Starting the weekend

There's something about that quiet time late on a Friday afternoon. The work week is pretty much over. I'm done with court and meetings for the day. My desk is lousy with work, knitting patterns, tech stuff and, well, it's a mess, LOL! I will pretty soon be cleaning up this area, trying to figure out what to do with the pile of books with which I've recently increased my knitting library and putting away some projects so I will continue to work on one or two and hopefully make some meaningful progress:). I've spent a lot of money this week on clothes and I am feeling terribly guilty. Remember my rant yesterday about not finding skirts? Well, I went to a shop in Pikesville called Lexington Lady and they had Everything. on. sale. On. Sale!

But right now, I'm enjoying the quiet time. John is still sleeping - he works graveyard shift and has a chance to sleep, so I'm not waking him. The two youngest of our progeny who live with us are out working at their house-sitting gigs. The quiet is strange, but nice.

This came in the mail today:

Another Thing On Sale. And it will be the genesis of what I hope to be a lot of Christmas gifts- although I should have begun them some time last February, LOL! Knitpicks makes some nice laceweight yarn.

The weather has finally broken. It actually felt like autumn today, cool enough that I was glad for the ubiquitous blazer instead of tolerating it as (1) courtroom garb and (2) coverage for fat arms. Even court wasn't so bad - actually quite routine, no contested hearings for me today. Once in a while I can be very happy with that:)

Next week I have no hearings because we have our statewide CINA Conference, called the C.A.N.D.O. Conference (Child Abuse, Neglect and Delinquency Options) Judicial Conference more formally. It's sponsored by the Aministrative Office of the Courts and we are to be there in Ocean City for two days of rip roaring fun. OK, just kidding. But it is good to see people I know who practice this kind of law in other counties throughout Merlin. Merlin, after all, has only 24 counties, yet each has its own, shall we say - flavor? I've been in courthouses in 8 of those counties, some to be honest only once. But some of my dearest friends and colleagues will be there, to say nothing of our firm (a great bunch of people), so I am looking forward to it. Ocean City will be fairly quiet this time of year, which is actually quite nice if the weather is good. We'll be pretty busy those two days, so I doubt I'll do much except sit and knit demurely (NOT) in my hotel room.

What's always interesting about these things is how quiet the judges are when they mix with us. I suppose they have to be careful not to express an opinion on one side or the other of a particular issue - excepting discussions about the court process and other, similar things. It is nice to see them in a more relaxed environment, though. Most of our CINA Masters and Judges in the county where I practice are fine people and I think for the most part we all enjoy cordiality among all of us both in the Bar and the Bench. We all may disagree in the courtroom, but afterwards, we can still be civil to each other and that's a good thing.

I don't have Stephen Ministry tomorrow - instead it's a four-hour opportunity to really practice the Lauridsen. We are getting close to show time! Those extra rehearsals help so much. Later, provided (1) it's not raining and (2) I've gotten my cleaning done, I'm going to try for a walk, with John, with Nancy, with both or alone. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Well, I'd better get back into the reality zone. Have a lovely weekend, dear 2.5 readers:) and may God be with you 'til we meet again.

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