I was pleased to get a call from brother Frank, now in Baltimore at his son's, Patrick's, house. Patrick's wife, Susan, was on speaker phone with Frank, and we had a great talk. Frank, unfortunately, didn't exactly realize he was in Baltimore, but was able to talk pretty well. We started talking about his grandchildren liking basketball and how he played at Holy Spirit. I said there were pictures of him in my husband, Pat's, yearbook and I'd scan and put them on Facebook. However, there were none of him in either the 1950 or '51 yearbook. He must not have played until he was a senior in '52.
After we hung up, Gabe and some other guys came over about the hole in the living room ceiling. It seems that a pipe between floors was leaking. They had to rip up my upstairs neighbors' carpet and floor to fix it. I had walked the back way to the library branch (forgetting it doesn't open until 2:00 on Thursdays) and got home to find the water turned off. Gabe suggested I go out for about three hours and I took him up on it.
Scouting around for somebody to meet for lunch, I called Stella--but she was on her way to some show in L.A. Called Terri, but her machine was on. I didn't think Nancy would want to go the day after we had our regular lunch, so I called Jim. He was available--great!--and I suggested Mimi's,which is near where he lives.
We met a bit after noon and had a fine time talking, mostly about books (both of us heavily favor non-fiction). He said his favorite fiction is Sartre's Nausea, of which I had never heard. Of course, Jean-Paul Sartre was a philosopher and Jim teaches that at Ventura College, so I wasn't surprised. He also recommended Tolstoy's treatise on art, which I'll look for. I told him what I was reading, but also about selling my car to Shift. He asked me to send him the web site, which I will.
After we parted, I rode up to town. Walked to The Promenade--it was very windy, but not too cold yet--then to the library. Naturally, this provincial town doesn't have Nausea, so I had to request it from the Ojai branch.
Saw Gabe when I got home and he said the leak was fixed and they'll do my ceiling today. No prob and I'm not too concerned. Noreen called as soon as I got in to ask if I wanted to go to the poetry group at the library last night. I declined with thanks, and told her of my short-lived involvement with that group.
Here was the living room. They cleaned up and the bin is gone. BTW, the picture is the one Nancy painted and gave me for my eightieth.
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