has August always sucked?
August 18, 2014

I am really beginning to hate summer.

I haven't had a good one in so long that I can't even remember. There's always something. Actually, there's always LOTS of somethings.

And this year, we have: my mom dying--which is the big one. And the one that puts a lot of the little ones into play, as well. Such as having to be away from home for five weekends in a row. Having to deal with my brothers and my sisters-in-law, which can be more trying than I can really explain. Having to go through her stuff with/for my dad. Having a lot of travel to pay for, when I am pretty close to the bone, moneywise. Having to put my poor pup in the kennel every weekend. And having to do all of this while being in kind of a sh!tty emotional state. My relationship with my mom was extremely complex when she was alive, and death has done nothing to simplify things.

One of those 5 weekends--last weekend--didn't have anything to do with Mom or Dad, but even though it was "fun" time, it was still kind of exhausting, and didn't give me a chance to recharge. I really need to recharge.

It was time to collect on our anniversary gift to each other. Back in April, Spouse bought two tickets to a concert and pre-paid for a hotel room in Madison. We "agreed" (i.e. "he wanted it and I agreed to it because I couldn't bring myself to give enough of a shit not to") that this would represent the anniversary present.

Of course, back in April, we didn't know that my mom was going to die at the end of July. But the plan was set up, and paid for, and we went. It was fun enough. A nice drive through the southern WI countryside on Saturday, a trip to the big Farmer's Market on Capitol Square, lunch, checked into the Hampton & had a nap, and then got cleaned up and took a quick 3-block walk to the Overture Center for the Steely Dan show.

Which was the best one I've been to in years, actually. We had nosebleed seats, but the view was good and Spouse had his binoculars. The opening act was amazing, the band was awesome, Becker & Fagen were brilliant, and it was all over and I was stretched across my bed in my nightgown by 11:20.

On Sunday morning, I lazed and Spouse hot-tubbed, then brought coffee & danish to the room. Once we were up, we got dressed & packed and went down to the restaurant in the hotel to eat. The restaurant specializes in brunch, and Spouse contacted them ahead of time to let them know we were celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary and ask if he could make a reservation. They replied that they would see to it we got a table, even though they don't take reservations.

Well, they did--and when we got to it, they had one of their famous donuts (a cream bismarck) with a lit candle in it, and a lovely card signed by the staff!

Spouse had a frozen screwdriver, I had a lovely Bellini, and we each ordered breakfast. Spouse, having an aversion to the exotic, ordered a regular American breakfast--eggs over, home fries, bacon AND sausage, with white toast. I went for the unusual--
Savory French Toast 8.95 Sourdough bread dipped in a Parmesan cheese-herb batter and topped with crispy bacon, baby arugula, grilled onions, a sunny-side up egg, and a drizzle of hollandaise

Both were amazing. Mine was a divine creation, and Spouse's was a rather exalted version of the standard. The basic breakfast, taken to the extreme of quality in ingredients and preparation. I ate one of his sausages, and it was the best I've ever had, north of I-88. As an added treat, when the check came, the restaurant had picked up the drink tab. Wonderful place!

After breakfast, we hit the road for home, stopping in Whitewater to do some shopping at the Walmart--needed dog food and some other stuff. Got home about 1:00, and I jumped right on unpacking, laundry, and putting away all the goodies from the farmer's market. We just chilled for the rest of the day, and grazed for dinner.