Various.

During mom's visit, I took her to Grapevine. It seems as if my slogan should be - Come Visit! I'll Take You To Grapevine! We did that Monday afternoon, before I had to take her to the airport. Sunday we went to a movie, bought shoes (fabulous shoes), and watched the last part of the race.

Speaking of races... hee hee. My boy won. My friend H. grew up with NASCAR and was willing to watch Sunday's race with me. It was fun to watch with someone. I need to find some NASCAR buds before the season starts. Any one game? I'll teach you all that I've learned in the last 8 months... which is quite a bit. It's good to amaze yourself, isn't it? I've learned the basics about the cars and the players on the scene, now my intent is to learn more about the cars. A year ago, if you had told anyone but me that I would express an interest in learning about race cars, you would have been scoffed at. (I just couldn't find a way to not end that sentence with a preposition, we all have moments of weakness.)

Monday I learned that ice is inherently slippery. As ever, I aim to be a font of useless knowledge. There is a layer - as thin as one molecule deep - on the top of the ice that is in a semi-liquid state. The colder the ice, the shallower the semi-liquid layers. Hockey players like the hard ice because it's faster, figure skaters prefer softer ice for better landings.