Today was a lovely mix of work, fun, and olympics - if only all days could be this gorgeous. I woke up around 7:30, messed around the apartment and did some cleaning, and then made it to Philz by nine, where I worked for a couple of hours. I didn't write anything, but I started reading a fascinating book called 'Green Retreats', about women's relationships to gardens and gardening in eighteenth century Britain. I only made it through the introduction, and I'm looking forward to reading the other sections (each section is about a different gardener - mostly rich women who also had time to write journals/correspondence, so obviously a lot of women have been erased from the historical record entirely). It's much more of a sociological study than it is about gardens themselves so far, but it's giving me a lot of ideas about Lucy's character and what might have mattered to her.
So that was great, and I didn't really want to leave - I probably could have gotten another coffee, and then had lunch at some comfy place nearby, and been quite content to read all day. But I had to meet up with Bill and Ritu, who have arrived to prepare for their nuptials (which they claim are still happening). They got to my place and dragged all their luggage up here, and then we walked down to Arlequin and had lunch and wine in the sun (the wine shouldn't be a surprise, since that's what we do together). Then they went to City Hall to get their marriage license, and I came home and took care of some tings.
When they were done with that, we dragged all their stuff back downstairs and took it to the airbnb where Ritu and her family are staying this week. It's a lovely house, and hopefully everything is smooth this week. We also tasted some riesling for the wedding (which I've apparently had for days - it was shipped to me by the venue so that they could taste it today and make a decision).
Then, Bill and I came back to my place (he's staying here for one night only before picking up his family tomorrow and checking in to a hotel), and I set up my new gadget - I realized yesterday that my livestream of the Olympics was skipping really badly on the Chromecast, but wasn't skipping much at all on my laptop, so decided that maybe the issue was the Chromecast (which is several years old at this point). So I ordered a Roku Stick ($50) on Amazon, and somehow got free one-day shipping, so it was here this afternoon.
It turns out to be a great decision - my livestream hasn't skipped at all tonight, and the quality is way better than the Chromecast was (close to HD). It also has its own remote and on-screen interface, so after I was done setting it up, I don't need to use my laptop or phone to stream. It still needs a cable subscription for most of the apps to work properly, but it's slick enough that I'm happy with it as-is and probably won't bother hooking up real tv at this point.
So needless to say, as soon as I was on my couch and ready to watch Olympics, I didn't leave it. I had tried to watch men's gymnastics before Ritu and Bill arrived, but when I tried to finish watching it this afternoon (while Ritu and Bill were at the courthouse), the results were spoiled by the app, so I gave up. After Bill left, I ate supper (leftover pasta, yum) and took a nap, and then I watched the full evening coverage (still ongoing) while answering a bunch of emails, taking care of my face via mud masks, etc. My favorite moment, of course, was Michael Phelps' death stare, but it was all fun - and I'm going to have to pack in as many livestreams as possible over the next two weeks now that my devices are all working properly.
But now, I need to get some sleep - I have to do some grooming/shopping activities for the wedding tomorrow, and I have dinner plans, and I need to keep reading about gardening and also watching Olympics (women's gymnastics!). Goodnight!
So that was great, and I didn't really want to leave - I probably could have gotten another coffee, and then had lunch at some comfy place nearby, and been quite content to read all day. But I had to meet up with Bill and Ritu, who have arrived to prepare for their nuptials (which they claim are still happening). They got to my place and dragged all their luggage up here, and then we walked down to Arlequin and had lunch and wine in the sun (the wine shouldn't be a surprise, since that's what we do together). Then they went to City Hall to get their marriage license, and I came home and took care of some tings.
When they were done with that, we dragged all their stuff back downstairs and took it to the airbnb where Ritu and her family are staying this week. It's a lovely house, and hopefully everything is smooth this week. We also tasted some riesling for the wedding (which I've apparently had for days - it was shipped to me by the venue so that they could taste it today and make a decision).
Then, Bill and I came back to my place (he's staying here for one night only before picking up his family tomorrow and checking in to a hotel), and I set up my new gadget - I realized yesterday that my livestream of the Olympics was skipping really badly on the Chromecast, but wasn't skipping much at all on my laptop, so decided that maybe the issue was the Chromecast (which is several years old at this point). So I ordered a Roku Stick ($50) on Amazon, and somehow got free one-day shipping, so it was here this afternoon.
It turns out to be a great decision - my livestream hasn't skipped at all tonight, and the quality is way better than the Chromecast was (close to HD). It also has its own remote and on-screen interface, so after I was done setting it up, I don't need to use my laptop or phone to stream. It still needs a cable subscription for most of the apps to work properly, but it's slick enough that I'm happy with it as-is and probably won't bother hooking up real tv at this point.
So needless to say, as soon as I was on my couch and ready to watch Olympics, I didn't leave it. I had tried to watch men's gymnastics before Ritu and Bill arrived, but when I tried to finish watching it this afternoon (while Ritu and Bill were at the courthouse), the results were spoiled by the app, so I gave up. After Bill left, I ate supper (leftover pasta, yum) and took a nap, and then I watched the full evening coverage (still ongoing) while answering a bunch of emails, taking care of my face via mud masks, etc. My favorite moment, of course, was Michael Phelps' death stare, but it was all fun - and I'm going to have to pack in as many livestreams as possible over the next two weeks now that my devices are all working properly.
But now, I need to get some sleep - I have to do some grooming/shopping activities for the wedding tomorrow, and I have dinner plans, and I need to keep reading about gardening and also watching Olympics (women's gymnastics!). Goodnight!
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