... Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

Nine hours is a long time to sit in a car. The trip going was longer because a) we stopped in Montreal to pick up an amp that a guy was repairing for Hubby, and b) we drove all the way to the city of his birth, which is about an hour east of the city of mine.

We spent a very pleasant 24 hours in the bosom of his family, that evening and the next day. In the morning on Wednesday I walked downtown to visit my potter friend who made our good set of dishes 22 years ago. I can’t believe it’s been that long. We started buying crockery from her before we were married, when she was still cheap. Now her wares are extremely pricey, but we are still friends, and I really enjoyed seeing her again.

That afternoon we drove to the city where Hubby had has second sabbatical-leave teaching job and visited with friends we went to university with. Hubby and her hubby went off to play tennis (in the extreme heat; what were they thinking?) and the wife worked in her office until quitting time, when she joined me and we sat by the pool with our dripping menfolk. I tapped into their wifi on my little netbook and amused myself while she was otherwise engaged.

My brother-in-law and his wife came over to the parents’ for supper, and we had a lovely dinner before hitting the dusty trail to the city of my birth where we checked into a fancy hotel downtown. We were given an executive suite, which was enormous with two queen-sized beds. The next night we even found chocolates on our pillows.

Little Princess and I spent Thursday together, going shopping for summer dresses. I ended up buying one, but she was disappointed. I also got a butterfly ornament for my hair, three pairs of clip-on earrings, cosmetics on sale at The B0dy Sh0p, two notebooks and a quantity of beautiful cherry-red, worsted-weight yarn (90% wool, 10% soy) which I will use for some project or other. Little Princess got a hair ornament as well, bath products at The B0dy Sh0p, and a large ball of some nubby yarn to knit a shrug with.

Then we made our way to my mother’s and visited until Hubby arrived at the residence from his meeting, where we had dinner, after which we adjourned to Little Princess’ for some much-needed libation.

My mom was experiencing some pain in her knee, but it wasn’t too bad. The next day, though, it was excruciating and she was walking very slowly, really using her cane a lot, and wincing all the while. I spent most of the morning with her, staying for lunch, and waiting until Hubby joined us so he and I could drive back home. My mother was in a pretty bad way, asking me the same questions repeatedly, which I answered verbatim each time. Three times she asked me to tell her about Buddy Boy, and I did. Three times she said she didn’t have a clue how she had ended up in this particular residence, and twice I told her the whole story. The third time I said nothing, so she told me a story, which wasn’t completely the way things were, but I let it slide.

I pulled out my knitting while we were sitting in her room, and she commented that she used to knit and why couldn’t she still do it, since blind people knit? I thought it was a great idea. So I emailed Little Princess when I got home about setting her up with a project, since the knitting itself is more important than the finished garment, and give the resulting scarves away to the Mission. Little Princess thought it was a great idea, and said she’d get right on it.

The trip home was also long. We started off in bright sunshine and drove through at least four rain systems, all of which arrived here today. I was shocked when I checked my subs to read cosmic’s diary, as updated by her husband. Please go and leave a note. We may not have this wonderful woman with us much longer, and I am already in mourning.

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