Das Weekend
We got our first taste of bitter cold Saturday. The temperature when I left the house at 6:30 in the morning was around forty-seven, and when I got done with my duties at work at around 10:30, the parking lot was misted with rain and the temperature had dropped nearly ten degrees. The day remained cold and wet; the clouds alternately covered everything in a fine, icy mist or properly rained on everything without remorse. That didn’t stop me from going out into the day, and certainly didn’t prevent anyone else, either, as there were thousands of cars in the sprawling parking lot of the Walk-a-Mall.
We attempted to meet Hoyle and Linda out at Carrabba’s, but the restaurant only opens after 2p.m. on Saturdays, which I find to be a ridiculous business model. It’s not my restaurant, though, so we went with plan two: Ruby Tuesdays. Hoyle and Linda gave me a huge beer mug with Harley-Davidson: Kuwait on the side for my birthday. We chatted throughout lunch, but Hoyle seemed to be irritable and distant. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he seemed very agitated. I’ll give him a call later on this week.
After lunch, Christy and I spent about a thousand years grocery shopping. Actually it was about two hours, but still. Buy the time the cart was full we were done with shopping. We drove ourselves and our groceries home in the cold, soupy muck and were happy to have a warm, dry home to return to.
That night Christy and I went over to Susi and Sonny’s for dinner and to watch Susi’s new favorite movie, Julie & Julia. Susi prepared a lovely meal of green salads with artichoke hearts, pork Bolognese, and for dessert a tiny chocolate lava cake. We sat in the family room watched Amy Adams fluster through a year of recipes and Meryl Streep capture the clumsy beauty of Julia Child. Christy thought the movie was a little too pat, and as always in almost any situation where there is a shift from one media to another, especially from book to movie, or in this case from blog to book to movie, something gets lost in translation. I still found it an endearing and sweet story. It’s good to have a hero.
Sunday was a non-starter for me. I was geared up to begin working on the book but I got a text from Jason letting me know he was otherwise occupied and that he’d call me later. I spent the rest of my day alternating between playing video games and eyeing my phone. This made me cranky as the day started to wind down and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do any work. Christy and I did manage to get laundry folded, though.
We attempted to meet Hoyle and Linda out at Carrabba’s, but the restaurant only opens after 2p.m. on Saturdays, which I find to be a ridiculous business model. It’s not my restaurant, though, so we went with plan two: Ruby Tuesdays. Hoyle and Linda gave me a huge beer mug with Harley-Davidson: Kuwait on the side for my birthday. We chatted throughout lunch, but Hoyle seemed to be irritable and distant. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he seemed very agitated. I’ll give him a call later on this week.
After lunch, Christy and I spent about a thousand years grocery shopping. Actually it was about two hours, but still. Buy the time the cart was full we were done with shopping. We drove ourselves and our groceries home in the cold, soupy muck and were happy to have a warm, dry home to return to.
That night Christy and I went over to Susi and Sonny’s for dinner and to watch Susi’s new favorite movie, Julie & Julia. Susi prepared a lovely meal of green salads with artichoke hearts, pork Bolognese, and for dessert a tiny chocolate lava cake. We sat in the family room watched Amy Adams fluster through a year of recipes and Meryl Streep capture the clumsy beauty of Julia Child. Christy thought the movie was a little too pat, and as always in almost any situation where there is a shift from one media to another, especially from book to movie, or in this case from blog to book to movie, something gets lost in translation. I still found it an endearing and sweet story. It’s good to have a hero.
Sunday was a non-starter for me. I was geared up to begin working on the book but I got a text from Jason letting me know he was otherwise occupied and that he’d call me later. I spent the rest of my day alternating between playing video games and eyeing my phone. This made me cranky as the day started to wind down and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do any work. Christy and I did manage to get laundry folded, though.