This and That

Re yesterday's entry about being "old," my friend Ron says that we have "reached the age of eccentricity." I like that! I've always wanted to be eccentric and now I'm old enough to embrace the title!

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I'm a very happy camper. My shoes from Zappo arrived, as promised, yesterday afternoon. I cautiously unpacked the box and took the shoes out. Were those actually extra large? I was dubious. But I held my breath and put them on my feet and...they fit.

I stood up and they felt spongy and comfy. I walked around and they felt good. By the end of the evening, I was thinking this had been a very. good. idea. Today I wore them all day, walking around and I feel so comfortable, I don't even notice them. One problem solved--I will only take one pair of shoes to Russia and save myself some space in the suitcase.

Comfort of feet will, I suspect, be essential since I received a note from someone who just took this cruise and says that touring is "very rigorous" and that some of the older people on their tour stayed on the ship instead of going ashore many times. Maybe I'll come home thinking very good thoughts about our France/Italy tour guide, Ian! (And maybe most of my photos will be taken from the ship of the things I can see on the shore.) Unfortunately, I can't claim "old" as a reason to stay behind, since I will be the youngest person in our little group of four!

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After several reschedules, today I finally got together with my friend Kathleen for our monthly lunch at the Olive Garden. We skipped last month because she was on vacation in London and Paris (and our next lunch will be 3 days after I get back from Russia). It was fun hearing of the ups and downs of her trip, comparing notes on the foibles of our children, and just enjoying each other's company.

We always order the same thing, the Olive Garden's soup and salad, with breadsticks. It's handy to just split the cost of the meal ($11 each). She always has minestrone. I am working my way through each of the restaurant's different soups. Today I had the chicken gnocci soup and I think it's my favorite so far.

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Yesterday, I had an e-mail from Peggy Shannon, who is on the theatre faculty at UC Davis and is also the director of the Sacramento Theatre Company. Peggy has recently, after 11 years here, taken a job as director of the Theater Department for Ryerson College in Toronto and we wanted to run a story about it in the paper before I left.

Peggy is a delightful person who has accomplished a lot in her time here and is leaving the Sacramento Theatre Company in better shape than she found it. My job tonight and tomorrow is to write her story so I can get it submitted before I leave.

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When the interview was over, I drove back to Davis and I stopped at our new-ish fruit stand to see if I could get some more of those good cherries. I'm not sure how long this particular stand has been opened, but I have never been there before. What a mistake! What a great little store. And the prices! I always, for example, think I've hit a good sale if I find medium-large artichokes at the supermarket for something near $1 each. Sometimes they get up to nearly $5 each for medium large. Look what I found for two for $1.50:

These guys are HUGE. One artichoke is enough for dinner for one person, without anything else.

Their cherries were also plump, juicy and sweet. The ones I bought at the more popular Ikeda fruit stand (not related to Ikea furniture store!) were sweet and juicy, but kind of tired and every so slightly wrinkled looking. Good tasting, but I felt I had come just one day too late. The cherries at the new place were cheaper too. I t hink at Ikeda they were $3.00 a pound, at the supermarket they were about $5 a pound, and here they were $1.50 a pound. I will definitely go back to this fruit stand again next time I'm looking for produce...or any oddball Indian or Russian canned goods. They had lots of things I'd never seen before and would like to check out--when I'm not about to leave town for two+ weeks!

Tomorrow Walt will be at the opera in SF and I hope to (a) finish folding the laundry, (b) write my article, (c) start cleaning out the fridge of things that will go bad before we return--and that Ashley is not likely to want to eat, and (d) start getting serious about deciding which clothes to take (now that the shoe question has been answered). Or else I'll just sit here and surf the net all day. :)