the rest of the weekend

on saturday i met a bunch of random buddies (including Phat Philbert!) at the camp hill diner for a 2pm breakfast, just like old days! my sis and i then went to visit a family i used to babysit for--i got to know the mom really well, and she was actually one of my best friends there. well, they had 3 kids, ages 5, 4, and 2, but now have adopted a 3 yo and a 1 yo! from khazakstan! the new kids speak russian, so the whole family is learning russian!! and they're going to have a new baby next month! they are so amazingly cool. emphasis on "amazing". 6 little blond people, under the age of 5!

next we went on a tapestry hunt. i know, i know, i was going to take care of that b4 i left portland, then b4 i left Ojai, but you know me...i was in hburg before i actually did it. but we found a hella sweet one (hopefully ridley likes it), thanks to crazy todd.

since, at this point, we had not already had enough fun for the weekend, we hopped on I-81 N to check out st gregs and visit the fitzs. while driving thru hours of pouring rain i realized something about sting. i've heard him on the radio plenty of times, but never actually listened to whole album. but now i've realized that if he were to write a song about a dog, it would go, "it's a dog, it's a dog, it's a dog, dog, dog!" i'm not kidding. listen to him. first he heartily sings, "don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me, don't stand, don't stand so,..." and so on. then he sings, "message in a bottle, message in a bottle, message in a bottle, message in a bottle", ad infinitum. the rest of the cd is similar.

we went to an irish pub in scranton. they were having a german oktoberfest celebration, the highlight of which was a balding man with long socks and short shorts singing and playing the accordian. his top hit was The Who-whoo Waltz. it was a waltz on the accordian, punctuated irregularly with a high-pitched "WHO-WHO!". interesting. i took out a table with my hind end on my way by during a vigorous polka, during which soph-dog also sprained her ankle. we enthusiastically did the hokey-pokey, and the chicken dance. crazy.

so i've been working on not being one of those pissy girls who won't say what she's thinking and silently holds grudges, you know, the passive agressive type. well, i think it's gone a little too far. i now need to work on NOT saying everything i'm thinking. this decision came after two embarrassing incidents this weekend. first, on the way home from the crazy irish pub, we nearly rearended someone (no, i was not driving). mr fitz slammed on the brakes and the accident was avoided. however, being my usual helpful self, i blurted out without thinking, "does anyone need to stop and wipe before we continue?" oops. the second incident was the next morning after mass. a young man showed up at st gregs who apparently knew everyone but me. i'd never seen him before, but his name (he goes by "Beef") sounded familiar. while he greeted everyone else, i loudly stated that "i don't even know you!". no, seriously, i think even the neighbors down the road heard me. he replied politely that he did not indeed know me either, but hello. yeah, time for a li'l self-restraint.

after "chilling" for time, hiking amongst fall-colored trees, eating fall apples right off the trees, and visiting with old friends, we started off for DC. i've seen plenty of pics of the white house and the capitol, but i had no idea that like every building in the city looks like that! it's so sweet! well, then my sister decided to take me on the walk of death because "it's cool!". ten miles later i didn't really care if i ever saw another g. d. building ever again. no, it was cool. but long.

we finally made it back to the car with most of the shreds of our feet, and it promptly...did not start. after some adventures with calling policemen, talking to white house guards, and calling every boy we know who knows anything about cars, it miraculously started while i was chatting about my weekend on the phone with my friend eddie. so we celebrated by going out for cheesecake. ok, ok, we were going to have the cheesecake anyways. whatever.

well, my internet time is almost up. i did make it to london, another exciting process which involved frantic throwing of items back into my backpack, filling out my ballot in the car, and many restless hours on the plane. i did sit next to a sweet old lady on the plane who gave me gum for take-off and landing. i hope i'm going to be a nice old lady.

more later...hopefully from the czech republic!