Rudi and I leave for England three weeks from today.

We have: one dress and one suit for wearing to a wedding, one night’s lodging reserved for us by the soon-to-be-wedded cousin, and two plane tickets.

We do not have: a rental car or train tickets, nine night’s reservations at hotels, a wedding gift, or an itinerary (except for Saturday night, when we will be going to the wedding in the Bristol area).

Methinks that we’d better get cracking on that…

… the doctor’s office neglects to tell you they won’t be giving you your test results until you call and make a follow-up appointment?

At least they had the decency to apologize when I called to find out why I hadn’t heard anything…

Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t bring my yarn, because I can only think of one point when I could have squeezed that into my packed schedule.

Otherwise, it was a nice weekend. Karen and I got a chance to have lunch, pick peaches, and stand in the rain for an hour. I apologize publicly to Michael for getting in the way of his evening plans… I hope you both were able to reschedule/revise the fun.

I got to see some extended family members I haven’t seen a while at the reunion on Saturday. Some of them not in years. Others were unable to join us, but it was still great to see those who could come. And we got to meet Caera, the new (canine) addition to my uncle’s family. What a cute puppy!

Danny and I got to explore New London County together today. We ate Ocean Pizza (real burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth, fresh-out-of-the-oven Connecticut pizza!), wander through the Arbo at Conn, and watch ducklings body surf at Avery Point at sunset.

And the dress passed muster with Mum, Dad, and Gramma. I’m done shopping for clothes (maybe) for this fall’s weddings. Hooray!

I’m beat, so I’m going to toss stuff into my suitcase and hit the hay so I can catch my plane back home early in the morning.

But I’m so glad I came. It’s the good sort of tired…

You just have to get up really early and catch a train and a plane and an automobile.

I’m home in Connecticut for a family reunion and to catch up with some old friends. I also meant to do some knitting, but the needles and yarn got left behind on the couch in the last minute throes of my pulling things out of the bag and adding a few more.

Probably just as well. This will force me to do a little more sleeping instead.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. When Karen and Michael came to town last week, we were looking for cool, veggie-friendly food for dinner. When we got to Lebanese Taverna, I was dismayed to discover they’d gotten rid of their page full of vegetarian food. Or at least I was until I realized there was another page of the menu tucked under a flap I’d missed. Dinner was great.

2. I took the first six episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard out of the video store the other day. Rudi and I watched the first two episodes last night. It definitely wasn’t a deep show, but boy was it enjoyable!

3. The extended Burrow family has had a few more trips to the hospital in the last week than usual. But the good news is that we don’t believe any permanent damage has been sustained by anyone, and some unhealthy behaviors may change as a result.

In the last three months, I have been to New York City twice to see musicals.

I love musicals, but the trip to the Big Apple doesn’t thrill me.

Now comes the good news that this winter the musicals are seeking me out: the Kennedy Center will host Wicked and the National Theatre will put on Les Misérables, my favorite musical of all time.

Rudi hasn’t ever seen Les Mis, and I haven’t seen it since I was a senior in high school, when I caught it twice — once at the Shubert in New Haven with a friend and her family and once in New York with my French club at a performance starring Debby Gibson as Eponine.

I love the music of Les Mis. It’s only sheer willpower (and the fact that it’s approaching 3 a.m.) keeping me from digging it out now and blasting it.

Hurray for touring companies!