pre-dinner reflections on the last night at oriole lane

We've got some great pics forthcoming from the travels we've been on with Nicole around the Twin Cities this past week (she's more dutiful and timely than us; see here). Aside from the deranged sculpture park we stumbled upon today, my favorite place we've been is the Interstate State Park that straddles Wisconsin and Minnesota. The St. Croix river cuts in between steep cliffs that are pocked with glacial potholes. The "potholes" range from six feet deep with algae glazing the tops of the ponds left inside to massive gashes that are a little dizzying to stare down into. Unfortunately, Christopher was unable to damn the man so he had to work during this particular adventure.

We're slated to head out of their welcoming and comfortable house tomorrow. Destination: Badlands. We're still trying to finish the curtains. Nicole taught me how to use a sewing machine last night and our zig-zaggily hemmed curtains are ready for grommets that we'll use to attach them to suction cups (this stroke of genius came from dyed-in-the-wool idea gal Nicole). Tim and I haven't killed each other yet over the curtains but we have continued our pointless arguments over them and a few other oddities. I seem to have some terrible affliction in which I get completely irritated by his suggestions and then feel awful later when I've botched something up which would have been fine if I'd listened, e.g., I mismeasured a curtain so now we have to be a wee bit creative with how to hang it. Aside from the fact that arguing about something like curtains with your best friend sucks, I find it extremely frustrating that we are having such a hard time collaborating and working as a team. I *do* think that we've gotten better but that seems like a small consolation at the moment.

The crux of it is that we both want to be right, neither of us wants to make a mistake, we feel the stakes are high, and we want to be in control. Surely this shouldn't be so difficult to figure out. Har har. And yes, I know all the things that we're supposed to be concentrating on and I know what's most important, but while we ride out this tension together I think both of our hearts are feeling a little bruised.

Enough of all that...you can tell what's on my mind. The good news is that we've been cuddling up with the new cat in town at Nicole and Chris's: Marco, a sweetie pie from LA. We've been served amazing meals by our unendingly generous friends who have shown us how to do things like glass art (it's not fusing...it's something else where you get to play with torches and explosives) and sewing. We got to look at a full suit of armor every day for the last week. We got to see some sights inside and outside of the Twin Cities. We mailed 18 pounds of our stuff back to Catye's again and got rid of another huge box in the van. We laughed a whole lot in between bicker sessions. It's not all been tough. And now we're going out to a Vietnamese dinner!