Week 30

I visited a stunning cathedral. I biked along the shore and dipped my toes in the Pacific. I saw a movie on the silver screen for the first time in I don't know how long. I visited a new museum devoted to music. I saw art and listened to jazz. I drank Icelandic water. I saw the Dodgers play for the first time in forty years. I gawked at a Laker and an actor, even not knowing who they are. I did the California cruise-around-in-a-hot-red-convertible thing.

Any one of these could be a worthy topic for this week. But none of them can compare with my first taste of In-N-Out Burger! Not that it was such a great meal. Maybe it would have been better if I didn't wait to eat it until I got to the beach forty-five minutes later. It certainly has rave reviews from those who should know a good burger (my family). I don't even know how I escaped the In-N-Out experience for so long. I know Darien liked it because the restaurant was clean. Would I do it again? Sure, if I'm on the road somewhere and don't want to spend a fortune. It does the job.

It is a shame Darien has the camera. She has been doing a most excellent job keeping the counter clean. You will just have to take my word for it.

Week 29

For the first time, I rode a bicycle in Chicago. We rented two bikes down by the lake at the mouth of the Chicago River, then peddled north along the shore. We got all the way up to Montrose Beach, then cycled over to Wrigley Field followed by Lincoln Park with its gardens and zoo. The last leg was to the Museum of Contemporary Art, where by accident or design there was an a showing by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Who would have guessed?

Darien is doing an excellent job on the kitchen counter. It is no messier than it was last week.

Week 28

It is no surprise that I do not like to shop. I know this. You know this. And Darien knows this. Which is why she picked up a couple of pairs of shoes and brought them home for me to try on. Of course, they did not fit well. She offered to take them back to the store and bring a few more pairs home. I thought this could go on for weeks, so I told her I would go to the store myself. That is probably what she wanted all along anyway.

It was a discount shop, DSW. The customer is left to defend for himself. Darien went right into obsessive shopper mode, and began grabbing shoes for me to try on. I felt like Goldilocks, but with a whole herd of bears and their beds to try out. This one was too big. That was too small. This one was too hard. This one rubbed too much. Shoe, after shoe, after shoe. All told, I tried on twenty pairs of shoes in forty minutes, or one shoe per minute. I've never tried so many new pairs of shoes on in my life. I don't know if the pair I ended up with are what I was looking for or not. I just wanted the pain to stop.

I don't have a picture of the counter today, so I can't tell how messy or neat Darien is keeping it. I'm probably going to have to ask one of the kids to sneak over and take a photo.

Week 27

VCU recently constructed what might charitably be called a garish "sculpture" -- a pair of giant ram's horns. These are not any ram horns, however. One can step up to them and shout or make some sort of noise in them; the noise is amplified when it comes out the other end, then bounces off the opposing buildings in an echo. We dropped by so I could show Darien and Peter after dinner, little expecting that they would actually want to try them out. They had to slip through a chain link barrier fence to do it, since the horns have not been officially released yet. Naughty, naughty. It is easy to see that they will not be alone in wanting to exercise their vocal skills. As we were leaving, a couple strolled up and were similarly tempted.

Not a bad week. Darien made me put away some small saw blades before I could take the picture. She is becoming quite sensitive how she is being viewed by her public.