So, I was sitting at my desk this morning, going over some documents in great, eye-straining detail, when I got a wonderful surprise: DeeDee! She'd mentioned coming down for a visit several weeks earlier, but then said no more about it. I thought perhaps she'd changed her mind, or that something had come up, so I wasn't sure if I'd see her this weekend or not. Turns out she had just gotten too busy to e-mail.

DeeDee, M. and I had lunch together at Nucci's, and made plans to spend Saturday afternoon seeing "The Passion" and making a trip up to Casa de Caballos to pick up our March shipments, and do a little wine tasting. DeeDee showed us pictures of her property and her horse, and I must admit I got a bit envious. The place is beautiful! It's all green with lots of trees, a river nearby, and the only neighbours are a couple miles away. That's miles, people, not feet! Not even yards! Miles! It looks and sounds wonderful and peaceful and just like paradise!

When I got home, I broke the news to my mom that I'd be taking tomorrow afternoon off to go hang out with DeeDee and her entourage, rather than helping put together my numerous Q-bits, and softened the blow with a bag of M&Ms. Naturally, mom didn't care one way or the other, and she was happy that DeeDee had made it down for a visit. Mom had already put together the plain cubes, and after dinner, the two of us assembled a two-drawer cube. We're going to try to get another one or two done tomorrow morning before I go, then will spend all day Sunday doing the rest. If I have to, I'll skip Curves on Monday night, and come home and put something together. Little by little, it's getting done!

Reading: You've Got to Read This ed. by Ron Hansen. This week's stories are "The Dead" by James Joyce, "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka, and "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" by Delmore Schwartz. We only have one short story to workshop this week, so Marc is bringing in some samples of query letters, rejection letters, and stuff like that, and he'll discuss the publishing process.

Classic Book: Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.

Previously: Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Listening to: Nothing.

Writing: Nothing.

Gratitude: Visits from far away friends.