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Whirlwind Summary
May. 19th, 2010 07:02 pmBack in Dallas and back at work, which involves an exhausting amount of timekilling. There is very little that wears me out as much as having to sit and do nothing in a windowless room with screens in it. Hence solitary confinement, presumably. (My actual work is interesting, but there are large gaps where I rest my voice and wait for the next show. In theory, I should be able to read or write or something, but in practice I sit in an uncomfortable chair with bad lighting and lots of people around. It is less restful than being in a waiting room at a doctor's office.) I've said it before: this job will be fantastic once I can work from home and therefore move around, look out the window, etc.
The last couple of days in NM, we sort of threw together everything we could fit in, so Sunday we took a long and beautiful drive up to Bandolier National Park to hike around and scale cliff faces and visit various archaeological sites. (Critically, we also ate a large amount of speciality trail mix, courtesy of Val, which included bunny-shaped animal crackers.) Then it was over to Santa Fe to dash around looking at buildings, pottery, and jewelry for a couple of hours, and to completely fail to find a place to eat that was open on Sunday after 5. We got home, decided we were too tired to eat, and pretty much fell over.
Monday started with a shower to get tree pollen out of my hair (thanks to the oversexed trees of Bandolier), and breakfast with Lady J, another Dallas friend who recently moved out to NM -- recently enough that I didn't even know she was out there until I was too. (She and Val are probably the two people my age I've known longest who aren't blood relatives. Her parents and my parents went to college together.) After that, Christopher and I ran around town on various errands and totally failed to get gardening soil because of course the place was closed Monday, as was the pastry place. We did buy several records, as there are marvelous record stores all over Albequerque. And we got groceries.
[Item: Blue Bell's new "ice cream and cake" ice cream flavor is disappointing. Rare misstep for Blue Bell. They've also released a peanut butter cup flavor that is just okay. They are trying to be Ben and Jerry's, and they're doing it better than Ben and Jerry's, but I don't like to see them playing catch-up when their original thinking is superior. (Blue Bell: Bring back the Southwestern flavors. And keep the Blackberry Cobbler flavor - it really works.)]
Anyway, Val made caldo and we played Scrabble (and I played the word "uprooted," which come on is impressive) and drove out to look at stars and drove back to watch a movie, and in the morning I scraped ugly decals off windows (left by the previous owner) and caught my first Southwest Airlines flight (also my first flight out of or into ABQ or Love Field) and it was by far the nicest flight I've had since 2000. Thank god there is still some sanity at an airline somewhere, even if just the one. Christopher provided me with a snack and a book about comic books for the trip, so it was very like being bundled off by my mom, which compensated for not being allowed to kidnap the dog, who would certainly have fit in my carry-on.
Ciro met me at the airport and it was very nice to see him. Although we managed to go grocery shopping and look through my pictures once, for the most part we are still very pleased to be in the same room together and there is not much we'd rather do than sit around holding hands.
The last couple of days in NM, we sort of threw together everything we could fit in, so Sunday we took a long and beautiful drive up to Bandolier National Park to hike around and scale cliff faces and visit various archaeological sites. (Critically, we also ate a large amount of speciality trail mix, courtesy of Val, which included bunny-shaped animal crackers.) Then it was over to Santa Fe to dash around looking at buildings, pottery, and jewelry for a couple of hours, and to completely fail to find a place to eat that was open on Sunday after 5. We got home, decided we were too tired to eat, and pretty much fell over.
Monday started with a shower to get tree pollen out of my hair (thanks to the oversexed trees of Bandolier), and breakfast with Lady J, another Dallas friend who recently moved out to NM -- recently enough that I didn't even know she was out there until I was too. (She and Val are probably the two people my age I've known longest who aren't blood relatives. Her parents and my parents went to college together.) After that, Christopher and I ran around town on various errands and totally failed to get gardening soil because of course the place was closed Monday, as was the pastry place. We did buy several records, as there are marvelous record stores all over Albequerque. And we got groceries.
[Item: Blue Bell's new "ice cream and cake" ice cream flavor is disappointing. Rare misstep for Blue Bell. They've also released a peanut butter cup flavor that is just okay. They are trying to be Ben and Jerry's, and they're doing it better than Ben and Jerry's, but I don't like to see them playing catch-up when their original thinking is superior. (Blue Bell: Bring back the Southwestern flavors. And keep the Blackberry Cobbler flavor - it really works.)]
Anyway, Val made caldo and we played Scrabble (and I played the word "uprooted," which come on is impressive) and drove out to look at stars and drove back to watch a movie, and in the morning I scraped ugly decals off windows (left by the previous owner) and caught my first Southwest Airlines flight (also my first flight out of or into ABQ or Love Field) and it was by far the nicest flight I've had since 2000. Thank god there is still some sanity at an airline somewhere, even if just the one. Christopher provided me with a snack and a book about comic books for the trip, so it was very like being bundled off by my mom, which compensated for not being allowed to kidnap the dog, who would certainly have fit in my carry-on.
Ciro met me at the airport and it was very nice to see him. Although we managed to go grocery shopping and look through my pictures once, for the most part we are still very pleased to be in the same room together and there is not much we'd rather do than sit around holding hands.
