Quiet weekend

With both Drew I sick (at his insistence, I visited my doctor last week and she diagnosed bronchitis) and some unexpected fact-checking work on two sensitive stories that came my way, I was reluctant to go on our scheduled camping trip to Bull Run on Saturday and Sunday. Plus, I had scored free tickets for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by the Shakespeare Theater Company for Sunday afternoon, and I was worried about how we'd race back from camping, change clothes, go to the theater, come home and head to synagogue for the first night of Rosh Hashanah, then head home to a home-cooked dinner.

Fortunately it rained on Saturday morning -- rained and rained and rained -- and one thing that Drew and I agreed on is that we do NOT go camping in the rain. And Rachel's friend Ivy wanted to have a playdate (we had seen her the night before at McKinley's first-week-of-school ice cream social, which I'd never attended until this year), and we hadn't seen Ivy in a while, so...Rachel went to Ivy's, Drew ran errands and I worked on fact-checking most of the afternoon.

That night, Ivy came over for Family Fun Night. I had sushi, the girls had pizza (and after a glob of pizza ended up on a sofa cushion, Drew smartly banned all eating while watching movies, which is a good thing), and then Ivy went home. After putting Rachel to bed, Drew insisted on watching Mission Impossible (Ghost Protocol), which means we ended up going to bed too late and woke up late on Sunday (but in time to Skype with Valerie and Tia Daniella). Afterward we got to the theater in time to go to the Patron's Lounge (free, again), which had drinks and snacks, and then we saw the play.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was AWESOME, one of the best productions I've ever seen. Rachel howled -- absolutely howled -- at the play-within-the-play, especially at Puck's antics, and except for some whispering that Drew did to explain what was going on, she was able to follow the plot pretty well (it was set in the 1930s). The only thing that marred the experience somewhat was the young woman (probably early 20s, if that), who kept turning around and giving Rachel and Drew dirty looks (after a while, she opened some candy and began eating, which was strictly forbidden). If she had said anything, I would have replied, sweetly, "Some day, you'll come here with your 7-year-old son or daughter, grateful for the free tickets, and I hope you remember how you acted today." Come to think of it, I probably should have just said it anyway.

We took the Metro back and because of delays, we ended up getting to synagogue about a half-hour late. We still took in most of the service, though, and because it was short, and Drew didn't have time to make dinner, and the game hens were frozen -- we didn't end up eating until 9 -- steak and popovers, which is not exactly a fancy Rosh Hashanah dinner. But we dipped apples in honey and got Rachel to bed before 11.

Unfortunately I ended up pulling a muscle or something in my left foot -- the one that has been plaguing me all summer -- and so I iced it, took some Tylenol 3 and hobbled off to bed in misery. Not the best way to start the new year.