As indicated in the last post, I spent a lot of time in the company of other humans this weekend. The birthday party was low-key, but attended by a bunch of people I didn’t know all that well. That said, we spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting with our elders, and watching the birthday boy’s septuagenarian mother put the pro-choice smackdown on a couple of her conservative male peers.

That was pretty cool.

Saturday’s gathering at the farm was likewise low-key, though much larger, and we spent a nice afternoon chatting with our friends in the shade about not much of anything in particular; mostly simply being there as an emotional anchor for what was a difficult emotional day for them.

Upon arriving home, I finally managed to meet the kid the eldest is dating. Seems like a good kid, and makes her happy, so all’s good there.

And honestly, that much social interaction was enough for this introvert who is good at faking it. To recharge, Sunday morning included a long solo ride, putting 41 miles on the Trek and, sadly, giving myself an unpleasant case of saddle rash, thanks to a proper mix of heat, humidity, sweat, spandex, and skin.

Oh well, all told, I put a little over 60 miles on the bike over the weekend, and added another five to the soles of my shoes on Monday morning hiking along the river to give my ass a chance to heal up a bit. I’ll give myself a shorter one this afternoon to knock out the last dozen miles or so of the VCT summer challenge and put that to bed.

As for the week ahead? I’ve got the usual (work, exercise, etc), plus I’m booked to record my streaming 2×10 for the DragonCon filk track virtual program, and have tickets for, of all things, an Iron Maiden Tribute Band, on Saturday night, which, honestly, should be a blast.

But for now, it’s a day full of conference calls and all the cats yelling at me because the clock is approaching feeding time.