More Fun With Ellen

We continued our busy pace, going here and there on various errands.  Took the phone back and got another.  I still haven't activated it, but there's no rush, as Ellen was able to charge my current phone through her computer.
First, we had breakfast at Carl, Jr.'s and it was truly dreadful.  Their stuff is billed as being "cooked on demand"--or command or something, that is, to order.  I asked for an egg, cheese, and sausage sandwich on a biscuit, Ellen the same, but with bacon.  They came in a kind of barely warm, consolidated square type of thing and we started eating.  Halfway through, Ellen realized there was no egg on hers. She took it back, got another, then it finally occurred to me (I'm a little slow on the uptake) to check and I discovered mine had no egg, either.  By the time I got another, we were ready to leave, so I took it home and had it for dinner that night.
We stopped at Sprint so El could get a rep to synchronize her phone GPS with her car radio, so the latter would announce direction info.  This took an age and finally, the guy came out to get in her car and it was finished.  Got home in late afternoon and Ellen wrapped presents while I continued reading the marvelous new book of Alice Munroe's short stories, My Life, which Aline had given me for my birthday.      
We were invited to Ellen's friend, Linda C.'s house "after dinner" and drove over about 7:00.  I've met Linda before and enjoy her--uh, unusual hobby.  She searches out and buys antiques, "collectibles," and all manner of artifacts, from the rare and valuable to the junky.  She showed us one of her recent finds, a truly hideous table lamp from the late eighteen nineties that set her back 200 bucks.  Her entire large--and surely pricey--house is filled, so she's kind of a high-class hoarder, I guess, but it's wonderful to see the European, Asian, and American items, many of which are surely museum quality.
We enjoyed a glass of Amaretto--well, I enjoyed it; Ellen gave me most of hers--then Linda took us into the enormous room, which is filled with her acquisitions, and gave Ellen her choice of three antique screens for a Christmas present.  She chose a beautiful, large (about three by six feet, I think) Chinese one of a flower-filled cart.
Today, we're meeting the other Linda, Linda P., for lunch in Santa Barbara.  This Linda had rented Ellen's two rooms and bath for a year and became a good friend.  She was recently able to get her own apartment in SB, where she works, so no longer has the lengthy commute.