At Ojai and Elsewhere

More good stuff going on. I walked Kimball (Betty opted out), then got home to make breakfast. We dressed and tidied up, then went to the 99 Cent store (lots of things are multiples of 99 cents) and Betty got little presents for her grandchildren. Took her for a bit of a scenic drive after, then we went to Ellen's, arriving at noon, as invited.
Greg was off and had invited a co-worker to see the house and join us for lunch. It was a delicious, perfect mid-summer meal: a salad of arugula, avocado, tomatoes, lightly dressed with vinegar and oil; cold chicken (not lunch meat, but cut from a roast); nicely done deviled eggs; multi-grain bread; chickpea spread; and iced tea and Chardonnay. There was chocolate and peppermint ice cream for dessert--the good kind from O'Connell's--in which I didn't indulge, of course. Greg's co-worker, who is moving to San Francisco shortly, said goodbye, and Greg went to his study to catch up on paper work, then El, Betty, and I drove into town. We strolled down Main Street, then into the leafy park for a bit. Got back to Ellen's and we gathered our things to leave. I drove Betty to Ventura station and got her on the train to Santa Barbara, where Carolyn picked her up.
Got home about 6:00 and went next door to Suzanne's to check on how often I should water her African violets (every two weeks). We had a talk about my concerns regarding some problems of my siblings. Suzanne is going to a retreat at the Mercy mother house, then to a birthday celebration for her 91-year-old aunt. After that, I called brother Frank to ask about Marybeth and we had a good talk. He still sounds slightly disoriented, but better than he did. He told me his license had been renewed, but only for a year.