End of summer today. Always a very sad day but especially melancholy if the summer has been Big. Mine was big. We traveled all over the known world for 50 days and we saw and did so many things I need my travel mates to remind me about half of them. So many things so easily forgotten. So today is a day for reflection on my summer. But not here so much. I already reported daily on all and will wait for written reflection in the future.
So, right now it’s oretty much a normal Monday. Except we are moving slower. And watching bad TV. Good news, it’s a holiday so I get a newspaper. But since it’s a holiday the newspaper is thin all has no news in it. But the 10 minutes I spend with it are good.
We are all showered and ready to go. But have nowhere to go till noon. Lunch with Roma. We actually see her far less now that we are two block over neighbors. Kinda funny. I would have thought the opposite would happen. Before lunch we have two hours to kill. Hard to say what I am going to do. Watching bad daytime TV. Is there another kind? Also watching Roomba work. She gets stuck a lot and I would like to figure out why. So far, nothing. Yes, I am aware how lame this all sounds. Oh well. Most days are slightly more exciting. This is not one of them.
Shopping killed a bunch of time before lunch. Lame shopping. Not enjoyable or interesting at all. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Stopped at three stores including the fabric store just so Em could look at fabric she wasn’t going to buy. I told you, lame shopping. The rest of shopping was even less interesting.
Finally lunch time. We drove to Roma’s to pick her up. No one else was home so we saved a lot of the time we usually waste chatting with whoever else is there. It’s a positive.
Next hurdle: getting anyone in the car to commit to where we would have lunch. Roma will never pick a place. Damn her. Though she will say no to other choices. Lovely. We ended up at a local Mexican place that Emily picked and I quickly said ok to. That worked. I don’t even like the place.
Lunch was really nice. We had not seen Roma since before the grand tour so all of us had lots to talk about. We got to share all our pictures too. That’s fun. Of course, I would prefer a slide show but no projector and no slides. I am not sure anyone makes slides anymore. Does anyone out there remember slides? I do. When I was a kid my favorite aunt, Iva Henningsen, was a world traveler. She came back with hundreds of pictures which she always developed into slides. Then there would be a gathering with food and snacks and we would have a slide show with her narration. Always a highlight of my year. She did an annual trip. I miss her. Nowadays, no one does that as far as I know. Too bad.
We sat at lunch for a good hour after we finished eating. Just blabbing on about all important topics and solving all problems. As if anyone can. We finally broke up and took Roma home which is two blocks from our house. So close, we seldom see her.
So middle of afternoon and not a thing to do. Nothing. I ended up trimming the bushes out back and some in front just for something to keep me moving.
Around 5 o’clock I suggested, and Emily concurred that we could go to the movies or go to our wine club pick up in Winters which is every day this week. So we jumped in the car and Emily headed to Winters. I thought we were headed to the movies. No worries, there isn’t anything showing that is worth a damn. And by the time you get out of the movies you are into it for $40. So probably better to do wine. Free tastes and some cheese and cracker like hors douvres, nice stuff, and we get to walk away with 3 bottles. Of course, I don’t really like Turkovich wines, they are just our local guys so we support them. So it’s like the bad move really except FREE wine tasting and 3 bottles.
The tasting room was packed when we arrived. Less than no place to sit. Sucks. Emily nicely accosted two people at a 4 top table, et voila, we sat with them. I don’t recall their names but they were very nice people. From Sacramento. So we had our tastes and food and chatted with them for a time and we chatted amongst ourselves as well. Actually, we closed the place down. Go figure.
The siren song of the Buckhorn steakhouse screamed loudly to Emily. I was ready for home. She said don’t you wanna go? I know the answer – NO. But the correct answer is yes when you know your wife wants a yes. Don’t ever make that mistake. And act like you enjoy it. We got a table immediately, out side cafe, while those waiting for inside were at an hour wait. Same service outside as in. I know the menu by heart, not only are we here once a month, we both used to work here in the 80’s. Crazy. We shared a Caesar/Sirloin tip combo, the Caesar Pleaser, which is a favorite. We make it at home. Ours is better. When the dish arrived we both noted it had shrunk noticeably since our last visit. Price had not. It is usually too much food but now not. Though I feel ripped off a little. Their prices are creeping. Emily also ordered a glass of Sauv blanc which tasted and smelled like grapefruit. I looked online and it seems that’s not uncommon. But it was like grapefruit juice really. Of course we also got a bread basket which Emily put a huge dent in. She does love bread.
We hung at Buckhorn for awhile. We get lots of people watching there from the outside tables. Invariably we see someone we know, which we did. Having lived in this area 40 years it would be weird to not see someone we know.
Once done with food and all we headed home. We are still very close distance-wise to here even since the move. I think it’s probably a couple minutes more at best. Which means home fast.
We watched a little TV and off to bed. By 930. We live excitement.
In the middle of the night the cat, Pepto, got spooked by lord knows what, and streaked across the bed. She cutbopen Emily’s neck and nicked my upper lip. And she is still alive. Jaxon got up in the middle of the night and pissed all over one of the rugs. I did not wake up for that. Though, when I did, I noted he was wearing a diaper.