Yesterday was a mix. Started out a lull, not to say a dull day. I wrapped Christmas packages for son and his family and did other Xmas-oriented chores. Something happened--or didn't happen--that upset me, but I don't want to go into it here. Later, it was remedied and all was straightened out.
I bought ground meat and made meatballs with them--about thirty, in fact. Went out to get pasta and sauce and put it together. Now, will I have company anytime soon enough to serve it? Dunno, but will put in the freezer for later, if not.
Got an e-mail announcing the party locale from niece Carolyn. I printed it out and took it next door to Suzanne. She invited me in and we had a good talk. We're getting to know each other better and I'm liking her more and more. I learned that she has a master's degree in public health (undergrad in English, a girl after my own heart), is 68, and works part-time in the health and wellness field at St. John's Hospital. I won't hold the fact that she's a nun against her (JOKE!).
Mike called. They got in from Lake Tahoe and he invited us for dinner today. Sounds good and I'm looking forward to it, of course. El called to ask if I wanted to me at Jasmine Thai for dinner, and yes, sure. We four did so, and it was good, as always.
When I got home, I had a message from Jim D., Betty's old boyfriend from high school and after. Jim is a thorough Trump fan and to the right of Attila the Hun, but I called him back. I'm glad I did, because he had called to tell me that his wife, Louella, has terminal cancer. She's to get surgery early in the new year, although according to Jim, it's incurable. I had met Louella when the couple were in Jersey last year. They were about to drive back to Texas and we had breakfast together in Galloway. She seemed a very sweet-natured and pleasant person; hard to believe she's married to him, who's always been, in my experience, an incredibly bombastic, sophomoric, and pretentious jerk. However, I feel sorry for him; they've been married 58 years.
TUESDAY
I started off the morning with some annoying problems with Amazon Japan re Christmas gifts, but I don't want to go into detail. Left at...
5 comments:
Rosemary,
Do you know if Jim D. reads your blog? Maybe he already knows how you feel about him. Does Betty share your view? I think I know that answer.
I'm sure he doesn't read my blog; otherwise, I wouldn't have mentioned it. In fact, I doubt very much if it would faze him--he seems impervious to criticism of any kind. As for Betty, yes, she's pretty much on the same page. Maybe I was too hard on him, though. He does have some redeeming qualities, but they're hard to remember.
Pat, here's the entry from when I met Jim and Lou in '14:
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Not Jimbob, but Jim and Bob
Jim hasn't changed one iota--not even a smidgen--since he was the teenaged boaster and braggart I knew as a girl.
He and Lou got to Romanelli's just as I did and we sat down to catch up. Lou, by the way, is very nice. A little country girl from Minnesota, she's small and thin with a warm manner and sweet smile. We both endured Jim's non-stop yakking: "I play a lot of golf, I was on a golf tour, that's how good I am; my daughter's a multi-millionaire, she adopted a girl from a white trash family, but they have good genes*; other daughter was with Facebook for two years, she's married to a cervical specialist**; we've been to fifty countries, we go on a lot of cruises, we have two coming up soon..." and so on and on.
He also whipped out an android so he could show me the inside of his "villa" in Texas. It's decorated in the boring kind of pseudo-southwestern that features too much oak and wrought iron, but I dutifully expressed admiration.
My tooth was still sore, so I ordered very soft scrambled eggs. We spent only an hour or so together (they had driven from Texas and were heading back), but before we parted, I handed Jim the fifteen or twenty letters he had written me in 1955 and '56. He seemed a bit aggrieved I didn't want them, but I'm sure Lou will be interested. I assured her we were never a couple; he and my twin were. We hugged goodbye and drove off. It was a pleasant enough interlude, but I barely know the twenty-year-old girl involved and I was anxious to resume my real life...
Rosemary,
I wonder why I don't recall him from HSHS. Yet I do remember Pat Molloy and lots of other upperclassmen. Jim sounds like the braggart you describe. I don't think I'd want to spend any time with him either. He must have charmed Betty somehow.
Pat, Jim actually was a year behind me in school; he'll be 80 in May, he said. I'm not absolutely sure he graduated, but he says he did.
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