Holiday Challenge, Day 5

Well. Yesterday K called me to strategize about the week's Holiday Challenge meters (reminder or notice to those who haven't been following the story: there's a challenge to row 200 k between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, and I'm doing it). You see, we'd both like to get in some water time, even while putting in a lot of quality time on the ergometer (rowing machine; the only meters that count for the Challenge).

We decided that we'd row on Wednesday and Friday, and would avoid overburdening ourselves by stocking up on erg meters this morning. So I rowed a lovely little half-marathon, and then some (22,251 meters, to be precise). I've spent the remainder of the day rather tired, but now I have 61,251 m down, or 138,749 m to go. I'm 30% of the way there!

Holiday Recounting, Finally.

You and I have been apart for so long, o internerds, that I almost forgot what you looked like. Almost, but not quite. Seriously, though, I finally have a moment of peace and quiet to catch you up on the latest happenings, and there were lots of them.

I should probably start with last Wednesday afternoon, which I took off from school. I'm proud of myself for that one (my inner workaholic felt guilty), although part of me regrets it just a tiny bit (the part that was up until 11 last night grading papers...but it all worked out in the end). I decided to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle in Tucson, so I spent the early part of last week trying to decide what to bring with me, for I've already shown up to their house empty-handed all too many times.

I finally settled on making a mushroom-pecan pate, figuring that it would be nice to have something vegetarian that contains protein, but that I wouldn't ordinarily cook. The recipe came out of the Cafe Flora cookbook, and turned out quite well. Upon arrival in Tucson, I learned that my aunt normally doesn't cook appetizers, so it didn't have any competition and was received quite favorably. My favorite part of making it was adding just a splash of sherry and then thinking of gfrancie, who likes to point out that when one cooks with sherry one must drink a little as well (and I did).

At some point on Wednesday we enjoyed the usual Scrabble hubbub, and then 'twas time for bed. The next morning, R and I had intended on going on the People's Ride, our usual Thursday-morning ride through Scottsdale, but when we woke up it was pouring rain (hurrah!), and so as mentioned before I headed to the boatyard to erg instead. Then I traveled down to Tucson and enjoyed a quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and two cousins.

My Tucson travel arrangements were pretty entertaining for this trip--I caught a ride with a fellow graduate student on the way down, but he wasn't returning until Sunday, which seemed a touch too long a visit given our familial circumstances. By pure happenstance my friend P mentioned that he had planned to drive down to Tucson on Friday to visit the Sonoran Desert Museum and go to a concert, so we ended up meeting up for the show and driving back quite late on Friday night. I think the best way to describe the show (featuring a band called Subtle) is...textural, an interesting layering of sounds.

I tried to sleep in on Saturday, which apparently meant waking up at 8 am and a late start to the farmer's market. Fortunately for me, the market has quieted down a bit and so I had no problems finding what I wanted, including some heavenly raspberry cocoa preserves and some of those Black Sphinx dates (hurrah!).

From there, I rode on up to Lux for more delectable treats and even managed to convince myself to grade a few papers before heading towards the boatyard for another round of rowing. In the evening, members and affiliates of the Scrabble Society came over for a Thanksgiving Aftermath Remix, and then they taught me how to play the game Settlers of Catan.

On Sunday, I went into Helga mode and became a housekeeping maniac, sweeping and mopping every open surface in advance preparation for the party we're hosting next Saturday. The guest of honor at the party is highly allergic to Ms. Emma the Cat, so Emma got bathed on Saturday and the housekeeping should help get cat dander levels down. It helps that we are almost entirely hardwood flooring, with a bit of tile for good measure.

I wish I could tell you I stopped there, but once the house was tidy I moved on to the back yard. A few months ago R had mentioned wanting to turn an overgrown flowerbed next to the back door into an herb garden, and so of course I thought to myself that I'd get the project underway, at least. Preparation involved removing/reorganizing an astounding quantity of rocks, festoonings of weeds, and three rather substantial plants with knotty, wooden roots. Several hours later, I had cleared everything out, which just goes to show that when I start a project like that I can't be stopped in the middle. I got things into rather ship-shape condition and planted some herbs, and then did this'n'that'n'theotherthing (mostly grading and cupcake-baking) and now it's suddenly the end of the day on Monday.

And that is all.