Journal

Congratulations to Pat!!!! He has lost more than 20 pounds and is reclaiming his lithe, supple, sensuous...okay, okay, enough of that. He looks great and he's wearing clothes I haven't seen for awhile.

Big time travel the last few weeks for work (and some play) - since Oct. 16, I've hit St. Louis, Iowa City, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. I took the commuter train from Baltimore to Union Station a grand old railway station and still very active altho' not in the same way it would have been 60 years ago.

This week I'm off to a conference in San Francisco and while the traveling is getting to be a bit much, I think this trip will be pretty nice. The only real work thing I will have to do is give a 30 minute presentation; otherwise, it's 4 days at the Fairmont in SF.

This will be a far cry from the first time we went to SF. It was Pat's and my first "flying to an exciting place and staying in a hotel" trip! Elizabeth stayed with my mother and dad a few days and then Kathleen a few days for the week we were gone. I booked a hotel listed in a SF guidebook (prehistoric times - no internet) which was okay - clean etc. We left SF to go to the wine country for a couple of days and told the desk clerk we wanted a room when we came back to SF. The desk clerk yelled to some one in a room behind the reception desk - "Hey, these people want to come back here - can you believe it?" So the Fairmont will be a step up!

Sore leg muscles today - those hills are killers! While there wasn't much sightseeing time we made it to a San Francisco landmark for a drink after dinner. Since Pat and I had been to SF more than once before, I wasn't disappointed that I didn't get to do more. The view of SF from the room where we had the meeting at the Fairmont was spectacular.

When we were finished on Saturday, a friend/colleague and I walked from the hotel to a boutique shop area in Pacific Heights. We looked at a bunch of shops and I bought a couple of small Christmas presents.

That evening we went to a great Chinese restaurant. Two of us almost didn't get there - we were slowly following the other two down the hill and lost sight of them (there are lots a people in Chinatown at night). Neither of us had paid attention to the name of the restaurant or the address so we were standing at the corner looking all around. Thank god for cell phones - I called my friend and after a couple of tries got in touch and we made to the restaurant for an excellent meal. We got their meal for four so we got a wide sampling of dishes including sizzling rice soup which I had never had. The shrimp dish was wonderful.

Oh yeah - the meetings went well!

I was at Dallas for work on Thursday and Friday - Ann G. and I worked in lunch together on Friday. It's always a pleasure to see Ann. She had just dropped off Tim and Courtney at the airport - Tim was taking Courtney to Las Vegas for her 21st birthday. Ann was a little bit late for lunch because as she was leaving the airport Tim called and said he had left his garment bag in the car, so Ann had to turn around and go back!

Then to Austin Friday afternoon to see Joyce, Brian, Dale, Jonathan, Elizabeth and little ?. Jonathan is a real pleasure - his giggle is infectious. We went to a Tex-Mex restaurant for supper - always a treat since Kansas doesn't have any good Tex-Mex. Then Joy, Brian, Elizabeth and I played a few games of Yatzee.

Saturday Elizabeth and I did a little Christmas shopping and then to whole foods for dinner supplies. Jennifer, Stepan, Jessica, Archie and Eamon came for dinner which was quite tasty. Eliz fixed corn pudding which we all thought was quite good and a nice change. It was an interesting, enjoyable evening - among other things I learned what "skeps" are and the story of William Tell (all I knew was an apple was shot off the son's head.)

For the first time this year it's in the "teens" - 16 degrees when I got up this morning. Yesterday, it was about 33 degrees and I built a fire in the stove in the old house and had coffee out there. Very pleasant and peaceful, but I wouldn't want to have to do it all the time, especially when it is colder than the 30's.

John, from south Texas, has been visiting Pat and he forgot to bring a jacket or sweater with him. He bought a cheap ($8) blanket in Leavenworth and using grommets and bolts "fashioned" a poncho to wear. Pat says that he makes John walk 20 feet behind him in the grocery store or Home Depot, but then John yells to him. I refused to let him wear his "poncho" to the restaurant the other evening.

I cut all of the dill - a bunch - before the freeze and need to make some dill bread today. Also, got 3 more forsythia bushes planted - hopefully they will make it.

I was happy to fix Thanksgiving dinner for "just us" this year, but P suggested eating out. I agreed that would be fine. In Houston, there were always several restaurants that advertised Thanksgiving meals. I began to get worried when I couldn't find any of the same ads here - not just in Leavenworth/Atchison but in KC. So we decided we would just drive until we found someplace open - Thanksgiving or not.

We ended up dining with a unique clientele and with the soft strains of Fats Domino playing in the background at the only open restaurant in Leavenworth - the Western Sizzler. Couldn't say much for their wine cellar, but suprisingly enough the food was quite tasty!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal!

Faust, at Chicago Lyric Opera, in this reviewer's opinion was spectacular - the only fairly minor disappointment was that Samuel Ramey had a cold; he was still a real pleasure to hear and watch. I thought Act IV in the church was a wonderful piece of drama, especially when Mephistofele made the crucifix turn upside down and the trio in the final act sent shivers up my spine. However, the Sun Times and the Tribune were of different opinions. Fortunately, both Leah and I really enjoyed the performance - Faust may be an opera war horse but it has some gorgeous music.