Lola's Salon

Absoutely ci, if you're gonna travel, travel first class.


Jeeves can you please get my friend ci whatever he wants to drink , I will have a wee dram of Highland Park malt.

Do you think Lola will be in tonight ci or is she still busy with her affairs ?

<flying in on a long stretch from Dubai, HofT parks her Goblin in its appointed spot in Lola's hangar next to Stradee's Hornet and empty spaces for Danon's Blackbird and Timber's Warthog - where ARE those 2??- and waves at HIAMA>

<btw, airplane hangar is located behind Lola's townhouse and next to the stables; HofT runs out to hug, kiss, and give apples to darling horses, who remember her from gallops in Central Park, smile, and nuzzle her gently>

Absolytely exhausted, HofT collapses into bath prepared by Fifi while smoking a cigarette (quite safe, actually, and nothing like smoking while wearing an oxygen mask, to which co-pilots have been known to object until told to parachute off the plane or keep quiet) and has to be awakened by Withers, who marches into bathroom and in impeccable butler protocol announces "Beg pardon, Sir, your bed is ready!" <G>

Has Cheshire been in here causing trouble again? Please excuse him, he is a bit narcissistic.......and his smoking habits are......well he's a smoker. He only smokes the best cigars though.

c.i., Cheshire has been my cat and I his human for some time now. Watch out for him, he's not to be trusted.

I'll be back later when I have more time to dally.

Dally do dear Lola.

HofT-good to see you, thou daughter of Zeus.

Who is lord and master of this fenced palace? The house is one I may compare to the halls of Plutus, with its royal bulwarks and towering buildings.

I myself have been broken by the fates and stand here before you a mere whispering shadow of the man that was HIAMA.

HOft what of Edinburgh didst enjoy its reekin' beauty and partake of the malts ?

Lola's Salon
"Hi Hoft" greets Stradee "Thought you were flying to Lola's after Pro Bowl fly over! Wondered what happened to you, Danon and Timber! Gobblin went subsonic and ya nearly towed the three of us in yaw! Our V formation went kinda "w" then "s" then "z". <still haven't found my smokes>

Withers and Jeffers getting along famously. Irish coffee and exchanging stories, Withers mistakes Hoft for "sir" <not even on a bad day> Hoft giggling tosses her mask at the teetering gentleman butler.

Stradee pats Cheshire offering kitty treats welcoming him to a2k, and echo's hiama asking "Where's Blatham"?

Stradee-hey there, I'm an enthusiast in training so I can't have anything fattening !

I think I saw Blatham tethering his horse outside, lets see if he's out here.

Hiama heads out on to the street, a rush of air shuts the door on him and he begins to freeze in the cold biting wind that springs up almost out of nowhere.

Lola's Salon
oops give me back those treats then

A freezing wind arrives as Stradee walks towards stables. There in the yard stands a horse Stradee does not recognize, tethered and freezing.

hiama and Stradee untie the animal, settle him in a barn stall adding extra Omeline and alfalfa. Jeeze. When I find the person who left the poor animal abandoned <nobody from Lola's would do such a thing>

Stradee thanks hiama, offers him coffee, then both check to see if all the horses safe.

Stradee sits quietly nuzzling Palamino.

Horses though aren't very good kissers, in my experience. Unlike doggies, who are quite good kissers

oak, If horsese aren't good kissers, I wonder why so many human animals are seen doing so? c.i.

Lola's Salon
oak, agree dogs are good kissers but horses are the best nuzzlers.

Seconding Stradee's motion to vote darling horses as best nuzzlers and darling doggies as best kissers! Lola's Cheshire cat - wisely, very wisely - disappears when it sees me, leaving behind only a grin, and is therefore excluded from this poll.

Btw, distinctly saw some of the missing habitues of Lola's elegant Salon fighting it out on another thread - on Iraq; anyone left standing in that one will eventually make his way back here.

<settling near fireplace of Salon, accepting "wee dram" - LOL, how many Scots have we got here? - and looking forward to following Salon adventures in read-only mode until back from next trip, starting tomorrow <G>>

Lola asks Withers to bring the car around. She's running to Saks for a little thingy or two to dress up (or down) in. Will return soon.......in the meantime, hi to HofT.......glad you stopped by, we miss you when you're away. Blowing kisses to dogs and horses and winking at all aircraft parked in the hanger behind the house. When Spring comes, we'll have to take the cover off the swimming pool and get ourselves wet.

Returning soon............

Oh! Just missed our hostess who had to run out and get frilly lacy underthingies at Saks Fifth Avenue! Well, first things first, so grateful guest has to write thank-you note, adding an idea:

Could we have a lap pool (82 degrees Fahrenheit) in the basement of the townouse? The land around Lola's property is already getting crowded with stables, airplane hangars, and garage - where btw Lola's chauffeur spends a lot of time polishing her Rolls Royce Silver Shadow while wistfully looking at Magic Mystery Tour Bus, hoping for another trip <G>

HofT you have read my mind. Found some very nice thingys.........having fun at Saks. When you return, we'll have the lap pool all ready to go in the basement, excellent suggestion, btw. But when Spring and Summer arrive, we'll have to have a pool out back as well. Or we can take the magical purple pandemonium back up to Vancouver to the beach.

Hiama strides into the salon dripping wet from his swim across the little pond that separates the US from the mother ship.

He dries himself at the fire as all good citizens are still in bed (does this make him a bad citizen ?). He goes to the wall and puts a flag in the map of the HofT travel extravaganzasphere (new word copright HIAMA)-where is she off to next I wonder ? Better be careful its classified and we live in difficult times.

Hiama calls out to Withers, " Withers where is that good for nothing butler of mine, Jeeves-is he still sleeping in ?"

Withers brings him a much needed Long Island tea laced with adequate (just) quantities of rum. " Yes I am afraid sir that he is still in the lad of nod shall I awaken him?"

By this time HIAMA has fallen asleep by the fire and Withers goes back to his duties in the kitchen. HIAMA is deaming of a nice warm pool in the basement rather than the cold and ferocious waters of the Atlantic.

HofT, who had to fall off her bed at 0400 EST to finish packing, tiptoes down stairs of Lola's townhouse carrying her bag; walking past entrance to Salon notices HIAMA curled up by the fireplace; approaching, she sees he's fallen asleep dropping the book he was reading - title: "Quantum Chromodynamics"; rings bell for Fifi to bring a blanket to cover HIAMA, while writing note to pin on blanket:

"Nothing is classified around here; what appears cryptic only involves deciding which code anyone is using. Look up Stradee's most recent comment on formation flying mentioning W and Z - she really means airplanes and not particles in renormalized parameters of electroweak forces!" <G>

Hiama is restless, he is dreaming of his APE (Array Processor with Emulator) computer, the Weitek floating-point processors have fallen off and someone is trying to attach them back onto him with a pin !

Ouch- he wakes momentarily to see the disappearing rather nicely shaped rear end of HofT disappearing out the door.

He turns over and is soon snoozing like a baby.

Diane quietly slips in the front door, having just seen HofT on her way to who knows where.

As she leans back in a big chair by the fire, she notices Hiama, sound asleep, with an adorable smile on his face. Hmmm, our Hiama is having sweet dreams indeed, smiles Diane to herself.

Withers comes in to ask if she would like anything to drink and she asks for some port. Cobalt had called recently to say she would be on the road to Iowa. Something about family needing her. As Diane nods off, she is hoping that Cobalt is having a safe trip.

As Diane's own dreams begin, the purple pandemonium appears, gleaming and tuned up and ready to go. So am I, so am I, she dreams.

Hey, Diane, you wanna come shopping with me at Saks? There are some very special things there for women who are tuned up and ready to go. Next stop, Barney's.

HIAMA,

Would you like another drink? Some music?

I hope Cobalt is doing well too. I thought I might hear from her, but not yet. Maybe I'll call.

Lola!! Is the pope Catholic? I';ll go shopping at Saks any time of the day or night. And Barney's, oooh. My credit cards are burning holes in my purse.

Cobalt is literally on the road. She called me from a truck stop. I think she will stop in Dallas first, then go on to Iowa.