Hail and Shakespeare

Yesterday Russ and I decided to take Bravo for a walk in a nearby neighborhood. As we parked, we noticed there was a very dark cloud off to the west, but it looked as if it could just skip over us, so we decided to continue walking. Of course, in about 3 blocks, it started to rain. We considered running back to the car, but again, there just the one cloud, and we figured it would be over soon, so we huddled underneath a tree in the park. Well, it POURED. And then it HAILED. I don't believe I'd ever been out in hail before. It wasn't more than pea size, but still, it HURT. The storm didn't last terribly long, but of course we were totally drenched. Intrepid souls that we are, we still took our walk. And it was a nice neighborhood, but I was really glad to get home to a hot shower and a cup of hot tea.

I'm a little unhappy with B&N right now. I ordered some bargain books from their website. When they came, most of them were fine, but one book was missing, and I had a book about WWII instead of the humorous murder mystery I expected. I went to my local store, and they did have the bargain book I wanted, and were willing to make the exchange. But since I had only paid $3.49 online, and the book I was returning was priced at $4.98, they charged me an extra $1.48. Now 1) the book I was returning also showed a cover price of $4.98, and 2) I had already paid for the book I was getting. But it seemed too much effort to cancel the transaction and deal with returns by mail, so I paid it. I wonder - if I had just returned the book saying I didn't have a receipt, would they have just made the swap at face value?

Then last evening, I went to The Cromulent Shakespeare Company's production of Love's Labour's Lost. It was a free production in the park, and they did a really good job. Of course, there were the usual issues with outdoor events - noise from other people in the park, planes overhead, and at the end, several very loud sirens on the nearest street. But they didn't let any of that phase them, and I enjoyed the play very much. The weather report still said scattered showers, but this time my luck held and there was no rain.

All in all, it was a fun day yesterday!