Out and About
6:17 p.m. - 2006-03-11


Well, all sorts of things happened in the last week so here goes:

Mr. Ed, our neighbor for about 25 years, decided he needed new insurance, and this required a physical. Now Mr. Ed is a fine figure of a man, a former school principal, but you would never in a million years guess he was the age he is. The physical revealed that he had multiple blockages in his heart vessels, so instead of the vacation he was planning, he is in the hospital having a quadrupal bypass. One of the blockages was so severe that he could have died at any minute. So his urge for insurance turned out to be a lucky thing. He was in great shape though, and the nurse told his wife today that they have never ever seen someone so strong post-op. Things are looking good for Mr. Ed.

Big brouhaha at the church. The lay leaders had a big meeting and from what the EG's said, they laid down some sort of ultimatum to the pastor which didn't sit too well and he resigned. The EG's are totally disgusted with said leaders, and this Sunday they are going to try out the church down in Danville. If they are thinking of leaving their long-time church, they are most seriously displeased, as Lady Catherine would say (Pride and Prejudice).

Wednesday was the Division Dinner, that once-a-year horror which we are required to attend, without pay. This year it was held, not at the Hilton, but at the Crown-Plaza near the airport. We had to come up with a decade-themed table decoration and dress up in the clothes of that decade. We were assigned the 60's, so I found my old poncho and psychedelic head scarf. The dinner buffet was pretty bad. The meat was incredibly rubbery, I think it was beef, and the dessert table was not a variety of lovely assorted pastries like at the Hilton, but was a table full of formerly frozen supermarket pies, all looking the same. Then, after this repast came 2 1/2 hours of speeches and blathering until I thought I would expire from the boredom and discomfort. As soon as the pres said "Thank you for being here tonight", I was up and out, and I did make it home in 7 minutes flat.

Today he was going to be in the office and then wrestling with the EG's audit, so I decided to go to Modesto by myself. What a lovely day! Clouds and sun and nippy air. Only one anxious moment as I approached Modesto and saw what looked like a large funnel cloud in the near distance, and I was heading right towrd it, but when I came around the bend, it was gone. I went to the bookstore and got a few books, including that Green Mountain Spinnery knititng book, then drove home. On the way home, I stopped in San Ramon to go to Bay Books, and I found an omnibus volume of Mary Stewart books, the good old ones, not the King Arthury ones. As I was driving down the freeway, I saw that the hillsides outside Danville were covered with yellow daffodils.

It is pretty cold now, so I am going to get my knitting and go watch my Japanese shows.