Notes and letters and family

Last weekend, the weekend of the 28th, I was down in Texas for my grandfather’s 80th birthday party.  I was a surprise guest, and had the gratification of seeing Pop actually surprised to see me.  We had a wonderful weekend - there was a core group of family visiting that included my mom, aunt, and uncle (siblings), and all four of the grandchildren (me, my brother, and my uncle’s two kids), plus my other aunt and my grandfather’s partner.  In addition, however, over the course of the weekend, all sorts of people came to visit: great-uncles and -aunts, second cousins, old family friends… It was great!  There was a big dinner Friday night, on Saturday the core group trooped out to Graham, Texas, which was founded by my… what was it?... fourth- or fifth-great-grandfather, then another big dinner Saturday night, and general putzing around on Sunday. 

I got back early Tuesday morning, went to work at Clarks that afternoon, and turned in my one-week notice on Wednesday (although I agreed to work through this week, to be helpful).  I’m going to go work for Vision 21 full-time; or, at least, for four days per week, which is close enough to full-time for me give up Clarks.

On Saturday, I had a rehearsal in the afternoon, and then the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra played a concert in the evening.  The concert consisted of Sibelius’ Karelia Suite, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and my favorite piece of music in the whole wide world, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.  The concert went swimmingly, and the friends who had come to hear it enjoyed it, although I don’t think they’re going to keep the symphony as a favorite piece, given that all they could hear, apparently, were angry bees when they listened!  ::grin::

Yesterday, A and I had a lovely day.  He went out for yet another 18-mile training run (good on him), putting my later-in-the-day five-miler to shame.  Marathon in a month, you say?  Can’t be…  Anyway, after that, we just had a quiet afternoon reading, then made a gorgeous caramelized onion tart for dinner and played Scrabble.  Really nice.  :-)

So, looking ahead: last week at Clarks, then starting at Vision 21 full-time next week.  This coming weekend, A and I are going with some friends to an evening of ghost-hunting at a local castle; even if we don’t find anything paranormal, it will still be fun to sleep overnight in a castle and have an evening with our friends.  On the 22nd, we’re having A’s mom and her partner up for a Mother’s Day meal, probably involving the gorgeous “chicken with forty cloves of garlic” recipe that we’ve tried once before.  I’m having a bowling party for my birthday on the 27th, because A and I are going out for a nice meal together on the 28th, and on the 29th I head down to Paris.  I’ll spend the week with D & V, who live down there, and might go out to visit my old haunts in Laon, train fares being affordable.  Otherwise, I’m just going to enjoy spending a week speaking French and eating pastries and bread and good cheese, and will enjoy having yet another birthday celebration, this time a joint one with D, whose birthday is on the 26th!  Then there’s the Paris Marathon to run on the 5th, which A will beat me by hours and hours at, and then back up to Gloucester for a while. 

And so things wander onwards…