Mom departs, Handymen arrive, Dog is intrigued. Film at 11.

So, the tile guys are here now. I say guys, because although

– Francesco gave me the initial rundown and
– Wayne de-grouted the old grout,
– Derek and Shawn arrived to re-grout the thing.

It takes a village, folks!

Ciara, meanwhile, is fascinated:

There has never been food in the bathroom, there will never be food in the bathroom, so all I can think is that she's entranced by the grout dust, or she really likes it when handymen come in pairs to my place. To wit:

This from when I had several electricity-related jobs around the apartment taken care of last September.

At least she's consistent.

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So, mom went home. I think I nearly broke her; by the time she left she was definitely done with the New York walking thing. And the up and down subway steps thing. And the hot thing. (Mom never fully exited menopause; she only gets to comfortable inside walk-in freezers.) But we had quite the time — it's nice to be able to share some of the bonuses I get from the job with people I love. That meant we went to a premiere of "The Hunting Party" and attendant after-do at ridiculously crowded Azza, hit the opening night of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Central Park (and attendant after-party, less crowded, at Belvedere Castle – quick review: the play was adorable and funny and anyone who can should see it before it ends), visited (and waved to) Jon Stewart at a "Daily Show" taping, ran up and down Coney Island (well, walked slowly), ate pizza from DiFara's, went shopping (well, she shopped while I waited for Francesco to arrive) on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, home of the $5 shoes (she got 3 pairs), met up with her old friend Mimi for lunch and a bit of shopping around the Upper West Side (Mom was kind of in a Jewish haze; the UWS for Jews who don't live in a part of the world where they really do run things is like being a Mickey Mouse fan and going to Disneyland). She also had never seen "Working Girl," which stunned me, so the one night we really stayed in we watched that. Love that film. I'm not sure what it says about me that I can watch it and go, "Harrison Ford was so young then" except that I'm old.

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Overall, it's been a pretty good week so far, and we're only at Tuesday. In hopefully less than an hour I'll have my shower back, I've got an assignment to write for a Web site whose name reminds me of an 80s band (www.shuzsociety.com), and it's a three-day weekend coming up. Happy days!