Welcome to Coffee Hour, that daily space where we grab a beverage, a snack, and spend some time hearing about each other's day. Oh, and sharing what our lunch, dinner or other meal plans are :-).

I'm over here on the comfy chair, feet up after 5 solid days of walking all over Disney and Sea World...

Welcome to Coffee Hour. Grab a glass of lemonade or iced tea (sweet or unsweetened, check the pitcher label!). If you're looking for a bit harder, there's margarita and mojito makings over on the side table. I've got some amazing roasted corn/jalapeno salsa left over this weekend, and Mr. Brillig whipped up a batch of guacamole, so grab some chips and a chair and tell us what's going on in your world today.

On Saturday Casa Brillig took our annual trip up to my friend Peter's house. His family's cabin on the lake, to be exact. He's been throwing a party there for 20+ years for his college friends. I met him at a friend's wedding in 1990 and thus get invited even though my undergrad was elsewhere. Over the years it's evolved from a weekend blowout with much alcohol, gaming and a trek into Boston to dance, to a heavy-on-the-bottled-water day party because the kids have to be in bed at a decent hour :-). We missed last year's because some conference was happening in Chicago and we decided to go :-),  so it was great to see all these people we never see otherwise.

I'm determined to be better about keeping contact with everyone during the year; I was reminded on Saturday just how nice they are. Finding smart, caring, sane, interesting friends with similar values is not easy, and to have them and not deepen those friendships, now that's just a waste. I have another interested party in this... Kid Brillig made friends with another of the Next Generation, and it would be nice to let them be in touch.

Do any of the friends of your youth have any sort of similar gathering? Can friendships be meaningful even if the contact is infrequent? And most importantly, what do you eat and drink at these sorts of things?!

Yup, it's an Open Thread, so feel free to chat about anything!

Welcome to the Friday Random 10, StreetProphet's weekly music discussion group. Grab a beverage of your choice from today's Happy Hour thread, pull up a comfy chair, and start thumbing through the records, 8-tracks, tapes, CD's and mp3's lying around. If you're not into music, here's some noise-canceling earplugs- they'll filter out the music while you stay and chat with us about other stuff :-).

If you are old enough to have been around... where were you this weekend, 39 years ago? I hear you scratching your head, wondering how the Purgatory you're to be expected to know that, when you don't remember what you had for lunch last Tuesday.

Well, this one is easy...

Welcome to Coffee Hour, the Street's place to relax and unwind for a few minutes. Grab a beverage, a snack, and tell us a bit about your day!

The snacks today are yogurt, ice cream (soft-serve only) and soup. Why, you ask? Well, Kid Brillig had a dentist appointment this morning and they pulled her two upper baby canines to make room for adult teeth. As a result, that's her diet for the next day, so I didn't want her to feel left out.

So, next Thursday Casa Brillig heads off for a very impromptu vacation. We never do this kind of thing, but... late last week my sister called to tell me she was marrying her fiance, and they were eloping. I said "hey, we should meet you and then KB can see her cousins..." and out of that, a whirlwind 5 day trip to Orlando was born. We fly on the 21st, spend two days at Disney, two at Sea World, then fly back. Pray* for us :-).

We'll be having soup tonite for dinner, obviously... what are you eating and drinking?

Well, I had a lovely weekend. I was at the Boston-area meetup that PoliSigh described yesterday in her Sunday Brunch, and it was in fact wonderful. We all had a great time chatting, hugging, eating (I was stuffed!!) and drinking (mmm, sweet tea, and homemade mead... separately, of course :-)). Then, I was lucky to have Irish Patti spend the rest of the weekend at Casa Brillig. In all the years we've been friends, this was her first visit to us, and we had a blast. How can any weekend that includes coffee, sushi, ice cream, framboise lambic, lovely stilton and gouda, and side-by-side blogging NOT be fun??

I am constantly amazed at the friendly, smart, fun, loveable people I've "met" via here, DailyKos, Second Life and other online places then met in person. It's not all so long ago that I would have wondered what people would think when I said "I'm going to meet some people I met on the internet." Now, I may have to explain a bit about why I trust y'all, but I never think about not saying where I know you from :-).

I am off to yoga class tonite, my Monday ritual for many years now. It releases tension and stress and I am always happier after.  What is it in your life that eases the tension and stress, and that you look forward to each week?

As always: Open Thread means talk about whatever you want... but do tell us what you're having for dinner :-)

Welcome to the Friday Random 10, StreetProphet's weekly music discussion group. Grab a beverage of your choice from today's Happy Hour thread, pull up a comfy chair, and start thumbing through the records, 8-tracks, tapes, CD's and mp3's lying around. If you're not into music, here's some noise-canceling earplugs- they'll filter out the music while you stay and chat with us about other stuff :-).

There's no small amount of irony in that the week I'm up for penning a Random 10, I've had the music mostly turned off. The iPod is somewhere in my purse; the radio hasn't been on since I shut the alarm off this morning. This StreetProphets tradition of a Friday music diary has always been about the music that moves us, and why. This week, what's on my mind is...

Welcome to Coffee Hour, that minute or twenty where we kick back, relax with a cup of something soothing and a tasty snack (today's treat is Kid Brillig's favorite, Rice Krispie Treats!) and share the goings on of the day, of our lives, and most importantly what we're having for dinner :-). If you're new 'round these parts, you couldn't ask for a friendlier place to get to know your fellow Prophecy Street residents!

I promise I haven't breathed on the coffee, tea, or Rice Krispie Treats... I had someone else set them out, 'cause I have the dreaded Summer Cold. I think a combination of Netroots Nation (I was supposed to sleep?), the swim meet this past weekend (did I mention we had to get up at 4:30am both days?), and an insane amount of mental stress from a variety of angles combined to send me over the edge. I've got the sniffles, cough, and all that good stuff, sigh.

So, tell me what's new and good and interesting in your lives? Mine... well, the best way to describe it at the moment is that it is. Which is always better than the alternative, but some good news cheers us all, and I've heard it's as good (almost) as chicken soup is for the common cold :-).

As always, this is an open thread!

Welcome to Coffee Hour, the part of the StreetProphets day that most reminds me of the lobby in the hotel in Austin. I come here, find friends to chat with, have a snack and a drink, and a laugh or three, and learn stuff I wasn't planning on learning.  What more could I ask for? :-)

I"d love to say I have a wonderful coffee hour planned with pictures and reflections and whatnot about my time in Austin, but the truth is our flight was so delayed that I only got in at 3am, my luggage has not yet arrived (it took a scenic layover in New York) and I got 3 hours of sleep. Suffice it to say that the service was spectacular, that StreetProphets should be darned proud of the quilts that have been and will be produced, and that everyone should find a way to either get to Pittsburgh next year, or come via Second Life.

Kid Brillig is thrilled to have us home, always a gratifying thing :-).  So tell me... what are you all having for dinner? It's gotta beat our meal du jour... takeout pizza. Until I grocery shop, takeout is our friend.

Welcome to the Friday Random 10, StreetProphet's weekly music discussion group. Grab a beverage of your choice from today's Happy Hour thread, pull up a comfy chair, and start thumbing through the records, 8-tracks, tapes, CD's and mp3's lying around. If you're not into music, here's some noise-canceling earplugs- they'll filter out the music while you stay and chat with us about other stuff :-).

Live from an undisclosed location a hotel in Portsmouth NH, I bring a special Late-Night Edition of the Random 10. If I'd been more organized I would have had it written in advance, but life intervened as it often does. Kid Brillig is at a 3-day swim meet, had a great first day with two more morning sessions to go. When I say morning, I mean "in the water at 7am" morning... I'm just glad there's plenty of coffee available nearby!

I had a whole list of music we love to listen to whenever the progressive community in Second Life gets together... but I left it at home :(.  So...

Welcome to Coffee Hour, that minute or ten twenty where we savor a cup of something soothing, grab a snack, and chat with our fellow Prophecy Street residents about matters great and small. If you're new to the Street, welcome! Take one of the special mugs or cups (leftover red white & blue from our outing to the fireworks, thanks for helping me recycle them!), give us a hearty hello! and we'll make extra sure to greet you!

Kid Brillig and I are enjoying a week home together! She is not going to summer camp the next two weeks- this one because she did not want to do the field trip to a water park, and next week 'cause she'll be with her grandparents while Mr. Brillig and I are in Austin.  So today we did a 4-mile walk around a local lake, then spent time relaxing at home. We've got playdates, swim team, and a trek to see a friend's band upcoming, then we head to Dover, NH on Friday morning for a 3-day swim meet... put in a prayer for nice weather as the pool is outdoors!!

So- what's on your agenda for this lovely summer week? And as always, what are you having for dinner? :-)

Welcome to the Friday Random 10, StreetProphet's weekly music discussion group. Grab a beverage of your choice from today's Happy Hour thread, pull up a comfy chair, and start thumbing through the records, 8-tracks, tapes, CD's and mp3's lying around. If you're not into music, here's some noise-canceling earplugs- they'll filter out the music while you stay and chat with us about other stuff :-).

This is an early edition of the Random 10, because Casa Brillig is on its way to the banks of the Charles River in Boston to snag a choice spot, hang out for the day, and relax until the Boston Pops take the stage for their annual concert.  Then we watch the most massive fireworks I've ever seen up close and personal with 500000 of our closest friends!!!

Making this possible are the visiting friends who are going with us- you need a minimum of four adults so two can wander and someone stays with the blanket and cooler.  To reward them- and 'cause it's always fun to peek at someone's music library- today's Random 10 is a shuffle of the contents of my friend Tim's iPod....

Welcome to Coffee Hour, that minute or ten twenty where we savor a cup of something soothing, grab a snack, and chat with our fellow Prophecy Street residents about matters great and small. If you're new to the Street, welcome! Take one of the special mugs or cups (red white & blue this week), give us a hearty hello! and we'll make extra sure to greet you!

I'm very excited about this week... I love fireworks, AND we have guest coming into town to go see them with us.  Now, going to the fireworks may not sound like a big deal, but we're going to the Esplanade in Boston to see them. We won't get seats to see the Boston Pops; no, those go waaaaaaaaay early, and we have two kids to drag with us. No, we'll wait til maybe 10am, and go get seats on the banks of the Charles River, right in front of where the fireworks barge is parked.  We then occupy ourselves until night falls. It's been a decade since we had people willing to go!!

The next day, I'll be inworld in Second Life for a fireworks display over the Statue of Liberty. I've seen a preview and they are indeed spectacular.

What are your plans for the US Independence Day holiday?