In Which I Catch Up (Part IV)
Catching Up: Volume IV: December 25, 2011-February 1, 2012.
Sunday, December 25
Christmas day arrived warm and sunny, and after luxuriating in bed Will and I put on our morning clothes and took a walk around town, down to the dock at the end of Market Street, out to the end of City Dock, and up Main Street and through the grounds of the State House under the lovely blue sky. It was hardly Christmas weather, but at least it was pleasant. After that we had a slow breakfast, changed, packed up the car, and exchanged our gifts: I gave Will the books I'd gotten at Back Creek Books: a nice hardback of the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and a two-volume book: A Frenchman in Lincoln's America, which was written by the son of a friend of Tocqueville and was deliberately styled as a sequel. Will was delighted.
We drove up to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner, which was as usual loud and crowded. We feasted, cleaned up, and proceeded to the gifts.
I gave
-my mom an antique mixing bowl and a mortar and pestle
-my brother a stack of miscellaneous books
-my dad a Klutz book of wacky inventions
-my grandmom a box of useful things (cereal, gift cards)
-Charlotte coloring books and crayons.
and the rest of my relatives got bottles of wine.
In return we got gift cards, the other half of the sign Theresa made us for our wedding (she made us a photo collage that says KNIGHT, and for Christmas we got an & and a BARTGIS sign), and many other lovely things.
After we filled up tupperware container with leftovers and said goodbye we headed down to Will's parents house for a more sedate evening of a roast with potatoes and yorkshire pudding. After dinner we had eggnog and cookies in front of the fire and opened gifts - we got Will's mom CDs and books (staff discount at the Folger gift store) and Will's dad a book. I got wool socks, and Will got more gun cleaning tools. Eventually the Knights turned on a football game and I relaxed on the internet, and we all went happily to bed.
Monday, Dec 26
Boxing day was quiet - it was the day Will's parents cleaning lady comes so we spent a comfortable morning at the Starbucks reading the paper and working on cups of coffee, then had lunch and eventually drove home to have some time to ourselves.
Tuesday, Dec 27
Will went into the Folger with me and got to tour the place and meet everyone in the lab. He'd meant to wander around DC but it was raining heavily, which meant he ended up in the lab reading till I got off work. After work we went to a bar with some of my coworkers and Chris Kilbourne, and went home.
Wednesday, Dec 28
A quiet day at the Archives. We'd intended to go up to WV that evening but inertia got the best of us and we decided to hang out with Eric and sleep in.
Thursday, Dec 29
We left for WV at noon and got the news that my uncle had passed out at a gas station in Petersurg and had been taken to the local hospital. He was mildly concussed from hitting his head but otherwise fine, and was able to drive to his parents' house in Berkeley County. We went hunting that evening - I parked myself in among some trees near the long field and saw a few deer at dusk, which was exciting, but no good shots. We had dinner with my parents and turned in early.
Friday, Dec 30
Hunting in the morning in the wicked cold. Christmas dinner at my grandparents that afternoon - we got maple syrup from Rodney and Debra (perfect timing, we were almost out) and a deep freeze from my grandparents. We gave my grandparents a nice calender and Rodney and Debra wine. Again, I saw deer at dusk, but didn't have any good shots. Mom had Shelley and Steve over for dinner, which was fabulous. I really like them.
Saturday, Dec 31
We decided to avoid the cold and didn't get up really early, but went out for squirrels. Mom had a cousin and her husband over for lunch so we warmed up and ate well. The evening was spent hunting - a beautiful sunset, but no deer except for some in the field when it was too dark to shoot safely, and so passed the deer hunting season. I didn't get a deer this year but I think I became a much better hunter - I saw a LOT of deer and got much better about being in the woods and learning the lay of the land, so I'm really looking forward to next year and maybe getting a buck.
We watched The Two Towers that evening, shared a bottle of wine with my parents, and shot guns at midnight. Spending a quiet evening together in WV seems to be our New Years Eve tradition.
Sunday, Jan 1, 2012
After church we returned the guns to my grandparents and packed, took a drive into town, and stopped by my cousin Terry's for my dad's mom's family's reunion (the Myers). It was nice, but came at the end of a week absolutely filled with family, so we cut out early and headed down 270 to have a lovely dinner with Ben and Maxine - lamb, quinoa cakes, general deliciousness, and good company.
Monday, Jan 2
Both the Folger and the Archives were closed so I took a slow morning to catch up, worked for David in the afternoon, and went to the ninth annual Staticzero Reunion dinner at Sakura Japanese Steakhouse. We had 16 people show up this time and it was great to see everyone all grown up and catch up during the dinner and back at the house afterward.
Wednesday, Jan 4
After work I headed up to Chort's for his monthly craft night. I hung out with goodly old nerds, had a good hot meal, and got some more sewing done. A good evening.
Saturday, Jan 7
A warm, sunny, and generally beautiful day. I took a friend to WV to escape into the pleasures of the countryside, and we drove alt-40 through all the old pike towns and then went down to Sharpsburg (alas, Burkeholder's was closed till the 10th!) and stopped in at the Sweet Shop in Shepherdstown for coffee and croissants. After that we went back to my uncle's for squirrel hunting, hiking, and sitting in the sun. We had a pleasant drive home and I went back to Annapolis.
Back in Annapolis we drank 40s and watched Pink Flamingos. About the latter I'm not sure what to say except to quote Roger Ebert - "It should be considered not as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object."
Thursday, Jan 12
Back yard fire and hot punch at Renate's for the Guild of Book Workers. I met a woman from NARA who wrote an abstract on late 18th century American bindings that I'd read and had been very excited about, and she was very excited about my Spawn research and urged me to publish.
Saturday, Jan 14
Will ran the first session of his new WFRP game that afternoon - it was fun to plunge back into that world again. After that it was time to get ready for the Riversdale Ball.
I'd washed, ironed, and carefully packed away my 1812 Navy uniform in my sea chest at the end of the reenacting season in November, folding cedar blocks and lavender into my shirts, stockings, and waistcoats, and it was delightful to open the lid, lay my clothes out, and get dressed again. I was surprised to find how much I'd missed being a man and how greedily I looked forward to being called mister again, and taking my place with my fellow men.
After dressing I put on scraggly sideburns appropriate for the 17 year old boy I go as (my own minced hair attached with spirit gum), brushed on subtle layers of green and purplish-brown make-up on my upper lip and chin to give the impression of a four-o'clock shadow, and thickened my eye-brows slightly with an eye-liner pencil. A nervous-looking teenager peered back at me in the mirror. Gloves, hat, cloak, handkerchief, and pocket-watch - I was ready to rumble. I walked manfully to my car, crammed my way into it (cloaks and top hats were not made for the subcompact automobile), and drove Laurel to meet my date, the lovely Miss Charlotte, and have dinner with her at the Red Sky Steakhouse.
I gave her a belated Christmas gift: a miniature journal quarter-bound in thinly-pared blue goatskin and red, blue, and green nonpareil paper, with a text block of laid cotton paper sewn on raised cords with sage green laid cotton paper endsheets and my binder's ticket at the back; the book was wrapped in hand-stamped paper and tied up with a finger-loop braided cord, with a tiny letter sealed with a few drops of red wax tucked in to the cord. She oohed and ahhed, and we had a delicious dinner before heading down to Riversdale Mansion for the ball.
My date (who is a magnificent dancer) looked exquisite in a beautifully-cut white jacquard-woven dress and a red turban with ostrich and peacock feathers. I escorted her up the walk (I tower over her, especially in my top hat) and up the stairs into the warmly-lit foyer. There we received our tickets and I took her cloak before escorting her into Mrs Calvert's ballroom, already filling with gracious women in delicate silk and cotton dresses and men in tailcoats and neatly-tied cravats.
The whole crowd arrived, the evening began, we divided into long lines, the dancing master taught us the first dance, and the admirable musicians started up the first tune. Once we got into the swing of it the whole evening came together in a marvelous feeling of having wandered back in time for a few hours. I led Miss Clift around the room and only messed up a few times, and one dance followed another until it was time for dinner and I escorted Miss Charlotte down the hall to the dining room.
What really made my evening was having a transwoman tell me at dinner how she'd come out at work very recently and would be going to work as a woman for the first time this week. I congratulated her and asked if she'd picked out her outfit - she gave me a hug, thanked me repeatedly for asking, and told me what she'd picked out. Later I asked her to dance a few times and really enjoyed talking to her - she took my being male at face value and it was immensely gratifying to be treated seriously as a man and have my gender choice be respected instead of winked at. Likewise hearing her say that her company and coworkers had been supportive of her change really warmed my heart. In the face of so much bad news it's easy to forget that some things are getting better.
After dinner we danced more - I mostly stuck to Miss Clift, and once again we danced the Duke of Kent together in the most sultry manner possible - what fun! At last the night ended late and sweaty, and myself, Lt Peterson, and Miss Clift headed over to Plato's Diner. I got myself a cup of coffee, and we talked and ate cake for a while. Eventually it was time to go, and I headed up to the Beltway, going through College Park on the way there. I drove into a drunk driving 100% stop thing the police were doing, and had a brief moment of terror as I realized that I was driving transgendered. As I rolled down to the cop and rolled my window down he leaned down and said "Good evening, ma'am...." stared at me for a second, and finished: "...ma'am." He shined a light in my car, asked if I'd had anything to drink that evening (a glass of punch four hours ago), and told me to get home safe. I had a pleasant drive home listening to music, parked my car, and walked into the house in the decidedly-frosty air.
August and Sara were hanging out with Will in the dining room - they'd come to visit Annapolis and had needed a place to spend the night. We stayed up talking till 3, went to bed, woke up at 9 to make breakfast, and talked non-stop through breakfast, a walk downtown, and lunch at Reynolds Tavern - Johnnies starved for conversation who run into a young couple whom they are old friends with have a lot of catching up to do, and it was a pleasure to talk to August and Sara - we hadn't seen them since the wedding. Eventually we said goodbye and parted ways, and Will and I went to the Edwardian-themed afternoon the galleries on Inner West Street were having. Our picture was taken by a photographer from The Capital, and we returned home to start cooking for our dinner party.
I set the table in all our china and splendor, and played sous chef to Will as he cooked the cream sauce, elk steaks, and venison loin. Ben and Maxine brought a delicious salad, Eric and Kristin made a tasty macaroni and cheese casserole (topped with gouda and crushed pita chips, mmm), the steaks were delicuous, and we set a plum pudding on fire for dessert. The wine and conversation flowed freely, and we wandered into the living room for drinks and conversation afterward and eventually said our goodnights, washed up the dishes, and went to bed, satisfied with a successful dinner party.
Tuesday, Jan 17
Bulk trash night - we cleaned out more crap from the basement and I picked up a nice, very large low TV base to store warhammer stuff in for the basement and to use as a work table.
Wednesday, Jan 18
Our soft launch for the bindings database was hampered by LUNA being down, but we still got to show it off to people in-house. Galway Bay chanty sing that evening - I met Dave of The Boarding Party (an old Brit expat) and sang Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy.
Saturday, January 21
We awoke to snow and ice - our first wintry day in a while. Will spent the afternoon teaching me and a friend to play Mordhim and we had a rather fun game. That evening we went to Chevy Chase to a friends' party celebrating a beer they'd brewed called "The Blood of Herman Cain", and the South Carolina primary. The crowd was great, the beer was delicious, and we headed home feeling happy and sociable.
Sunday, January 22
We went up to my parents so Will and Kristin could watch the football game and I could clean my room some more. I went through my papers from middle school through early college and chucked about 20 lbs of them, slowly chipping away at the piles of crap still left from my past. Dinner was a delicious pork chop/stewed apple/sauerkraut dish, with sweet potatoes topped with corn flakes, coconut, and pecans and quinoa-mango salad. Mmm.
Tuesday, January 24
Potluck that evening, and a dozen people came! I made venison meat sauce and spaghetti, and others chipped in bread, muffins, salad, wine, and brownies and ice cream. The table was crowded with friends talking and laughing, the food all went, and we retired to the living room for drinks, listening to records, and hanging out till it was time for everyone to wend their way home. A good evening!
Friday, January 27
Will didn't have his game so we went out for drinks and dinner at Level and spent a quiet evening in talking and rewatching The Piano - a thoroughly lovely time.
Saturday, January 28
Will and I had a lazy lunch with Mr Israel and Mr Fogle at Carrol's Creek, and then dressed up (cocktail dress for me, black tie for Will) and went down to Ben and Alex's for an intimate dinner party with two of their friends. Their parents' Christmas gift to them was dinner for six, prepared by a professional chef in their house, and they'd hired a harpist for the evening. There were delicious cocktails and appetizers, then an incredibly splendid dinner (soup, then lamb with kale), and dessert. We retired to the living room and stayed up late talking.
Sunday, January 29
Up early to change into my 1812 clothes, have a quick dinner of delicious bacon with Ben and Alex, and have Will drive me in to the Washington Navy Yard for the Ship's Company 1812 unit annual meeting. We drilled on the Naval Museum's 24 pounders in their mock-gundeck and voted on the upcoming schedule for the year. Drilling was quite a work out even with nine men on the gun (a 24 pounder weighs about 6,000 lbs) but a lot of fun (though we were very rusty). We tied our stocks around our foreheads, took off our jackets, and hauled together with a will - what joy to be hauling on a line with my shipmates again! There in the thick of it, pulling shoulder to shoulder, or helping elevate the gun with my handspike, or passing the powder, ball, and wad forward, or flemishing down a line - that's where I belong, and I was probably grinning like an idiot the whole time.
Will meanwhile went to church at St Thomas's on Capitol Hill and met up with me after the meeting ended, and we saw the museum together. We drove up to New York Ave. and visited Eric and Kristin for a bit, then headed back to Annapolis to make dinner and relax.
Monday, January 30
There was an anti-gay-marriage rally on the Lawyer's Mall that evening and I had some free time so I made up a sign that said "Christian and Pro Marriage Equality!" and went over to hold it up. I was mostly ignored (I don't think most of the protesters knew what 'marriage equality' was), but the few encounters I did have made my heart pound. I went home feeling nauseated from seeing so much hatred.
Tuesday, January 31
The weather was lovely so I had a great bike ride, a great work-out at the gym, and went home and baked a quiche!
Wednesday, February 1
Weather in the 60s. Unsettlingly gorgeous out. Another good bike ride when I got home.
And now that I'm all caught up I hope I won't fall so far behind again. I'm not spending as much time online as I used to and it's harder to find the time to devote to writing -- and, ironically enough in this digital age, I've started keeping a fairly detailed daily planner/journal for the first time in eight years. But I plan to be back! I've missed writing here.
Sunday, December 25
Christmas day arrived warm and sunny, and after luxuriating in bed Will and I put on our morning clothes and took a walk around town, down to the dock at the end of Market Street, out to the end of City Dock, and up Main Street and through the grounds of the State House under the lovely blue sky. It was hardly Christmas weather, but at least it was pleasant. After that we had a slow breakfast, changed, packed up the car, and exchanged our gifts: I gave Will the books I'd gotten at Back Creek Books: a nice hardback of the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and a two-volume book: A Frenchman in Lincoln's America, which was written by the son of a friend of Tocqueville and was deliberately styled as a sequel. Will was delighted.
We drove up to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner, which was as usual loud and crowded. We feasted, cleaned up, and proceeded to the gifts.
I gave
-my mom an antique mixing bowl and a mortar and pestle
-my brother a stack of miscellaneous books
-my dad a Klutz book of wacky inventions
-my grandmom a box of useful things (cereal, gift cards)
-Charlotte coloring books and crayons.
and the rest of my relatives got bottles of wine.
In return we got gift cards, the other half of the sign Theresa made us for our wedding (she made us a photo collage that says KNIGHT, and for Christmas we got an & and a BARTGIS sign), and many other lovely things.
After we filled up tupperware container with leftovers and said goodbye we headed down to Will's parents house for a more sedate evening of a roast with potatoes and yorkshire pudding. After dinner we had eggnog and cookies in front of the fire and opened gifts - we got Will's mom CDs and books (staff discount at the Folger gift store) and Will's dad a book. I got wool socks, and Will got more gun cleaning tools. Eventually the Knights turned on a football game and I relaxed on the internet, and we all went happily to bed.
Monday, Dec 26
Boxing day was quiet - it was the day Will's parents cleaning lady comes so we spent a comfortable morning at the Starbucks reading the paper and working on cups of coffee, then had lunch and eventually drove home to have some time to ourselves.
Tuesday, Dec 27
Will went into the Folger with me and got to tour the place and meet everyone in the lab. He'd meant to wander around DC but it was raining heavily, which meant he ended up in the lab reading till I got off work. After work we went to a bar with some of my coworkers and Chris Kilbourne, and went home.
Wednesday, Dec 28
A quiet day at the Archives. We'd intended to go up to WV that evening but inertia got the best of us and we decided to hang out with Eric and sleep in.
Thursday, Dec 29
We left for WV at noon and got the news that my uncle had passed out at a gas station in Petersurg and had been taken to the local hospital. He was mildly concussed from hitting his head but otherwise fine, and was able to drive to his parents' house in Berkeley County. We went hunting that evening - I parked myself in among some trees near the long field and saw a few deer at dusk, which was exciting, but no good shots. We had dinner with my parents and turned in early.
Friday, Dec 30
Hunting in the morning in the wicked cold. Christmas dinner at my grandparents that afternoon - we got maple syrup from Rodney and Debra (perfect timing, we were almost out) and a deep freeze from my grandparents. We gave my grandparents a nice calender and Rodney and Debra wine. Again, I saw deer at dusk, but didn't have any good shots. Mom had Shelley and Steve over for dinner, which was fabulous. I really like them.
Saturday, Dec 31
We decided to avoid the cold and didn't get up really early, but went out for squirrels. Mom had a cousin and her husband over for lunch so we warmed up and ate well. The evening was spent hunting - a beautiful sunset, but no deer except for some in the field when it was too dark to shoot safely, and so passed the deer hunting season. I didn't get a deer this year but I think I became a much better hunter - I saw a LOT of deer and got much better about being in the woods and learning the lay of the land, so I'm really looking forward to next year and maybe getting a buck.
We watched The Two Towers that evening, shared a bottle of wine with my parents, and shot guns at midnight. Spending a quiet evening together in WV seems to be our New Years Eve tradition.
Sunday, Jan 1, 2012
After church we returned the guns to my grandparents and packed, took a drive into town, and stopped by my cousin Terry's for my dad's mom's family's reunion (the Myers). It was nice, but came at the end of a week absolutely filled with family, so we cut out early and headed down 270 to have a lovely dinner with Ben and Maxine - lamb, quinoa cakes, general deliciousness, and good company.
Monday, Jan 2
Both the Folger and the Archives were closed so I took a slow morning to catch up, worked for David in the afternoon, and went to the ninth annual Staticzero Reunion dinner at Sakura Japanese Steakhouse. We had 16 people show up this time and it was great to see everyone all grown up and catch up during the dinner and back at the house afterward.
Wednesday, Jan 4
After work I headed up to Chort's for his monthly craft night. I hung out with goodly old nerds, had a good hot meal, and got some more sewing done. A good evening.
Saturday, Jan 7
A warm, sunny, and generally beautiful day. I took a friend to WV to escape into the pleasures of the countryside, and we drove alt-40 through all the old pike towns and then went down to Sharpsburg (alas, Burkeholder's was closed till the 10th!) and stopped in at the Sweet Shop in Shepherdstown for coffee and croissants. After that we went back to my uncle's for squirrel hunting, hiking, and sitting in the sun. We had a pleasant drive home and I went back to Annapolis.
Back in Annapolis we drank 40s and watched Pink Flamingos. About the latter I'm not sure what to say except to quote Roger Ebert - "It should be considered not as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object."
Thursday, Jan 12
Back yard fire and hot punch at Renate's for the Guild of Book Workers. I met a woman from NARA who wrote an abstract on late 18th century American bindings that I'd read and had been very excited about, and she was very excited about my Spawn research and urged me to publish.
Saturday, Jan 14
Will ran the first session of his new WFRP game that afternoon - it was fun to plunge back into that world again. After that it was time to get ready for the Riversdale Ball.
I'd washed, ironed, and carefully packed away my 1812 Navy uniform in my sea chest at the end of the reenacting season in November, folding cedar blocks and lavender into my shirts, stockings, and waistcoats, and it was delightful to open the lid, lay my clothes out, and get dressed again. I was surprised to find how much I'd missed being a man and how greedily I looked forward to being called mister again, and taking my place with my fellow men.
After dressing I put on scraggly sideburns appropriate for the 17 year old boy I go as (my own minced hair attached with spirit gum), brushed on subtle layers of green and purplish-brown make-up on my upper lip and chin to give the impression of a four-o'clock shadow, and thickened my eye-brows slightly with an eye-liner pencil. A nervous-looking teenager peered back at me in the mirror. Gloves, hat, cloak, handkerchief, and pocket-watch - I was ready to rumble. I walked manfully to my car, crammed my way into it (cloaks and top hats were not made for the subcompact automobile), and drove Laurel to meet my date, the lovely Miss Charlotte, and have dinner with her at the Red Sky Steakhouse.
I gave her a belated Christmas gift: a miniature journal quarter-bound in thinly-pared blue goatskin and red, blue, and green nonpareil paper, with a text block of laid cotton paper sewn on raised cords with sage green laid cotton paper endsheets and my binder's ticket at the back; the book was wrapped in hand-stamped paper and tied up with a finger-loop braided cord, with a tiny letter sealed with a few drops of red wax tucked in to the cord. She oohed and ahhed, and we had a delicious dinner before heading down to Riversdale Mansion for the ball.
My date (who is a magnificent dancer) looked exquisite in a beautifully-cut white jacquard-woven dress and a red turban with ostrich and peacock feathers. I escorted her up the walk (I tower over her, especially in my top hat) and up the stairs into the warmly-lit foyer. There we received our tickets and I took her cloak before escorting her into Mrs Calvert's ballroom, already filling with gracious women in delicate silk and cotton dresses and men in tailcoats and neatly-tied cravats.
The whole crowd arrived, the evening began, we divided into long lines, the dancing master taught us the first dance, and the admirable musicians started up the first tune. Once we got into the swing of it the whole evening came together in a marvelous feeling of having wandered back in time for a few hours. I led Miss Clift around the room and only messed up a few times, and one dance followed another until it was time for dinner and I escorted Miss Charlotte down the hall to the dining room.
What really made my evening was having a transwoman tell me at dinner how she'd come out at work very recently and would be going to work as a woman for the first time this week. I congratulated her and asked if she'd picked out her outfit - she gave me a hug, thanked me repeatedly for asking, and told me what she'd picked out. Later I asked her to dance a few times and really enjoyed talking to her - she took my being male at face value and it was immensely gratifying to be treated seriously as a man and have my gender choice be respected instead of winked at. Likewise hearing her say that her company and coworkers had been supportive of her change really warmed my heart. In the face of so much bad news it's easy to forget that some things are getting better.
After dinner we danced more - I mostly stuck to Miss Clift, and once again we danced the Duke of Kent together in the most sultry manner possible - what fun! At last the night ended late and sweaty, and myself, Lt Peterson, and Miss Clift headed over to Plato's Diner. I got myself a cup of coffee, and we talked and ate cake for a while. Eventually it was time to go, and I headed up to the Beltway, going through College Park on the way there. I drove into a drunk driving 100% stop thing the police were doing, and had a brief moment of terror as I realized that I was driving transgendered. As I rolled down to the cop and rolled my window down he leaned down and said "Good evening, ma'am...." stared at me for a second, and finished: "...ma'am." He shined a light in my car, asked if I'd had anything to drink that evening (a glass of punch four hours ago), and told me to get home safe. I had a pleasant drive home listening to music, parked my car, and walked into the house in the decidedly-frosty air.
August and Sara were hanging out with Will in the dining room - they'd come to visit Annapolis and had needed a place to spend the night. We stayed up talking till 3, went to bed, woke up at 9 to make breakfast, and talked non-stop through breakfast, a walk downtown, and lunch at Reynolds Tavern - Johnnies starved for conversation who run into a young couple whom they are old friends with have a lot of catching up to do, and it was a pleasure to talk to August and Sara - we hadn't seen them since the wedding. Eventually we said goodbye and parted ways, and Will and I went to the Edwardian-themed afternoon the galleries on Inner West Street were having. Our picture was taken by a photographer from The Capital, and we returned home to start cooking for our dinner party.
I set the table in all our china and splendor, and played sous chef to Will as he cooked the cream sauce, elk steaks, and venison loin. Ben and Maxine brought a delicious salad, Eric and Kristin made a tasty macaroni and cheese casserole (topped with gouda and crushed pita chips, mmm), the steaks were delicuous, and we set a plum pudding on fire for dessert. The wine and conversation flowed freely, and we wandered into the living room for drinks and conversation afterward and eventually said our goodnights, washed up the dishes, and went to bed, satisfied with a successful dinner party.
Tuesday, Jan 17
Bulk trash night - we cleaned out more crap from the basement and I picked up a nice, very large low TV base to store warhammer stuff in for the basement and to use as a work table.
Wednesday, Jan 18
Our soft launch for the bindings database was hampered by LUNA being down, but we still got to show it off to people in-house. Galway Bay chanty sing that evening - I met Dave of The Boarding Party (an old Brit expat) and sang Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy.
Saturday, January 21
We awoke to snow and ice - our first wintry day in a while. Will spent the afternoon teaching me and a friend to play Mordhim and we had a rather fun game. That evening we went to Chevy Chase to a friends' party celebrating a beer they'd brewed called "The Blood of Herman Cain", and the South Carolina primary. The crowd was great, the beer was delicious, and we headed home feeling happy and sociable.
Sunday, January 22
We went up to my parents so Will and Kristin could watch the football game and I could clean my room some more. I went through my papers from middle school through early college and chucked about 20 lbs of them, slowly chipping away at the piles of crap still left from my past. Dinner was a delicious pork chop/stewed apple/sauerkraut dish, with sweet potatoes topped with corn flakes, coconut, and pecans and quinoa-mango salad. Mmm.
Tuesday, January 24
Potluck that evening, and a dozen people came! I made venison meat sauce and spaghetti, and others chipped in bread, muffins, salad, wine, and brownies and ice cream. The table was crowded with friends talking and laughing, the food all went, and we retired to the living room for drinks, listening to records, and hanging out till it was time for everyone to wend their way home. A good evening!
Friday, January 27
Will didn't have his game so we went out for drinks and dinner at Level and spent a quiet evening in talking and rewatching The Piano - a thoroughly lovely time.
Saturday, January 28
Will and I had a lazy lunch with Mr Israel and Mr Fogle at Carrol's Creek, and then dressed up (cocktail dress for me, black tie for Will) and went down to Ben and Alex's for an intimate dinner party with two of their friends. Their parents' Christmas gift to them was dinner for six, prepared by a professional chef in their house, and they'd hired a harpist for the evening. There were delicious cocktails and appetizers, then an incredibly splendid dinner (soup, then lamb with kale), and dessert. We retired to the living room and stayed up late talking.
Sunday, January 29
Up early to change into my 1812 clothes, have a quick dinner of delicious bacon with Ben and Alex, and have Will drive me in to the Washington Navy Yard for the Ship's Company 1812 unit annual meeting. We drilled on the Naval Museum's 24 pounders in their mock-gundeck and voted on the upcoming schedule for the year. Drilling was quite a work out even with nine men on the gun (a 24 pounder weighs about 6,000 lbs) but a lot of fun (though we were very rusty). We tied our stocks around our foreheads, took off our jackets, and hauled together with a will - what joy to be hauling on a line with my shipmates again! There in the thick of it, pulling shoulder to shoulder, or helping elevate the gun with my handspike, or passing the powder, ball, and wad forward, or flemishing down a line - that's where I belong, and I was probably grinning like an idiot the whole time.
Will meanwhile went to church at St Thomas's on Capitol Hill and met up with me after the meeting ended, and we saw the museum together. We drove up to New York Ave. and visited Eric and Kristin for a bit, then headed back to Annapolis to make dinner and relax.
Monday, January 30
There was an anti-gay-marriage rally on the Lawyer's Mall that evening and I had some free time so I made up a sign that said "Christian and Pro Marriage Equality!" and went over to hold it up. I was mostly ignored (I don't think most of the protesters knew what 'marriage equality' was), but the few encounters I did have made my heart pound. I went home feeling nauseated from seeing so much hatred.
Tuesday, January 31
The weather was lovely so I had a great bike ride, a great work-out at the gym, and went home and baked a quiche!
Wednesday, February 1
Weather in the 60s. Unsettlingly gorgeous out. Another good bike ride when I got home.
And now that I'm all caught up I hope I won't fall so far behind again. I'm not spending as much time online as I used to and it's harder to find the time to devote to writing -- and, ironically enough in this digital age, I've started keeping a fairly detailed daily planner/journal for the first time in eight years. But I plan to be back! I've missed writing here.