(From P's Diary)
February 24th
London M&G at Cafe Rouge.
What a stroke of genius to hold this meeting at the favorite watering hole of people from Sony. Have to thank E again for watching Sony HQ for weeks until she figured it out. Was a little disappointed that Melissa and Alex begged off at the last minute but was more than thrilled that AS decided to come. He's so much handsomer in person. Swoon!!! I had my photo taken with A, of course, but forbid anyone to post it under threat of banning.
March 17th
Off to another meeting at Susan's house in Blackburn. It's been almost three whole months since our last visit. I've been going through withdrawal! This time we took birthday gifts instead of housewarming gifts or anniversary gifts. I gave Susan an autographed photo of the two of us holding the first quilt, with my face obscured by a sporran. And R, that trouper, graciously quilted Susan a flak jacket. Well, anotherfan actually did all the quilting, including a lovely embroidery of Balmoral Castle, representing Her Majesty's Secret Service. But it was R's idea: “If we quilted Susan a bulletproof vest....”
March 20th
This morning I led a tour group to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes. Heads turned when all 26 of us sat down in the pews. I'm told it was a nice service but I was too busy watching Susan pray to notice.
We all went off to the Livingston Inn after mass to celebrate Susan's birthday. Susan seemed reluctant to join the line dance but she had to because we didn't give her a chair. A few of the ladies swept her along in their merry jig. Texans have such interesting customs.
The Texans didn't bring Flat Susan (they said something about her getting too close to a barbeque pit) but Real Susan filled in very well for her missing twin. She was just like our very own living doll! We had her dancing for what seemed like an eternity. Later we all had our pictures taken while hugging her. One of the ladies even sat in Susan's lap! She enjoyed all the attention even when it seemed like she didn't.
Once all the fun was over, R presented Susan with her 42nd quilt. As usual, she regaled Susan with a fairytale. This one was about a troll, an ogre and a gargoyle who made a magical quilt for a fairy princess, then tricked the princess's guards into taking her to a dark and scary place so that they could give it to her. All of us roared with laughter!
Then Susan whispered something to Joanne and suddenly they were out the door. They almost forgot the quilt but R ran after them and shoved it into the back of Susan's car. And that ended our perfect day.
Thank goodness we get to go back on April 1st for Susan's birthday and on April 11th for the BGT anniversary. I'd hate to have to wait until November for another visit!
