Try not to be too jealous. I got to meet Aimee, Ed and Rebecca today.

I had the most pleasant breakfast this morning with these three lovely people. Aimee phoned me yesterday, after she and Ed got their new car. They were going to cruise north into my part of the Bay Area. Then this morning she called while they were driving around town, and I gave her the most convoluted directions to the restaurant. I knew how to get there, but only because it was in my old neighborhood. I'm not much use in giving directions, even in my home town. Sad, but true.

Somehow, they got there before I did, despite my lame effort to get them lost. I recognized Aimee and Ed from a block away. Rebecca is too tiny to see from that distance, but let me assure you that she's just as beautiful as her pictures. After an impromptu photo session in the parking lot (alas, the shot of me holding the baby didn't come out; check Aimee's weblog), we sat and talked for an hour or so, before they headed north into the redwoods.

So we had our own little JournalCon, a mini-version of the convention now going on in Chicago. Since I tend to get lost in crowds (or maybe just lost), I'm glad my first face-to-face meeting with another journaler was more intimate. I didn't have any stories to tell about anyone else I've met, of course, but next time I can confirm what everyone already knows — that Aimee and Ed are terrific people, and Rebecca is a charmer.

It's funny, but it wasn't at all like meeting someone for the first time. As awkward as I can be at times, I was perfectly at ease this morning. It was more like getting reacquainted with someone I used to know. We've exchanged enough email messages over the last couple of years that we aren't strangers. Still, it was nice to be able to give a hug to someone who's always had a kind word when I've needed one.

The rest of the day was anticlimactic, but that's to be expected. After all, I don't get out much. I stopped by Mom's and picked up a few things (prunes, rice and Dew) at the store. Then I came home and sat around watching a little football and a little baseball. I wanted to get out in the yard and pull some weeds, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was hot and kind of sticky here today. Eventually I gave up on the TV and sat out on the porch reading my book.

I read about one paragraph. Then I saw the ground moving a few feet away from where I was sitting. My first thought was "Oh, no. I hope that's a lizard, because I don't want to have to kill another rat." I'm not really sure I could kill another rat. That was a traumatizing experience for me. Anyway, I inspected the spot and found nothing, so I sat down again. And the rustling in the dry grass started all over. I was up and down a couple of times, but I never discovered what was creating the disturbance. (And I didn't kill anything.)

It just wasn't my day to concentrate. Maybe it was all that coffee at breakfast. Or maybe it was all the flies that wouldn't leave me alone. After a few pages I gave up the attempt at reading and just sat and watched the birds screaming overhead across the yard in twos and threes, as the clouds gradually got darker and heavier. Flicking the flies away was the only real exercise I managed to get all day.

I realize that people have breakfast together all over the world every day. And many people reading this have met some of the important people in their lives online first. But this is all new to me.