July2

... the journal

The Guest
Refrigerator Door

The next magnets belong to the fridge of my friend Olivia

Olivia gambling in Reno

* Discussion *

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WHAT I'M READING...

Tipping the Velvet
by
Sarah Waters

WHAT I'M WATCHING...

Nothing--too tired

Pictures from the Pride March in SF on Sunday are now up at Club Photo

That's it for today!

EVERYBODY LOVES BARBECUE

2 July 2001

The folks who came to the barbecue from Solvang, north and inland of Santa Barbara, said they had left 105 degree weather. The Internet weather report indicate triple digits in Davis as well. How fortunate we were,then, to be sitting on the beach, with enough sun to leave my nose looking like it wants to enter a WC Fields look-alike contest, yet a cool breeze blowing. Shirtsleeve weather, but don't stay too long.

Have I mentioned what great parties Tom throws?? This was our fourth or fifth such event. He buys up half of the slaughtered animals in the county, marinates them, barbecues them, and then invites several hundred of his nearest and dearest friends to come and help him eat them. Fortunately he lets the family come too.

Tom and his former roommate (Walt's sister's boyfriend), Joe, get the food put together, build the huge barbecue, bring chairs, drinks, tablecloths, and playing cards. They cook everything while the rest of us are all having fun visiting.

It's a wonderful mix of people. And this year we did "meet the family," as we were meeting Laurel's parents for the first time. Tom and Laurel have been living together for a little over a year now and I guess they decided it was time to let the families give each other the once-over. Her parents were delightful and we enjoyed meeting them.

My friend Susie and her fiance came. She recently got a new job and left Gateway, for which she'd been doing technical support. I pumped her for information to help me with setting up the new computer and checking for problems. I hadn't seen her in about 2 years, so it was fun visiting, however briefly.

Ron and Michael from The Last Session group drove up to spend some time with us too. It's crazy because we'll be seeing Michael in 2 weeks in Cincinnati. But it was great talking to them...and in a bit of "small world, isn't it?" as Michael and Susie talked, they realized they'd worked together for the same guy in the same theatre about 30 years ago!

Tom was in his element at the barbecue pit.

And when the food was all eaten (every speck of it!), there were cake and presents and more sitting around visiting until the sun started to go down.

In all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Tomorrow my mother and I are driving north and to home. Walt is going to spend another 2 days here and fly home Tuesday night, so he'll have a chance to spent more time with his mother, brother and sister.

Our whirlwind weekend is coming to an end. It's been a lot of fun...and nice to see that after a year together, Tom and Laurel are doing...just fine.

One Year Ago:

Cross Your Heart

Some pictures from this journal
can be found at
Club Photo

Created 6/28/01 by Bev Sykes