tea time

I had high tea with friends today. One of their moms is visiting and treated us. I tried vanilla souchong, cinnamon cacao, and chestnut teas, with a vegan quiche, cinnamon scone with margarine and mango puree, and a plate of tea sandwiches. My first time, I didn't know what to expect and didn't expect a vegan option. I ran errands afterwards in a haze like I'd left a bar, which didn't happen until later in the day. I washed the car, picked up groceries, then stopped at the library.

A few weeks ago a neighbor texted there had been a shooting on a trail we hike, which I thought about walking down it Wednesday. It rained Tuesday and the trail seemed busier than usual for a chilly weekday morning, which I thought was maybe not unusually busy for a day after rain that seems to draw people out. I thought cold air, work, and trauma would keep people in. We walked a little longer than I thought we would, and I thought I had no excuse not to at that point.

I ordered a laptop power supply last week so I have one for travel and operational redundancy. It hasn't arrived yet, nor has my willingness to unplug and plug and pack and unpack the one transformer I do have. So I left it home before tea time and when my battery died a few minutes into my time at the library I left to retrieve it and walk back to check messages and download three days' worth of newspapers. The back and forth stirred up the dogs, who thought my return heralded attention and their freedom.

Going to college in north Jersey I'd cross the river to meet guys at NYU, which I thought about last night meeting a local who'd graduated from there. The dogs met him too and spent their night piling on him after a park walk with a neighbor earlier in the day. So I argued today that I was not guilty of depriving them of attention or freedom and that I was free to attend a neighbor's happy hour, which I did after a walk around the boro. There I met about 12 of her gym friends, one of whom I knew from firehouse trivia and one with which I talked about grief and movies.