A nice weekend

It's Columbus Day, the end of it. It's been a good weekend.

I've already written about the new column. The only other thing I'll say about that is that I worked pretty intensely on it for 4 days last week, putting the final touches on this week's entries yesterday. I'm not even thinking about next week's entries right now. Well, no, that's not true. I'm just not actively working on them until Wednesday afternoon.

I subbed for the music director at my church this past weekend, playing piano for four masses. I'm also on deck for this coming weekend. I enjoy it, although I'm a little disappointed with myself that, after making a big push in September to try and get myself ready to play the organ these two weekends, I decided I wasn't ready. I'm only a little disappointed, though, since my practice time was eaten up by the new column. Priorities, and besides, piano worked just fine. I'll keep plugging away as I can on the organ, and will do it, eventually. Better to be fully prepared than to practice in public. Also, I'm not fully convinced that looking in the mirror to see what's going on in the sanctuary (since I'd be backwards in the loft) won't give me vertigo and make me fall over the railing. Better to sit solidly on a piano bench at ground level, for now. Safety first.

We didn't really do anything remarkable this weekend. The boys had soccer on Saturday and Abby had her musical theatre class. Oh, I did take the kids to see Casper the Friendly Ghost at the library on Friday, which was fun. Earl and I rented a movie -- The Last Station -- on Saturday, and enjoyed it immensely. I really thought I would hate it, but I didn't, and I've been thinking about it, off and on, since we watched it. It wasn't a typical, snowy, depressing Russian movie. Much to think about and to enjoy, including some fantastic performances by Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.

The weather was glorious all weekend, and we spent some time outside, too, most notably this afternoon, when we took a short hike in the Blue Hills. We really should do that more often. It's so wonderful to get out and enjoy the golden leaves and light.

I declared yesterday a diet holiday, and also rolled my way into a diet holiday extension today. Back on it tomorrow, though. I also blew off going to the gym in favor or changing over the kids' wardrobes from summer to winter. So it wasn't the healthiest weekend ever, but it's okay. The clothing changeover needed to be done, and the hike probably burned a couple hundred calories, anyway.

Back to school tomorrow, for everyone. Back to healthy eating, too, which would be easier if I didn't like Oreos so much.