LB's journal 05/27/00

Saturday

May 27, 2000

"Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible."

Anthony Hope, The Dolly Dialogs

whatever...a shop window on lower Greenville in Big D

Les with the dancers

the hands tell the story...

most colorful evening in the Casa de Colores

Les unwraps my personal favorite gift...a hula girl dashboard ornament

Hawaii 50

"Is there a Hawaiian shirt I could wear?" FFP asks.

He discovers a couple of mine. I've forgotten I own them. They both fit him. Yikes, I'm sorry he found that out. Oh, well. I've got so many cool shirts I can forget I own them. It's an embarrassment of riches like most of my life. (I've been buying Men's Mediums since I outgrew Men's Small and Boy's 20. I also 'inherited' some Forrest outgrew in this size. Hmm..weigh the same, wear each other's clothes..where is this going?)

Started the day a little later than planned. The night was full of thunder and lightning. I didn't really know if it was raining or not. SuRu and I'd planned to walk before the heat. I kept waking up and going back to sleep, waiting for her call. She was oversleeping. She rang at 8AM. By half past we were headed to Ramsey Park neighborhood. It was muggy, but not unbearable. Chalow held up well, although she is panting a lot and we give her more water. When SuRu stopped at Taco Shack for a take out, Chalow plopped down and rested. But she was ready to go when we were. Heck, we even took her on the little slide in the park. If it weren't for her lack of fitness and the oddly shaved spots, you'd think she was her old self.

It had been a while since I'd walked in the area. The park has a new walk and real cushy rubber stuff around some of the swings and slides.

I started sweating enough to feel my jeans sticking to me, but there was a breath of breeze here and there to feel cool against the sweat. All manner of heat precautions must soon be taken.

Home from the dog walk, Forrest and I went to the camera store for a gift for a friend and he got a new watch battery next door so he wouldn't be constantly looking at his dead watch for the time.

Then we went to Luby's and beat the crowd. I had some spinach, enchiladas and part of Forrest's eggplant. Odd, but good.

Then we went to Borders and Office Depot and picked up a few things.

Conquering the papers is a chore. I sorted the pile in my office to a new pile only a foot high. I was dismayed to find papers from 1999 in the pile.

Les is 50. The theme was Hawaii-50. You aren't 50 every day. I know. They really did a great party for him. Almost everyone had a Hawaiian shirt or dress on including tiny Thomas Allen. Anne had a mau-mau to match Les' shirt. Anne had gotten leis and put our Hawaiian name equivalents on them (except she couldn't find one for Forrest so he had to be Fern).

There were funny signs all around and nifty palm tree and parrot decorations. Anne made these palm trees out of zuchinni and bell peppers with a hut and tree out of a pineapple. Well, you had to be there. Prairie Rock had prepared a bunch of good food including crab cakes and stuffed mushrooms and a pineapple upside down cake.

A Hawaiian group (guitar/singer and bass) came and some dancers, as you see.

Just as we were finishing the entertainment of watching the guys blow bubbles and then dance with the girls, a heck of a wind blew up and started blowing away the furniture and stuff off the deck. We scrambled inside and the Hawaii-50 video wallpaper was replaced by the weather channel showing a shocking streak of red.

The house was really alive with color since it is the Casa de Colores and everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts. Anne was giving away pens with different colors she'd had imprinted for the occasion.

Les got a lot of interesting gifts because he's an interesting guy: a set of surgical-looking tools for dealing with fern spores, gift certificates for gardening stuff and tools, wine, the camera we got him to help with his fern guy web page, flippers for float fishing, other fishing gear, an indoor waterfall, a beautiful keychain and money clip from his kids ("fifty down, fifty to go"), and lots of sweet cards and on and on. Anne got him this four wheel cart that he can use to haul stuff to his greenhouse and rock construction. He had a great birthday, he said, and I agree.

Anne's mother and Anne's aunt both mentioned reading this journal. I forget other people read it. Then, when they say they do, I feel this odd responsibility.