Well, I had a fun weekend in Philadelphia, seeing friends, buying books, attending a party, getting presents, and desperate for sleep. What did you do?

-- Kymm Zuckert (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), August 22, 2000

Answers

It was a beautiful weekend in Philadelphia, weatherwise. Is the used bookstore you refer to on South Street? It's bookaholic heaven in there, it really is.

I took a few long walks, did laundry, got pictures developed from my trip to Maine, and just basically hung out. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have anything that had to be done, so I could just relax.

I could do with more weekends like that.

-- Laura (windmills@diaryland.com), August 22, 2000.

I buzzed back and forth between a linguistics conference (on "Parts of Speech") and a science fiction convention that was happening at the same time on the other side of town. Neil Gaiman ("Sandman") was the GoH at the con and he is my new Celebrity Boyfriend. You-all can keep your movie stars.

-- Diana (diana@alum.mit.edu), August 22, 2000.

Spent a lot of time sleeping and getting my sleep patterns into quasi nocturnal mode. Spent Saturday night making one of my web clients very happy by doing her updates within the hour she asked for them, as opposed to verry late due to the hell my schedule became for a few months.

Sunday, made my current Sunday lunch menu for some friends;
Garlic Herbed Cream Cheese dip (fresh crushed garlic, dried thyme, dried rosemary, neufchatel cream cheese, olive oil, fork together, and leave out at room temp for one hour before serving,)
fresh tomato, onion, basil and garlic bruschetta,
asian marinated (mushroom soy sauce, plum sauce, sweet chilli sauce, sesame oil) and greek marinated (lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, dried theym and oregano) chicken strips which were then barbequed
and served with a side salad (two sorts of lettuce, cucumber, basil, olives, tomato, mushrooms, three sorts of capsicum (that's US=peppers), white and purple onions, with an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing,
followed by vanilla icecream topped with soused dried fruits (put diced dried fruits in a screwtoplidded jar, top with equal parts orange liqueur (either Grand MArnier or Cointreau work) and whiskey, and leave in the jar in a warmish spot for 3-4 months), and grated orange chocolate.
I've had several SUnday dinners and this is my Summer menu for people who haven't been to the previous ones. Once I start repeating people, I'll look and see what else I might like to serve them.

-- Amanda Page (amanda@amandasprecipice.com), August 22, 2000.

I took my husband to the airport and listened to the news all day for reports of major air disasters. When none occurred, I went grocery shopping.

Then I baked a dozen scones and had tea.

Then I rented all the movies I wouldn't be caught dead watching when X is around and had a late-night movie fest. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Catriona (life now in balance again)

-- Catriona Richardson (catri696@purpleturtle.com), August 22, 2000.

My mother went into a coma on Thursday, and wasn't expected to recover. She'd had a pretty routine hip replacement after a bad fall, but with a leaking heart valve at 75 years of age, it appeared that it was not going to go as smoothly as it normally would. So my other half and I flew over to Adelaide from Sydney, not knowing what scenario would greet us, but she'd actually come out of the coma by the time we touched down. So I mostly spent my weekend in a hospital, and catching up on my ancestry with some of my relatives. We haven't been in touch for about 11 years (yeah, one of 'those' families). I saw some pix of my maternal grandad for the first time. When he was older, he bore an unfortunate resemblance to Dr Smith from "Lost in Space".

Btw, mother is doing really well..Im back in Sydney, but phoned her just now, and she was glad to be able to contribute something to this forum, in a roundabout way!

-- jacqueline (admin@anv.com.au), August 22, 2000.

Well, I'm glad that in your contribution to the forum, the story has a good ending!

And yes, to answer the question about, it was the bookstore on South St. That place just picks my pocket every time I go in.

-- Kymm Zuckert (kymmz1@yahoo.com), August 22, 2000.

I spent three days in Port Townsend, where I have wanted to go ever since I read Bill Dickson's entry about a scooter convoy he was part of that toured there. I got to see roughly where Betty MacDonald wrote _The Egg and I_, the fairly well-preserved Victorian downtown core, and the abandoned bunkers of Fort Worden.

I meant to write something interesting here, but I think I sweated my brain cells out through my scalp today. God.

-- Kim Rollins (kimrollins@yahoo.com), August 23, 2000.

I went to see the x-men.

I maybe converted to liking hairy men yet.

-- smallkat (smallkat@hotmail.com), August 24, 2000.

I did some dishes, some shopping, and played just a whole lot of Diablo II.

-- Colin (ethilrist@prodigy.net), August 24, 2000.