Poetry with the president

I can’t believe it’s already April! This week was too busy to even attempt an April Fool’s posting. I didn’t really get much of a weekend. Monday my bananas were bad, so I tried out a new banana bread recipe with yogurt in it. It was gorgeous, delicious and moist. Unfortunately, the loaf rose and rose…and then fell a bit. The bottom third of the loaf was squidged. The thing is, the top two-thirds of the banana bread was so delicious, I think I’ll use the recipe again. I guess I’ll just be gentler with the loaf.

Wednesday was interesting because I was invited to a poetry reading at the house of the president of Old Dominion University. My entire poetry class was invited, and our teacher, Luisa Igloria, warned us to dress up. Some of my more casual classmates were a put worried by this announcement, but I already knew what I wanted to wear: my graphic-pattern cream and black wrap-dress. Then, that morning I stepped outside to walk to work. A wind hit me, and if I’d been wearing the dress at the time, the neighborhood loiterers would have seen my unmentionables. Not good. Not good at all.

Suddenly I was left searching my closet for something appropriate. Everything involving pants was either too casual, too clubby (slinky,etc.), too big or ink-stained (one of the dangers of being a writer, I guess). All of my dress pants are hemmed to be work with sneakers. Sigh. I let down the hem of my black dress pants, put in a lower hem and pressed them, then managed to come up with a tank top, button-front shirt and jacket combo (enhanced by a necklace from Carolina) that was perfect.

When I got to where my class was meeting, I was more dressed up than they were, but I think they were underdressed compared to the other people at the reading. Of course, I believe in erring a wee bit on the side of overdressed. The teacher hustled us over to the President’s house so early that we actually beat the catering crew there! The president was trying to make conversation with us, and some of my fellow poets are not so into the social-butterfly-thing. Huh. I did my best to help the conversation along, and soon other guests arrived.

I ate some glorious cheese with dessert of truffles and chocolate-dipped strawberries. I schmoozed with several people…a few of whom, my teacher subsequently told me, were major benefactors to the program. “Oh!” I replied, “Then I’m glad I was nice to them!” Hee. Then came the actual reading, and the poetry was lovely, as was the president's garden (see photo above) and view (see photo further above).

In other news, my roomies and I re-signed our lease and each got a $100 voucher off our first rent payment of the new lease year. Hooray! Easiest $100 I ever made. Also, Moxie lost her last flower. I snapped this photo a little while ago, but now she is just a lovely cluster of fuzzy green leaves. Poor Moxie.