My Afternoon with Harry

That's not Harry, the formerly hairless, now adopted puppy, it's Harry (Hieronymous) Bosch, the hero of many Michael Connelly books. (How can I not like a character whose favorite hang-out was a favorite hang out of my father?)

I started The Black Echo several weeks ago, but haven't been on a long car ride since then. It comes in two different files and I had finished the first and hadn't started the second--the whole book is about 12 hours long and this particular story is read by Len Cariou, the original Broadway Sweeney Todd.

I got back into it yesterday as a ploy to keep me on the treadmill. Today we had been invited to a party at our friend Jeri's in Lincoln. I vascilated back and forth about whether I was going to go or not -- I knew that most of the people there would be people I didn't know and I'm just not at my best in those situations. If Walt had been home, there would be no question about whether we'd go, but to go by myself--did I really want to go? The purpose of the party was to introduce her friends to Jeri's new beau, Phil, but I'd met Phil several weeks ago.

However, the plus about making the hour-plus drive was that I could get back into The Black Echo. It was great. I took a leisurely drive to make it last longer, I did some "window shopping by car" looking for a fat lady's store so I could think about maybe getting something lightweight for the trip. Never did find a store, but it did give me a longer time to listen to the book.

And the party was nice, too. I knew more people than I thought I would, the weather was beautiful, and I had a good time sitting in the back yard chatting with folks. And then I could get back in the car with Harry again.

I think I have a little over 2 hours left to go before the end of the book, but I'm going to my mother's to take her to brunch for Mother's Day tomorrow, so I should have a chance to finish it before I get home. Then I have two more stored on my iPod!!

On the way home, I decided to stop and treat myself to dinner at Applebees. Walt's out of town, Ned's busy and Jeri and Tom are far away, so while I could treat my MOTHER to dinner, there was nobody to treat ME to dinner (though I did get great mother's day gifts today!)

I must post a note to myself in the car reminding me that Applebees is never as good as the commercials. I ordered a sirloin steak medium rare and the inside was grey. The potatoes (which tasted like they came from a box) were supposed to be garlic mashed, but there was no taste of garlic and they were lukewarm in the middle and cold on the outside. I never send food back, so I pushed the food around for awhile, ate half of it, packed up the rest and the dogs had it for dinner. But I did get to go out to dinner and spent some time reading The Lady's No. 1 Detective Agency on my iTouch while I was eating.

The best part of the day, however, was spending about 2-1/2 hours in the car with Harry Bosch and the promise of another couple of hours in the car with Harry again tomorrow.