I've been lazy this morning (big surprise): tooling around online, chatting with a friend, sipping herbal tea, and generally putting off doing housework. I did manage to take out the trash, so, go me. *g*

I watched Ted Kennedy's funeral on the telly, and had tears from his sons' eulogies, and a few smiles too at their recollections. Yo-yo Ma was wonderful, as always. I remember seeing him play with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga: my aunt & uncle couldn't stay for the concert that evening, so my dad's friend Bill (DePasquale, who is in the Orchestra) got us into the closed rehearsal. The musicians tapped their music stands with their bows as he entered, and they 'clapped' by drumming their feet after he played. They really respected him. That evening, he came outside backstage and talked with all the summer music students, completely humble and down-to-earth. He's as wonderful a human being as he is a musician.

After taking out the trash, I noticed a neighborhood regular sitting in my living room window.



I see her around a lot, and she's quite friendly. I think she lives with one of my neighbors, which ticks me off a bit because we're not supposed to have pets, but whatever. She's a sweet kitty. I'm sure she's doing her best to keep down the squirrel population in these parts. *g*

Tonight is Conjure Cinema, and Evil Uncle Walter has a real rarity for us this time: The Magician, based on the book by W. Somerset Maugham and supposedly based on Aleister Crowley. Should be a treat.

Now, I must steel myself to do some cleaning. Much as I hate it, it must be done. What are you all up to this rainy weekend?

I set the alarm for this morning, which was a good thing, because I was really tired and would never have been able to make it to Vinnie's dad's funeral on time otherwise. I'm very glad I went, for Vinnie's sake, even though it was hard to see this family grieving again so soon (his mom passed a few months ago).

We all went to the Cavalier restaurant in Chicopee afterward for brunch, and it was good to catch up and hang out with folks (many of whom are here on LJ. Hi!). It was a comedy of errors finding the one door that was open.

I wished I'd had time to take a nap afterward, but I wanted to go to the monthly Meet & Greet because it was likely that Donna, whose nephew passed last weekend, would be there; she was, and she gave me a lovely neck massage to boot. It was a little tight, not surprisingly. It was good to see her and give her a hug.

I have The Hunger from Netflix for this evening; I haven't seen it in more than 20 years, and it came up in conversation last weekend, so I thought it would be fun to watch on a chilly October night. It's going to be a really chilly one, too.

I'm hoping to get out and take some pix of the foliage tomorrow, and get some laundry done, too. Wish me luck!