Is It Birthday Time Yet?

 

Friday, May 18, 2012 – Is it Birthday Time Yet?

One week until B-Day:  one more week to prepare for the party; one more week to get our house in order; one more week to go over all the lists; and one more week of exhaustion.  This non-stop pace has been getting to me.  Additionally, I’m under attack by my seasonal allergies.  Wednesday was art-hanging and disc-burning day.  After nearly 4 hours at the Apple Store, I finished working on the movie.  On Thursday morning, my throat felt so scratchy and my brain felt so fuzzy that I decided to declare a sick day.  First of all, I skipped the gym.  Then at noon, instead of concentrating on more party-related tasks, I got some mental diversion from a very interesting lecture at the Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center.  The subject was the three waves of Jewish immigration to China, a topic of special interest to me because my maternal grandmother participated in the second wave of immigration when she left her home in Lithuania and immigrated to Harbin, China early in the 20^th century.  The rest of the afternoon was occupied with another trip down to Greenspring related to Katie’s upcoming move.  By the time we returned home, I didn’t have much mental or physical energy, but I was able to set up some more art for the Thompson Gallery.

Elliott and I both took some time off from party-prep on Friday to go into DC.  The weather was delightful – just warm enough, sunny, dry – and perfect for walking.  We ate outside at Le Pain Quotidien in Dupont Circle and then saw an excellent play, The Whipping Man, by Matthew Lopez, at Theatre J.  The drama is set in the South in the days immediately following Lee’s surrender to Grant in April, 1865.  The three characters are the Jewish son of a plantation owner and two newly-emancipated slaves who worked for the family.  

It was still early when we got back home, and I didn’t want to stay inside, so I set out to do some errands on foot.  I came back an hour or so later with 3 dozen blueberry cereal bars from Trader Joe’s, a map of Tucson from the AAA store, and half a dozen mosquito bites.  Fortunately, neighbors Pam and Bud had just convened the weekly happy hour on their front lawn.   Otherwise, it would have been Cheerios and Pinot Noir for dinner.