Give me the glow

Pardon my hiatus, but Robert got back over the week- end, and things got busy fast. My time's not quite my own when he's here.

He loves being out and about, so there was Sunday brunch with a Tennessee mash-up: his old prom date and her husband, and their childhood friend Lulie (baptized Lula Bell, I swear) and her husband, now from big-D Dallas, and her parents.

And then the Oscar party at Steve and Paul's house, where I actually got to see at least five minutes of the Oscars, but then sat through an hour of home movies of painfully bad lip-synch drag.

And then cocktails before dinner here the next night for the same bunch, except the guests didn't go to dinner and I kept feeling as if I had to keep bringing out food.

And then the share-dish at Dwight's, because his mother and stepfather and uncle are leaving tomorrow and wanted to see us again, and the dozen and a half other people who showed up.

These are all nice folks, mind you, even the woman who was all too happy to display nether piercings that remind me why some things used to be called private parts, and the ones who ask again and again how various parts of my own anatomy are sized. All things being equal I'd rather be at home on the deck.

This is how it looks with the garden lights we finally got installed. Soft-glowing, quite private, serene. I just want to lock the door.