Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Home Sweet Home

Well, the Big Trip is over. It is 1 a.m. (so I'm actually writing an entry on the date of the entry. Amazing!) so this is not going to be long because I'm already ready for sleep.

I spent the morning getting organized to leave, gathering up all the food I'd bought for the trip, finding all my cords, rechargers, etc., checking e-mail, and then reading my book. This James Lipton book is an interesting thing. I found it a little difficult to get into because he's so pedantic, but once I caught the rhythm of it, I just relished his use of language, enjoyed having my brain stretched to follow along when he got esoteric, enjoyed learning about him, and about the things he had done. That comprised about 2/3 of the book, interwoven with stories of the founding of the Actors Studio and the early days of "Inside the Actors Studio."

Ironically, when he finished that and started actually talking about the program and the stars who had graced the stage and made an impact on him, I found it bogs down. It becomes repetitious and fawning over the actors, treating them as you would royalty. It is all just a bit too over the top for my taste, which is too bad because until that point I was relishing the book. I am still enjoying it, but when I came down to the last 100 pages or so, and faced with having to carry it onto the train or pack it, I chose to pack it and finish reading it at home.

Alice came home at around 11:30 to get me and take me to the train station, where she dropped me so she could go back to work. I was met with a sign that said there were signal problems between Santa Barbara and Oxnard (just south of Santa Barbara) which were causing delays. About 40 minutes, as it turned out. So I sat in the station and took pictures.

I finally got on the train, got myself a window seat to watch the view, and settled in to read the book I'd borrowed from Tom and Laurel, which, I discovered, was a book I had already read. But I had fully charged my iPod and had also downloaded a book from Audible.com before I left home, "Water for Elephants" and started to listen to that. I was so totally engrossed in the book that I didn't get up for the 11+ hours it took to get to Davis, not to go to the bathroom, or get water, or anything. I have two hours left to go and will finish it tomorrow. Great book!

The food I'd bought at Trader Joe's was perfect and I didn't need anything from the snack bar, but just munched on salad, carrots with dip, trail mix, garlic naan bread with pesto torta spread, and apples. Much healthier than the snack bar too!

The scenery was spectacular. Because of heavy winds over the weekend, they had to close the pier at Santa Barbara because of the high waves and though the pier had reopened this morning, they said there would be high waves along the coast. It certainly made for wonderful sightseeing!

But I really didn't spend much time "noticing" the scenery because I was so engrossed in the book. The time literally flew by--and I was happy that the charge on my iPod lasted the full 11 hours.

We were about an hour late getting into Davis and the dogs were thrilled to see me when I got here. Now I'm going to go crawl under a warm puppy and get the nap I didn't get on the train.

It was great to be in Santa Barbara and it's wonderful to be home!

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