Camp Grandma..

For the first time in weeks I feel like my brain is starting to fire on all cylinders again, although there are some lags and sluggish moments.  I have not quite caught up on sleep, and I am still too busy to completely unwind, but at least I am no longer packing, no longer feeling quite like I'm backed up against a wall.

I thought I'd entertain you with a couple of photos from Camp Grandma, which happened two weeks ago (in the middle of all that packing).  Owen and I stayed in a hotel downtown one weekend, while his parents went off on their own adventures.  I could have stayed home amidst the boxes, but frankly thought a hotel would be more relaxing and more fun. 

Friday night was Grandma's choice, as I had symphony tickets.  I had promised Owen popcorn during the concert, but I don't think there was any popcorn that evening.  Some kind of sour candies were a suitable alternative.  But before dinner we went to Nama Sushi for dinner.  Owen devoured his calamari salad and made good headway with my sashimi platter as well, which was good because I needed the help.  We shared thoughts about comparative flavors of the different fish, which was a little more briny, the surprising sweetness on the tongue of certain species, and O was better at remembering which was which than I was.  Dinner was followed by the symphony, and Owen had thoughtful comments about the Chopin and the pianist's technique.  I agreed with all that but was also amazed because I think I would have struggled more with sitting through 40 minutes of Chopin when I was his age.

The highlight of the evening however was watching the rain and thunderstorm and the downtown lights through the hotel window. 

Saturday was Owen's day, and since it rained a good bit we got to do fun hotel things like order room service and watch too much tv.  We took Tikka for a walk, went out for burgers for lunch, wandered around the Rossini Festival, put on every year by the Knoxville Opera, where we got to listen to more music and engage in all kinds of fun activities. This was one of the advantages of already being downtown.  We were there when the rain stopped, and if we'd had to load ourselves into a car and drive, we probably wouldn't have made it.  We were in the movie theater watching Boss Baby when the afternoon floodgates opened however and we did have to make a mad dash from portico to awning to covered walkway before finally making it back to our hotel looking like drowned rats and doubled over with laughter.

It was a fun weekend, relaxing and worth the time.  Even if it meant once again packing up until the last possible minute, I'd do it again.