Catching my breath….

In the midst of the fall high school musical flurry and my holiday ornament orders, Don and I went on a whirlwind ten-day vacation. *blink*

Before we left, I finished an order of Itti-Bitties for the university, left the costume chaos to a couple of competent moms, found someone to house-sit and care for the princess poodle, deep cleaned the house, had a gas insert installed in our fireplace, winter-prepped the yard and gardens…zoomzoomzoom.

And then suddenly Don and I were on a flight to Arkansas to see Charlie and his team, run in an important conference race. We rented a car at the airport because after spending a couple days with Charlie, we were going to drive on to Memphis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Washington DC and then back to Arkansas.

Now, if you are going to drive that much, and navigate through that many unfamiliar cities, here’s what you do: Buy or rent a GPS unit. Just in case you skimmed over that, I repeat: RENT A GPS UNIT.

It was the best fifty bucks we’ve ever spent, and I swear it Saved Our Marriage. With our little “Gavin”, we could type in addresses, restaurants, attractions, and hotels. A pleasant female voice told us every lane to be in, every exit coming up, every turn to take, and to the minute time of arrival. And if we messed up—she said in a disappointed voice “recalculating…recalculating…” and then told us how to get out of the mess we got ourselves into. It was absolutely brilliant. No missed turns, no driving in circles, no getting carsick trying to read the map, no getting lost in the dark, no STRESS whatsoever! We appreciated it over and over throughout our trip.

We found the people in Charlie’s town to be extremely wonderful. The first car we rented (by accident because Don misunderstood the accent of the rental agent) was a PT Cruiser. I think people either love or hate those cars. After a day, we hated it and knew we did not want to drive the rest of the trip in it. When we took it back to the airport to exchange it, the woman helping us said to Don, “Do you have your paperwork?” Don realized he left it back at the hotel. She sighed, rolled her eyes and drawled in her thick southern accent, “Gimme yo’ han’.” Confused, Don held out his hand, which she promptly but gently smacked. We were all laughing hard and Don said “Wait a minute! I’ve never had my hand slapped!” She turned to look me up and down and said as only a sassy black woman can—“You ain’ never slapped him?” Laughing I shook my head. “Girl—“, she said, wagging her head and finger at me “Ah’m goin’ to give you mah phone number. We need to TALK!”

And so. We spent some wonderful time with Charlie and a few of his team-mates, who live in a quintessential college house with a couch on the un-mowed front yard and a pool table in the dining room. He gave us a tour of his university, wandered through the downtown area, went out to eat and all that good stuff. It’s good to see him comfortable and living his college life. When he had other things to do, Don and I entertained ourselves by going to outdoor art fairs and wonderful local parks like this.

We drove to Memphis to watch the conference race, which was pretty cool. Fifty universities raced in this evening meet. I watched amazed, as the stunning college runners glided by under the lights of the stadium. And there was Charlie, cut and gleaming like a beautiful human specimen, and making the six miles he’d just run look effortless. His team came in 3rd overall—Charlie being 5th on his team. I was a proud mama! Although we had gotten to Memphis earlier that day, we decided not to do any of the Memphis-y things. Our hotel was really nice, and we just kicked back and relaxed until the race.

Early the next day, Don and I drove a few pleasant hours to Nashville to see my sister Sue and her husband Mike. They were willing to drive us around to do Nashville-y things, but we mostly wanted to just spend as much time with them as possible. We whiled away the day in their gracious home chatting and laughing endlessly. Sue cooked a lovely seafood pasta dinner, and we talked by candlelight long into the evening. Don and Mike are totally adorable rascals together, and we seem to be constantly laughing hard. When the discussion turned to (lively but respectful) political differences—Sue and I escaped to deep couches and sister-talk. The guys eventually missed us and came looking for us, promising not to monopolize the conversation again. (Oh right…)

Early the next morning, we set out on a long leg of our trip up to Pittsburgh. The drive was quite lovely. Although fall was just beginning to show, we could imagine the full impact of color the rolling hills would have in another couple of weeks.

I think Pittsburg is a well-kept secret. What a cool city!!! We came in at night, which was totally stunning. We found our friends house with no difficulty, and walked in to find dinner waiting for us. Tom and Lori live in a beautiful 1800’s brick home that is a mansion in our view—but modest by some of the Pittsburgh neighborhood standards. Sheesh! Three stories tall, wrap-around porch, stained glass, several fireplaces, mellowed wood floors, and three giant cats…all very impressive. And Lori, in her brilliant and artistic way has made it into a very warm and welcoming place. The beamed ceiling dining room was glowing with a rich, rusty red/orange color. An art quilt Lori had created was hanging over the fireplace and a great Lord Byron quote was painted on the wall. There was an unbelievable spread of leafy dinnerware and luscious food on the long dining room table, and the full glowing effect made me gasp! It was wonderful for me to meet them at last—as they are well-loved old friends of Dons. We slept in their library room, where a basket of pears and dark chocolates had been left for us on the table. In the morning there was chai—Lori told me that she had gone back and reviewed entries here in OD to get clues on what I would like! Dear heart.

This time we did Pittsburgh-y things. Lunch at an amazing courtyard restaurant, then off the Phipps to see a glass artist named Chihuly who does THIS!!!

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On to the interesting and odd Andy Warhol Museum, and then up hair-pin twists and turns to a restaurant on a bluff overlooking the city for appetizers and rest.

Our late dinner was piles of delicious and exotic shared dishes at the Silk Elephant. Good friends and laughter. Too soon the wonderful visit was over—but we know we will go back!

In the morning our trusty GPS unit navigated us through the tangle of Washington DC freeways and straight to our hotel. Ian and Trevor were there within minutes, and of course I burst into tears. It’s been 10 months since I’ve seen either of them. They were dear and affectionate, constantly draping their long arms around my shoulders or grabbing my hand to tuck into their elbows as we walked. Every time I caught their eyes, their faces would soften into their familiar loving smiles.

And off we went to see “Their City”. It is gratifying to see them so confident and competent. We went to the palatial catering company that Trevor works for, and met his co-workers and the executive chef/boss. Their warm regard for Trevor was evident in the way they talked about him and greeted him. It spoke volumes of who Trevor is, and made us feel very proud of him.

We went to Old Town Alexandria, enjoying the fun shops and cobblestone streets—and saw where Ian works as a waiter in an upscale Irish pub. We walked down to the pier and watched a glass musician play some pretty amazing pieces. Trevor (left) and Ian (right) volunteered to create a deep drone sound during one piece.

We drove to another “hip” area of DC for dinner in a Mexican restaurant, where the waiter, who knew Ian from a previous work situation, mistook Trevor as Ian. This happened several times during the course of our short stay—and made us laugh, because it so rarely happened when they lived in Colorado.

The boys stayed with us at our hotel and we talked late into the night. The next morning we took the Metro to the Smithsonian where we wandered around the whole day and barely scratched the surface of that incredible mall. The American History Museum was closed for renovations, so we spent the day charging far too quickly through The National Museum of Art.

Oh. My. There was that masterpiece….and that one…and THAT!!!!!! We were astonished and thrilled all day long, room after room…Sargent after Hopper after Picasso, Calder after Degas after—well, it was amazing.

We went back to Alexandria to Ian’s restaurant for dinner and met his bosses—two guys who really WERE from Ireland. Again, they were obviously pleased with Ian, stayed to chat for a bit, and sent us complimentary desserts to finish our extraordinary meal. Again, more late night talk. I didn’t want to sleep because we were leaving the next morning for the very long stretch back to Arkansas and our flight home. More tears, of course—from all of us. But it was slightly easier to leave both boys together, instead of each one of them all on their own. Still, I cried and cried. This country is so terribly big.

We stopped in Nashville again, just in time for a beautiful twilight dinner out on the deck with my sister and family—and then we were off again to get in a couple more hours of driving. Sleep in a kinda seedy motel, and back on the road the next day. We had lunch with Charlie, caught our flight, and poof we were home.

Our adorable house-sitter had spoiled the poodle, baked us cookies, left a drawing on the etch-a-sketch, and welcome home notes on the piles of newspapers and mail.

On Monday, both Don and I hit the ground running. Since then, I have put in three weeks of solid 12-14 hour days—and it looks to be after Christmas before that kind of schedule will stop. It’s all fun stuff and normal craziness for this time of year. Costuming, Itti-Bitties, and the artist in residence thing at a grade school that I don’t know if I’ve even talked about yet. Well, there’s LOTS I haven’t talked about…I’m just a little overwhelmed these days!

There will be more long writing absences from me–but I will try to sneak in a little late-night reading here and there. I’ll be back when I can!

:)xo

Adagio