Chris:

YES, the tiny ping. I had forgotten about that but now I remember it completely. Lying in the quiet dark room, looking at the tree, and hearing the tiny "pings" of the lights as they switched on and off.

We also have bubble lights on the tree - my mom bought some when they were first reproduced because my dad had always talked about having them on the tree when he was a kid. I like them too, but not as much as the blinking lights.

***

I had a fun lunchtime. One of the people I know from Ravelry - she goes by the name Godpigeon on there - was passing through on a trip, and she wanted to know if she could stop for lunch. As this was one of the rare days when I was actually free over lunch, I did.

So we went to Roma's, and to the quilt shop here, and she got to see our World's Largest Peanut. (A statue, in honor of Bryan County peanut farmers).

It was cool. I'm always a little nervous meeting people "off the Internets," not so much because of a safety thing (I don't do foolish things like agreeing to meet someone I barely know in a non-public place) but because I'm never sure if I'm going to rub someone the wrong way, or if I'm going to come down with a case of the shys or something. But it went well, she's a pretty cool person, and I was able to help give her directions to some other places she wanted to go.