A Little Bit of Everything

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL.

We awoke to sunshine and temperatures around a balmy 55 degrees, which steadily rose until it was almost 70. The robins were singing their "marry me, baby" songs to the rythymic harmony made by the drip drip drips and trickles of the snow melting. A bald eagle sat on a span of remaining ice on the lake and fished in a hole. I watched, intrigued for awhile. I was unsure if it was an osprey or eagle. Ospreys we see lots of, but I've never seen a bald eagle on this particular lake. I turned to go inside to check real quick on the computer and slipped on a bit of leftover slush and did an improptu mamba type thing before I made it safely inside. When I returned a few minutes later, after having confirmed it was indeed an eagle, he was gone. My wild dance must have scared him off. It happens.

I got the linens in the washing machine early so I could get them out on the line to blow in this sunny breeze. Mel and X were coming over and bringing their overnight bag - I love when they do that. I wanted their bed to be fresh.

Sean had asked if I would come visit him during the afternoon, and Mel & X agreed to meet at Mr. G's restaurant, where we would have lunch. Paul, the girls, Sean & I had a nice lunch. (nice). Sean seems to be putting some effort into his own well being. Only time will give us an honest answer, but we all had a good visit. We stopped at a grocery store to get him a few items, and this grocery store just happened to be next to Burlington Coat Factory. Ruh Roh. Mel shifted into mission mode, X stayed with me mostly, because I am too short to see over the racks and she didn't want to lose me. ha. I should remind her how as a little child she used to hide UNDER the racks and freak me out. Mel came back with a really nice picture, done in black, white and grays, very simple, of a rose. It would look wonderful in their home. After some debate they decided to get it. It was a tricky decision for them because they will be spending an awful lot of money on their new puppy in a few weeks. I found a bathing suit!!! I think. I didn't try it on yet, and may have to return. I think my grandmother had one like it.

As Paul and I went forward to pay, I looked over and Mel and X are in line. With not one, but THREE pictures. Heheheheh. They are super nice, though. And I think very reasonable, too. Perfect for their decor.

The girls headed out to our house. Paul and I dropped Sean off with his goodies and headed for home. The plan was to hang out and visit, relax, until about 7 o'clock, when we would hit Fire & Ice in Providence for dinner.

We were driving along, on Route 201, listening to music and enjoying the opportunity to be with each other, pointing out things we saw on this scenic and windy road. There always seems to be something new to see. The night before, on this same road, I had to stop and wait for some deer to cross. And they didn't even cross where the signs said. Rule breakers, thats what they are. Sitting there in the road, I acknowledged how truly lucky I've been, not having hit a deer yet.

The car in front of us slowed to a stop. Another car going in the opposite direction pulled over to the side of the road. Something had happened up ahead. Paul & I hypothysized that a deer or dog was in the road. I noticed some tracks on my side of the road, up over the bank, around a post and into the woodsy area on the side of the road, and a man running down the hill from his house with a cell phone to his ear - very agitated. The two cars in front of us started moving, veering to the left, around something, and in a short minute we could see why.

There, in the road were the pieces parts of a motorcycle, broken in at least two halves, with debris scattered everywhere. To my right, between the trees, was the prone body of a young man, bloody t-shirt over his head as if he was in the process of taking it off, arms flat out above his head, as if a robber had instructed to "put 'em up", legs resting casually dressed in jeans and work boots. Just laying there, with his naked torso somewhat bent around a young birch tree.

Scenarios keep playing in my head, like bad Lifetime channel specials. Where was he going? Who was waiting for him? What were his plans for that evening? Was he terrified when he lost control of the bike? Was it quick? Was it his friend's bike, and he was taking a spin on it on the first awesome spring day? Is his mother at work, unprepared for news of this sudden tragedy?

I'm glad X & Mel were home when we arrived. I made some coffee for X & I, Paul did a stint on the Gazelle to make room for our dinner later and sat in the hot tub for a bit to read. The girls & I visited out on the deck and relaxed. If Mel knew where I kept the scissors, Rocko would have been the recipient of a little trim job. She did find the brush, but Rocko would have none of it, tucking his tail between his legs, grabbing a lovey in his mouth and walking in worried circles.

When we got to Providence later, the restaurant was mobbed. They told us "an hour and fifteen minute wait". We decided to wait, and walked back to the mall. The mall is at least four levels, with escalators. Thinking Mel needed a little something to hold her over til dinner, we headed to the food court. Top level. Yikes. Paul has to hold me while I ride the escalators because I close my eyes. We stopped at Newbury comics where Paul found a CD and Mel bought X a cute pug magnet. Then Mel went into CVS for a quick minute, and nobody let me into Crate & Barrel. Hmmmpf.

Within forty/fortyfive minutes we headed back to the restaurant. They had already called us! We waited about ten minutes until we were seated. It was nine or ninethirty by this time. The place was still jumping.

We three girls ordered a pitcher of sangria, yum. We had never dined here before but it had been on our list of places to try. Paul's birthday is this Monday, and although it was a rain check for my birthday, because I was sick last time we planned to go, it worked out for a birthday dinner for both of us, courtesy of X & Mel.

Okay, this is how it works - you go up and grab a bowl. There is a large variety of vegetables, pastas, beans and other stuff like bean sprouts and water chestnuts that you choose from and put in your bowl. Like a buffet, or salad bar set up. Next come the meats - seafood, poultry, beef, pork...

From those options you choose what next to put in your bowl. Then there are sauces, about ten different kinds. With your bowl and cup of sauce, you go to the big round grill around which four men are grilling up the stuff in the bowls. It was pretty crowded, and there was no place at the bar around the grill for us, but because Mel is so darned cute she found us an 'in'. Standing there by herself with her bowl of stuff in one hand and cup of sauce in the other, one of the grilling guys turned around and gave her a great big smile and took her bowl from her. He was so flirting. I sidled up beside her, and he thinks now that he's got to take care of her friend too if he's going to make any kind of impression. I hand off my bowl to him. Then X joins the group. The man is not smiling so big now, and takes her bowl. We gesture to Paul to come this way, and Mel takes his bowl and holds it until the grilling man notices. He looks at the four of us and realizes that he's not going to make any headway with Mel. Heheheheheh. We watch and wait. We chat. The music was good, hard not to bop around a bit while waiting. The grilling guys were putting on a little show of their own - looked like a hard but fun way to earn a buck.

When our stuff was done, it was scooped on to plates and we headed back to our table and dug in. It was intersting. Not one of us had anything the same. I doubt any of the patrons had anything that was the same as anyone else's choices. Too many varieties. We enjoyed our dinners, and repeated the process for a second helping, trying different things. It was close to eleven o'clock when we finished. How metropolitan is that? We were actually amazed with our normally pedestrian selves.

It was fun. We girls were a tad bit silly after a pitcher of sangria. Mel drove us home without incident and with resounding 'good nights' and 'thank you's', we immediately got into jammies and hit the hay.

My clock told me it was 5 am this morning when I woke up. But Paul hadn't set the time ahead yet, so I knew it was six. I got out of bed. Not because I wanted to, but because I knew if I didn't I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, and tomorrow morning would seem like it came awfully fast with this 'spring ahead' business.

I never changed the clock in my work truck from autumn's time change, so Monday it will be correct. No more looking at the clock and calculating an hour less for the real time. And I will have to remember that, else I will be taking lunch and leaving work an hour early, forgetting that my clock is currently correct.

Oh. I forgot. Also yesterday, I recieved a priority mail package. Not expecting anything, I opened it. Inside was a check made out to me for $94. From Unparalleled Marketing LLC to be drawn on US Bank. With it a Certificate of Authentication. This Certificate states:

"This certificate authorizes you to login to an exclusive members only webpage which outlines several ways to make money online even during these tough economic times."

It then gives me a login url: http://www.earninginhardtimes.com/, a username and password. There is nothing about what the check is for, like my signature on it would be a valid contract to some sort of tricky business which will finding me scratching my head in the near future wondering what these charges are on my credit card. The site offers about six or eight videos with subjects such as 'how to make money on e-bay', how to use adobe photo shop to make sites, how to use mass emails to make money...The certificate, and the apparently valid check were the only two items in the package.

So - do I cash it?Peace.