Thursday--A Long, But Good, Day And A Long, But Not So Sure It's Good, Post

Picked up by my two companions and we drove the less than two miles to meet Harvey at The Townehouse.  We were shown the studio (no) and the one bedroom (maybe), then, of course, the amenities. I've seen much of it many times before, but hadn't known there's a fitness center with, surprisingly, a full-time fitness director. He personally devises and directs individual programs for residents and conducts group exercises several times a week. Of course, there lots of other activities, such as excursions (the casinos up north, various shows, religious services), both on and off campus, as well as transportation, and so on, I think most are standard for a certain level of independent living. We had lunch there, of course, and there's an extensive menu. Actually, you can get anything you want in the kitchen at any time and can also have it delivered to your room; can't remember if there's a charge for this, but it so, it's slight. I was amused when Harvey pointed out that alcohol isn't served with meals until dinnertime. There was lots and lots more, naturally, but I won't go on about them here; I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the items are standard for a certain level of "independent living," as they call it. After the tour, we sat down with Harvey to discuss the questions we had, including the useful ones provided by my friend, Pat. I'm going to wait for another time to discuss them and also, my feelings and ideas about the whole topic of moving there.

We left about 2:00 and drove directly to Santa Barbara to meet up with Mike and family at the palatial house they're renting. This is owned by a member of The Four King Cousins, who evolved from The King Sisters, both big on the Lawrence Welk show years ago: 

The house is up in the hills, rather secluded, and is surrounded by a large property. The entrance area and front door: 

Ellen surveying one of the several garden areas:

Part of one of the large front rooms after the foyer; Vivian in front of fireplace and Paula:

After chatting in front of the fire (me with a glass of wine) and touring the house, two of us (not me) went for a long walk and the rest of us played Blokus. The girls and I then went out on the spacious back deck to chat and toss around (not me!) Violet's volley ball. Here, you can barely see it with Vivian:

We then drove to town for dinner at one of Santa Barbara's outrageously overpriced restaurants, but hey, Mike picked up the tab, so what's to complain about? I had sea bass, which was good, and I was with those I love most, including these two darling girls:

We left from there to drive back to Ventura; got home at 9:00 and, unusually for me, I didn't watch my forty-five or so of T.V, but immediately got into my jammies, fell into bed, and slept soundly. It had been a good, good day, but strangely, it tired me out. T.O.P.S. today and I know I've gained, but I'll get back on the straight and narrow shortly.