The Visible Woman...December 7, 2003

Three social events for an afternoon and evening. Will we even make it to all three? Nope. The second one is too much fun.

It's a good chance to comment on the modern party in Austin, Texas. Parties differ in all kinds of ways. Who is invited. Venue. Time of day. Food. Drink. Activities.

The first event was fun and interesting. People were invited who had made donations for a dancer to by a resident at the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble last summer. There was tea and wassail (or that's what they called it...it was something hot they were offering with spikes of rum...I didn't have any and I thought wassail was mulled wine) and snacks and a video. It was at two in the afternoon. We took a bottle of red and a bottle of bubbly but they were just left there for the hostess. The venue was the Casa de Colores which is a friend's house of colors with a Santa Fe feel and many Indian collectibles as well as collectibles from other primitive cultures. The group consisted of people associated with this group and the donors. It was a small deal and pleasant and the video showed a good performance and, after that, essentially some home movies with insider jokes that was a little tiresome. However, since our next party was at five and nearby we were happy to tarry.

The five o'clock event was billed as 'stop by my house for drinks and snacks.' We took a bottle of red and bubbly there, too. The snacks were great...fruit, olives, cheese, salami, ham, lox. One guest bought these fabulous cookies from Central Market and there were other sweets. There were three other guests and the hostess. We immediately fell into talk about the arts. The hostess is a successful songwriter. The other guests were involved in performing and producing and directing live entertainment. The talk covered many bases, personal and professional. Bottles of wine disappeared. First the red (guests) and a bottle of white (the hostess). FFP switched to coffee and water as the DD. Bottles of champagne disappeared.

We never gave a thought to trying to make the six to nine 'come and go' party at our club which is over-attended every year because the food is free. We were having too much fun making good conversation about everything from gender issues to pets, from songs to cities. My kind of party where conversation sustains the flow even as you enjoy food and booze and examining the art and artifacts in an interesting person's home.

a real party has real conversation	parties It's the holidays. There are parties. Parties are interesting. Three social events for an afternoon and evening. Will we even make it to all three? Nope. The second one is too much fun. It's a good chance to comment on the modern party in Austin, Texas. Parties differ in all kinds of ways. Who is invited. Venue. Time of day. Food. Drink. Activities. The first event was fun and interesting. People were invited who had made donations for a dancer to by a resident at the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble last summer. There was tea and wassail (or that's what they called it...it was something hot they were offering with spikes of rum...I didn't have any and I thought wassail was mulled wine) and snacks and a video. It was at two in the afternoon. We took a bottle of red and a bottle of bubbly but they were just left there for the hostess. The venue was the Casa de Colores which is a friend's house of colors with a Santa Fe feel and many Indian collectibles as well as collectibles from other primitive cultures. The group consisted of people associated with this group and the donors. It was a small deal and pleasant and the video showed a good performance and, after that, essentially some home movies with insider jokes that was a little tiresome. However, since our next party was at five and nearby we were happy to tarry. The five o'clock event was billed as 'stop by my house for drinks and snacks.' We took a bottle of red and bubbly there, too. The snacks were great...fruit, olives, cheese, salami, ham, lox. One guest bought these fabulous cookies from Central Market and there were other sweets. There were three other guests and the hostess. We immediately fell into talk about the arts. The hostess is a successful songwriter. The other guests were involved in performing and producing and directing live entertainment. The talk covered many bases, personal and professional. Bottles of wine disappeared. First the red (guests) and a bottle of white (the hostess). FFP switched to coffee and water as the DD. Bottles of champagne disappeared. We never gave a thought to trying to make the six to nine 'come and go' party at our club which is over-attended every year because the food is free. We were having too much fun making good conversation about everything from gender issues to pets, from songs to cities. My kind of party where conversation sustains the flow even as you enjoy food and booze and examining the art and artifacts in an interesting person's home.
JUST TYPING Party. Is it people? Food? Drink? Alcoholic drink? Glasses tinkle. Chatter ensues. This time of year. Lights twinkle and decorations abound. What is a party? The silence and dirty dishes when it's done? The feeling that you know new people and new things about old friends? The hangover?
		Food Diary. *breakfast* nothing *lunch* about four ounces of sauteed beef with A1 sauce salad of greens and spinach, mozzarella, tomato and Marie's Bleu Cheese Viniagrette *snacks* about ten crackers with a bleu cheese pie spread some strawberries three or four cookies of various kinds wine, champagne salami olives cheese and crackers prosciutto wrapped garlic sticks *dinner* nothing Today I - ate way too much party food and drank too much wine
		Time flies.... I'm using a new version of Word and Access this year. And, yes, they made the labels even harder to figure out than before and that was a feat. At one stage I had the laser printer printing the most amazing junk. I wouldn't have believed it. And I never figured out how to do something (not leave a blank line if a field was blank) that I swear was a click away with the old stuff. Go, Microsoft. You are expensive and bad, too. I'd like to bend that paper clip until he breaks in two. So I wasted time on that and on trying to 'perfect' the Christmas card copy I'd written with the help of my editor, FFP. Then I was in a rush to get to the club and workout before I had to get some lunch and dress for the festivities. We arrived for our first party at 2PM and after a brief stop at Barnes and Noble arrived at our next just after five. We never got to the third party (which was 6-9PM at our club). Which was just as well. This second party...just a few people for 'drinks and snacks' was a fun one...lots of conversation and getting to know people. That last party was a cattle call and might not have been that much fun. We certainly had a ball in front of the fire having conversation. Except I drank too much (FFP was the DD and switched to coffee and water early on...I wish I had).

		Reading. The Secret of D-Day on the bike. I also read a little of Afternoon of a Writer before falling asleep.
		nothing
		Exercise twenty minutes on the recumbent bicycle my leg, back and bicep exercises
	. .	Felt good today.
	It's a Tangled Web we weave...these days of our lives.	One year ago "We head to a neighborhood just north of the university. We end up getting points." Two years ago "The front of the PAC has this graffittied flag. It looks like something we would have been arrested for in the sixties."