endless socializing

Saturday: Up around 9. Christine had packed up, and was heading out, sporting a new look with her hair. I said a sleepy goodbye. Shower. A little difficult knowing how to fit things into the morning, since I wasn't' sure when Victor was arriving. Briefest of sittings. Down basement and found the GR-1. This took longer than I thought it would, since I had forgotten that I had grouped it with some other older music gear waiting to be sold. MB helped me clean it up a little. Put it in its original box and taped it up. Nice its going to a good home. Also put together the flyers. Walked over to the Post Office. A man waiting in line became very agitated because a woman hadn't filled out her forms before going to the desk. Most people seemed to just smile, because the guy was obviously a character. One of the PO workers, seemed to let it get to him. Another ridiculously nice day out. The condos that have been built one street over are on the market, a real estate agent standing waiting for potential buyers, looking a little anxious.

MB had headed out to pick up her friends A and G. A slightly longer sitting. Victor called to say he would be late. Down basement briefly. Lubricated some door hinges. Began cooking brunch. Victor came by, and we made the GR-1 hand-off. MB, A and G (who are up from South Carolina, unfortunately for a medical visit) arrived. We had a lovely brunch. Tours of the house and the yard were given. A and G are both very decent and kind people. It was a pleasure getting to know them a bit better. Had a very involved conversation with G about the new heating system. And process design in pharmaceutical manufacturing. A big friendly, slightly cross-eyed Siamese cat from the neighborhood, who told us (via his tag) his name was 'Turbo,' can sauntering into the basement. I called the owner to make sure he wasn't lost. He wasn't. After sitting in my lap a little while, he wandered back outside and lay under my car.

We gave them a ride back to their hotel around 4. Several roads around that neck of the woods were closed due to a Red Sox game. Back home, some nice hanging out time with MB. The friendly fellow Gio, who bought my father's lathe, stopped by. We had several involved conversations, about his moving back to Italy, a house project I'm going to undertake, the shifting Somerville landscape, and so on. We invited him in for tea. He's going to stop by tomorrow around 3 to help with the repair of the roof of my car.

After Gio left, I headed down basement for daily practices, as MB prepared for her belly dance performance. She left while I was still at it. At 8:30, I emerged, and drove off, heading to the same place. At the Kasbah in Winthrop, met up with A, G and another friend Ivn. MB danced for us, as we ate dinner. A small girl sitting to my left was transfixed with MB's performance. Ivn is possibly interested in learning to play guitar in the New Standard Tuning, since she used to be a cellist, and would like to play guitar, but didn't want to learn a new tuning. This is a funny inversion of the experience most players have when entering Guitar Craft: NST is a shock to the system. For her, it would be the comfort of the familiar. A most pleasant time.

Around 11 we departed. A and G, with Ivn driving, followed me back to route 1 A, where they turned left, and I turned right. Back home, coffee, guitar, email and now this. MB returned around 1:30 AM. Now it's 2:30.