among the missing: capitals and skivvies
i am going to emulate two of my lj friends and experiment with a post sans capitals -- want to see if it helps the flow of my writing. already it feels oddly freeing not to reach for the shift key.
i feel a mix of things this morning. i am still buoyed by all the love and affirmation i received from my friends in michigan. that was a fantastic trip. i stayed with my best buddy richard. i had dinner on saturday night with toney then went back to her house and chatted with her for hours, sitting on the floor with my canine niece, lexus the rottie, stretched out by my side. she remembered me (lexus, that is). nary a bark escaped her when i came in the house, just happy snorts and bounces. i lived in that house for two years, renting a room from toney, and lexus taught me all the joys of living with a large, happy dog (and they are myriad). toney and i talked until late at night, and we decided that it made more sense for me to simply crash on her sofabed than for us to try to find richard's new place in the dark (plus richard was bunking at his girlfriend's that night).
toney has new tenants -- she rents out three rooms in her large house -- the house went to her in the long-ago divorce. after dinner, on the way to her house, she told me about one of her new tenants, a nice-enough fifty-ish fellow, quiet and soft-spoken, into yoga, who has the undesirable habit of walking around half-clothed. from a noninterested woman's perspective, that would be the wrong half. he seems to have a penchant for walking around in tee shirts with his bottom half unclad. toney is pretty easy-going, but there is a young woman also living in the house, and toney has told the male tenant that his choice of half-dress is not appropriate. still, it seems, he persists.
i awoke fairly early on sunday morning, the house dim and quiet. i felt relaxed and happy, and lay in the opened sofa-bed wondering idly if i should get up and get dressed.
from the sofabed, i saw mr. skivvyhater enter the kitchen -- there is a window-like opening in the wall between the kitchen and the living room. i also had a full-length view of him through the opening to the dining room ell. he did not turn on the lights, but in the grey light i had a glimpse of a disquieting extent of leg. oh no, i thought, i really don't wish to see this strange man's penis -- strange in that he was unfamiliar to me, though i had chatted with him briefly the night before and he had been quite pleasant. i am a prude about nudity. i don't like to see the wrinkly bits of others. after giving it thought, i realize i've only enjoyed seeing the penii of my lovers, in a historically aggregate sense, because of their function, not their form. i do not find the male organ aesthetically pleasing, no i do not.
so, there i lay, quiet and still, somewhat feigning sleep, feeling imprisoned in the sofabed by potential penis presence. finally, in a display of courage worthy of a medal, in my opinion, i emerged from beneath the sheets, clad in nightgown appropriate for mixed company, thank you very much, and walked nonchalantly to the dining table where I leafed through a magazine that lay there, not yet hazarding a look towards the kitchen. i was greeted and realized it would be rude and silly not to look up. bang. oh, sweet relief, the tenant wore a tee shirt and the briefest of running shorts, but still, that area of him was covered which i do not wish to see unless some kind of, erm, performance, is about to ensue.
the tenant and i made polite chit-chat, and he kindly made me a very good cup of real coffee. he even offered to drive me to richard's if toney didn't get up in time. i hated to rouse toney on her day off, but i needed to return to richard's and my luggage in time to shower and dress and meet my friend gwen for lunch. toney and lexus emerged from upstairs in plenty of time and we set off for richard's condo armed with directions from mapquest. lexus sat in the backseat and poked her sleek, massive black head into the frontseat petting area. lord, i love that dog. when we reached richard's, toney wanted to take a look at his new place, and left lexus in the car. i was going to say goodbye to her, lexus, but didn't, because she's a smart dog and i thought it might upset her. toney was only in the condo for about 5 minutes, but we heard lexus commence a mournful howling in the car. that's weird, said toney, she *never* does that. oh, goodbye, my favorite massive canine. lexus is 12 years old, extremely senior for a dog of her size. she still romps like a puppy, though her window of playfulness is ever-shrinking. still, it is possible that she will never lean against me with her hundred-pound weight again. sniff.
After hugging toney goodbye, i made myself some breakfast and showered and dressed and cuddled a bit with richard's cat, ouija. then gwen arrived with brand-new baby james. gwen and james and i had a perfect ann arbor afternoon. we strolled around on a gorgeous fall day -- well james rode, and we strolled him. we had lunch and tea in the upstairs tea room of a new age bookstore called crazy wisdom. when we arrived, i asked after an elevator and we were led to an extremely well-concealed lift. it hid behind an average-looking hinged and door-knobbed door, and an accordion-pleated vinyl "gate". Inside the elevator, there was a sign in large type taped to the wall detailing the order of steps that *must* be followed while operating the lift lest it STALL. eep. the gate was NOT to be opened until the light of the lighted button went off, etc. i stared at the sign and engraved the steps upon my brain, then focused on the light with all the concentration of paul revere sitting on his nervous horse and peering for one if by land, two if by sea. we reached the second floor without incident, and when we closed the door on the hermetic lift i breathed a huge sigh of relief.
we had a lovely relaxed lunch in front of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, james reclining in his basket by gwen's side. i like him very much. he seems to regard the world with a great deal of seriousness, punctuated by random fits of glee.
after lunch and tea, giggles and rich talk, we descended in the scary elevator then strolled around some more. we stopped by the famous deli, zingerman's, so i could look for some cheese as gift to richard for hosting me. richard is quite the gourmand and mentioned that he had a new cheese love, mizithra. i told him that that sounded like a demon on buffy the vampire slayer. actually, i should have said angel -- angel really went in for the baroque demon names. numfar, do the dance of joy. heh, my favorite angel line ever.
so, gwen wisely decided not to risk james in the press of bodies in the deli, and waited in the courtyard. i entered and found one of the members of zingerman's army of extremely good customer service. the she-soldier of perky politeness shepherded me through the swarming mass of jam-hunters and truffle-stalkers. a cheesemonger of disquieting youth asked if he could help me and i stammered that i was looking for a hard greek cheese -- mizinga something something. mizithra!, he said. yes! i concurred. and i soon left with a small half-wheel of designer cheese.
well, this is long, and i have a fairly ambitious schedule of saturday tasks. i want to capture the rest of this weekend in a sequel post, if only for myself, because it did me a world of good. there may even be pictures!
edit: i've just added links for crazy wisdom and zingerman's -- any foodies on my list should take a look at the zingerman's site. :)
i feel a mix of things this morning. i am still buoyed by all the love and affirmation i received from my friends in michigan. that was a fantastic trip. i stayed with my best buddy richard. i had dinner on saturday night with toney then went back to her house and chatted with her for hours, sitting on the floor with my canine niece, lexus the rottie, stretched out by my side. she remembered me (lexus, that is). nary a bark escaped her when i came in the house, just happy snorts and bounces. i lived in that house for two years, renting a room from toney, and lexus taught me all the joys of living with a large, happy dog (and they are myriad). toney and i talked until late at night, and we decided that it made more sense for me to simply crash on her sofabed than for us to try to find richard's new place in the dark (plus richard was bunking at his girlfriend's that night).
toney has new tenants -- she rents out three rooms in her large house -- the house went to her in the long-ago divorce. after dinner, on the way to her house, she told me about one of her new tenants, a nice-enough fifty-ish fellow, quiet and soft-spoken, into yoga, who has the undesirable habit of walking around half-clothed. from a noninterested woman's perspective, that would be the wrong half. he seems to have a penchant for walking around in tee shirts with his bottom half unclad. toney is pretty easy-going, but there is a young woman also living in the house, and toney has told the male tenant that his choice of half-dress is not appropriate. still, it seems, he persists.
i awoke fairly early on sunday morning, the house dim and quiet. i felt relaxed and happy, and lay in the opened sofa-bed wondering idly if i should get up and get dressed.
from the sofabed, i saw mr. skivvyhater enter the kitchen -- there is a window-like opening in the wall between the kitchen and the living room. i also had a full-length view of him through the opening to the dining room ell. he did not turn on the lights, but in the grey light i had a glimpse of a disquieting extent of leg. oh no, i thought, i really don't wish to see this strange man's penis -- strange in that he was unfamiliar to me, though i had chatted with him briefly the night before and he had been quite pleasant. i am a prude about nudity. i don't like to see the wrinkly bits of others. after giving it thought, i realize i've only enjoyed seeing the penii of my lovers, in a historically aggregate sense, because of their function, not their form. i do not find the male organ aesthetically pleasing, no i do not.
so, there i lay, quiet and still, somewhat feigning sleep, feeling imprisoned in the sofabed by potential penis presence. finally, in a display of courage worthy of a medal, in my opinion, i emerged from beneath the sheets, clad in nightgown appropriate for mixed company, thank you very much, and walked nonchalantly to the dining table where I leafed through a magazine that lay there, not yet hazarding a look towards the kitchen. i was greeted and realized it would be rude and silly not to look up. bang. oh, sweet relief, the tenant wore a tee shirt and the briefest of running shorts, but still, that area of him was covered which i do not wish to see unless some kind of, erm, performance, is about to ensue.
the tenant and i made polite chit-chat, and he kindly made me a very good cup of real coffee. he even offered to drive me to richard's if toney didn't get up in time. i hated to rouse toney on her day off, but i needed to return to richard's and my luggage in time to shower and dress and meet my friend gwen for lunch. toney and lexus emerged from upstairs in plenty of time and we set off for richard's condo armed with directions from mapquest. lexus sat in the backseat and poked her sleek, massive black head into the frontseat petting area. lord, i love that dog. when we reached richard's, toney wanted to take a look at his new place, and left lexus in the car. i was going to say goodbye to her, lexus, but didn't, because she's a smart dog and i thought it might upset her. toney was only in the condo for about 5 minutes, but we heard lexus commence a mournful howling in the car. that's weird, said toney, she *never* does that. oh, goodbye, my favorite massive canine. lexus is 12 years old, extremely senior for a dog of her size. she still romps like a puppy, though her window of playfulness is ever-shrinking. still, it is possible that she will never lean against me with her hundred-pound weight again. sniff.
After hugging toney goodbye, i made myself some breakfast and showered and dressed and cuddled a bit with richard's cat, ouija. then gwen arrived with brand-new baby james. gwen and james and i had a perfect ann arbor afternoon. we strolled around on a gorgeous fall day -- well james rode, and we strolled him. we had lunch and tea in the upstairs tea room of a new age bookstore called crazy wisdom. when we arrived, i asked after an elevator and we were led to an extremely well-concealed lift. it hid behind an average-looking hinged and door-knobbed door, and an accordion-pleated vinyl "gate". Inside the elevator, there was a sign in large type taped to the wall detailing the order of steps that *must* be followed while operating the lift lest it STALL. eep. the gate was NOT to be opened until the light of the lighted button went off, etc. i stared at the sign and engraved the steps upon my brain, then focused on the light with all the concentration of paul revere sitting on his nervous horse and peering for one if by land, two if by sea. we reached the second floor without incident, and when we closed the door on the hermetic lift i breathed a huge sigh of relief.
we had a lovely relaxed lunch in front of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, james reclining in his basket by gwen's side. i like him very much. he seems to regard the world with a great deal of seriousness, punctuated by random fits of glee.
after lunch and tea, giggles and rich talk, we descended in the scary elevator then strolled around some more. we stopped by the famous deli, zingerman's, so i could look for some cheese as gift to richard for hosting me. richard is quite the gourmand and mentioned that he had a new cheese love, mizithra. i told him that that sounded like a demon on buffy the vampire slayer. actually, i should have said angel -- angel really went in for the baroque demon names. numfar, do the dance of joy. heh, my favorite angel line ever.
so, gwen wisely decided not to risk james in the press of bodies in the deli, and waited in the courtyard. i entered and found one of the members of zingerman's army of extremely good customer service. the she-soldier of perky politeness shepherded me through the swarming mass of jam-hunters and truffle-stalkers. a cheesemonger of disquieting youth asked if he could help me and i stammered that i was looking for a hard greek cheese -- mizinga something something. mizithra!, he said. yes! i concurred. and i soon left with a small half-wheel of designer cheese.
well, this is long, and i have a fairly ambitious schedule of saturday tasks. i want to capture the rest of this weekend in a sequel post, if only for myself, because it did me a world of good. there may even be pictures!
edit: i've just added links for crazy wisdom and zingerman's -- any foodies on my list should take a look at the zingerman's site. :)