After the last two weeks of being back in Alexandria, I felt that I had a somewhat routine day and one that was part of my regular routine when I am in Alexandria. I am glad I am getting back in the routine but I am about to interrupt it again as I am doing a long weekend in California starting on Thursday.

Wednesday is a set day when I am in Alexandria. I go to the 12:00 pm service at St. Paul’s Episcopal church. It is a routine I began when I retired. I like the community of the service and that it is short but meaningful for me. Previously, when I went to Christ Church, they had a Wednesday, 7:15 am service which I started attending as a Lenten resolution. I attended it for about 10 years and then the clergy decided to end the service abruptly. I was very disappointed and it prompted me to move to St. Paul’s. Unfortunately, the Wednesday service at St. Paul’s was a noon so with my work schedule it was hard to attend. Since retirement, I have made it part of my regular routine when I am in Alexandria.

One part of the service that I enjoy is that we celebrate saints and lessor feast days. Since the founding of the Anglican Church (which the Episcopal denomination is part of), the church has not consecrated any saints but has acknowledged people who are important for their faith and faithful activities. On Wednesday, we usually celebrate those people and it is interesting to learn about people I do not know about who have contributed to the church.

For lunch, I meet Tom. We have done this for a number of years. We have been able to accommodate this tradition even when I am in Toulouse as we FaceTime at east coast lunch time. So it is noon for Tom and 6:00 pm for me when in Toulouse. It is nice to have lunch with Tom as he is one of my closest friends and we chat about all topics. I think it helps Tom as with all the family activities he has, it gives him a hour without thinking about them.

In the late afternoon, I did break routine and one of my rules in life. I think it is bad to drink alone except one glass of wine with dinner and rarely, if ever, break that rule. I did break it yesterday as I had leftover lime juice from the cocktail party I had the previous evening. I made myself a Gimlet and consumed so of the left over nibbles as I watched the England vs. Croatia World Cup match. I did only have one drink and then skipped wine with dinner.

The other activity I did was pack for my trip to San Diego. I leave Thursday for a long weekend. It looks like it will be a fun weekend. I am meeting Liam, Sarah, Jake and Tom. The planned activities are kayaking, hiking in Torrey Pines and running. I am sure there will be some eating and drinking involved. The weather is supposed to be nice so that will make it even better.

I tried to pack sparingly but not sure I totally succeeded. The biggest issue is my hiking boots, they are not huge but take up room. It has fit all in a back pack which I think will fit under the seat in front of me on the plane. We will see about that.

My original flight got canceled, not sure as it was canceled in the evening before the flight but Delta immediately rebooked me on other flights and in a good turn, the flight leaves later in the morning and gets to San Diego a little later than originally planned. This is good was I was going to have to kill sometime before Tom finished work and Liam and Sarah arrive. This has cut that time down so is not a bad thing.

I booked my Airbnb for Toulouse in the fall. Laurence reached out to say someone wanted to rent it from August 25 to September 25 and I had told him tentatively that I was coming back on September 16. I was glad he reached out. I booked the stay so I am good to go back to the same place again. It is nice that he checks with me before taking bookings. I am sure my 3 month stay is good for him but it is still nice.