11/22/14. The post where it rains.

11/22/14: when I last checked in, I was about to leave DC for home.  I made it home with no snafus.  Both flights were uneventful except for the three servicemen on the first flight with their canine units in tow.  The dogs were supposed to lie under their feet, which sounded terribly uncomfortable for both dog and handler.  Fortunately, the flight was not completely full and some passengers moved around so the dogs could sit in a seat next to their handlers.  One of the dogs was on the row in front of me and it was fascinating to watch.  He had a window seat and he spent most of the flight sitting in his seat looking out the window.  I have no idea whether he understood that he was in the air, but he seemed to enjoy the view and he did not even flinch during the landing.  The dogs were better behaved than most human airline passengers. 

I got home just in time for a haircut ("Sassy, with a side of sassy, please!") and a race to choir rehearsal.   After a long week, I took a day off work on Friday, because my patient, long-suffering husband had a concert in a city about an hour and a half away.  We decided to make a micro-vacation out of it, staying overnight in a fun tourist area, and one of my dearest friends accompanied me.  She and I wandered around the pedestrian area of town enjoying the sights until concert time.  The concert was held in a historic church.  The historian in me spent quite a bit of time ruminating over the fact that while the church existed during the lifetime of the European composers featured in the concert, it is highly unlikely that either the composers or the worshippers at the church knew of the others' existence.  Still, the music seemed perfectly suited to the setting.

After a beautiful concert, we had a late dinner and a nightcap, and then enjoyed a restful sleep, courtesy of a steady rain.  It was still raining this morning as we ate breakfast at the hotel and checked out.  We were in two vehicles, and the girls had planned a leisurely trip home with a few fun stops, but that was not to be.  Because the rain continued to increase, until it became a gully washer.  A frog strangler.  (Insert your own regional colloquialism for a heavy rainstorm here.)  It took both of us, and every bit of concentration we had, to get home without injuring ourselves or others.  And we made it.  We're a good team.  

After getting our two new cars home safely, neither I nor my patient, long-suffering husband were anxious to get out again, so we spent a quiet afternoon and evening at home.  Our biggest decision was what we could put together for dinner without a trip to the grocery store, which was more difficult than it sounds, because our pantry and refrigerator were nearly bare. We came up with a main course but it really needed bread and we were all out.  But guess what? We did have all the ingredients we needed to make bread, and we both know our way around a kitchen.  So we made our own.  

Oddly enough, after my foot made it just fine through a week of air travel, sub-freezing temperatures, and a long, rainy drive, the bread-making was one step too far.  After about 20 minutes of mixing and kneading, it was suddenly red for the first time in a long while, and started to really burn.  Was it the kitchen work, or a combination of everything that has happened over the last week?  I don't know.  It's confounding.  Time to turn up the stimulator.  I guess it's all part of the grand experiment.