TUESDAY started out relaxing enough.  I read the paper, fixed some of Mom's earrings, and made a couple of phone calls.  I also tried to figure out why Mom gets at least 3 duplicates of each incoming e-mail (since she was forced to change over to g-mail because of Riderwood's imminent campus-wide wifi.) My internet research showed that this is apparently somewhat of a widespread problem, but the fix (involving IMAP) made little sense (all right, NO sense) to me so I decided to call Google in hopes that I could speak with an actual person who could walk me through the solution.  Unfortunately with the time difference they weren't open yet.  I decided to take my shower (we have a lunch date today in Bethesda) until I discovered there was no water!  Of course I immediately called General Services, and the woman on the other end informed me that they'd had to shut down the water unexpectedly but "it should be back on within the hour."  This was a common enough problem when I lived in The Canyon so we always kept water on hand, but as far as I know it rarely (if ever?) happens at Riderwood.  Luckily water was soon restored so we were able to shower and leave for lunch on time.

We found the restaurant with no trouble, and even though we were 10 minutes early Ann was already seated and waiting for us.  It was a bittersweet luncheon: Ann (and Arthur, who died in October at the age of 99) lived next door to my parents when I was growing up, and her daughter Beverly was my BFF since we were toddlers.  Sadly Bev lost her battle with cancer in March.  The three of us reminisced about happier days, and plan to get together again next time I'm in Maryland.  Lunch, by the way, was scrumptious.  At Ann's suggestion I ordered the Chesapeake Crab Tower ("layered with fresh mango, avocado, fresh tomato, cilantro, old bay and mayo seasoned jumbo lump crab meat served with a side of arugula with passion fruit dressing") that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Driving home I detoured by our old house on Dameron.  In many respects it looks just as it did back then - although the driveway, which had seemed so long during my childhood, had definitely shrunk.  Strange how that happened...

As expected it was quite nippy today; when we left for lunch the car thermometer was registering only 30 degrees out. The temperature had climbed to 31 by the time we left the restaurant, and soared all the way to 32 when we arrived home.  I think today is supposed to be the coldest day, and the temperature will gradually warm up in the coming days.  Amazingly, the rosebush outside the door is still blooming!