At the last moment I took Friday off. I e-mailed Boss Man twice during Thursday but didn't get a response so resolved that if I didn't hear from him, then I'd go with the old saying, 'no news is good news', and take it off regardless. I did eventually get a 'have fun' text from him late in the evening so I was now guilt free. Richard was also off that day, a day with a forecast of upper 60's and sunshine, a perfect day for a hike. I decided to show Richard Kennedy's Peak, which I know will be a frequent hike for me, and today, since we'd be having perfect weather, we would also add some of the ridge line trail, taking our mileage total to 7.5.
I was amazed how much the spin classes had improved my strength. Only a few weeks ago I'd been huffing and puffing up the incline with frequent stops. This time I needed no breaks until we neared the summit where it was steeper, but at the top I felt elated, relishing the fact I was slowly but surely getting fitter.
It was a joy today to sit and enjoy the view, perched on the sill of the shelter in just t-shirts. Unlike last time, wrapped in a jacket, scarf and hat with hand warmers stuffed in my pockets and barely able to take in the vista because of my eyes streaming in the winter gales. This time, we sat while a pleasant breeze cooled us down, stroking our bare arms, and the sun caressed us with warm rays. We munched on jerky, nuts and a tangerine and just soaked in this beautiful spring day. The hike down seemed to only take a few minutes, we'd chatted the whole time it seemed, and I was very impressed to find that 7.5 miles had not worn me out. Last time I'd returned home after 5.25 miles and crashed on the sofa for a nap. Today, after bidding Richard farewell until the following day, I went grocery shopping and then immediately got on my bike to ride to the bar where I met a couple of friends for drinks and a snack. Then I collapsed on the sofa!
On Saturday afternoon, I drove down to Arlington, where I was meeting a group of urbexing friends for a Tacky Party. I wore a pink Betty Boop t-shirt, (I loathe Betty Boop), with YOU WISH in large letters at the top. Underneath I wrote, 'You Can't Afford Me!'. My fingers were adorned with cheap gaudy rings and a horrible bracelet made of pink sequined cumbersome balls that annoyed me intensely as they stood high on my wrist. I had found a 70's ice bucket in the local Goodwill store which I had filled with Twinkies, CupCakes, DingDongs, Zingers and such. I took beers and a huge wrapped present.
The food at the party was amazing. I was very impressed with the green bean casserole topped with tater tots and was delighted to see spam with baked beans. Liz had made a meatloaf man, which was already missing his legs by the time I got there. Cindy had been extremely creative in bringing a dish that resembled a cat's litter tray, little dark brown cookies sitting atop 'sand'. I greatly admired her talent but unfortunately it was just too realistic for me and although I visited the table a few times during the party I just could not bring myself to taste her dish.
There was a towering pile of presents from everyone, enticingly wrapped gifts to be distributed by the Secret Santa method. It was supposed to be secret as to who the gifts were from but we all knew Cindy had made these hilarious Trump labels with her obviously very competent Photoshop skills.
There was lots of tomfoolery before we got started. Foster, one of the hosts was wearing a superb mustard suit checkered with fine black lines. His and John's little dog, Wren, knew whenever a camera pointed in her direction and posed accordingly, even towards my phone, such a prima donna. I wish Rosie Lee and Tricksie Treat would do the same.
Out of the 27 numbers allocated I had 21, so my chance of getting a relatively good gift was high. I quite liked the singing fish but everyone was taking the meat lunch box from each other. It was easily the most popular gift opened.
Cindy ended up with the mirror in a tennis racquet that I had brought along. Richard got the ugly man decanter thing, which he wanted, and his gift of a hideous red tray ended up with someone who actually liked it. I fell in love with the blue steer skull. The guy who opened it didn't seem too enthralled but since I'd managed to get the meat lunch box, purely for bargaining purposes, Liz convinced him to swap with me. And then she ended up with the lunch box! I have no idea how she did that but I was very pleased to have a blue skull to go in The Blue House.
Dottie's husband acquired a cute little mummy piggie. It was actually quite sweet and they seemed pleased with it. All gifts that were opened were placed on a table so folks could steal any they liked when it was their turn. I think the worst present was the plastic red and black salt and pepper holder, (to the left behind my beer bottle). The t-shirt said, 'Y'all need Jesus' which was quite tempting, but I can print one of those any time. The furry brown colon was a little obscure too...
The hand holding a baby was very weird and creepy. It wasn't part of the gift pile but was from John and Foster's personal ornament collection. Utterly odd and horrible. But before I left I wrapped my horrendous pink sequin bracelet around it.
The party had been a great success. I left with an empty ice bucket and a blue steer skull. Who gets to do that on a regular Saturday night? And on the way out I spotted Dottie's little piggie, all wrapped up, safe and cozy underneath a table. Aaaw.
No comments:
Post a Comment