Frog and Goat

Somehow it has become October.

I finished up my travel for work with a trip to San Antonio. I was last there in 1996 for my honeymoon. Not much resonated with me or sparked a moment of oh yeah I remember that. I mean the Riverwalk is still there. I didn’t see the Alamo this time. I arrived on Monday mid-day and left Wednesday mid-afternoon so there wasn’t much I saw besides the inside of a conference room.

The food was excellent, even the hotel food was good. Speaking of good food, the better-half went to the State Fair while I was gone and I’m so glad he went.

My mother was able to go on her trip to Pittsburgh. My FL sister came up to spend the night with my father. The three kids were around so he was never by himself for long. I think by the end of the weekend he was tired and out of sorts because of all of the unusual activity.

This month is chock full of activities as the weather breaks and we get outside more. Fall is my favorite.

We have taken this week off. Yesterday we went to see Asteroid City. It was weird and very Wes Anderson and we really liked it. There’s something to be said about going to a matinee and munching on too much popcorn. There was only one other person in the theater with us. It felt slightly decadent.

Today we leave for the beach and will be back on Saturday. It’s a shorter trip than usual for us and in a different spot on the Outer Banks, but we have big plans for doing nothing. Sleep, sitting on the beach, sleep, diving into the ocean, sleep, taking walks and eating terrific seafood.

We found a 3-4′ snake skin in our garage. It was dangling from the chain track for the garage door opener. It seemed like a clever way for a snake to pull itself out of its skin. Other than a snake that climbed up our basement stairs and then went out our back door, we haven’t seen a live snake on premises the entire time we’ve lived here. Our rat snake visitor from several years ago:

It’s nice to see evidence there are actually snakes around. I think our little corner here in the neighborhood is trying to bring back habitat. Our three yards are pretty hands off when it comes to clearing brush (there’s a wild area where all three yards meet) and I get the sense that no one is relying on heavy chemicals for much of anything.

A friend at work is leaving and that will likely mean a lot for me as I take on her responsibilities. It remains to be seen if my job just got bigger on a permanent basis or if it is an interim thing. I’m hoping for permanent and have shared a plan with my manager. Lots of change happening at work right now so we’ll see how everything goes over the next few weeks. I have mentioned this change in duties to two people and this is how both of those conversations have gone:

Me farting would have generated more conversation. So it goes.

On Thursday night we had dinner and then caught a show in Hopewell, VA. For people of a certain age, Hopewell will always be known for its chemical problem. I can’t say I’ve ever been to Hopewell, but dinner was lovely and the theater was a beautiful older building. The performance was Suzanne Vega and her guitarist. It was intimate and I’m so glad we went.

Friday, I took the day off and the better-half wrapped up early so we could go see Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret. I recently re-read the book for the first time since I was 12 or 13. The movie was pretty faithful to the book and it hit all the right nostalgia points. I smiled through most of it. Then, we went over to Lewis Ginter to see the members-only opening of Incanto. I’m looking forward to seeing the sculptures later this summer when it’s a bit darker and not so drizzly. It was nice walking through the garden with limited people and the plants in the middle season (not quite full on blooming and not dormant either).

The better-half cooked dinner last night and we started with fried oysters with a dipping sauce (we weren’t fans of the batter, but the dipping sauce was excellent). He is going to add some of the flavorings into his usual batter and we’ll see how it goes next time he fries oysters. The rest of the oysters went into oyster stew and, dang, I love that dish.

Well, we were finally caught by the COVID. We have been on a regular booster regimen, but I guess that science tells us that those make recovery easier and doesn’t prevent forest fires. Because only you can prevent those.

The better-half and I were talking about this year and neither of us could come up with outstanding highs. Nor were there any very lows. This year just kind of happened. At least it did for us. I know your mileage will vary.

Of note:

We’re having a few folks around this afternoon to celebrate the holiday season. Our idea for food is finger foods and there’s really no theme, just all the things we think sound good/taste good. We are breaking the rule of never make something for the first time when company is coming. I get it, but come on. If we don’t like it we can all pitch it into the trash can. I’m pretty sure our friends won’t walk right out the door.

It’s the same thing when someone notices my terrible dusting job. They have two choices; pick up a dust rag or get over it.

The better-half and I are taking the last week of the year off and, frankly, I should have re-evaluated my life choices and taken the last two weeks off. It’s been a lot this year.