with your one wild and precious life

good weekend in b'more and in d.c.

i am v. tired so i need to curl up and sleep in my own bed, but first, because i know that my public expects so much of me...i wanted to post a quick shout out and thank allyall who hosted helped and entertained me this weekend.

thanks mom and dad and patrick for fetching me and for cracking steamed crabs open on friday night at chez quinn. le babies were at the beach with their mother so the original nuclear quinn family shared a meal. it was just like old times.

[and don't read too too much into that last comment, mom.]

i had a good day at the conference on saturday and shared a good meal of more crab with elsa and some other women's historians before ebb squired me to casa di quinnycanales. sinead peeled off in quick order to celebrate the birthday of bob in his basement. and i stayed with nico and some peruvians for a salsa dance party in their apartment. it was a veritable cultural explosion. and let me tell you, if nico ever appeared on "so you think you can dance?" i would have to reply: SI. he can dance. as madonna might say: for inspiration. he can get into the groove, and boy, this hombre can move.

on sunday, sinead and i practiced at flow and i was reminded how much i love to practice there. we poked around her home later in the afternoon and readied for an outing to rice.

hurrah! i think i am never so happy as when i am laughing heartily with this crew. we sat at that table in rice over some of my favorite taste sensations and giggled and chortled and laughed. i so love these pals. i am so very d-lighted and honored to share such great friends. really. i just love how we can laugh about all manner of things.

it has always impressed me that we who are in the orbit of these amazing people have come together to laugh...not because of our children, our jobs, our neighborhood watch. i also just love it that i only vaguely know about the professional lives of these pals. [mary rabatin and i used to marvel at this too]. i think it a total treat that we have forged friendships over sweet and savory dishes, bottles of beer, wine, mineral wasser, and glasses of iced tea. and i also love to shoot my karmic load with these gals on the mat.

sinead has begun tallying an activity list for my subsequent visits. she be my julie mccoy. [i fear that i am her mrs. garrett.]

i am fairly sure that by this time tomorrow, i will have developed some pictures of me treating my favorite black lab mix, madeline. and let me just type: she is so flipping well trained. i tried that stay stay stay down down down business with jasmine this p.m. upon my return home and we didn't even make it to stay stay. madeline rules the indoor world of dogs.

i popped into busboys and bartenders today before leaving town.

all in all a good visit. and a very nice appetizer for the later courses this summer.

thanks friends and family.