Friday, February 15, 2002

.

wise men or terrorists?

uncommon objects?

these?

it's hard to tell which way is up in this place

try your luck finding the perfect thing to take home

"A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one."
Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays

I stop by Mom and Dad's to give them their tax return. Dad seems to understand what to do.

We got to the B&B around four o'clock after FFP wound up his business and took Chalow to the kennel and we stopped by Avenue B Grocery to show Ross his story in West Austin News. (FFP has a column in that weekly now called 'West Side Stories.') We got our stuff in our first floor room and set off walking down Congress. We stopped in Prima Dora and looked at the gift stuff they had on offer and the theraputic adjustible beds. (Odd combination, huh?) We were in front of Vespaio around five when, as luck would have it, their bar opens. We chose two different Chiantis and got a couple of apps (carpaccio and tuna) and some antipasti. We tasted each other's Chianti...mine fruity, his musty and we were both pleased with our own choice although the other wasn't bad.

People we know came in, of course, and we talked to them. Then we ambled back by Uncommon Objects and explored their current stock. I picked up some small photo souvenirs of Berlin perfect for a project I've been thinking about for a long time...yeah, I know, but these were cool showing the Kaiser Wilhelm intact, the castle that is completely gone and the Reichstag before and after WWII destruction (or after destruction and after rennovation?). FFP picked out a Bobby Short LP and a tin Easter egg that was old and very odd and cool.

We lounged in our room for a while, reading and watching the Olympics. All the coverage finally gives me a little buzz watching people slide and leap on ice and snow. These sports aren't any more 'made up' than those from warmer climes, but then other sports seem silly and yet entertaining to me. People like them because it's simpler to master the rules than real life. We don't like it when things aren't clear in them...like judging ice skaters or passes that might be incomplete. We turn to sports for the uncertainity of the outcome and the certainty of its solid determination of winners and losers.

We have an 8:30 reservation at Si Bon. Haven't been there in a while. We leave pretty early for it so FFP wends and winds through the neighborhood. We get a four top, a big one, and joke with our waiter that someone we know will come in and share it. In fact as we nibble on soup (FFP) and salad (me) we do see people we know and ask them to join us although they have a reservation and they have room for them. We discuss this and that. Mostly death, unfortunately. A mutual acquaintance has died recently and the wife of this couple has been touched by a recent death and the nearing of death of another friend. Death has been near lately for us, recognizing people in the obituaries a lot. It's been raging around us without getting too close, just reminding us of the mortality thing.

We both order a smoked fish plate (which actually has charred, not smoked, tuna) and as you can pick three of four, I take the top three and FFP the bottom but they serve both of us all four. We have picked a really inexpensive wine which they were out of and they've served a nice one subbing Burgundy for a California Pinot, I think. The prices are reasonable and the experience is nice. We should go there more often. When we want to venture south of the river, of course.

Back in the room, we see more flying over ice and snow and read a little and fall into a peaceful sleep. Without checking e-mail or trying to choose from 100 channels of nothing.

JUST TYPING
Leisure.
The less you expect from it.
The more it gives.