic today, but I haven't uploaded any from the past weekend, and I felt a need to go back a few years - this was July of 2006. The Girl was not 4 years old yet. We were on our way home from the zoo and she fell asleep - sweaty and loving her new hat. She was so freaking cute.
I should be getting to bed...or at least go read some other blogs, play some Bookworm...etc...
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