quite a good day

Another gorgeous morning in Alameda. Today we're crossing the Bay, so I'll send some photos from the ferry.

We shopped some in the morning yesterday. Pagano's Hardware, Charlie's and my favorite hardware store, has become a necessary Alameda stop. They have a fascinating variety of housewares and miscellaneous junk. The light switch cover I have in my kitchen (a kind of southwest motif) which I truly love comes from there. Anyway, Mom's become a fan of it, so we spent about 45 minutes there. I got a set of Mario Batali's prep/measuring bowls. I've been wanting them for a long time and was unwilling to pay postage for them. Also got a small stuffed red-headed woodpecker which when squeezed makes a quite authentic call. It'll go on the dashboard of my car. It'll be good to have a car companion that comes from Alameda.

We also went to my favorite cheese and wine store and got some extreme Oregon blue, which will lend a nice whiff to our suitcases on the way home. I always go to this store to buy wine to take home; this time I can't, since they won't let you carry on any kind of liquid. Dumb!

Then on to Safeway, where we shopped for dinner at Thea's. The new Safeway in the Alameda shopping center is huge and very wonderful. I then nipped over to See's to get a box of chocolates to take home. We'd already been there to get some for Mom and Thea (a few days ago). I was chagrined last night to discover that I had all milk chocolate when I'd asked for all dark. Mom gets an extra box, and I'll have to go back this afternoon.

Anyway, we got up to Thea's at about noon, as we'd said we would. Almost as soon as we got there the doorbell rang. It was Penny, her sister, and a man named Tuat Vo. Hurrah for Penny. She solved two problems at once. We need a handyman there, and she "suddenly" remembered the other day that her family all use the same fellow, so she brought him over. He is very nice, speaks sufficient English to understand what one wants, and will do some little things around the house. I've come up with a house repair mantra that I am driving into the brains of all: repair only for comfort and safety.

And then there's Penny's sister (Sandra's mom -- Sandra worked for Thea while she was in nursing school, but now she's a nurse). Thea was frantically feeling the need for a third person, and voilà, here she is! Part of the family, even, and very nice. She'll come when Gracie or Penny can't. I suspect she'll become part of the regular rotation, particularly because Gracie's health is not great. Mom has more details on Gracie's situation.

So, Penny had all this up her sleeve (explanation of the quotation marks around suddenly) and was waiting until I was there. She didn't want the responsibility of hiring on extra help without my personal approval. Anyway, that's a tremendous relief. My main goal is to keep Thea from worrying too much about things. I told her, and she agreed, that most things don't really matter very much. She's trying to keep that in mind. Glenn made a big effort in that direction toward the end of his life, and Thea appreciated that.

So when the extras cleared out, I sat in the breakfast room and talked to Thea, while Mom and Gracie talked in the dining room. Then Thea moved to the dining room, Gracie left, and we ate cheese and drank wine for about an hour. At 2:00 I put the ladies down for their naps, and I butterflied a beautiful chicken (so fresh it was ridiculously easy to cut), brushed it with butter, and put it in the oven, along with a couple of nice russets. I snapped the tops of a bunch of asparagus, then sat on the patio and read for most of an hour. Very pleasant!

I roused the girls at about 3:15, and we ate at 3:30, Thea's scheduled time. The chicken was delicious! I'd been going to look for a free-range or a kosher chicken, but we were running out of time at Safeway. Their house brand was what I ended up buying, and it was amazing. Good luck with ingredients both days I cooked up there.

I cleaned the kitchen as Mom and Thea ate ice cream, then I tucked Thea into bed. Quite a good day.

We were tired, though, and once we got back here, a little before six, we hung it up for the day. I'm sleeping ten hours a night here; it's wonderful!