It doesn't get much stranger
I never realize how strange my friends and their rituals are until I describe them to someone else. This morning I was telling my colleague and friend Julie about yesterday's activities with my friends and we were both laughing hysterically. I spent the afternoon and evening with Linda, Erdvilas and assorted others. The central event of early evening was the production (and I do mean production) of a layered drink. Erdvilas likes to make layered drinks, layered according to sugar and alcohol content: you make one liquor/liqueur float on top of the other in the glass, to a dramatic effect. Ken's niece Pat, sister to Joe, had found a recipe with accompanying color photo of a 7-layered drink called the Star Bangled Spanner and she wanted E. to duplicate the drink. We all trooped to Joe's, where he had assembled the requisite liquors and substitutes (at considerable cost). Green chartreuse, yellow chartreuse, cherry brandy, 151 rum, a special Violette liquor from France, etc., etc. We all sat in a circle around the table, where E. sat. He held court, first holding the ceremony of discovering which liquid would float on top of which, practicing in a number of shot glasses (which had been lined up in a row). He had someone take extensive notes ("green chrartreuse floats on top of fortified cherry brandy"). Finally the true production began. The drink was assembled in a champagne flute. My job was to let him know immediately whether the new layer was floating on the established layer or mixing with it. This was crucial to the success of the whole thing. SUCCESS! Seven layers were achieved. Photos--many, many photos were taken. E. was not pleased with the background so carried the flute outside for a more dramatic background. No, first background didn't show off the layers well enough so he carried it around Joe's yard until he found a good spot (with the barn as background). By now the group (understandably) had lost interest in recording the drink and was interested in consuming it. We finally got to, which was pretty anticlimactic.

From there we went to Linda's for dinner. E. stayed at Joe's and had too much to drink, joining us for dinner a bit later. He got into a huge fight with 2 people about whether or not cats are natural killers. Oh yeah, a topic worthy of yelling about. I finally convinced everyone at the table to stop arguing with him and let him win. Silence except for his attempts to convince us. OK, I said, you win. He muttered "You just say that to get me to stop." Well, yes that's certainly true. Then he sulked for a while before telling Holly, visiting from Michigan and a very nice, patient and sweet woman, that she is a true and good friend (which I, apparently at that point was not). Ah, alcohol. What entertaining times it provides. Later, after everyone else had retired he told Chances and me what a wonderful and perfect dog she was. Over and over. Well who can argue with that?

Anyway, the part about the drink and the part about the cat killers were really funny, in hindsight. Picture a circle of chairs watching a man pour alcohol into a fluted glass for a very long time, oohing and ahhing with each of 7 layers. But we take our entertainment and companionship very seriously in Hawkeye.

Other than that I'm afraid I completely wasted my day. For some reason (depression?) I couldn't bring myself to do anything yesterday. Early morning would have been a good time to mow the lawn, though it was really too warm. Then it rained--not too hard, and it would have been a good time to weed. Heck, I could even have stacked firewood. Instead I lay on the couch and dozed off & on all day. Didn't even go to the boat house to enjoy a lake day. I don't know what came over me, some sort of malaise. It was very discouraging. Do I feel better today? I don't think so, really. I didn't set my alarm this morning. Went to bed at 1, slept until 8, late to work (9:30). Got my physical therapy appointment mixed up so I missed it on Monday, thinking it was today. Now I have enough time after work to do my laundry but I didn't bring it with me. Or I could go grocery shopping but I don't have my list and I don't have a clue what I need. I guess I could buy a new shower head for camp. Every taken a shower without a shower head? It's actually preferrable, but I don't think my cousins would agree. Nary a dribble came out when I turned the shower on the other day, so I took a nice shower with just a single stream. Infinitely preferrable. Tonight I have dinner with Annie's brother.

So that's where I am today. Not a great place. But I can find comfort in cataloging. My mother comes this weekend, with Mark. I have to do roadside cleanup (also known as "beautification") with the shoreowners, followed by cookout at Linda's (also known as "afterglow"). That's Sat. On Sunday, though I can skip Sunday dinner, there's a meeting of the shoreowners' association in the afternoon. This limits the amout of time I can spend visiting with Liza. Hope she understands. It also makes me feel totally frazzled and with no control over the hours in my days. Next weekend is no better: it's the 50th anniversary weekend. Camp will be crawling with cousins. I'll worry about that later and think about how nice next week can be, visiting with Linda, Holly, Chris, Erdvilas and Mary Kay at Linda's camp. And Fred at his camp. And I think Jim and Judy will be at their camp.

Now, about those sucky videos that Chazy owns...