Carmen weekend

Carmen came over to spend last weekend with us, and it was a wonderfully happy time. She turned up (in Beatrice the car) on Friday after dinner, just as the rain was beginning and the dark had fallen. Rio was overjoyed to see her, and excited to see her reading pile extended with some books that she was giving us to lighten the load when she moves across the country; she got to bed rather later than normal. Fin and Carmen and I went out to the shops for crisps and so on, and the thunder was huge and magnificent and the smell of the rain surrounded us; we splashed around and through the puddles and got pretty wet. When we were safely home and watching the lightning, the adults stayed up pretty late too; we didn’t get to bed until three what with one thing and another.

Saturday morning was a drenched cleansed world. We went into Philly so Carmen could get her first tattoo, at No Ka Oi; the tattoo is a compass rose, on her back, and is beautiful. It took about an hour and a half and she bore the pain with admirable fortitude. (She hasn’t posted pictures, or I’d link to them.)

UPDATE: She has posted a picture; here it is.

Rio wasn’t allowed in the shop, so she and I went to the Shoe and she bought herself a children’s book, counting out the quarters. When we came back, Fin took Rio and brought Alex and me lemon cakes while we waited. After that we went back to the Shoe and bought a badge and a book and a shirt saying “Nobody knows I fuck women”, and then went to my favourite steak shop, Jim’s Steaks on South Street, for lunch. The parking meter was showing a DHCP error (no, really) and took too much of our money away. When we got home, Carmen took some photos of me, which I might post later.

Sunday mostly involved eating grilled cheese, talking about website design and infrastructure, hugging lots, and saying goodbye. We will probably see her again before she leaves, but it was a sad farewell nonetheless.

I could tell you what I’ve been fixing in Metacity here, but at the moment I don’t feel like writing it up. Maybe later.