Author Archives: Christene

Sunday Afternoon

My mom and I took the kids to the Farmer’s Market at the Grove. It was a beautiful day, and the kids had a lot of fun.They loved the little fountain area.

I couldn’t get any close ups of Ducky with his eyes open.

I have a lot of pictures of the kids. I have plenty of pictures of myself. But I don’t have very many of myself *with* the kids. This is probably because I am usually the one taking the pictures. Ally wasn’t really into being photographed today, but I had my mom there to take the shots, so I snatched her up for a quick photo op.

My mother is even more technologically impaired than I am, so even though she was only a few feet away from me as she snapped all of the pictures, they all appear as if they were taken from afar.

We went into a few of the stores, but the kids weren’t too interested in shopping. We had lunch at the Marmalade Cafe, one of my favorite breakfast/brunch/lunch places. Stuffed waffles. Like stuffed French toast, except way better. Before we headed out I took the kids on the little trolley they have circling the Grove. They loved it and I took a very cute picture of them squealing in delight. Unfortunately my phone decided this picture shouldn’t exist.
On the way home I got a flat tire. When the man from AAA arrived he had all sorts of questions, I pointed and shrugged. He also tried to tell me something about my alignment thingiemabopper. I pointed and shrugged.
Tomorrow morning I am going to see the tire man. I am probably going to point and shrug a lot there too. Then my car will have new tires.

Circadian Rhythms

Our circadian rhythms aren’t in tune. While he sleeps soundly I am wide awake. I fidget around, and reach for him, but he is not there. My fingers can map out his anatomy from memory, and I rebuild it in my head.Then I get up and write another letter I am never going to send. Most of them are fragmented at best, letters that don’t know where to begin. Even as I write each one I know I will delete them, so I don’t have to worry about the introductory parts. What kind of beginning could they have? “Hi there, missed you. I know it is has been a while, but um, do you think that maybe you’ve changed your mind about everything?” My writing abilities at their best.

I am sure if I thought about it I could find some sort of preamble. But even so, they will never be sent. He made his point very clearly, so what part of that did I not understand? Do I really need my rejection reiterated for good measure?

Or nothing. No reply, just ignored, not worth the trouble.

I am not sure which one is worse.

He has probably forgotten about me and wouldn’t want to deal with all that again. If he wanted to be here, he would. He is not… so… I am no logician, but…

Another inadequate letter gets deleted in the middle of the night.

Maybe I should just have Tina Dico write my letters.

I am not even sure what that song has to do with anything, but I know I want to feel like that again.

And I want our circadian rhythms to match.

Bookstores and Fairies

I went to a bookstore I have been wanting to go to for some time up in Ventura. I didn’t have the kids today, so I took a day to go wander around.

My Riverside Chaucer is basically falling apart, and I need a new one (new to me, not necessarily brand new, but in better condition than the one I have). When I went up north last weekend I couldn’t find any complete works of Chaucer at any of the book stores. I decided to try this bookstore that I used to love.

They specialize in rare books, and things not normally found in other stores. I spent over an hour in here, but did not find what I was looking for. They had only one Canterbury Tales collection, but it was translated, and badly at that. I did find some nice french novels since I need to refresh my skills there, and a book on medieval life. I got those, but still no Chaucer.
I wondered around until I came across a different store that pretty much sold everything under the sun. I found their book section, and even though they didn’t have Chaucer, they had this:

I sat on the floor with it for a while, reading all the marginalia the previous owner left. It was interesting, and definitely something I want in my collection. This thing weighs almost as much as I do (and I know, having carried it all around Ventura today), so I think I will still be using my Riverside one for everyday reading.

Had lunch at a nice restaurant where I amused myself with the writing on the walls:

Then I found a store that sold all sorts of little whimsical things. I found some beautiful fairies that I would love to own, and Ally would adore:

Unfortunately these things cost a fortune, so I didn’t get them. They had dozens more, and I had to leave before I spent hundreds of dollars on ceramic fairies that I don’t actually need. One day very soon Ally and I will start our little Fairy Corner where we will collect these.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Went home, boxed things up, threw things away, found things I didn’t even know I had, donated things, and cleaned. Tomorrow I am taking the kids and my mom for a special outing. I am excited!