Catching my breath after social goodness

We had alanro and his partner Jeanne here for a couple of days, largely so they could spend most of yesterday with roadnotes and baldanders. cattitude, Alan, Jeanne, and I took a bus into Seattle a bit before noon yesterday; while waiting for the bus up the hill to the hospital, we ran into Andi Shechter, who was taking the same bus slight further, to visit Stu. Andi took the opportunity to hand me a photo she wanted Roadnotes to have.

After hanging out for a bit, I walked a bit over half a mile to a Captain Awkward meetup. That was pulled together at the last minute, and wound up being three people: me, Zee, and someone whose name I don't remember except it started with an L. Three people who hit it off quite well; I left after a little under three hours of cheerful conversation, and walked back to the hospital (at a brisk walk, because my estimate of how long it would take me hadn't allowed for it being uphill all the way). A bit more conversation, and the four of us and Baldanders went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Thence home, pie for dessert (from the farmer's market) and a relatively early night; we'd stayed up late talking Friday, and nobody had a lot of energy at that point.

This morning was quiet socializing here in Bellevue. Alan and Jeanne concluded that having spent all day with Roadnotes yesterday, they didn't need to rush their waking and packing to squeeze in a quick visit this morning before going to the airport. Jeanne had made a tomato-and-peach salad yesterday (with fresh basil and balsamic vinegar), which I ate quite a bit of for second breakfast and then as part of lunch. After lunch, I walked Alan and Jeanne up to the Transit Center, and rode the airport bus with them as far as the South Bellevue Park and Ride, where I wanted to gather blackberries.

The gathering was fruitful, with a reasonable number of ripe berries in reach (much of the patch is downhill and not within my reach). I ate some berries, and dropped quite a few more into a baggie for later. It looked as though nobody had been gathering in the last day or so; not a bit surprise on a Sunday. Given the heat and Sunday bus schedules, I took the first available bus home, rather than trying to stop partway for more berries. (Tomorrow's predicted high is 92 Fahrenheit, so I will gather early in the day or not at all. We are well-supplied with fruit, but the gathering is fun in itself, even if it does mean occasionally pulling a blackberry spine out of my hand. Memo to self: it might be worth carrying antiseptic wipes, as well as zip-lock bags and a water bottle, for this sort of expedition.)

If I am feeling energetic the rest of the afternoon, we might play Scrabble.