Whistle While You Work

Day 2, the first full day of freedom, er, long-suffering vigil, as Basil and Catherine travel with the choral groups to compete at DisneyWorld.

It has been a good, productive day. Working against the backdrop of hammering and the on-again/off-again hum of a compressor while Catherine’s bedroom gets a face-lift, I was able to push through a chunk of the ever-growing list of work tasks.

What a luxury to have an uninterrupted train (bus?) of thought. Pathetic, I know, but I’m betting you can relate. Heck, at this rate, I might actually be able to exhale before the weekend is over. If tomorrow’s romp through the closets doesn’t kill me, that is.

Unlike a lot of people (including the two who share my house), I revel in the quiet and enjoy time alone. I used to only half-joke that I could be a hermit; indeed it is one of life’s great ironies that I have chosen career paths that involve talking to strangers on a regular basis.

Early today, my phone kept up a steady stream of text-messages and photos from Florida. Without time to converse, Basil and Catherine each relied on their fingers to do the talking — actually Basil was much more prolific than Catherine, which I take as a sign that things are going well.

Top on his mind was the Disney coffee, which at $3.69 for a medium, tasted like socks. (I made sure he knew that my own cuppa joe, brewed in our kitchen, tasted terrific at a fraction of the price, and that I could sip it in my pajamas.) He also had a lot to say about the $8 hot dog.

Below is the first picture he sent. And really, I don’t know what to say about it, except that a better wife than I would keep it hidden from public view.

There are no words for this photo. Except to say I'm glad they got their outfits coordinated.

The photo made me a little wistful, and not because it is so silly. Lilo & Stitch was the first movie that made Catherine cry (when Stitch finally had to go home). Having been raised on Bambi and Sleeping Beauty, I understood her heartbreak as she gazed up at the big screen in the former movie theater on Greenwich Avenue (it’s now an Apple store).

Around noon, Catherine sent a photo of herself with Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid — her all-time favorite Disney movie when she was a little girl. (Oh, we liked it too: What’s not to like about a singing crab and a beautiful girl chasing love and life on the other side? Wish we could all get our sea legs and discover our true voices, yes?)

As can only be the case when you are 16, meeting Ariel was one of Catherine’s quests for the trip; I’m glad it happened on the first full day there.

And yes, I’m a little envious, too, especially since she posted it on Facebook along with a picture of Cinderella castle captioned, “My new house.”

The phone’s been quiet for a while now. Although they spent the morning in the Magic Kingdom, they are now at the competition. I hope it’s going well.

Meanwhile, I have my own magic to make … in the laundry room.