Thursday

I was pleased when Ellen called in the morning and invited me over.  I'm booked up every day until Tuesday, so that's when I'll go.

In preparation for meeting Jeanette for lunch, I looked up the menu of the Lazy Dog restaurant. What I've noticed more and more lately, is that restaurants are no longer listing prices on their on-line menus. That's just one more ploy to get as much as possible out of the consumer, joining the you order/you pay/you add tip practice before you even sit down. The Lazy Dog is no exception.

I took the 6 to a certain stop, then walked the rest of the way (a mile or a bit more) to The Collection. Got there without difficulty a little early and Jeanette arrived shortly after. We sat outside on a typically lovely day; I had half a grilled cheese and soup, plus a Blue Moon. We talked and talked and talked. Jeanette has an interesting background. She was born in the U.S. of Chinese descent and told me of the typical old-time Chinese bone-headed ideas: that boys went to college, but there was no reason for girls to go. She has three sisters and one brother (who naturally was sent to college paid by  his parents) and she and her sister financed their own way (Jeanette graduated from Berkeley). I told her that wasn't much different from my own Irish/German family. It was a given that my three brothers would go, but although I was never told I couldn't, I was never encouraged to do so. Instead, I went to night school for 22 years while I had a husband, a house, four children, and a full-time job. Got my bachelors degree when I was 54, which I resent to this day. Am I holding a grudge? Damn right.

Jeanette is 75 (looks younger), married to a Caucasian, no children, is borderline diabetic although she's very slim, does a lot of "spinning" and Zoom exercise classes (although she's anything but the elegant Asian type), and I enjoyed her company.  We stayed two hours talking, then said goodbye. She asked if she could take me home, but I wanted to browse in the shops a bit, so declined. Looked around in a few stores, but didn't buy anything and took the 6 home.

Stopped at Von's and got a box of chocolate pudding (the kind you cook, of course, the instant kind is vile), plus heavy cream to whip for topping. I was considering making my signature ground turkey stir-fry, but decided on Viola! garlic chicken, instead. I don't feel like making my own and I will add homemade applesauce and from scratch cornbread, not the Jiffy stuff I gave Jim last time.     

Note: Neither Julie, Lora, nor Bobbi are going to T.O.P.S. today, so I called leader Lennie and told her I'm going to skip, too. It won't hurt to miss once in a while and I don't feel like busing and walking there.