random thoughts – Day 1,179 – (Friday) – clouds and fun

This day had a lot going on.

During the afternoon, there was more dumping of yard waste and dirt over the embankment to Beaver Brook. This time, the perpetrator was a woman and her helper from three or four houses up the street. They were doing some heavy gardening and digging, and a mini convoy of a wheelbarrow and a wagon loaded with dirt, roots, and wood chunks were rolled multiple times to the end of the street, pushed and pulled and heaved up the embankment, and dumped out. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if not for the noise of the wheels on the asphalt and the chatter. I’m not even sure why the dumping behavior bothers me so much, but it does. Maybe it’s building the embankment higher and serving as improved flood control and I should be thankful.

The clouds got dark. 

Around 4:00, the clouds gathered and it got darker and darker until they were a charcoal gray. The house was so dark I had to put the light on the office. The clouds moved overhead quickly and the sky brightened and I thought it was done, but that was false hope. Thunder began to rumble and the great power washer in the sky opened up full blast around 4:30.

Within about 15 minutes, the street in front of The BungaLowell and the driveways on each side were under a couple inches of water. It was alarming. A cluster of helicopter thingies from the trees swirled over the storm drain. By 5:30, the storm drain had caught up to the flow and much of the water had receded.

This was good news because I was headed out to the Merrimack Repertory Theater gala that began at 6:00. I was a last-minute seat replacement for the bank’s sponsorship table. I didn’t even know much about the event beyond the time, location, and seeing “Elton John” mentioned somewhere which seemed to call for a bit of glam. After trying on two pairs of dressy pants, at least five camis, and four jackets, the black sequin baseball jacket was chosen. The blue sequin tux, the pink and gold metallic tux, and the jade bolero were returned to the closet. I didn’t want to overdo it.

Ha! There was no “overdoing it.” Apparently there had been some magical memo or a dress guideline floating around that people near me in the check-in line were talking about and that I didn’t know about. Several people took the glitz suggestion to heart and arrived in feather epaulets, gigantic rhinestone glasses, and every manner of shine, glitz, lame, and sequins including loafers, hats, and head-to-toe suits. It was dazzling. I didn’t need to hold back after all. Imagine what I could have done had I known.

I fell in love with one woman’s silver sequin flare pants with a thigh-length wrap tunic. They were the toned down brushed sequins, not the super shiny ones, and the drape of the fabric was beautiful. It was quite stunning. Of course, now I want a sequin pantsuit. Maybe two. ‘Cuz you never know when you might need one in a hurry. Or maybe that’s just me.

The piano was ready for
the songs of Elton John.

There was dinner and a bar, a performance from the Elton John show, auctions led by a magician who was very funny, then an encore, and dessert. It was fun to spend time with bank colleagues and a room full of people in fancy clothes and hear some songs. Overall, a great night.