Tuesday after Labor Day has been a 2-cup-of-coffee workday. It was relaxing and we had lots of fun, but I need a vacation day to recover from my vacation.
We were lucky for the opportunity to visit with lots of old friends; Saturday night Finn and I went to a barbecue with the Flynns while Mama stayed home to catch up on work. Finn was shy at first but within about 30 seconds was engrossed in playing dress-up with the girls, while Tim and Betty and I drank and caught up on the deck outside. She was on her best behavior, even after a bowl of chocolate ice cream, and when it was time to leave we drove home under the stars with the top down.
Sunday we drove to Lexington Park to meet Grand at the Naval Air Museum where he showed us around the planes and told Finn about the ones he’d flown and worked on. It wound up being sunnier and hotter out there than we bargained for, so we had to skip the last couple in order to escape to air conditioning and an early dinner. After rehydrating, we made it home in time to move the mattress out of our bedroom, lay new carpet down, assemble an IKEA bedframe, and replace the bed. We’re getting to the point at which all the improvements we made in the house 8-10 years ago are needing touchups. This past week, the entire room got patched, sanded, and a new coat of paint throughout, and it looks dramatically better.
Monday we drove up to Pennsylvania to visit with the Beatties and have another barbecue. Finn was again on her best behavior, and we adults let the kids play while we (mostly) relaxed. Chris and Alison have a beautiful house stocked with mouthwatering mid-century furniture and two excitable Boston Terriers, and it was great to catch up with them. It’s amazing to consider, looking back at who we were 20 years ago, how far we’ve come, and how much the same we are in a lot of ways. As we stood in his driveway chatting and watching the kids ride bikes, leaves fell gently into the yard. Fall is coming soon…
On our return, we “did a teamwork” in Finn’s words and started assembling a new dresser for our room. We’re both tired of waiting around to get things done (we’ve had new carpet and furniture sitting out on the porch in boxes for months) and we couldn’t help ourselves. With some careful maneuvering and strategic use of a hammer in the quiet corners of the house, we got everything put together by 10PM and fell exhausted into bed.