Yes, I Know

Yes, I know. I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog. But see, life in South Pasadena is pretty routine and normal. Oh sure, there are some moments. Like when I went to the farmers' market yesterday. I go there every Saturday morning. It opens for business at 8:30, but unlike Arlington's farmers market, the start time is only a suggestion. I get there at 7:30 and watch the late arriving vendors putting up their canopies and stocking their tables.

I used to bring a cart to hang bags of produce on. Then, throughout the week I'd throw out vegetables that we hadn't used. So bad. Now that I'm not working, we've developed a more realistic outlook on food shopping. This should be a surprise - just buy what you will use. So now I take two Trader Joe's bags to carry through the market. Because my purchases are limited, I look at everything much more closely.

Has the market always been so beautiful? Yesterday the sun was just coming up. The market is at the base of the San Gabriel mountains. They were clear and stunning, a great backdrop to the market. The light of the sun made all the vegetables even more colorful. I gasped when I saw one stall with beets and carrots glistening in the sun. I was singing softly to myself as I strolled. If I was a good singer, the blind guitarist or the steel drum player would have had a vocalist for the day.

In between appearances at the farmers' market, I've been cleaning house and reading. I have read a slew of crummy mysteries as well as this nice non-fiction book, Outcasts United, about a little town in Georgia. Who knew that relief agencies were putting a part of every immigrant group in a town outside Georgia. There are people from many countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. They are all poor. Many don't speak English. All are looking for a better life. As you can imagine, this has adversely affected the people who have lived in the town for decades. I thought this just happened in Southern California.

A young woman from Jordan starts and coaches a soccer team for young men. The young men come from every country represented in this diaspora. The story takes place over a couple of years, but the author does backstories on the coach and key players. I enjoyed this story and needed this story. It was important for me to remember why people come here.

Books I Have Known

I've been reading while I've not been writing. There were a few nameless thriller/mysteries and these:

Okay, The Girl Who Played With Fire is a thriller/mystery. It is the second in a trilogy written by a now deceased Swedish writer. This was really good. You learn a lot about the heroine of the first book, Lisbeth Salander. She is a fascinating woman. LOTS of stuff happens. Most of this stuff you've never read in other books. Loved it. I listened to it on the road. When I'm on the road, I tend to go to sleep listening to whatever I'm listening to. That means that I got to hear some of this story over and over again. For once, that made me happy.
Olive Kitteridge has Book Club written all over it. Oh, and Pulitzer Prize. This is a series of short stories about a small town in Maine. Olive is a teacher in the town and appears in all stories. This is a great way to tell her story. She is an unpleasant woman whose unpleasantness becomes more obvious as you read. But that didn't mean I hated this woman. She was just very sad and hard. A great read.
Audible had a sale on Classics. I got four of them and have only finished one to date. Rob Roy is interesting because it isn't about Rob Roy. One thing that you learn when reading classics as an adult, as opposed to as a high school student, is that they are just like modern fiction. Do you remember slogging through Ivanhoe when you were in school. OMG, that was tough. Maybe it's because it was a requirement. Rob Roy is about a young man who doesn't want to go into the family business, banking (or money lending). He travels to northern England to live with an uncle. His cousin goes to London to take his role in his father's business. There is romance, intrigue, economic catastrophe and war. Rob Roy keeps popping up. All characters are interesting.

Where Men Win Glory was tough to read. It is about the life and death of Pat Tillman, a pro football player who volunteered for military service after the events of 9/11. The only reason that I decided to read it was that it was written by Jon Krakauer. He does very thorough research for all his books. I'm glad, because I don't want to read about this topic ever again. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Friendly fire is an odd term. I don't think I'll write that ever again while I'm never-againing. His death was turned into a media circus by the Bush administration, covered up by the military and, finally, an outing of duplicity of the highest order. The best part of the book was reading about what a fine man Tillman was. He was interested in reading everything. He loved to talk about what he read, getting input from people with views different from his. He was friendly to everyone. He hated the stupid rules of the military that makes years of service and rank more important than clear thinking. He thought about everything, kept a journal and always worked to be a better person. Okay, I'm going to say it - I wish all of this could have been said about his commander in chief.

The most fun? I'm home with Adrian who asks me what I'm reading and loves to talk about everything. We had lunch today at our favorite noodle place. The food was great, the conversation was the best. Even better? I'm almost done unpacking. I'm seeing more floor and flat surfaces. LIG.

About Social Security

One of the problems I had in Virginia was that I wasn't making enough money to allow me to do all the things I wanted to do. I thought that if I moved back to South Pasadena I would want to do less and could live on less money.

So far that's been true. What I've been doing most is cleaning and stowing. But then, I've only been back a week. I've also been looking for certificates: marriage, divorce and birth. One thing I had decided to do as I was packing to leave Virginia was apply for Social Security. You can do that on-line. Then a lovely lady from the Pasadena SS office called me to tell me that I could get my ex-husband's social security. That was pretty stunning. We divorced before he died. But the rule is that if you are married for 10 years, you can still get the money. Imagine!

So for all you guys who didn't understand why I didn't divorce him years earlier - - HA!

It all works very well for me. That and being home. I really enjoyed being in Virginia, like Dorothy in the Emerald City. But there really is no place like home. And my Toto cooks amazing food. Life is Good.

With a Bang

I am back in California. For good. For very good. Lots of reasons for coming home, some reasons for coming home so abruptly and they were all about me. Love Eric. Love Cindy and her family. Love Virginia. Loved working at Booz Allen. And overjoyed to be home.

My last day on the East Coast was the trip to New York. Now, why didn't I do that earlier? Took the bus both ways. Very pleasant. Listened to books and podcasts on my new iPod Touch all the way there and back. I like the size of my old iPod better. It fit in my bra so I didn't have to always have pockets. This one is the size of an iPhone. My bra is not that big. Still, the books play just the same. Did I mention that I washed the old iPod the day before the trip? It was in the pocket of my pants. Damn.

Got to the theater in plenty of time. Eric, Cindy and I were meeting at the theater to see A Steady Rain. Oh my, it was wonderful. Just Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, sitting and roaming around the stage. There was minimal scenery, just a scrim behind them on which some scenes of the city were displayed. It was all about them, these two Chicago cops. So good. The British and Aussie accents were gone. Jackman turned into a clueless racist and Craig was his cop best friend. So good. One of the best parts was that Eric could understand almost every word. It's hard for him to hear most plays we've been to. Sometimes that isn't so bad. I'm glad this is the one he could hear.

Afterwards we said our final goodbyes and I went around the huge mob waiting for the stars to leave the stage door and found Tom. He forgot that our proposed meeting spot was right next to the stage door. That just added to the fun. He's so tall it was easy to see him. We had a pitcher of beer at his favorite NY bar. I'm not sure if they serve any food there. It was a perfect NY dive. Then we went to have dinner close to the bus stop and talked endlessly about The Times and the Book Awards and fun times we'd had in the past.

What a perfect day.

Then I threw my final couple of things into the car and started a four day drive. Piece of cake. Like a mantra. 66 to 81 to 40 to 15 to 210. And to my door. Still putting stuff away and cleaning. This will take a while. In the interim, I'm getting paperwork together so I can get Reg's Social Security. But that's another story.