Crowning Achievement

They turned off our water today, from 8 to 4.  I managed to get coffee made and the morning bathroom trip done before 8, then napped off and on thru the morning and went to my dentist appointment early to use her bathroom.  After my appointment, I stopped at Trader Joe's and by the time I got home, the water was turned on.

It was never a problem anyway, since we have two full 5 gallon bottles of water and another half full in the house.

In the middle of the morning, I received a texted video from Sandy of my mother playing a keyboard with some other music in the background.  He said she was doing well.  It was so sweet of him to send that and I very much appreciated it.  I slept my first really good night of sleep in a couple of weeks last night and I think it was because I was no longer worried about her.

My appointment with Cindy was the first of two that will result in a new crown on an upper molar.  I always enjoy my appointments when Cindy does the work because it gives us a chance to catch up.

Also, there is always something interesting on the ceiling and this one was a new one for the "procedure" area.  She says she bought it at a fund raiser.  I just thought it was kind of cool.

She drilled and drilled and drilled .... never any pain, thank goodness ..... and then she had to go and do a quick exam, so left me sitting up.  I got up and got my phone and took this picture.

Always wondered what my x-rays looked like, but never thought to ask before!

There was still another hour of work before I was finished

Then when it was all over, I went to Trader Joe's, mostly because they have the cheapest butter in town (Walt tells me) but also I realized I hadn't been anywhere other than the theater twice, in weeks.  It was nice to walk around TJ's, but it was also dangerous.  There was so much cool stuff that I couldn't resist -- French style flat bread with mushrooms, gnocci al gorgonzola, some snack bars called "a strawberry walks into a bar," the chocolate croissants I love, mushroom spinach quiche, and a few other things. 

These were only 95 cents and I admit I bought them mainly for the picture, but they promised to be "loaded with peanut flavor" (which they aren't) so I was intrigued.

I actually had to make myself NOT go through the whole store because there was so much that I wanted to add to my cart.

I came home and cooked the gnocci for dinner, which were delicious.

But I really have to stay out of Trader Joe's.

Giggles

It would be so nice if every visit with my mother was like today.

When I arrived, she was in bed.  I took advantage of that fact to sneak in the new package of Depends that I brought so I didn't have to answer her questions.  She talked with me from bed, but didn't seem in the least interested in getting up.  Then, suddenly, she realized I was there and sat up, wondering how long I'd been there.

She finally got up and sat in her chair and told me how beautiful I was.  Then, for the next hour she was just .... silly.  Everything she said, whether it made sense or not, made her laugh.  At one point she kind of shook her head and said "Do you know what I was just thinking?"

Then she explained that she had this overwhelming desire to pick me up and just hold me.  I laughed and told her that I didn't think she could pick me up, and she realized that, but her need to put her arms around me and hold me was so strong that I got up and hugged her.

It's nice that lately she recognizes Fred in photos all the time, but sad that she always talks about how she wishes he could be with her.  Part of the time she knew he was dead, other times she just thought was was "somewhere else" and wondered if he would ever come back.

It was interesting to try to follow her thought processes, which seemed to be bouncing all over the place, but she was always happy, reaffirmed that she loves life and wants to go on living.  I did not leave in my usual state of depression.

We were going to a show in the evening, and I have gotten into the habit of cooking something "easy" (i.e., a frozen dinner) on those night, so I went off to Trader Joe's to check out their frozen choices.

There was a guy with a violin outside the front door playing a gypsy tune with a lively recorded accompaniment that was just terrific, so terrific, in fact, that after I got my groceries, I drove past him and gave him a dollar. 

The actual shopping took longer than usual because I ran into our friend Clyde, whose son was in Lawsuit and whom we have known through various theater things in town.  He and his wife had just been to San Francisco to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, which he raved about.  He liked it better than Hamilton.  I had heard of the show and it seems to me that Jeri recommended it to me too.  Clyde said that if we go to see it I must read the book first so I would understand from the start what was going on.

I was so intrigued, I came home and immediately got the book from Amazon, and then realized that the show is closing soon and we probably won't have a chance to see it anyway--but I still want to finish the book.

The show we saw last night was On the Town, which, on top of Wonderful Town earlier this week leaves me craving a slice of New York pizza.  Both are by the team of Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Leonard Bernstein, and both are paens to New York, the latter a bit better than the former.

A Davis Happening

There was a happening in Davis today. We've had strange celebrations for strange happenings (the weirdest being the party held on the new overpass, when the band from the university came to play and all the local politicos came to cut the ribbon).

It came with ribbons. It came with tags. It came with packages, boxes and bags. It came with leis and free cookies. It came with meatballs and free coffee.

It was the opening of the long-awaited (at least a decade) Trader Joe's.

Now the last time I wrote about Trader Joe's I got a lot of e-mail telling me all the reasons why TJs was an awful, bad, place, but I wanted to be part of the happening and enjoy the moment. So, apparently, did a lot of other people.

All the aisles were packed like this, but I expected nothing less. But having to move very sowly through the aisles allowed me more time to find interesting things I might have otherwise overlooked.

(I'm trying to envision how one extracts pomegranate seeds and coats them in chocolate!)

I absolutely LOVED the fact that their sample section (where we tried delicious BBQ meat balls and some pretty good Hawaiian coffee) is decorated with the Varsity Theatre marquee (our kids worked, played and performed at the Varsity for years).

And, of course, we had to buy a bottle of the famous "Two Buck Chuck."

Of course a lot of prices are pretty high, so I may not be shopping at Trader Joe's often.

But I did find a lot of interesting things that will make a good main course for two people. Tonight, for example, we're having Mediterranean stuffed chicken breasts (with feta and mozarella). I also have some pulled pork and a spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) which will serve two nicely. I also found affordable ahi tuna, which I have never come across before. And finally, after all these years, I'll get to taste Abelskivers (Danish pancakes which are ball shape instead of flat), which I've heard about for years but have never had an opportunity to have for breakfast, since I don't own an Abelskiver pan. Tomorrow, I will finally give them a try.

I think I'm going to have fun getting to know my way around this store.

Beige Lady

She was perhaps in her middle to late 50s, perhaps early 60s, and dressed in light beige. It was a beige dress designed for a much younger woman, something that evoked perhaps life in prairie days, with a low cut neck designed to reveal the decolletage of a young woman, but instead revealed the light beige long-sleeved sweater this woman had put under the dress. Above the turtle neck, her makeup was pale and her unkempt hair was the kind of bleach blonde that looks like it's had one too many treatments. On her feet were white Mary Janes with little bows on them and white stockings that disappeared under the ankle-length skirt. The total effect was just...beige, except for a splash of pink across her mouth, the dark outline of her eyebrows, and the pink pot of baby roses she was carrying.

For a moment, I wished I had artistic talent. I wanted to paint her and call it "Beige Lady with Roses."

Beige Lady was just one of the unique "looks" that I noticed at Trader Joe's today. I went back, this time with Joe and Alice Nan to the "big" TJ's, where they were doing a "big shopping." When you live in the suburbs, like Davis, the people you meet in supermarkets all seem to be of a handful of generic types--your fat generics, your thin generics, your healthy generics, your ethnic generics, your student generics. They all seem to have a singlemindedness of purpose, know what they want and how to get it quickly.

At Trader Joe's diversity is paramount and you might pass a couple of aging hippies with stringy hair, weathered complexion and formless Salvation Army type clothes, followed by a young gay man, impeccably dressed, head held erect, and meeting your gaze with a smile, followed by a retired grey-haired couple carefully checking the labels of each thing they buy to make sure it has all the proper nutrients, to a mother with children hanging off of her, trying to rush through the store and get home again. Most are wandering leisurely through the store checking out what's new, tasting the food samples, and just enjoying the whole Trader Joe experience. They don't even seem to mind waiting in long lines to be checked out.

I do love Trader Joe's for its "feel," and for the diversity not only of the clientele, but of the foods it offers, where you can buy chicken tiki masala next to gorgonzola gnocci or cheese empanadas. There are so many new and delicious-sounding ready-made foods available but guilt keeps me from buying them. I always figure that ready-made foods are for people who work and who aren't home all day long. I know how to cook, I can pretty much follow any recipe, and it would be cheating if I just pulled a pre-made meal out of the refrigerator or freezer section (though I admit that I do do it sometimes!) I should make my own chicken tiki masala, gorgonzola gnocci or cheese empanadas--it would be cheaper (and possibly even taste better).

I picked up a pear and gorgonzola cheese salad to add to my collection of foods for the train and think I'm pretty much set now. Undoubtedly over-set. I could make it all the way to Seattle without having to hit the snack bar, I believe! But it's nice to have several choices.

We started the day today with a big, noisy, relaxed family breakfast. Joe poached eggs and fried bacon, Alice toasted English muffins, I had brought lemon bread and lemon curd from my last trip to Trader Joe's. Norm made coffee. We all sat around the table eating and laughing for a very long time. Eventually, Norm and Olivia left to have one last visit with his mother. Joe set me up with a free USB port and I was able to look at some of the photos I've been taking and post a couple on Flickr, though I want to do some work on some of them before posting them all (and even with the direct connection, it seems slower on this computer, so I'd prefer to wait till I get home).

At 2, we went to see the work that Tom and Laurel have been doing to their house. Oh my. The reports were not exaggerated. It looks totally overwhelming. The living room has a single-file path through it, with most of the room piled high with stuff covered with a tarp. The office is pretty much inaccessible for the stuff piled in there. The nursery is a bit more open, though at the moment is storing the cabinets for the kitchen. Laurel is working today on the painting design for that room while Tom is working in the kitchen. They have removed everything--yes, including the kitchen sink--and Tom is hanging new cabinets and putting in new counters.

Floor guys are coming tomorrow, I think. I've lost the sequence of things. When it's all finished it is going to be absolutely gorgeous and, based on the work I've seen them do in the past, I know that it's just going to be incredible. But there are only 40 days left to Laurel's due date, Tom doesn't know if he's going to have to travel for his job in the coming weeks or not, and they are pushing it pretty close. Whatever doesn't get done pre-baby will get done eventually, but I know that things will be a lot less chaotic if they don't have to worry about adjusting to a new baby and continuing to do major remodeling at the same time.

That's the nice thing about being young--you can do stuff like this. For me (and I suspect all the rest of us old farts who stopped by to check it), it makes you want to sit down and drink a nice cold beverage of your choice, perhaps cry a bit, and then call in a contractor to finish the job!

My time here is coming to an end. It's been just long enough. The train ride wasn't too long, I've had a chance to laugh, to visit, to see my mother-in-law, to check on Tom and Laurel, to get a taste of what's in store for our granddaughter, and now I'm ready to go home. The 11+ hr ride home will make a nice transition period and then I'll be home and ready to call my guru to bring my computer back so I can get back to transcribing the few remaining Morning Stories. Already I'm thinking about the things to do when I get home, so it must be time to leave here!

How I Spent My Day

Well, I've had a lovely day out and about on my own in Santa Barbara. Joe was off even before I woke up to a racquetball game. Alice Nan and I puttered around in our separate ends of the house till she finally went to work, leaving me with the monumental task of waiting for the refrigerator repair guy to show up. The appointment was "any time between 8 a.m. and noon." We all know what THAT means, right?

Bzzt. Wrong! The guy showed up at 8:15 and was gone by 8:30, having fixed the refrigerator door, which wouldn't close unless you lifted up on it. This is particularly funny because this is a brand new refrigerator which they bought because the old refrigerator had a door that wouldn't close unless you kicked it. But now it closes and you don't have to lift it or kick it. They are happy people.

The guy was so quick and so efficient the stores in town weren't even open yet, so I futzed around here until after 10, reading and doing I don't know what all. Then I headed over to the mall to buy wrapping paper so I can wrap the stuff I'm taking to the shower (I figured I didn't need to do that before I left home, so it wouldn't get crushed in transit). I also stopped at Borders, hoping to get a copy of "Schuyler's Monster" to bring to my friend Gerry, who was fixing my dinner, but their copies (they will have two, I was informed) hadn't arrived yet.

Next, I decided to treat myself to lunch on the beach, so I drove down into Santa Barbara, drove past Tom & Laurel's house (but didn't stop because I knew they would be at work), and then wended my way around and found a little fish place right on the beach itself, overlooking the busy touristy part. I sat there in a semi-open air dining area (it was tented, but birds still flew through--and you could feel the cold air from the ocean) and watched the pelicans glide along the water, so close you could imagine their bellies getting hit by a stray wave, while I waited for my fish & chips.

After I finished lunch, I walked down along the beach for a bit and watched some seagulls having a bath in a little inlet of water and a guy struggling to get what I guess is a parasail to hold wind so he could wind surf. I watched him for quite a long time and he never did get out into the water.

On my way back to the car, I ran into four people from Kent (England), who were taking each other's pictures. I offered to take a group shot for them, which pleased them greatly. Somehow in the process, I lost the little camera case for my own camera (it was just a black cloth case, but it was padded and it had a strap on it, which I thought I had looped over my arm, but apparently had not). I was sorry to lose it because it was just the perfect size, but I knew that the wind was blowing so hard that if it had fallen off my arm, it was long gone by the time I realized I couldn't find it!

Next I drove into downtown, hoping to check for "Schuyler's Monster" in Borders there, but forget parking (or driving) in downtown Santa Barbara. It's definitely not worth the hassle. Besides, Gerry had told me she never reads anything that isn't "relevant" and I feared she wouldn't feel that Rob's story of his daughter would be relevant enough for her, at least not relevant enough to warrant the hassle of finding a place to stash the car so I could roam the streets of downtown Santa Barbara.

So next I drove to a mall near where Walt's mother lives and went to Rite Aid, where I hoped they had camera bags. The woman in the camera department did not speak fluent English and had never heard the term "camera bag."

I also stopped at Michael's (craft store) and bought more wrapping stuff--probably more than I will need, but we will be back for another shower next month. There is always a temptation to go wild and crazy in Michael's, which would be ridiculous since I almost never do anything "crafty," but I always think that if I had the materials I would. Fortunately, I restrained myself.

Finally, it was 2 p.m. and Alice Nan had said that her mother was generally at her brightest around 2 p.m., so I drove to the Assisted Living facility and spent about 2 hours there. The first hour went well. She looked better than I'd seen her in a long time and we chatted quite a bit, but she obviously tired during the second hour because she started getting confused asking me, for example, what I'd thought of Kansas when I came through it on the train and then surprised when I told her I hadn't been in Kansas. She also said that she didn't like Obama or Clinton and would probably vote Republican and when I asked, incredulously, if she would vote for McCain, she asked who that was and then said she didn't know anything about him. This is a savy woman who follows politics closely, so that's when I knew that she was really getting tired and decided it was time for me to leave.

Trader Joe's is near the facility, so I decided to stop in and see about picking up food for my return trip. I love that place. People in Santa Barbara don't know how lucky they are. There are three Trader Joe's in this town and we have to drive 20-25 miles to find one near us! I did manage to get food to bring with me, plus wine and flowers to bring to Dick and Gerry, and some wine for Alice and Joe (which I bought solely because of the label, which you'll see when I get home and can get to my photos).

And finally, I ended up at Dick & Gerry's in time for their scheduled 5 p.m. coffee which preceded the 6 p.m. martini hour, which was followed by watching the news on TV and then a delicious dinner. We had a wonderful visit, aided by a little in vino veritas and it was about 10 p.m. when I left.

Alice and I sat up reliving our days and planning for the shower tomorrow, then she went off to bed, I came in here and have now finished writing this journal entry. This is my day in toto and you were there to share every bloomin' moment of it with me, whether you wanted to or not!!!