cont.

By 10PM I couldn't prolong parting any longer. bicyclops, Cab and Ginger would be in Anne's driveway to pick me up by 7:45 in the morning, and I still had to pack. We said our goodbyes, and Askye, Kate and I piled into Anne's car and headed back to the house. Knowing my lack of focus most mornings, I packed all I could that night—well, in the wee hours of Monday morning, actually. And still I woke ten minutes before my 6AM alarm. Jeeves and I played bedmice for a while, and then he followed his morning ritual of checking out the neighborhood from both bedroom windows, while I stripped the bed, dressed, and finished packing, very quietly as Kate was still sleeping in the other bed. I took a last long look around the room with its angled ceiling, its dormer, the attached sitting room and bath, with the tree-filled skylight and sun-painted ceiling, and went downstairs to wait.

Coffee was already made--bless coffeemaker timers!—and I sat down to catch up on email and b.org as much as I could. Kate wandered downstairs, yawning, an hour before my estimated departure time, and two hours before hers. I suggested she say goodbye now and go back to bed. To give her credit, she hesitated, but the logic was inescapable, as was the need for more sleep. Anne woke, and we talked a little, but right on time, the bicyclopses and Ginger were in the driveway, my things were being loaded in the trunk, and I was hugging Anne and Askye goodbye, and climbing into the back seat with Ginger. We stopped for gas, and then Cab navigated a multilane stream of morning commute with a bravery I find sadly lacking in myself. The worst of it past, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast, and then hit the road.

Conversation followed its own course and made the hours pass quickly. We made excellent time, and had reached my driveway by midafternoon. We unloaded my stuff, gave them a chance to stretch a bit, and then they were off for the second, almost equally long, leg of their trip. I schmoozed my own kitty, who found Jeeves' scent on my things intriguing. I did a little desultory unpacking, and took a nap. Waking up in my own bed was momentarily disorienting. I have yet to completely unpack. I think somewhere the thought exists that as long as I don't, the experience isn't completely over.Someone has already asked can we do this again this weekend? And there are plans afoot for a couple of other mini-F2F's soon. The beat goes on.

Thank you for sharing your write-up, Beverly. Your F2F sounds like you had a delightful time. Your warmth and kindness comes across so well in your writing. I was very glad to meet you, such a pleasure.

So--CAN we do it again this weekend?

G- um, h- no. JohnS, meeting you was fun, too. Are there pics of you in your tiara? If not there should be. And have you worn your Indian cotton suit at home?

I think I've seen a pic or two of me in my tiara (which I received from EpicTangent back in the Fall exchange). I should have had some pictures taken of me in my outfit with tiara before I melted into a puddle. Silly of a creature adapted for cold to try to dance energetically in a tropical swamp, but there you have it. I both survived and had fun.

I haven't worn my outfit yet here. It has been low-60s cool, since I got back, but there will be opportunities.

Ahem. Want to see more pictures. Need them like a methadone fix for Buffista withdrawal.

We lunched at the Senators' Grill downstairs in the hotel. Not bad. Not exceptional, but not bad, and the company couldn't be improved upon: Deb, Vortex, Anne, Ginger, and me. I don't remember Kristin being there, I think she was sleeping the sleep of having spent the wee hours touring DC monuments in the clutches of the Gropemobile.

Bev, I'm wounded. Not only was I there, I left the viewing of Muffin Buffalo, which I had not yet seen, to come down and have a farewell lunch with you lovelies, since I knew that Deb, at least, was going to have to leave!

Okay, I'm not really wounded. I was on the far side of the table from you, I was next to the Miracleborns & Co. table, and I am a bit wee. I imagine I was easy to miss.

In any case, I loved reading your account of your time at the F2F. How wonderful to have a narrative like that to capture your time!

ETA: Also, what Teppy said. Did Sean say he had pictures? And also also, it has been grey and rainy and 50's and 60's since I got home and I'm jonesing for the sunny roof deck.

Did Sean say he had pictures?

I believe he does, but he's actually off working. Some priorities *he* has....

Bev gives backrubs? If only I had known....

Bev, you actually helped me move the tables around, to make room for Kristin at our end....

Okay, I'm not really wounded. I was on the far side of the table from you, I was next to the Miracleborns & Co. table, and I am a bit wee. I imagine I was easy to miss.

I remember that you were there. Of course, you were sitting across from me.