Today we went into Philadelphia, something that's a pretty rare event for us. We had tea at the Rittenhouse Hotel, a beautiful place that faces one of the many small parks in the city. Champagne, English breakfast tea for me, scones, little sandwiches and tiny desserts. Best of all, the place was empty and quiet and looked out on a small courtyard with fountains. Because they weren't busy, the waitress took us on a tour of the main restaurant, including the kitchen (sparkling clean, which amazed me) and we got to meet the chef, Jean-Marie Lacroix, who is apparently quite well known in chef circles. They have a chef's table in the kitchen which we may decide to visit at some point in the future.

Exercise: 1.5 miles on the dreaded treadmill

Books: Finished Money for Nothing By Donald Westlake. Fairly uneven novel that appears to prove the economic theorem that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I kept waiting for this to turn into an elaborate hoax on the main character, ala the movie The Game, but that was not to be. I'm debating whether to start the new Harry Potter or leave that until my library closes in mid-August for 4 weeks due to construction. I feel a compunction, almost an obligation, to read the book Dressing Up for the Carnival by the late Carol Shields, which I've had for some time, but have never had any luck becoming engrossed in.

Music: None. In a musical void at the moment. I did buy tickets today for Caitlin and me to go to the Philadelphia Folk Festival on its final day so that Caitlin can see Ani Difranco live.

Movies: Something with William Hurt set in Newfoundland. An extinct bird, cocaine, and a restaurant. Catching three lines of dialogue every 10 minutes or so does not seem to provide sufficient flow or context for me to understand this story.

Cats: Xena and Hercules have rediscovered one of their fuzzy toys and have been madly pursuing it tonight. Between bouts of tormenting Tabitha, of course. I noticed that an entire metropolis worth of ants has taken up residence in their food bowls. I took the bowls outside to wash them out. Now my skin wants to walk off of me because it feels as though ants are mincing all over it. I've found two live ones on me already. They are live no more.