1. I spent much of the morning and early afternoon working acrostic puzzles, having to surrender to certain clues and going to Wikipedia or other online sources to find out where certain mountains are located or to look up names of tea rose species -- in addition, my ability to spell words has deteriorated over the years and so sometimes I know the answer, but I need help spelling. But, with patience and letting clues sink in for a while and as I work back and forth between the emerging quotation, its author and the title of the work it comes from as it is formed by the first letter of each clue answer, and as I figure out more answers to the clues themselves, over time, I solve the puzzle. It's a lot of fun.
2. I made a very quick dash to Yoke's and the liquor store to pick up a few things in preparation for Diane's visit late this afternoon. She has a roomy bag she can carry Chole's newborn puppies in and brought them, and Chloe, over. Then until the storm came, we sat on the back deck, getting to know our future puppy, Gibbs, better and having a good time yakking.
Stu has a friend who owns a vineyard near Etlan, VA, about 100 miles southwest of Alexandria, called DuCard Vineyard, and, a while back, Stu asked me if I'd like to be included in an order he was making. I did. I ordered a bottle of Rose (you know, pronounced Rozay) and we enjoyed it a lot. I often enjoy wines that sit more lightly on my tongue and this one did. It was also very pleasantly dry, as opposed to being very sweet at all.
Christy joined us after a bit and got to meet Gibbs and ooh and ah over the other puppies and, together, we enjoyed snacks, a cocktail or two, and a lot of great stories.
3. Christy returned to her house. Soon, a hail/rain storm drove Diane, Debbie, and me indoors. We visited for a while longer. Diane had brought Debbie and me a bag of homemade treats: sausage, pepper jam, dill pickles, pickled mushrooms, and salsa. (I hope I remembered everything!) Debbie has been knitting one scarf after another while we've been lying low and thrilled Diane by asking her to choose one for herself. It brought a fun visit to a very happy conclusion.
We were all richer in treasure and in spirit for our time together. We also said good-bye to Gibbs, knowing he'll be moving in with us in about five weeks or so.
Debbie and I returned to the Slow Burn podcast and listened to more episodes about Watergate. We learned more about things happening behind the scenes of the Select Senate Committee hearings among the staff members and investigators working for the committee's members; the earthquake revelation that Pres. Nixon had a secret recording system in the White House; the perspectives of people in everyday life in 1972-74 who remained loyal to Nixon because largely what he represented to them was a strong leader whom they experienced as a fighter for law and order and a fighter against liberals, radicals, increasing civil rights, the growing feminist movement, and other developments these supporters felt threatened by; we also learned more about the conspiracy theories and stories that grew out of both the break-in and a wide array of other occurrences that happened during this period: the plane crash that killed Dorothy Hunt (E. Howard Hunt's wife), the death of J. Edgar Hoover, ties between the CIA and the break-in, and others. These theories multiplied.
Honestly, by about 10:30 or 11:00, we'd had it. We have one episode left of Slow Burn. No doubt, we'll listen to it -- well, I will. As fascinating as it is to listen to these episodes again, about two years after we heard them the first time, it's draining and disheartening and wearying.
It might be time to return to reruns of The Andy Griffith Show or Family Affair!
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