Howdy, ya’ll!

Urf. I’m totally wiped. Got about four hours of sleep last night, if that. Had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to get Sarah to the airport. (Wah.) Then we came back and slept for two more hours, although I’m not sure I really slept at all, and then we took Dave to a different airport. I decided it wasn’t worth trying to sleep again. But my one cup of tea isn’t cutting it…

I’m so tired, I’m not even melancholy about Sarah leaving. I feel like I’m in a fugue state, with no emotions. Except hunger, which really doesn’t count.

Uh oh. Tired and punchy. Brace yourselves.

It’s just noon. I’ve answered some e-mail (have tons more to do), made an extensive To Do list, done some of that stuff to do, run the dishwasher, stripped beds and am laundering sheets while a load of clothes dries (there’ll be a load of towels and sundry, and then we’ll wash our comforter), and made pizza for lunch.

Much later now. Several loads of laundry and dishes and a post-birthday frolic and a long nap later.

And even later. My parents called to wish me a happy birthday (they’d called twice before and missed me both time). Ken made cheeseburgers for dinner. We hosted sewing night, and I ironed a bunch of fabric, straightened parts of the sewing studio, and when the traffic on the cutting table died down, I cut out two new tunics: a dark green linen one that will have gold spiral embroidery; and a green dupioni one that will have purple dupioni around the keyhole neckline and at the cuffs, and gold beads and pearls on the purple, and maybe some gold trim, too. I have just enough for trim, but Ken mentioned that the trim would make a great belt… We’ll see. I also decided that we have enough leftover red with fleur-de-lys and green with fleur-de-lys from outfits we made for Elffin and Signy in Drachenwald to make a short particoloured tunic. Right now I am Tunic Woman. Soon I will be Italian Woman (I have fabric for at least four; just need to get a new pattern sorted out).

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So, we had a fantastic weekend! Friday we went to the DMV so I could have my picture taken for my license renewal. They’d lost my reservation but gave me a number anyway, and we were out in short order. Then we headed into LA. We went to the Ennis Brown House yet again, both for its Buffy associations as well as because that’s where Styx did their big photo shoot late last year. We then found Bourgeois Pig, a café “down the hill” from where Tommy lives, the name of which inspired the song. Sarah ordered a Café de Sade (and said it was excellent) and I got a bottle of water, which said Bourgeois Pig on it. (And I gave it to Sarah, who’s going to make a vase out of it.)

While we were at the Ennis Brown House, however, we noticed that Ken’s mom’s Blazer, which we’d borrowed because my car has a tiny back seat, was losing a frightening amount of fluid down the hill. There’s a leak in the radiator, it turned out, so we simply had to keep it topped up with water. Dealing with all this meant we didn’t have time to go to the gallery in Santa Monica that has a Brian Froud display, but ah well.

We ate lunch at a little Thai place and then headed to LAX, where we collected Dave from London and brought him home. We ordered pizza and watched videos until the wee hours. Sarah wanted to pull an all-nighter, but I expected to pull an all-nighter the next night for my birthday party, so Ken and I stumbled to bed at some point.

Saturday we awoke early because a guy was supposed to come by and assess the house as part of our mortgage refinancing. But he never showed. (We found out today that he did a drive-by only. Argh.) We cleaned the house (and a huge thanks to both Sarah and Dave for going beyond the call of houseguest duty!), did some final food shopping, showered, and painted our nails the same iridescent blue (er, that would be Sarah and I with the nailpolish, not Ken or Dave). And Sarah and I made an iTunes playlist of good party songs; mostly early 80s, with a good amount of Styx and SRP (Styx-Related Product).

Then, it was party time! So many wonderful people! So much laughter, and good conversation, and an astonishing amount of Greek food (anybody know if dolmades can be frozen? Because if not, we’re going to be eating them for the next three weeks.), and a goodly amount of alcohol. It was absolutely brilliant. I was sorry that some friends couldn’t make it, but was overwhelmed by so many who did, whether they came from a long distance or not.

Ken left just after the party started, and just when people were wondering if I’d actually invited him (heh), he returned with a cake and flowers and a heart-shaped purple balloon. He’d bought a pre-made cake and then decorated it with Greek columns and “Happy 17th(?) Birthday Dayle” (because I kept saying it was the 20th anniversary of my 17th birthday party). How wonderful!

Ken had gotten the corner shelf up in the library (including the back lighting), so that room was set up with the little sofa and two SCA chairs and some cushions on the floor. I put out games, but I don’t think anybody played. We did notice that the Ouija board (which I’ve had since I was a kid) says “Parker Bros., Salem, Mass.”, which is pretty funny. Anyway, folks relaxed in there, and outside, and some hot-tubbed, and I gave some people the grand tour…

I’d said that presents weren’t necessary, and they weren’t—I wanted to be surrounded by friends and loved ones, and I was. But some folks did bring gifties, and that was very neat, too. Books, a mint plant, handmade jewellery, rose-scented sea salt scrub, a Goddess CD… I hope I’m not forgetting anything. (I’m really wiped. Forgive me?) And Kelly gave me a ME dance. Actually, she reminded me that a gazillion years ago I’d bought a promissory for a private dance from her, and I’d never cashed it. So I cashed that promissory in, and I still get another dance sometime! Yum. Kelly’s terribly yummy. The last folks at the party were very glad they stayed.

For some reason, everyone I know was apparently cursed to turn into a pumpkin at midnight, because they were gone by 11:45. Kelvin and Debbie had driven down in their camper and went outside to crash. We cleaned up a bit, and Ken and I sat in the hot tub with Sarah hanging out nearby, and eventually we all slept. And lo, life was good.

The next morning, my actual birthday, we arose and regrouped and headed to the Huntington Library in Pasadena. A bunch of people from Darach were going, so we rounded up more and met them. The exhibit was pretty cool, but smaller than I expected; guess I’m a bit spoiled from some of the places we went in Europe. We ate a picnic in the parking lot, consisting of (big surprise coming) leftover Greek food, and then we wandered the extensive gardens. I had to be removed from the herb garden so we could see the roses, and the Japanese gardens, and the Zen garden. At the Japanese gardens we saw the biggest goddamn koi I ever want to see. They were bigger than a small child. They looked predatory enough to eat a small child… Ken found me a little ginko leaf, which made me all mushy. See, back when he kept getting set to Korea, he wrote me a poem on gingko leaves, about how it’s tradition there for lovers to write each other notes on the leaves. I’m getting all mushy again just thinking about it.

The day ended quietly. I threw together spaghetti and salad, and Sarah and I watched some final videos and scribbled some final notes on the next few chapters of ALNM, and we went to bed. Which brings us back to the beginning of this entry, and the fact that I’m totally wiped. So I’m going to end this now, and tomorrow maybe I’ll get ya’ll caught up on everything else. Maybe I’ll even start getting caught up myself…