Restaurant review

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book was engaging and emotional--two klenexes. Like the Secret Life of Bees, it features strong women characters, including one African-American woman. Both books have plot elements that seem a little far-fetched, mixed in with excellent story-telling, some unresolved mystery, and (in this case), a lot of romance. Jessie falls in love with someone not her husband, but is it because she is trying to find herself?



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Well, that sucks. I finished my book last night about 11. I said, that's not too bad. I can stll get enough sleep. then I lay there for an hour. It was just cool enough to open the windows instead of letting the AC run all night. The tree frogs were loud. Ray was snoring and changing his position. I was mourning my iPad and wishing I had a real meaningful job. I am just not doing enough at ALT to keep me engaged. I love the organization, but I need to do more challenging and stimulating work.

Yesterday, Ray didn't feel very good. He thought maybe he was getting a cold. He had an appointment witht he doctor anyway to talk about diabetes. He is going to try to eat only 2 or 3 carbs a day, low-fat  everything, and no sweets for a couple months and see if that improves his sugar levels, before trying medication. we have already been moving in that direction, so it is a little discouraging. But it could be worse.

I had lunch with Becky and Deb. Deb and John leave for Turkey and Barcelona romorrow. Becky just came back from Turkey, Geece, and other places on a cruise for Ken'ts 60th birthday. I was jealous. Although I have certainly done my share of traveling.

I came home at 3 and he was asleep. I made a nice 2-course meatless Italian dinner, with chard and asparagus from the garden, and eggs from our chickens.

Sadly, I left my iPad in my hotel room. When Ray got up yesterday, I double-checked with him and we unpacked everything. Neither of us remembered packing it. The best we can determine, I left it on the bed and it got covered with the bedclothes. I was tired and rushed and it was new enough not to be part of my routine, I guess. I am grieving its loss. This morning, just before I woke up, I dreamed I was back in the hotel room and it was right there on the bedside table.

Ray slept pretty late. We picked some berries and I headed out to the Land Trust. There wasn't a lot for me to do, except answer the phones since Nathan is away. Heather and I will hopefully talk today. There is a staff meeting at one.

Ray called the hotel, but they said it wasn't there. In the afternoon, I called the Charlotte police to report it. I don't think there is much chance to recover it. I practically don't blame someone for holding onto something like that if they found it. Of course, it is more valuable to me than to someone else. My convention notes are on there for one thing. But I am also afraid that they will still be getting my emails on it and could use them to access financial information. I feel very foolish and sad.

We went to the pool, picked up a few groceries, and had a simple supper in our own home, just the two of us.

Home!

I woke up at 7 and was so excited I had to get right up, even though it was after midnight when we went to bed. I'm not even sure what time it was, I was so sleepy. Ray, of course, drove us home, the last hour or two in the rain, so I was kind of dozing most of the time, making sure he had good music to listen to--found a Three Dog Night CD, so all of us were singing along when we weren't dozing. Except Aleta, who mostly didn't know the songs (since they were from before she was born, I guess).

It is so wonderful to be able to walk around my spacious quiet house. I have had this experience before. I want to clean and tidy everything and keep it nice. My parents stayed here while we were gone, and had the cleaning lady come before they left, so it's really very nice. And there is a lush garden out front, and fresh tomatoes on the counter. I know there are lots of beans in the freezer, too. It is hot and humid out, but not in the house, yet today. The dog is quietly watching me and waiting to see if I want to go for a walk--or feed him.

I love the Charlotte skyscrapers.

crane in the plenary hall

The convention center was huge and full. About 4000 people. We walked a lot and I enjoyed the singing and learning. I was particularly inspired to start working on making our congregation part of the Green Sanctuary program. I also want to work with the youth. But I had sort of a crisis of faith over the Ware Lecturer, Karen Johnson. I have her book, although I haven't finished reading it. Her thesis is that we all need to be compassionate and she has a 12-step program to help us do it. But I was agonizing over the idea of always considering other people. If I truly live my life that way, I'll go mad. And I won't get anything done. If I spend all my time treating others the way I would want to be treated, I would have to enter a monastery and become a Jain (they watch wear the walk to not step on bugs, I believe). I am not sure they accomplish anything, because they are so worried about others. Of course, even if I wanted to, I think it would be very difficult. Right now, perhaps, I should be putting things away and making sure that Ray will have a nice breakfast and a nice tidy house when he gets up. But don't I have to be true to myself as well?

choir rehearsal

Amberin her element

We spent the week (Tuesday-Sunday) with Ange, Aleta, and Michelle, in a suite. It was a great arrangement. It was a little ways out of town, though, and Ray and I drove everyone back and forth. They have a small light rail line and a couple of times we took people to that station instead. The trains are kind of slow and don't run very often, but it is probably better than no transit. There are also buses.
We made sandwiches a couple of days and I made a batch of pasta salad, with the leftover mayonnaise, lettuce and the last garden tomato we brought, as well as some green onions I bought.

ready for the rally

UUFA marchers

There was a grocery store near the train station, so I went there after dropping the delegates off. The signs were in Spanish as well as English. They had cactus, queso fresco, and three kinds of dried chilies. The employees spoke to each other in Spanish, the announcements over the PA system were in Spanish, and the cashier greeted me with "Buenos dias." But they had whole wheat pasta and the other things I needed. It was a surprise; I guess it was the Spanish-speaking part of Charlotte.

I also bought a few items of black clothing at the Goodwill not far from there. I really liked it--it was smaller than our Goodwill and well run, with lots of nice things to choose from. I bought a couple of skirts and a dress for me and a skirt, pants, and dress for Aleta. I was annoyed that I didn't pack anything black to wear (one t-shirt, and maybe I could have worn my jeans since I wasn't in the front row), and especially that I didn't bring my special scarf that is sitting in my box at UUFA. I missed a couple rehearsals while I was traveling and maybe Amber announced it then. But Aleta didn't know either. Anyway, now I have some new black things that didn't cost much. Aleta chose the dress; it really looked like something she might have already owned. Now I have a size 8 skirt from Ann Taylor Loft and a pair of silk pants from Talbot's (petite). Only $3.97 each. But I don't know anyone else that size. My dress was $4.99--and it still had the tags on it, brand new. It's a teeny bit large but I was glad to have something nice. Both Aleta and I prefer not to wear black usually. I know all three of them much better than I did and our time was generally very pleasant.








 

Sarah Dan was one of the soloists

Ray took a picture of the choir on the "Jumbotron"

Charlotte convention center

beautiful parks

 

skyscrper reflected in church window

art museums

self-portrait in the mirrors

As usual, I learned more about myself. I like taking care of other people. I coordinated everyone's plans, so the UUFA contingent went to lots of different workshops. Not sure when and how we will debrief...

Lovely cool and sunny weather yesterday, until it started raining moderately, which was fine with me, having worn my new raincoat just in case. We went to the Cloisters, but didn't leave until noon because Molli wasn't ready. The cloisters was lovely, especially the walk through fort tryon park to get there from the end of the subway. But it was a little smaller than I expected and I was starting to get hungry. There was a modest cafe there, but Amelia was planning to leave work to have lunch with us. We grabbed on sandwich and a couple drinks and hopped a bus downtown. The iphone is really handy in ny and other cities. There are apps that tell you the best way to get somewhere from where you are now. I used to have to walk out of my way a lot, just to figure out where I was. And of course, you can read about restaurants and find the one you want in a convenient neighborhood.

In this case, Amelia chose a Thai restaurant for us. We changed to an express train subway and beat her there. After lunch, we all headed back uptown to the rest of the Metropolitan museum of art. It was 4:30 when we got there, but we had already paid at the cloisters. There was an exhibit on guitar-mskign, which especially interessted Adrian, since he did that for a couple years before going to college. Then he wanted to see famous paintings by Picasso and Dali, so we found our way to modern art. He was having his picture taken with all the famous paintings. As Molli said, they must do a better job of teaching about culture in other countries. Sadly, they began closing that section of the museum before we were done there. We wandered past roman statues, and Adrian had his picture taken with some of his favorite philosophers.

We were pretty tired, especially amelia, who is burning her candle at both ends, staying up late and doing dishes, being a good host, and getting up early and going to work. As we were leaving the museum, after a brief visit to the gift shop, people were streaming in. It was a special event, the museum mile, where a dozen museums along fifth avenue were open from 6-9--free! Too bad we did not know and plan. However, the Met was not reopening the modern art section. And Adrian really wanted to buy shoes, especially sneakers.

So, we walked along in the rain and went into a shoe store, great selection, good prices. He bought boots and dress shoes, but didn't find sneakers he liked. Another shoe store was down the street, but Ray and I chose to go back to the apartment. They came much later, but mostly because they stopped at the grocery store.

For supper, we had crackers and cheese and chips and guacamole, and more birthday cake and ice cream. And veggies and dip. I had gone light at lunch, so ate quite a bit. We played some Mille bornes, although 3 teams is pretty slow going, and left at midnight.

G&G got off yesterday morning. They called when they were safely home in their apt. Trip went well with only minor issues.

The rest of us didn't leave amelia's until noon. Ray had to walk and shower and dress, as did Molli. I was ready earlier. We took the subway and met Amelia for lunch. It was a Morrocan restaurant, fun and delicious. Then we went to Amelia's favorite ice cream place, sundaes and cones. I resisted. They were $3.50, although that is not really why I didn't have one. I was full from lunch and wanted to save my calories and sugar for later.

She went back to work. We took the subway one stop south and went to dsw, a big shoe store. And then to filene's basement. Adrian looked at shoes, shirts, etc, but he could not find anything that he wanted. The boots must be from caterpillar, the shirts must have button-down collars. Molli bought sneakers and sandals, as well as some shirts and shorts. I bought 3 skirts, one pair of shorts, one pair of capris, and a raincoat. It was fun and good prices. For evan-picone, Gloria Vanderbilt!

We were still there when amelia left work. She met us at the farmers market. She bought eggs, strawberries, potatoes, apples. She was really tired and crabby when we got home. Molli and ray did most of the cooking. Amelia made home-made ice cream. Molli made biscuits, It was delicious. We played Mille bornes and walked home about 11.