If we were like everyone else in our neighborhood we would have spent Memorial Day outside, taking advantage of the gorgeous weather by doing some serious work in the yard. I admit I felt a little guilty every time I stepped – however briefly – outside as I watched everyone else ripping and digging and trimming and weeding. The neighbors to one side of us were uprooting little trees that had been springing up in the middle of their flower beds, while the neighbors to the other side dug up one entire side of their front yard and put in a lovely new bed with trees and shrubs and lots of mulch.

Richard and I, however, did not lay a hand on anything to do with the yard – green or otherwise. As a matter of fact, we spent most of the day inside. I’m not entirely sure what Richard was doing – likely writing – but I spent most of the day at my computer, doing XML. I’ve got until the 6th of June to finish all the assignments for this class I’m taking through the University extension program, and they’re taking longer and longer to plow through as I work my way through the book.

We did get the requisite Memorial Day barbeque worked into the weekend, although it was on Saturday and not on Monday. Saturday afternoon we headed off to my parents’ house for one last dinner with the whole family before my little sister flew home on Sunday. It was the second time in three days we all gathered together at my parents’ house – Thursday night we had a very early birthday celebration for my dad (his birthday is actually in June, but my Mom wanted to take advantage of having the whole family in one state). On Saturday night my dad made ribs and Richard helped him grill the salmon for my mom (whose new knee, by the way, is doing much better), and my little sister the baker made brownies and trifle for dessert.

Otherwise, this has been a relatively quiet weekend, working on XML, petting the cats, doing chores. We gave the downstairs a badly needed cleaning – Richard vacuumed up embarrassing quantities of cat kibble crumbs and I scrubbed down the bathroom. I bought a pair of cute ballet flats that are almost identical to ones my little sister has, just because I liked hers so much. Richard got a new something or other for his computer that will let him burn CDs and DVDs. I made gingerbread pancakes on the electric skillet and washed a huge pile of dishes. Richard did a much needed grocery run. We even got up early on Sunday morning specifically so we could go check out the farmer’s market that runs every Sunday, year round, in a huge parking lot underneath the freeway, just to see what sort of thing they might have. Somehow it just did not feel like a holiday weekend at all. But then again, I didn’t need it to.