In case you haven't yet had a belly laugh today, take 3 minutes out of your busy day and watch this.  I know that as a teacher (and a substitute) I've struggled with names.... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw

Now let me try and catch up on the rest of my trip to Maryland.  Because of Hurricane Sandy's imminent arrival we cancelled Monday's Stitch & Bitch field trip to the quilt and needlework and knitting stores and instead the 4 of us - Mom & Ann and Cynthia and I - just had lunch  at the pub.  In the course of the conversation Ann mentioned that a friend of hers was coming into town over the weekend and was disappointed because One Night With Janis Joplin (at Arena Stage) was all sold out.

Which was quite the coincidence, because Andy and Sandy and I were going, but Andy was wondering what he was going to do with his 4th ticket.  Problem solved!  FYI it was an excellent show.  (Try to picture a rock concert where the entire audience is a bunch of white-haired old folks!)

On our way back from the pub we stopped in to see Ted and I ended up helping Lillian, 90, who was freaked out by the possibility of power outage. After a very early dinner (so the dining room staff could get home before worst of Sandy hit) I stopped in at Laverne's to take a photo of aforementioned giraffe vest   and also stopped in to check on Lillian. The really good news is that Riderwood never did lose power after all -Ted probably wasn't the only one with the (possibly disastrous) idea to light candles!  

(Mom, do you remember the summer weekend you and Dad went away (Marilyn and Andy must have been at camp) and the power went out and you came home to melted wax on a zillion saucers from all the candles I lit to keep the darkness at bay?)

Because of Hurricane Sandy, Tuesday's lunch with Judy at Nova Europa (yum!) was postponed and our possible drive to Alexandria (a long schlep) to see Gloria and Matt was cancelled.  But other than those minor inconveniences we were VERY lucky that Sandy basically left us alone.

Judy was relieved to see me looking SO much better than when I'd flown in for Lisa's college graduation in May (when I was too wiped out to even sit up during her visit.)  On our way to the restaurant we did see an area with lots of trees and some power lines down.  On the way home we had to take a detour since they were repairing the lines and had the road blocked off.  But because of the detour we went by my old alma mater, Northwood High School.  (Looked spiffier than when I went there.)  That night Mom had to eat dinner early because she was playing bridge, and I was so stuffed from my huge lunch I decided to skip dinner and went to visit Edie.  We had a delightful visit and I got to look at her miniatures and break-away boxes again.  I thought I'd taken video of my favorite (amazing how it all folds up into a tiny box) but apparently not, so I can only post these pix.

 

  

When Mom and I weren't otherwise occupied (one day we arranged pix for hanging), we played Rummikub (I won the first game by 17 points, but that was the last time during my visit I was ahead.  I got close a few times, but just couldn't whittle down the huge lead she created when she went out early and caught me with a huge pile of points in my hand.)  One day we made reservations for our river cruise in France in May! (More details on that as it gets closer.)  One evening we watched old family videos: some of me as a baby and toddler that I'd never seen, another of Mom & Dad's 40th anniversary surprise party (and boy did we surprise them!) and also their 50th anniversary party in '99 (which was especially fun to watch because of  Lisa's and Alex's rather entertaining 'toasts' to the happy couple.)   A video of Andy singing at some function (Sojourner's?) was enjoyable (he has such a great voice), particularly when he asked the audience for requests and some unseen person (obviously a kid) asked for Old MacDonald.  Andy complied.  

On Thursday I packed up and moved to Andy's.  We were heading to Annapolis very early in the morning (he had to be in court there before 9:00 to sign in.)  His case ended up being 5th on the docket so I got to listen to four other cases, and was pretty much able to figure out what was going on.  It was a very interesting morning (but even with my thermorest the chair was uncomfortable from the start.)  Happy to say that Andy did himself proud (and that's not just his sister talking... his whole team agreed) and the judges seemed to be on his side, so now we're just waiting to hear the official verdict.  Afterward we had lunch at Miss Shirley's in Baltimore (you do not want to know what they charge for deviled eggs, but at least they were delicious) and then to Andy's office so he could do some work; I went back to reading a wonderful book.  I highly recommend The Light Between  Oceans.  M.L. Stedman writes beautifully, and I enjoyed the story, so I was truly sorry when I finished the book.  It's easy to see why it got such good reviews - and hard to believe it's a first novel.  I'm definitely looking forward to her next one.

Then on Saturday we headed into DC for the Janis Joplin matinee, which was wonderfully done.  Afterward we picked up Mom and headed to Ranazul's (where we went for Lisa's graduation dinner) and I pigged out some more.  Seems like all I did was have lunch with this person and dinner with that person - with dessert most times.  Amazing that I didn't come home a blimp.

Speaking of my preoccupation with food... I moved back to Riderwood with Mom after dinner Saturday so I wouldn't miss out on Riderwood's Sunday brunch.  (Missed it the previous Sunday because we were at the beach.)  We were expecting my cousin Rachelle to join us, but there was a bit of a crisis with her mom (my Aunt Helen) and she had to cancel.  I expected to get to see Ed & Casey and the boys for dinner (although due to some miscommunication it seems they were expecting us for brunch) but Casey ended up making an unscheduled trip to the ER (possibly some complications from the previous week's surgery) so dinner was out. 

We ended up having dinner at Vantage House with Ivy (delicious lobster bisque), then I moved back to Andy & Sandy's so she could take me to the airport in the morning on her way to work.  My flight home was unremarkable (made one stop but didn't have to change planes) except for the fact that we arrived in Phoenix 45 minutes early!

And now you're caught up on the highlights of my trip (and I have a record of my fun.)

Bella and Teresa cleaned the house this morning, so it's nice and spiffy.  And Alex cleaned the hot tub and refilled it while I was in Wickenburg, so that's all set to go.  I might have to wander on out and take a soak (I missed out on it most of last season.)