I have been all over the place in the last two weeks, only stopping in at home for some sleep before starting in again the next day.
Two weekends ago it was the Kern County Fair with Steve, Denise, JayP and myself on Friday, followed by a Saturday spent all over the northern LA Basin with JayP – lunch in Venice, a stroll through Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, then off to Universal Citywalk for an impromptu massage in one of those waterjet machines (verdict: too warm, too monotonous and too long). Citywalk was very crowded that night for some reason – Northrup Grumman had some kind of employee appreciation day going that night with an event at Universal Studios theme park, so parking was a real chore. But it was all still fun.
Next day it was off to Santa Barbara for brunch with JayP’s sister and brother-in-law near the beach. It turned out to be a drizzly day that day, but I’m ready for a change in the weather anyway. We went to their home for a little while then took a nice leisurely drive back home, where I prepared my famous Pasta Puttanesca for dinner.
Then the rest of the week – dinner with a couple of JayP’s friends at El Torito one night, I laid low on Wednesday and I think we hung out together both of the other two nights.
Friday night we were leaving to visit a bookstore, but then noticed that the moon was full and the skies were clear, so instead we headed to the high desert to enjoy the moonlit view. Stopped at Starbucks in Palmdale for a little latte and cider before heading back.
Saturday morning she had a church choir retreat, so afterwards we grabbed some
sandwiches, salami, cheese, etc. and took our picnic along Grimes Canyon Road in Ventura County up toward Ojai, spent a lovely couple of hours at a creekside park along the way. There was some kind of artist open studio event in Ojai and environs that day, and we took a side trip to visit one studio back off the highway. A beautiful house in a beautiful setting. Then a visit to Bart’s Books in Ojai – it’s essentially an outdoor bookstore, built around a small house on a corner near the downtown section. Nothing but used books – I was in heaven. JayP said that the selection on this visit was much better than it has been in the past – she’s been coming here since she was a kid. I spent most of my time in the biography section and selected a sackful to replenish my stack of need-to-get-to books. I did note that the tops of the books contained a lot of ash, then remembered the big fire that’s been burning in the hills around there for the past month (or so it seems).
We headed back down the coast after that, and managed to catch the sunset at the Ventura Marina.
Sunday, we hung out at her house. We’ve been reading Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus together, really ever since we met. We’re both divorced, and we’re both motivated to discover why our first marriages failed and what we can do together to ensure good communication skills as we move along in our relationship. It’s definitely been an eye-opener, and I think it will be very helpful in our preemptive efforts at pulling this one (‘one’ meaning ‘relationship’) off successfully. So Sunday we took turns reading chapter 5 to each other.
And for the first time, we had a real old-fashioned movie date. We went to see Black Dahlia (verdict: enjoyable, but a little confusing – could have been better). A few days ago I started the book on which the movie is based; maybe i should set it aside while the movie is still fresh in my mind.
I must say – I didn’t realize how well I can function on six or seven hours sleep!
PS This is post 200! We’ve come a long way since starting this blog just about two years ago (the anniversary is Oct. 23). You, Dear Reader, have held up your end of the bargain as well – to date you all have posted exactly 200 comments!
