A Satisfying Weekend

Sometimes a weekend will disappear, fizzling dismally and subsiding in a puff of smoke, with insufficient spark to ignite. You know there was a weekend. You saw it coming. It was written on your agenda, but procrastination, failed plans or lethargy extinguished it into an in-salvageable and unremarkable space saver stuck between Friday and Monday.

My weekend was better than that. I kept my, now regular, Friday Evening Date with Gary Cooper!

It was getting dark early and producing some messy squalls of rain. Traffic had a few more hold-ups than I had planned for so it was a bit of a race to change into my riding gear, feed and walk the dog and get up the hill to the barn without being tardy. Despite rain, dark and a mudslide or two on the canyon road, there were still a few (fool)hardy cyclists pedaling away, brightly colored plastic ponchos a-billow. I avoided collecting any new hood ornaments and took my accumulated adrenaline with me, transformed into a bubbly mood, as I climbed on for my precious dose of horse.

Back down the hill, a quick shower and a make-shift dinner; something leafy and something hot with bread and wine and cheese. We made some inroads into the pirouette cookies, filled with hazelnuts, that I got at the liquor/grocery store when I scampered in to purchase dog food, on my earlier trajectory home. We dip the cookies in our wine glasses. Dip, crunch, enjoy, repeat.

Are the cookies a vehicle for the wine or au contraire? I'll need to buy some more to further test my theory.

Saturday decided to expose some blue sky. I woke up and congratulated myself on the absence of aches and pains, old or new; a very liberating feeling. I fed and walked The Canine One and made a quick jaunt to work to meet a client who surprised me by being punctual so it did not consume my whole morning.

I was able to visit the grocery store and switched my planned evening dinner menu to beef brochettes, as there were no appealing whole fish. (Possibly an oxymoron?).

I chose some fresh ginger, garlic, brown mushrooms, zucchini/courgettes, cherry tomatoes and a beautiful golden bell pepper. I marinated the beef as soon as I got home, adding salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, Worcester sauce and a slug of Laphroaig Whisky. (Laphroaig is perfect for barbeque).

My weekend goal was to refresh the hanging of the paintings on our walls. Hubby's paintings are hung on every wall all over the house. We hang Studio-Style, which means fitting as many in as possible in a harmonious way.

I start by visiting all the artwork, especially new pieces that have recently emerged. I select a couple of key pieces and, in order to place them front and center, must first remove a dozen other pictures from the main wall of the living room. The ripples of change flow outward from there. Color, shape, size and subject matter are all considered to create a balanced impression. A new space on that wall may be perfect for a painting that was previously in our bedroom. The new void in the bedroom can't just be filled, all the bedroom paintings must change places; some stay, some go into another part of our home.

I had one of those "What the Heck! Why Not?" moments and decided that the furniture must be rearranged as well. The Canine One was sticking close all day with her "Are we moving again?" face on.

As the afternoon wore out, I was making progress but far from done. Our dinner guests had a flat tire so I went to pick them up. They had been warned what I was up to. They approved my progress so far and we turned to the serious business of serving wine and lighting the barbecue.