Hi Mom and family,
Sunday, the day after that party, we did not have much desire to do anything at all. It just felt good to sit around, chat, and relax. I think we were all in our pajamas until almost 11:00 AM.
The rainy day made the view out their windows even lovelier.
Yesterday, we were again able to have a late morning because my flight wasn't until around 5:00 PM. But all of us felt more energetic. It was Kathy's birthday, and John cooked us a birthday omelet, with eggs, veggies, and cheddar, and sour cream and the last of the smoked salmon which Dale Sr. had sent up with me, crumbled on top. (Most of it was served at the party, and it did not last very long!)
Here are two photos of John cooking breakfast:
After we were all showered and dressed, and I had gotten my stuff packed up, we set off for lunch on "the Basque street" of downtown Boise. All the buildings on the block-long area are made of brick, square in shape, only two stories high. It's a charming area.
Here's a photo of the "Basque street" in Boise:
There is a monument there to the special tool which the Basque people used to break up the earth for farming. Below, the monument and the plaque beneath it:
We had lunch in a Basque-themed bar. John and I had craft beers and we wall had lamb stew which came with sliced French bread. It was a good lunch on a cold, rainy day.
They had planned to take me to the Basque museum or a local history museum, but both were closed on Mondays. We did have some time before I would have to get to the airport, so we stopped by an Indian grocery store. Kathy had some spices she wanted to get, and I always find those sort of places interesting.
I bought a little stainless steel container which had a grater for a screw on lid, about six inches across, and several spice mixes.
Nice rainy-day sunset from the C-21 gate:
For most of the Boise-Las Vegas leg of the flight, I dozed. Again, I was fortunate enough to be in the A group for both flights, though the plane was full.
It was my second time at the Las Vegas airport, and I found myself still taken aback by the rows of slot machines everywhere:
On the second leg of the flight, the older lady sitting beside me was a genteel African-American, slender and elegant. She was from Lafayette, Louisiana, where her father and his father before him had been carpenters. She had recently attended the football game called the "Bayou Classic" between Grambling and Southern Universities, which takes place after Thanksgiving. She was an alumna of Grambling herself, but her sister had attended Southern U.
On the Supershuttle van on the way home, our driver, originally from Calcutta, was a real hustler. All of the drivers hate to go out all the way to Apache Junction with only one "fare", as they are allowed three, and tips are an important percentage of their take-home pay. They usually circle the airport again to see if the dispatchers have anyone else going their way.
This driver not only did that, he got out of the van, and kept on ragging on the dispatcher until that young man called the central office, because he (the driver) could see on his tablet that there was one more reservation going in the same direction, for about this time. Sure enough, shortly afterwards, this couple appeared, and were loaded on also. I had to admire the driver for his perserverance.
While the driver was out of the van speaking vehemently with the dispatcher, I conversed with the nerdy-looking young man in front of me. Very south-Indian in appearance, he must have been second-generation as he had no trace of a foreign accent. He was in the Phoenix area on business, something having to do with a software company contracted to the government. I asked him whether he was an "Apple" person. When he said he did everything on Microsoft, I asked him what he thought of Windows 10.
He said he had recently started using it, and had had some problems, but he thought that they would be fixed soon. He also thought that Microsoft would probably be "making some problems" for people who did not start using Windows 10. As he spoke he often broke into a pleasant smile, his teeth had that bright white look of young teeth in a dark-skinned face.
Like everyone else I've asked, he too had not liked Windows 8 and had not used it.
The couple who soon joined us were Brits, the lady very chatty. It turned out they know our friends Marilyn and Jerry quite well! They are involved in the Goldfield gunfighter 'old-West style" reenactment group. These people come to Arizona every winter, and the rest of the year they do American-old-West style reenactment in England!
They also do leather work and go to "trade shows" all over England, including an upcoming one on the grounds of the estate where Downton Abbey is filmed.
"I'm 'Cactus Jack' and she's 'California Sal'," he said in his British accent.
They asked me not to mention to either Marilyn or Jerry that they
('Cactus Jack' and 'California Sal') were back in Arizona, as they wanted to surprise the re-enactors group at Goldfield this coming weekend.
"Mum's the word," I said.
When I got home, I looked askance at the mess in my house. I'd been in such a hurry to get everything done and pack for Boise, last Thursday. Last night I fell right asleep, mess or no mess, because I was so tired. When I woke up at 3AM, unable to fall back asleep. I decided to make myself return 50 items to their right place, keeping tally on a 4 by 5 grid on a little piece of paper. (I often have to use those little tricks to get my "ass in gear".)
This went faster than I expected, and as you might imagine, made quite a difference in the state of things! With a sense of accomplishment I had a cup of decaf coffee with milk. By then it was 5 AM. I went back to sleep for several more hours.
The important "new thing" is that the clutter really bothered me. That much disorder and clutter used to feel so normal to me that I wouldn't even think of it, until I decided to concentrate on keeping the front rooms neat. I did do so for three weeks straight, until packing for Boise. So perhaps I really have changed.
I do hope so.
Love, Lennie
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