important developments

Friday morning SHORTLY after posting here, I received an email from my friend C. at company M.:

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Subj: Luck of the wrong number...H. has...

M. just called me on accident since he was trying to get D. to announce that H. has had her baby!!

Labor started at 1 am and A. arrived safely at 10:42 am.
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Huzzah! SHe was going to be induced Saturday, so A. just waited until the last moment and out she popped! I left work early Friday to go visit with mom, dad, and baby. All are doing very well. H. was full of energy! Baby is so cute. I mean, cute is sort of the understatement of the year. There's nothing quite like holding a brand new baby. The lovely weight...like a little sack of flour in your arms. I never tire of wondering at tiny fingers, chubby little cheeks, wee little pout of a mouth in a sleeping face. Look at me; I'm getting all veklempt. And I'm not the only one. Upon sending photos to my parents, I received this reply from my mom:

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HIya! I was wondering if you would get prints for me of you holding A. looking at the camera and you holding A. looking down at her, what a beatific smile on YOUR face then! Dad and I just loved it, it melted us! He said you looked ten again!
Happy Christmas, dear girl! ! MOm
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Then off for an invigorating run in the dark at Green Lake with Sussespeck. We decided to stop off at Whole Foods for a treat after. "Dear Susse," says I, "We just went for a run and we are hungry. We should be sure we don't just impulse-buy whatever looks good." So we bought: preformed cookie dough balls, ice cream, a pineapple, beer, a Spanish cheese resembling a trebuchon, cheese crackers, bread, spaghetti sauce, mac'n'cheese, and soda. Very conservative, really.

Then we had leftover croquettes and jicama/cucumber/chile/lime, and proceeded to CHristmas cards and (for me) Christmas gift wrapping.

Saturday found Mr. Marmot and I on our way to Wenatchee on a beautiful clear morning. Finished writing all the Christmas cards I had with me. 67 completed, 23 to go. Must make calculations and rewrite spreadsheet for next year...

Arrived in the 'Snatch and off we girls went to Maurices. Semi-teeny bopper chain only found in small towns (in Washington, anyway.) Bought two tops (buy one, get one half off!), a belt, a pair of earrings, and a blue flower pin. (Broach? Brooch? Pin sounds so tiny and this is a weighty thing.)

Then off to pick up Auntie M. and up to Leavenworth. Looked in some shops, bought hot chocolate and listened to the carols, and the hourly "OYE! OYE! OYE!" of the town cryer. They let small children from the crowd come up and sing carols unaccompanied. Highlarious, as you might expect, what with the malapropisms in the lyrics. At 4:30, after much waiting and the purchase of a fleece to go under Mr. Marmot's shell (he was getting cold) they LIT all the Christmas lights, first in the trees, then on the faux-Bavarian chalet buildings. Say what you will about the faux-Bavarianness, and I will on occasion, hundreds of Christmas lights really DO IT. For me. Will try to post a photo here forthwith.

That night, we proceeded to Wenatchee's primary pasttime in the winter months: consumption of large amounts of domestic light beer. I was "on fire," according to Mr. Marmot. After warming up at Scott's, we went to Joe's Log Cabin, the site of one of the alleged racist incidents being noised about in the press lately, where we had no competition for the pool table nor the juke box. At one point I started protesting my exclusion from the pool and reminding the group (mostly men) about the passage of Title Nine. Then on to the Roaster. It hit me, as I stood at the bar waiting for my Bud Light, that a small town is very convenient. Most of the people who were out in Wenatchee that night were at the Roaster. So you were likely to run into people. Of course, this could be problematic if you did *not* want to run into one. But that stuff is a matter of fate and/or karma, because in a city the size of Seattle, one runs into the wrong people with some regularity. If you know what I mean.

(NOTE: Sorry about all the initials up there but you can't be too careful, and besides it makes me feel like a spy. Cha cha.)