A Car in the Garage, a Pumpkin on the Step

It's been another busy few days, with a birthday celebration, a ride in a parade, visits from far-off friends, and some good work in the garage. Wednesday saw a good meeting with fellow English faculty members about revising our program. Thursday we kept busy and were rewarded that afternoon with good baguettes and bread at the farmer's market. Friday saw the Scholarship Car Show come and go on the day that my students and I discussed the play Medea and then finalized papers and turned them in. Friday night we tried out the new Stadium Sports Grill downtown and met here for some camaraderie and cake to mark CB's big birthday (flames and all) until we all grew weary and called it a night, including TQ and LB, who were our third guests to use the cool bedroom with the bay windows.

TQ rose early the next morning to let little Walter do his business, which left me later to assume he had NOT been out, so I left him some privacy as usual and made coffee, but when I returned he was no where to be seen. I looked high and (mostly) low, but no little W appeared. On a windy morning like that, the knucklehead's pitiful sensibilities are rendered entirely inoperable, so, the wife and I hopped in separate vehicles and went on the chase, leaving our guests to wonder what had become of us. The little guy was sighted trotting down a sidewalk several blocks away. He surrendered himself without incident.

We returned to find LB decked out in her fine livery, prepared for a parade walk/drill with carts, librarians showing they knew how to make use of a red carpet, the theme of the homecoming parade that LB and I (and TQ later too, it turned out) were a part of. I joined my fellow faculty officers and the VP, and we kept one eye on the sky, one on the crowd, and our hands turning (wrist-wrist-elbow-elbow) as we made our way down the parade route, greeting faces known and unknown and smiling to kids who were looking rather for candy. One treat was seeing the Howard band, featuring a young lady on snare drums doing some nearly wild shit.

Once finished with the parade, a few of us made our way to our Mexican restaurant and then back to the house, where our guests had conked out for a nap. The wife and I relaxed a while and then realized we'd missed the football game (which we WON, by the way, leaving the Trojans 3-1 on the season), visiting with our awakened guests until late in the afternoon. They left with some nice apples picked from the trees, which I hope they enjoy.

We drove around a bit then and got some pumpkins for the step, two bucks a pop for some nice pumpkins. Saturday night I spent mostly out in the garage, dismantling some old bookshelves and arranging things so I could get a car in there. Once I pulled the car in I figured I'd accomplished something. In the meantime, one of the wife's buddies stopped by with her three kids and they looked the place over.

Sunday has been fairly quiet, with a trip to Howard, a short visit over coffee, a stop on the way back for some more pumpkins and gourds, and a dinner at the sports grill again, with a pause at the flea market for some shopping. Doesn't it start to sound like a busy day? It wasn't. We relaxed some, enjoyed some apple crisp and a little TV, and found some time to work in the evening. Tomorrow it's Monday and a new week.

Six more days to the marathon, in its own way a kind of parade in itself.