BH: 409

Haven’t written yet today, but it’s still early. We got up far, far too early yesterday, but made it to the airport in plenty of time. My father-in-law hadn’t realised that I hadn’t changed my name, and when he tried to fix it on my ticket, Delta wanted to charge him as a change, rather than fixing a mistake. So I took a copy of our marriage certificate with me, and the very helpful man at the check-in counter fixed everything, including the return tickets.

Flights were uneventful. I wrote on both flights, read some of a RT Bookclub magazine, did one of the in-flight crossword puzzles, and answered an e-mail. We were met in Hot Springs by Ken’s aunt, Marilyn, who took us to her house, where Ken and I are staying. We changed, then all headed out in two cars to Grandma’s house. She’s getting on in years, nearly blind and going deaf, but she’s sharp as a tack and was thrilled to see all of us. We went out to dinner at a country club and I had the yummiest food: veal picata. Oh, I might have a new favourite food. It was sooo good. I’m trying to be better about trying different foods in restaurants rather than always falling back on my old standards. It’s not that I don’t like to try new food, quite the opposite, in fact—I’ve eaten ostrich (especially good in a garlic sauce), alligator (tasted like pork), escargot (divine in a pasta shell and drenched in garlic butter), haggis (which I quite like), octopus and squid (love the former cold, with lemon; but not baby octopi, because the little suckers get caught in your teeth. No, really, I mean the suckers.), and lamb brains (probably won’t have them again). But I tend to go for my favourite foods when they’re available. Well, Greek salad is Greek salad is Greek salad, and fettuccine Alfredo is…you get the picture…and if there’s something new and different on the menu, I should go for it. And this time, I won out.

We crashed really early last night—I’d say we had the light out by 10—and slept for 11.5 hours. Ack. Guess we really needed it. We got up and I showered, and then we ran errands with Marilyn, and in a few minutes we’re going to head out to Grandma’s. Tonight Marilyn’s having a dinner for us and a bunch of work friends. Somewhere in all of this, I’ll retreat to our room and get a few words down.

You know you watch too much “Buffy” when you’re not really listening to “Jingle Bells” in the background and then suddenly you tune in to, “…ride and sing a slaying song tonight”.

Well, we never made it to Grandma’s. When we got here yesterday, we all (except Marilyn), smelled gas, so we convinced her to call the gas company today. Bottom line is that she’s having her water heater replaced and the fittings for her stove also had to be replaced. Ken handled the stove stuff, and there was somebody able to bring a new water heater today, so all is well.