Sunday

A little chaotic -- my wife's sister, niece, and mother came for Sunday brunch. I knew my wife was freaking out a bit when I saw her vacuuming at 8 in the morning, but when I saw the china on the table... Oh, and it turns out that teasing about vacuuming in such conditions is not that good an idea.

I exchanged notes with the mother of the ex-guest (I'm going to have to come up with a better way of referring to her) about the possibility of visiting with her family in France next summer. (She sends notes in broken English; I send notes in Google-Translated French. Though I'm working on it...) Prior to this, I'd never have considered making such a trip. I don't really want to see Paris (if for no other reason than that I don't want to get into discussions about Did you see.... oh, you really missed something great!). But the town where they live? Yeah, I think so. There's lots of pretty scenery there, and I hear the people are friendly.

Perhaps I'll keep Google Translate on the toolbar for a while yet.

I was thinking about extravagance the other day. I'm not exactly sure what got me into it. I know that though I'm very conservative with money, I can think about spending it in amazing ways. The bedroom extension. The utility room addition. The lap pool (inside a covered addition, of course). All of these have drifted through my mind, and I like to think about having them. Spending the tens of thousands of dollars to make them happen, not so much. Not nearly so much.