Despite there being no shortage of things I could potentially blog about - the global worry that WWIII could have kicked off yesterday instead of being TACO Tuesday, the Artemis II mission, my enduring love and appreciation for Project Hail Mary (seriously, go see it in a theater) - somehow I missed my self-imposed deadline of having something new to read at the beginning of each work week. My apologies!
There was plenty of time to have written somethng too, since I had taken all of last week off from work to coincide with Audrey's spring break from school.
Tara and Jerry made it up from Texas on Wednesday; I cooked ribs on the Traeger and we watched the Artemis II launch together, as he is an even bigger NASA fan than I am. He shared an absolutely exquisite Bourbon County stout with me, as is his tradition (may his name continue to be blessed!), but we couldn't get too reckless since he was flying home the next day to relieve their dogsitter.
Tara, though, stayed until early Easter Monday, which I thought was terribly sporting of Jerry. We did a fair bit of nothin' together a couple of afternoons (which was delightful) but also:
- Glory and her bestie Brooklyn took Tara out for supper at Tiki Tiki, as a thank you for the hospitality she and Jerry gave the two of them in TX last year
- we all watched Jesus Christ Superstar together (an Easter tradition here, but Tara's first full viewing in decades)
- Tara took us all out to dinner at Argos, and we finally got to take her to Gracie Jane's (a bedazzled boutique gallery/bar)
- we had a Tiki party for Glory's birthday
- we all went to Good Friday and Easter Sunday service
- on Good Friday we also got to hear Fenya sing a ten-minute excerpt (!) from Handel's Messiah and it was astonishing
- Sunday I started cooking the turkey I had brined the day before but needged my back and needed the rest of the family to step up and finish dinner - which they did, marvellously! And there were plenty of leftovers for sandwiches and soup
(turkey, stuffing, smoked bourbon cranberry sauce, bacon, brie and mayo) - Easter eggs also made an appearance!
- early Monday, three of us got up at 4:30 a.m. to get Tara to the airport (Fenya had to work) and even the long ride out to EIA was enjoyable, despite saying goodbye to my sister for likely another year...
- and I even had time to meet up with my friends for D&D&D at Polyrhythm on Thursday!
Family, friends, food and drink and a little downtime - staycations can actually rock pretty hard in the proper conditions.
