On Saturday morning I awoke early and in agony. I've had a painful shoulder which I suspect I acquired after so much hammering with Women Build but after a week of nursing with heat pads and ibuprofen, it seemed to have worsened rather than improved. I was devastated that I wouldn't be able to go to the house build and resigned myself to a day of boredom. The Marshall Parade was taking place but because I wouldn't able to hold my camera I didn't attend it.
I drove through the town just before it started up and snapped a couple of shots with my iPhone but didn't stay to watch, choosing instead to mope on the sofa in front of the TV.
Dale had asked me to go down to The Parade of Lights in DC so I drove down there sans camera, it felt really strange. So all the photos I took this weekend were taken with my phone, most of them one-handed. The Christmas tree was lit this evening, accompanied by a band playing jazz, a fire pit for Smores, drinks, food, photos with Santa and snow, made of soap and pumped into the air by snow making machines rented from Disney World.
We wandered around then walked to Dale's boat to watch the parade. Many of the boats in the dock were decorated and for the first time this season it felt 'Christmassy'.
The Washington Monument in the distance from Dale's boat.
The boats started their parade past us. I took loads of shots but unfortunately wasn't able to hold my phone steady so not many came out too well. This little video featured Alan on his 'Peace' boat. He was dressed as Jimmy Hendrix and played his guitar loudly. We were impressed.
People were partying on some of the boats so after the parade we headed to one where we heard Tim's voice coming from the upper deck. He'd been on the boat during the parade and had spent the trip enjoying some whiskey, no doubt to ward off the cold. He was in a jovial mood and we happily accepted his offer of a tot of whiskey, we were also wanting a remedy to stave off the cold night air.
But even whiskey and pleasant company couldn't keep me warm. The temperature plummeted and a hot coffee did little to warm my insides. it was time for the evening to end, but the fun wasn't over for the weekend as next day, it was off to Marjie's house where she was having a party and a house tour.
Everybody brought food and drink and the company was wonderfully eclectic. Some folks I remembered from previous events with Marjie but a lot of new faces were there too. The complete Urbexia group were also present, the first time we'd all been together since the summer. After an hour or so, a small group left for a few hours to take part in the house tour.
All of Urbexia, apart from Marjie who was heading the tour, elected to stay behind, and we became the collective of 'bums', as Marjie had referred to those in her invite, who stayed at the party. So off they went and us bums continued to be merry and make our own fun.
Richard decided to go to the local cat shelter and pick out a couple of cats to adopt and Lewis went somewhere else briefly, so Emily and I attempted to locate Lewis' geocache which was hidden in the park across from Marjie's house. Bill joined us too but to no avail. We looked high and low and whined as we realized that Lewis was going to enjoy gloating over our failure. Dale found a small cylinder on the metal fence but we couldn't open it so it was dubbed the 'faux cache'. Sure enough when Lewis returned he took immense enjoyment over our misery and offered hints for a friends' fee of $5. Not funny, or even mildly amusing.
Marjie's house looking very festive with even the stuffed animals playing their part.
Huggy taking a photo of us with her new camera. I particularly liked Rob's Santa cup in the image.
Lewis taking a photo of me...
and Emily taking a photo of me taking a photo of Jason sleeping. He's getting into a habit of snoozing at events, poor chap, age is creeping up on him.
The decorations outside Marjie's house. I had to take many of my shots with one hand throughout the weekend and as I'm writing this my poor shoulder is little improved. I've been to the doctors and have medication for the pain and inflammation so I'm praying it will improve. This is really getting old and it looks like I'll have to miss yet another Saturday on the house which is seriously bothering me as I'm missing out on the framing which I love. And I don't like drinking wine right handed.
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