Scrabble Saturday

We went downtown last night, to have dinner with friends C and R. They live inside the downtown loop... nice house on a subdivision-style street, filled with books and artwork. Wasn't hard to find.... as my husband drove, I was writing down the directions. I keep the directions to downtown places in a little notebook, so if I have to drive down there by myself, I will know where to go. Not exactly a scientific way to find a place, but it works for me.

After dinner, we played two games of Scrabble. My husband and I had to smile when we got there, because C showed us the "Scrabble" dictionary that he had bought, and he also found a book called "Everything Scrabble" which was filled with the history of the game, as well as strategies for getting a decent score. While we were driving to their house, my husband and I were wondering if they had played some since the last time they were here. So apparently, they had indeed been practicing.

Interesting couple, C and R... they are both artistic, in different ways. C used to be a medical illustrator, and R's artwork styles are varied. Everything from watercolor to collage, from paper to sculptures. They both used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival, and that's where they got married. We saw their wedding photos, with C and R dressed up in elaborate medieval costumes. When I looked at their costumes, I told them that I expected great things from them at our next Halloween party. They said that they had planned to wear the costumes at last year's party, but they didn't want to be the only ones dressed up. Little did any of us know that so many would dress up for that party. But... there's always the next one.

I told R that I had started making Valentine cards and birthday cards, inspired by her own talent for putting together such artistic cards. I told her that I had started to practice making a thank you card for her (for last night's dinner) because I didn't want to send her a store-bought card after receiving all of her handmade ones. We had a good laugh at that, because she was worried about making place cards, after all the pretty place cards that she and her husband had brought home from our dinner parties. She showed me some of the more elaborate holiday ones--- she had put them into frames and she uses them with her holiday centerpieces.

Last night was a late one.... we left their house late, and it's an hour's drive from here. It had been cold when we left, so I put AngelBoy and Mickey Kitty in our bedroom, leaving ShadowBaby with the run of the house, which is never a problem with that cat. Mickey Kitty was so wide awake when we got home that he thought a new day had started. While we were getting ready for bed, he was taking out all of his toys and carrying them into the living room to bat them around and hide them underneath the sofa. I had brought all of his toys into the bedroom for him, but I think he just slept while we were gone because he was sure ready to play at midnight.

I told R that I admired all of her plants around the house. We used to have a lot of plants here as well... in the kitchen and breakfast room, and out on the screen-porch. Then we got cats... I think AngelBoy was the first one who started to munch on the plants, and ShadowBaby will eat any kind of blooming flower that is within his reach. Now all my flowers and plants are outside--- and neither AngelBoy or ShadowBaby bothers with them out there. But bring them into the house, and I'll have petals and stems from one end of the house to the other.

Much warmer today than yesterday, thankfully. I had eMail from my friend G up on Long Island... she says the temperature this morning is 21 degrees, and will drop down to 6 degrees tonight. Six degrees... I guess I should stop complaining when we get below 70.