Maddie's Homecoming and Other Notables

Well. It's certainly been an eventful day. Maddie just got back tonight from her five day river trip. She is happy, dirty, sunburned, and seems about a decade older. So do Bob and I.She chattered all the way home about her trip, just so happy and tired and spent. It does sound like they had an amazing time, although my daughter, she's a smart one. She knew exactly what to say to ensure I would never be tempted to go rough it with her class as a parent chaperone."Hey mom. We had to poop in boxes. Only poop, though. We got to pee in the river. The boxes were so we wouldn't attract wild animals to our campsite with our poop smell."Clearly I will be chaperoning when they decide to explore uncharted areas of Manhattan, or the Left Bank.Other weekend news is that my mom is out from Ory-gun to visit the family for a few days. Lucky woman gets to come along for the ride on a week that features dance rehearsals every night for the upcoming recital, gymnastics, doctor appointments, PTA activities and carpool. She has exacted her revenge in advance, as she and my youngest daughter are plotting to find every fabric/quilting store in the area and make me take them. My mom was a fabric store owner, and I spent an inordinate amount of my childhood among bolts of fabric, Simplicity pattern books, and something those in the know call "notions." I still don't know what the fuck those are. The sound of Gingher scissors whisking through fabric? It's like chopper blades for 'Nam vets. I just black out. Biggest way to make me hate you? Have a needlepoint on your wall that says something, anything, is "sew" wonderful. Ah, the puns of the industry.It is going to be a great week, my friends. I can't wait to keep you posted.