Vacation: The Downhill Side

Good Saturday morning to you all!

So much has happened since my last post, I hardly know where to begin.

For starters, my Running With Scissors soundtrack CD arrived in the mail yesterday and it's been all seventies all the time around here ever since. Go ahead, click the link and listen to all the cuts. With the exception of some groovy tunes from Nat King Cole, the rest of the compilation will have you wishing you could still throw on that super cute pair of royal blue silky boxer shorts, your go-go boots, and a spritz of Love's Baby Soft perfume. Right on! I even caught Satan, who considers most all seventies music an abomination, rocking out to "Pick Up the Pieces" by the Average White Band. And then there's "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart--totally takes me away. Don't even get me started.

My love affair with Augusten Burroughs continues. After reading "Running With Scissors", I immediately picked up "Magical Thinking" and I'm nearly finished with "Dry" a memior about Augusten's experiences giving up drinking and going through rehab. While neither of the subsequent reads reaches the level of RWS, I still enjoyed them and remain in awe of Augusten's ability to turn a phrase and make me laugh out loud on a regular basis.

(Check it out, I'm now listening to "Poetry Man" by Phoebe Snow. How could I possibly have forgotten a song this groovy?! How?).

Next up on the AB reading list: Possible Side Effects. Also, if you'd like me to burn you a copy of the RWS soundtrack, just e-mail me. In something of the same vein, I have the soundtrack to "The Squid and the Whale" on the way as well. (I buy everything used. Dear Amazon Marketplace: I love you man!)

Thursday night, Satan and I dined with the Mayor of a fairly well known mid-sized Wisconsin city and his entourage who were in town to learn more about a certain artsy neighborhood program. They humored me by allowing me to snap the photo below and then Satan just had to announce that it would no doubt show up on the blog. I think it turned out fairly well, with the exception that that older guy looks to be looking at his wine bottle in a way that suggests he'd like to get naughty with it.

The Mayor, on the far right, was seated next to me, and I really enjoyed getting to know him (I was in one of my rare convivial moods). We ended up splitting a piece of chocolate cake for dessert which me and my by now good friend Gary both agreed was decidedly mediocre.

My Dad and his wife stopped in last night for a brief overnight stay. They were on the final leg of a trip to Texas. I believe my Dad was fairly traumatized by my dinner offering: a lovely big bowl of Pad Thai. I have managed to perfect the dish over the last few months. My Dad, however, has a fairly narrow list of acceptable foods which goes something like: Steak, steak, potatoes, steak, well-cooked vegetables, ice cream. I keep trying to broaden his horizons, but I have thus far not been too successful. I can report that Dad's wife, Ruth, went back for seconds. So there.

I did manage to have a leisurely browse through a downtown antique store on Friday. This was one of those activities on my vacation list that I wanted to accomplish as something I always mean to do, but hardly ever get around to actually doing. I picked up some cute old fashioned planters.

And, speaking of gardening, the temperatures in these parts remain pretty frigid.

I continue to look forward to the final thaw. As does a certain, stir-crazy furry mutt.