It was a busy weekend, yes, and mostly good

What? What's that you say? Wednesday night is a little late to be summarizing my weekend? Most people would do that Sunday night? Or maybe Monday?

Yeah, whatever. Most people don't get migraines, do they? Did you know that recent research has decided that migraines are more than just headaches, they're a neurological disorder? It's true, or they couldn't print it in Scientific American, right?

Which means that when someone asked why I get so many migraines, and I answered "faulty wiring", I wasn't being facetious, I was dumbing down the science for conversation. Right?

(At least I didn't tell him, "Because God hates me." That's the kind of thing you have to know someone really well before you say.)

Anyway! I'm not writing about headaches tonight (sorry if you're disappointed by that [as if]), and I'm not writing about the fact that it's snowing tonight (boo) for the first time in a few weeks (yay) and is supposed to turn to rain later (double yay), but about my weekend. The one that ended three days ago, not the one that starts in two days, in case you're having trouble following my excess parentheticals tonight. And last weekend, in the storytelling sense, started Friday night.

After work last Friday, I went to Wilson's Farm in Lexington to pick up a few things. I wasn't really thinking about it being the day before Valentine's Day until I stepped in and saw all the flowers, roses and more, as well as a lot of lovely baked goods with red or pink decoration. Ah, right! The funniest part, though, was when I was leaving and saw a sign pointing to a "drive-through". What? Wilson's doesn't normally have a drive-through ... but that night at least, if you wanted to get your roses without getting out of the car, they were set up to oblige you. Pretty funny.

Saturday I had our regular, annual "Valentine" plans with a few single friends, a movie and then dinner and hanging out. The last few years, we've had a clear choice of movie we all wanted to see, but this year the choices were less robust. We ended up seeing "He's Just Not That Into You," and I'll admit I was not enthusiastic about seeing it. Once again, though, low expectations turned out to be key. Although there was a story line I liked less than the rest (there was a scene or two that I actually couldn't watch, literally), there was also a story line that I really, really liked, and overall it wasn't bad. Faint praise, perhaps, but better than I would have thought.

And after that, the night only improved! We had a lively dinner and got to chat about shoes and ships and sealing wax, and then there was this:


Despite Blogger's mysterious predilection for rotating photos randomly and of its own volition, you can see that the dessert maker works marvels with presentation. It tasted delicious, too.

Now, I have a serious issue to discuss from Saturday. I consider myself to have a fairly wide vocabulary, so it always comes as a surprise to me to be faced with a word I've never heard of. To be honest, it doesn't happen all that often in daily life, though sometimes in the word-a-day calendar. So I was quite startled on Saturday when this happened, and all three of my friends knew a word I had never heard.

Now, a few points first:

• I am not trying to imply that my friends have lesser vocabularies than I do. They are all smart women, thoroughly educated and experienced and they all read a lot, which helps expand vocabulary like nothing else.
• One of the three insists that I must have heard the word before, and just don't remember hearing it. I can't say this is impossible, but ... I don't know. Because the word?
  

Is padiddle.

How could I forget that? It sounds like something Snoop Dogg would say.

Be honest. Do you know it?

Is it a game you played? Because although my friends just presented it as a word*, you know, like apple or lamp, according to Wikipedia and a few other sites, it's a game, like Punch Buggy.

*"Oh, you have a headlight out, you're a padiddle", like it was the most natural thing in the world. I would have been far less surprised to be called a Cyclops.

On to Sunday. I joined friends for the Bugs Bunny Film Festival, and enjoyed every minute. My only carp was that the balance was a little too much of Yosemite Sam, and only one of Elmer Fudd*, but still, it was very neat to see the cartoons on the big screen like that. And the hot chocolate at L.A.Burdick's was as good as Stacey said it would be. Definitely something to try if you're in Harvard Square. (And like chocolate, but I'm kind of assuming.)

*He got a round of applause. I was definitely surrounded by kindred spirits.

Did you have a good weekend?