It's lonely around here

Anne and David left yesterday (sniff). We had a great time with them right up until the end. On Sunday, after a leisurely breakfast, we hung around the house, me cleaning up and Drew raking the dead leaves off our lawn (my, there were a lot of them), running to the farmers market and then it was my turn to run to the hardware store for more paper bags to stuff the leaves into (we bag the leaves out back and sweep the ones out front into the street). At first we were going to go to Mt. Vernon and then say goodbye as Anne and David headed to the airport, but then David, Drew, Rachel and I decided to take a walk while Anne did some work outside on her computer in the sun.

Rachel and I hopped on our bikes and rode to the playground right near our house; when we arrived, David and I sat on a park bench and talked while Drew and Rachel played on the play structure and with the toys left on the playground. Then Anne called David and said she needed to get into the house; Drew walked back and returned on HIS bike. When it started getting really windy, we all went home, Anne and David packed up their stuff and left. I persuaded Anne to leave some of her things here for when they come for a return visit, probably the last week in March/first week in April.

The rest of the day was quiet: Drew and Rachel went grocery shopping and I took a nap and tidied up the house. We grilled mustard chicken out back -- it's great to be able to grill so late in the season without worrying about the rain! -- and then we went to bed late. But today was Veterans Day, and Rachel was off school, so we figured she and I would sleep late when Drew went to work.

This morning I worked on a friend-of-the-court brief that a law professor at Willamette asked me to edit; she's submitting it to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday and will be in town for the oral arguments in January (and probably will be staying with us). My neighbor the FBI agent has already asked me if she should get me tickets to watch the proceedings (!) and I told her I'd get back to her on that.

Then, I took Rachel clothes shopping for serious winter gear -- this isn't PDX anymore and she needs a heavy coat, pants, stockings, etc. We struck out on pants; she is slim-hipped with a small rear end, just like me, and so all the pants that fit her legs are way too big in the waist so Drew and I have given up and she'll just wear leggings and dresses with stockings. I did manage to find a great coat at REI that should work in cold/snow/rain, plus a wonderful hat that actually fits her. Also bought her long-sleeved t-shirts, more socks, black patent leather shoes (for dressy occasions like the ballet and Thanksgiving), and a wonderful holiday dress and sweater that she looks just beautiful wearing. Since we really didn't have to be anywhere at any special time, we had a great day; I was relaxed, so was Rachel, and we finished up our time together at home, snuggling on the couch together and listening to a Laura Ingalls Wilder CD (need to get more of them). We met Drew at the train station and had dinner at our favorite Lebanese restaurant in town, then came home and gave Rachel a bath and put her to bed.

Altogether, a really nice last couple of days!