Thursday, March 02, 2017

Old Friends, More Good Food



Old friends Bill and Judy Fleener brought lunch and a welcome visit today. When I say old, I mean the term in several ways. They are indeed old, like me—Bill is 85, and Judy probably on the edge of 80 if not there. But you’d never know it. There’s old in another sense though—Judy Weiland Fleener and I grew up next door as youngsters so we’ve literally known each other all our lives. In 1961, Judy married Bill, a priest at the local Episcopalian church, and they soon moved on to another parish. We lost touch except for Christmas cards but ours is another tale of a Facebook friendship rekindled. Bill retired from a church in Muskegon, Michigan and they still live there.

We weren’t much alike as kids—she athletic and generally fearless, me much ore bookish; she from a Republican household, me from a yellow-dog Democratic background; she, a private school kid; me, one who went K-12 to public school. It’s amazing now how much we have in common today—politics, religion (we follow different faiths but both are involved in them), cooking, books, kids and grandkids. We never run out of things to talk about on our rare visits, though today there was a lot of reminiscing about Chicago and Hyde Park, our neighborhood.

They are following a grandson’s spring baseball tour but taking side trips, such as to Dallas to see friends and to Austin to visit his sister. They fit me in between Dallas and Austin and arrived with tuna sandwiches—I had directed them to one of my favorite cafés.

Their visit was a wonderful high point in my day. I have decided that my days are best in the morning. I often work like a fiend, though I have so many “brush fires” on my desk, I rarely get to writing. After lunch, a nap, and I wake up slowly, reluctant to get out of bed. The afternoons and evenings are lazy, though that’s when I write—still, I don’t have the fire to get things done as I do in the mornings.

Dinner out with another old friend helped revive me tonight. She would not be happy if I told you how old she is, but we’ve known each other 25-30 years. She’s good about checking on me to be sure I have company and am all right. Tonight we went to our wonderful seafood place, Pacific Table. Before I go to a restaurant, I usually pull up the menu on the computer and decide what I want. I had done that tonight, and I had Caesar salad with fried oysters. The oysters were piping hot but delicious once they cooled enough to be eaten, and the salad was one of the best Caesars I’ve had. Plenty of dressing on each and every leaf of romaine. I loved it.

Kathie and I talked people, art (she’s a docent at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art), food (we swapped recipes), and generally had a good visit. Now, home and in jammies, I must post this blog and write 500 more words on my novella.

Night ‘all. Sweet dreams.

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