Saturday, January 3, 2009

They’re back!


(photo courtesy of www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com)

I didn’t blog for an entire week. Knowing that Mrs. RWP and I were going to be taking a little trip to Alabama to visit our daughter’s family, I very shrewdly prepared posts in advance for December 29, 30, and 31 before we left. Fooled ya!

We had intended to return on Wednesday to avoid the phenomenon known as traffic-on-the-interstate-on-New-Year’s-Eve, but on Monday afternoon I suggested to Mrs. RWP that we stay until Thursday so that our daughter and her husband could “go out and do something” on New Year’s Eve and we could stay with the grandchildren. Hardly had these words made it out of my mouth when our son-in-law telephoned with some unexpected, exciting news. A local radio station had called to inform him that he had won two free tickets to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra’s New Year’s Eve concert at the Alabama Theater, complete with holiday masks, a champagne toast, and a balloon drop! Even better, he had been chosen as the V.I.P. winner from among the twelve winners of tickets and was also being given a one-night’s stay for two in a king-sized room at the Tutwiler Hotel in downtown Birmingham!

So while the children’s mommy and daddy whisked themselves away for an evening of adult-style fun and games, here is how Mrs. RWP and I spent New Year’s Eve:

5:30-6:00 p.m. - Pizza for the boys, leftover tortellini for us.
6:00-7:00 p.m. - Played Yahtzee.
7:00-8:00 p.m. - Played Sorry!

The original plan, drawn up by the boys, also called for playing Clue! and playing Checkers (no exclamation point required), but as often happens, the plans changed. We tore ourselves away from the board games and the evening continued:

8:00-9:30 p.m. - Watched reruns of America's Funniest Videos until I could stand it no longer.
9:30-11:00 p.m. - Watched DVD of Kung-Fu Panda.
11:00-???? - Watched unidentified motorcycle daredevil leap onto and off a ten-story building in Las Vegas; watched big crystal ball drop in New York’s Times Square; watched former president Bill Clinton kiss Hillary Clinton in Times Square; watched Hillary Clinton kiss Mayor Bloomberg in Times Square; watched various and sundry anonymous couples kiss in Times Square; watched motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel (son of Evel Knievel) jump over a volcano at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas. Yes, you read that right. A volcano.

And then it was bedtime for all.

But life did not return to normal. After we returned home Thursday afternoon fully intending to resume blogging, our computer decided not to grant us access to the Internet, and it stayed obstinate until earlier today, when our son drove over, figured out why, and told it to cut out the funny business.

So, regarding the Rhymeswithplagues, as that little girl up there said in Poltergeist II, and I quote, “They’re back!”

And you didn’t even know they had gone!


(Photo by Sam Morris)

You were expecting maybe Mount Vesuvius?


9 comments:

  1. You're back -- Yay!

    I hope your children had a wonderful time on their adult night out. Nice of you to stay over.

    I read your comment re: pyracantha. In home gardens, most are espaliered, as was yours in Florida. They are very beautiful that way, and under much better control. The one I photographed has been shaped into tree form, and stands more or less alone in a very large bed in a park.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome back. Happy New Year.

    You did better than I did on New Year's Eve. I fell asleep on the couch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i noticed you were gone, yep i sure did...when my computer acts up i say to it, 'CAN I DO THIS OR THAT, AND IT SAYS I DON'T THINK SO BOB, JUST LIKE ON ODESSEY 2000, WHEN THE COMPUTER WOULDN'T LET BOB BACK INTO THE SPACE SHIP...I DON'T THINK SO BOB"...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy New Year, everyone!

    Pat - Not being a gardener, I have never before encountered the word "espaliered" so already 2009 has not been a total loss.

    Ruth - But that's the best way to spend a staycation!

    Putz - Very funny, Mr. Barlow! You crack me up! And if my computer starts saying "I don't think so, DAVE" I will know for sure that I've entered LaLa-Land one time too many!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy New Year. You rang in the new year just like I did....with the grandchildren. We toasted with sparkling cider, ate cookies we made earlier and honked our car horn at midnight. Out here in the wild blue yonder we can do that. Only the chickens heard.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just for the inquiring minds that want to know...RWP's daughter and son-in-law had a wonderful New Year's Eve/ New Year's Day thanks to a little luck, a gift card to our favorite restaurant, and the babysitting skills of Nana and Grandpa ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. How nice of you two! And silly games is what family holidays is all about, isn't it? Is Clue! the same as out Cluedo?

    The Mirage volcano wasn't working when we were in Vegas. :(

    ReplyDelete
  8. Continued Happy New Year greetings!

    Egghead (Vonda) - We didn't even think of sparkling cider (how old we have become!) and we had eaten up the cookies earlier!

    Angela - Our babysitting skills have been honed over many years....and I forgot to mention the gift card to the restaurant!

    Jay - I have never heard of Cluedo -- it must be a British thing. I do know that what we call "Chutes and Ladders" you call something like "Serpents and Snakes" (that doesn't sound exactly right)....

    ReplyDelete
  9. I knew you were gone......"Canton, Georgia" was not showing up on my Feedjit list.

    ReplyDelete

<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...