Plans

We had the dog with us yesterday after church because Andrew’s parents were spending the day with his mother’s relatives and we did not want the dog to have to stay home by himself all day.

It was fun having him again, because he is very amusing and very affectionate. He is also very good company (if you can stand having him up in your face all the time).

When we were away, we all missed him a great deal. He’s an integral part of the family and it was painful to be separated from him.

When we picked him up a week ago Saturday, he was so excited to see everybody that he barked uncontrollably and jumped in circles (and lost control of his bladder). We were excited, too, and we had to spend half an hour settling him down before we could take him home in the car.

Andrew and I did lots of cooking yesterday, but we managed to find time to take the dog to the park and run with him and play games with him. He had a fun day.

Last night Andrew’s parents joined us for dinner and helped us eat some of the mountains of food we had prepared. The dog helped us eat some of the food, too.

We seem to have a lot of things coming up in the next three weeks. Next weekend Andrew and I plan to see David Mamet’s play, “Speed The Plow”, at Jungle Theater. We also plan to attend a performance of “Un Ballo In Maschera” at Minnesota Opera.

The following weekend, a three-day weekend because of Columbus Day, we will be in New York visiting Andrew’s older brother and family. While in New York, we plan to catch a performance of the Mascagni/Leoncavallo double bill at New York City Opera.

As soon as we return to Minneapolis, we will see The Royal Shakespeare Company’s performances of “King Lear” and “The Seagull” at the Guthrie Theater, which is hosting the RSC. Tickets to the RSC performances in Minneapolis have been sold out for months, and we are eagerly looking forward to the performances.

I can’t believe it is almost October.

Even though it seems that July was just last week, we are already in the midst of making holiday plans. Andrew’s brothers are talking about coming home for a full week at Thanksgiving instead of coming home only for a long weekend. They are thinking of making a week of Thanksgiving this year because Andrew and I will be gone for part of the Christmas holidays (Andrew and I plan to spend part of the Christmas holidays in Oklahoma with my family).

When I look at the calendar for the rest of the year, I cannot believe that it is almost full. We have something scheduled for practically every weekend between now and January.

I get exhausted just looking at it.