So. What did you guys think about the Oscars? Kind of a snooze, I thought. When I watched Seth McFarlane announce the nominations, I felt like he was singularly unfunny, and nothing really dispelled that opinion last night. The Michelle Obama part was pretty cool, though. I vote for Tina and Amy next year.

We all focused on recovery this weekend. I'm still fighting an upper respiratory thing, and I'm debating heading to the doctor today. I am getting better, but I'm not well yet and it's been three weeks now. But the doctor is a haul from here and it's such a hassle. This shouldn't be a decision, but for some reason, it is. We stuck with bland food Friday night but braved an oyster roast/fundraiser for a friend of ours who is running for local office on Saturday. The event was held at one of my favorite locations in Norfolk (see that view in #7? not shabby) and it was a misty, cold and drizzly day. To my mind though, this is the quintessential Norfolk oyster roast: steam rising off the grill, trays of hot oysters and rolls of paper towels, bottles of hot sauce on all the tables. It should be chilly and misty (and if the crowd is small enough, there should be bloody marys, but that's for another day). There was a pig at this event too and live music doing Grateful Dead covers. It was a great afternoon, and we were thrilled for our friend. Thrilled for our city too, to see so many young adults come out and get involved in the civic life of our community. That's exciting.

I've been working on a river series of photos in my 365, and my original goal had been to get a shot of the river from its vantage point near our home on Fridays because my commute is shifted a bit to allow me the time. Callum's ski accident a couple Fridays back messed up that plan one week in (this is how things always go for me!), so I got a shot Saturday that week. Okay, so maybe weekend river shots? Because this Saturday I missed too, using this shot instead. Sunday morning, I woke up to early fog. Nobody else was up, so I threw a coat on over my jammies and snuck down to the river for my weekend shot. I'm glad I did it, but I was sleepy for the rest of the day.

Poor Callum stayed mired in make-up work all weekend, but I made him muffins, and Neel hung our Valentine's gift: a photo of all three of our girls, each as their best selves. And then we come full circle, back to the Oscars. We watched with our neighbors who have a new baby. Pizza on the grill and some salad. Some wine and dip and catching up. Slow-moving Sunday. Those are the best, aren't they?

I can't thank you all enough for your sweet and funny comments about our recent travails! I'm hopping on to respond to all of your comments now, but thank you, thank you. We have one more week to get through before Spring Break...I think we might just make it!