Random Notes on a Gloomy Monday Morning

1. Ok, I've been talking about Owen nonstop, but I must say I had a really nice long hang out with Leo Sunday morning. We watched the videos he'd put together of the Milwaukee Road 261 trip in Minneapolis and then I saw that he had done a long blog post about the trip too. I read it and I was so impressed with his writing and thoughtful commentary on the trip. Again, please excuse maternal bias, but if you like steam engines, or just like my sweet Leo, give this a read. It's on his website where he documents his work on Trainz videos----digital recreations of his favorite trains. Man, I love that boy.

https://smworks.weebly.com/blog--misc/chasing-milwaukee-road-261-updates

2. We celebrated our, gulp, 29th anniversary yesterday. Ernie spent the morning driving to Litchfield with Owen so they could pick up an amp Owen had bought on Craigslist. They hit an antique mall or two on the way back and generally had a good time. I think both of them were still floating from Friday night. Then they walked into a Walgreens in Litchfield and ran into Karen, a friend of Sue Davis' whom we'd just met once before. Sometimes you just gotta love Facebook!

3. While they were off gallivanting I met my dear friend Renee and had a long, long lunch. When I looked at my phone and saw it was almost 3:00 we were both shocked. It had flown by. It felt good to talk to her. She is grieving. It's been five months since her husband Michael passed away. We talked a lot about grief and love and mothering and family and it felt good. Renee always makes me feel more myself. I hope I give her something of that as well.

4. The boys had already returned home when Renee dropped me off. The four of us sat and talked and laughed. Then Ann and Bob stopped by (in true Rasmus fashion they always forget something at our house...we think it's kind of like dropping breadcrumbs...so they know they can come back) and had a celebratory anniversary drink with us. 

5. We'd been so focused on the house concert that we had absolutely no plans for our anniversary. We went out for a drink and then came home and ordered Chinese food, Yet again give us a reason to quote Handsome Dick Manitoba, "I used to live on pizza, now I live on Chinese food!"

6. Here's the full Taxi Boys set! Thanks to my beloved Doug Fink!

Onward!