My internal clock is all screwed up today.

Yesterday, I got up early to take Rudi to the airport. I had a four-hour nap in the evening and awoke for a rather groggy dinner at 9:15 or so.

Apparently my body didn’t feel it was necessary to go back to sleep at a reasonable hour (or it just missed a warm body next to me), because I tossed and turned all night.

I ignored both the alarm clock and my cell phone’s alarms this morning and ended up oversleeping.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday. I’m planning to sleep in!

I came home early from work yesterday, feeling nauseous and grumpy. After a nap and as the evening progressed, the nausea faded but the grumpiness remained. I went to sleep on the wrong side of the bed and awoke there this morning.

I was feeling grumpy about something somewhat petty, and life thought I should be reminded of that.

So when Rudi got a phone call that will probably require him to go home to Salt Lake, my petty grumpiness fled, replaced only for concern about Rudi and his family.

Life is predictable in that way: only so much self-pity allowed before you should be reminded that your problems are minute and unimportant. I just wish I could learn this lesson without that unpleasant slap upside the head…

Science is an interesting subject to follow.

(more…)

We headed out to Virginia today and checked out a local winery — Chrysalis Vineyards. I don’t drink, but it seemed like a nice place. Rudi got to sample some of their local wines (which he seemed to enjoy) and got to keep the wineglass!

I curled up with a book at a shady picnic table and took in the vineyard’s bucolic surroundings. It was just very peaceful — and hard to believe that we were a mere 35 miles from a large city.

They have a fairy for a logo. You see how I judge my alcohol. Pretty bottles, nice logos. Who cares what’s inside?

We then went to Middleburg where I went on a five-mile bike ride and Rudi continued on for another 15. The power went out in Middleburg while we were there, forcing nearly everything to close. Not the best way to enjoy small-town Virginia, but a fun Saturday, nonetheless.

There are ten steps from the sidewalk down to the Burrow. The top seven or so are uncovered; the bottom three are nestled under the overhang of the steps heading into the upstairs portion of our building. Our door is immediately to the left at the bottom.

Today’s post was supposed to be one with photos and cute taglines talking all about the new sofa we bought Tuesday.

Unfortunately, our 10-step program is not serving us well.

The overhang jutted out just enough that the moving guys couldn’t get the sofa upright at the bottom of the steps in order to pivot it into the door.

So I’m afraid my joyful post will have to wait while Rudi and I consider our options. We’ll let you know how it goes.

I am lucky to have many wonderful friends in my life. I think of them regularly, even when I don’t get to see them frequently. Unfortunately, I have trouble getting well-wishes out in a timely fashion. I used to think it was just getting things into the mail. But email proved me wrong about that and the blog has reinforced it.

But the wishes are always sincere, even if their timing leaves something to be desired.

Rebs and Rick celebrated their fifth anniversary last week. I’ve known Rebs for years now and am very happy that she and her soul mate were able to spend their anniversary at the same place they went on their honeymoon. I hope they had a lovely time and are feeling rested and relaxed.

Happy anniversary, Rebs and Rick. May your love continue to grow as your lives expand over the next half-decade and into the future.

and

ECN is the youngest of my college foursome known to ourselves as The Cwm. He deserves the credit of finding the Welsh word after a discussion about whether the letter “w” could be used as a vowel and deciding that it could apply to us.

I don’t remember how we met. Through mutual friends, clearly — Evers, perhaps? But I do know that ECN and I stayed up one memorable night and talked about any number of things and watched the sun rise and then ate breakfast on trays on the floor of the Conn dining hall. And that was the start of a friendship that has spanned moves, trips to the beach, scavenger hunts, and favors (including when he went and picked Rudi up at the train station for me when I couldn’t find our Falcon Ridge tickets and was running ridiculously late) over the last 11 years.

The most creative of the cwm, ECN crammed his rooms full of things that other people might have deemed junk (AOL cds that came in the mail, ), but that he could see the purpose for — and that gained cohesiveness through his fondness for them. It comes as no surprise, then, that he is about to start an MFA program at Yale. He’s moved to New Haven and is embarking upon new adventures, all of which I hope are indelible.

Happy birthday, ECN!