We had a very pleasant day today, all told. The weather looked decent so we dashed off to the beach and walked for several miles. We were going to go to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, but realised we were hungry, and given where we’d been rambling, we wanted seafood. We found a reasonable café, and I had a Canadian crab omelet with fresh avocado and Hollandaise sauce that was to die for, and Teresa had fish tacos, which she said were very tasty. Then, well full, we went to the Wetlands and rambled for a bit, and found a display about what used to be there (among other things, there are WWII bunkers underneath).

Then we came home and frolicked, and showered and got ourselves ready to go out again. She had some friends who’d moved out here from the East Kingdom a little over a year ago, and when the event yesterday was cancelled, we made plans to see them tonight. A while back I’d found a coffee house in Long Beach that sounded like perhaps an interesting place to go and write in, and they have Middle Eastern dancing on Sunday nights. So we made plans to meet her friends there.

Her friends were late, arriving just as the dancing started, and _that_ started half an hour late. Luckily there was a long intermission so we all did get a chance to chat. The dancing itself was…a bit odd. In celebration of Mardi Gras, they gave out masks and beads and the like, as part of the first “dance”, which wasn’t really a dance. Most of the dances were to Cajun-y type music, which was fine—it’s always neat to see ME dancing to different types of music. Some of the dancers were also very good. But some of it was, well, weird. Like the Voodoo ceremony to raise the dead, which was a largely accurate ritual. It seemed disrespectful, somehow. Anyway. Cat was interested in going sometime, and I’m not against going again. Oh, and it was in the gay neighborhood, and Teresa did comment that she’d never seen so many gay men at a ME performance. But there you go.

She’s packed and ready to go; she leaves tomorrow at noonish but we need to ship a package first and get to the airport at least an hour and a half early. Not a problem. The house will seem rather lonely once she’s gone.

Albra is scheduled to come down Tuesday and spend the night, but she may be ill, so I’m waiting to hear if we’ll have to reschedule. Although I’ll be disappointed not to see her, I won’t begrudge the extra time to get stuff done: writing, GP, Black Oak booklet, etc. I’m having sushi with a friend on Wednesday, and Ken may be home even before the weekend.

Tani’s Mardi Gras party last night was fun, albeit small. She made awesome jambalaya and I ate way too much (but it was so good!). We had fun, and I’m glad we went—I always like hanging out with Tani.