I've made it to my destination on the Oregon coast, where I shall spend three nights ensconced in a gloomy and storm-tossed beachfront property that might be the set of a murder mystery. It's actually a beautiful house, and I lucked out with the room choice, but when we arrived just before sunset, we were greeted by the barest trace of sun as clouds rolled back in over the horizon. My entire trip will likely be affected by atmospheric rivers and other meteorological wonders, but I think I'll survive.
Unfortunately, while seven of us have made it to the house, Heather and Salim are not among them. It's Heather's (aka dear respected madam's) birthday weekend, which is the whole reason why I came - but Salim had to go to the ER last night, and so they didn't make it here today. He's out and doing better, and hopefully they'll still come tomorrow. But it made for a bit of an interesting dynamic tonight - I know two of the six other people (Durand, fairly well; and Michelle, not so well, but we were coworkers a lifetime ago). And I've met two or three of the others at least once, so it's not a total blind bag. But basically, we all came to celebrate Heather, and then had to make small talk (and dinner) for several hours without her glue to bind us.
Luckily, that all went as smoothly as it could. Durand made an excellent pasta sauce (dolling up some jars with a lot of veggies) and Simone made an equally excellent salad, and between several of us we drank four bottles of Oregon pinot noir. We told a lot of stories about prisons and murder and cruise ships and Long Islands, and it was all a delight. Hopefully we'll see the guest of honor tomorrow, but at least we made tonight a good time.
And now, I really need to sleep (and sleep off some of the pinot) - goodnight!
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