Fiorella, Blow by Blow

Fiorella had a great morning yesterday. She drove from her driveway in the boondocks of Georgetown to busy North Austin without encountering a single red light until she hit Koenig Lane, which was only a brief pause. Then, when she was pulling into Starbucks to meet up with friend Evelyn, another car obliginging backed out of a primo parking spot which Fio quickly claimed.

Inside the store, Fio and Evelyn had an even better time than usual, and a guy who knew Evelyn stopped at their table to talk about the basketball program he runs for disadvantaged kids. Fio was uolifted and her eyes went damp. After the Singapore surrender, she needed to hear from someone who was doing his best to make the world a better place.

Next, Fiorella met with her brother and friend Paula at Dan's Hamburgers, and it was a merry threesome. Turns out that Brother and his wife are thinking of attending the family reunion in Ohio that Fio and Daughter have already committed to.

Fio's ride back to Georgetown was uneventful, thank goodness, because Fio hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and was about to conk out, which is exactly what she did when she got home.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Target Check-out Line Incendiary

Watch out--Fio is always listening in, and yesterday it was at the Target check-out counter.  Her ears perked up as the clerk behind the register and a customer started discussing the 23-year-old who'd blown himself up after terrorizing Austin with self-made bombs.

"He was home-schooled," the customer said, and Fio nodded to herself. Far too often, home schooling is a way to mis-educate children into a singular world viewpoint or a dodge for parents who don't want anyone to know what's going on in the family. But just as Fio was about to add her two bits, the customer elaborated, "My daughter teaches high school and she said these kids today--they're nothing."

If Fio had been a fire log, she would have burst into flame. This woman's daughter is a teacher, and damn it--if the kids in her classes are nothing, then it's HER job to make them SOMETHING!

Bad Day

As if it weren't enough that Fio spent a couple of hours at Mazda on Monday, only to learn that her engine light wouldn't go off because she hadn't tightened down the gas tank lid. As if it weren't enough that her brake light wouldn't go off on Tuesday, and she'll have to take the car in again this morning, hoping to get it back in time to meet with Evelyn, then Paula, in Austin. As if it weren't enough that her computadora has been pinging off at random times for two days, although when she left it at Click Computer Repair yesterday afternoon, it behaved like an angel. As if all these things weren't enough, Fiorella, who watches very little television, had to choose between Mi Marido Tiene Familia and The Little Couple last night. She chose the former, of course, because Little Couple will be rebroadcast at some point, but her teeth are gRRRRRRRRRRRRinding.

Not Fio's Day

Fiorella thought she had her day all laid out, but it went to pieces on her once she got to Austin. Her doctor's parking garage was dark as a dungeon, and it was hard to find a space for her Miata what with all the ocean liners squatting in the spaces marked compact. She was finally able to shoehorn herself into a narrow space between two SUVs, but then came the voyage to the medical building while toting a tote weighed down with her computadora, her bolsa, her celular, and her lista amarilla. She rode up to the third floor and trudged down the hall to the doctor's office, slung her tote on the counter and announced herself to the nurse.

Shock. Her appointment was until the afternoon. How had Fio messed up this appt for the second time arround. Are they gaslighting her?  No, Fio. Face it. You wrote down the the wrong date in su calendario.

Nothing to do but set up an appt for next week, reshoulder her tote and stagger back to the parking garage. Getting out was a lot easier than getting in. But what could she do with her time? She had to be back in Gtown for an INR appt at 1:00, but she didn't want to be half an hour early and sit  in the cardiologist's office twiddling her thumbs. Nothing to do but find a Starbucks in Austin and write a little. Of course, she had to purchase something to rent a table, though. No problem--she loves Starbucks' chocolate chip cookies. The day was saved!

Except that Starbucks was out of chocolate chip cookies. All she could do was indulge herself in a cup of milk.

Some days, you just can't win for losing.

Fiorella Ponders

If all goes well, Fiorella is getting a workable GPS today. Minnesota Son gave her one for Christmas last year, but there was no  way to install it in her Miata, so when Son visited recently, he arranged for a friend of his to look the situation over. Scott Williams is making a whole new fitting to be able to to affix the mechanism to Fio's dashboard, which would mean means she could zoom down to the southern boondocks to visit her grandbaby any time she wants.
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The Georgetown post office didn't have any postcards in stock when the barrage of Paul Ryan's home address was scheduled so Fio had to drive down to Austin to pick some up--two weeks late. Hmmm... Why is that Georgetown is always out of postcards? Maybe because they've become the Resistance's weapons of choice, and Gtown bleeds red?
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To my children; Ever since the three of you were born, you have been the most important people in my life, but as you grew up, I became less and less important to you, which is how it should be. And when the time comes that I no longer recognize you, please love yourselves enough to  abandon me. I do not want to be a burden.
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The final thing Fio ponders is why she tries to write late at night. She's embarrassed at how much morning-after editing she's had to do on this post to make it readable. Apologies.

Christmas Is Coming

The gypsies have parked their porta-potty and RVs at the back of the fireworks lot, loaded the shelves of the sales stand, and turned on the string of lights across the entrance off the road. Yep, it's Christmastime in Texas.
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Fio  drove into Austin today to visit with friend Paula and brother Bill at Dan's Hamburgers. She almost missed her turn off I-35. but her baby car made it automatically. Yes, the car knows the way/To pull the sleigh/ Through bright and drifting snow-o.
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What is it with the balmy weather and summer skies? Fio had to turn on the car air conditioning on the way back from FedEx Kinkos. Is this any way to celebrate Chrstmas?
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It looks like Fio will have the house fully decorated by Friday...or Saturday.  Whatever, it's moving. Now to leap in the car again and drive in to FedEx for more cards and envelopes. She'll try to put the cover of her card on the blog for you--it's her sonnet, but decorated, and she's sending it out to the world.
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Town Lake, Austin

This time, Fio can't find the yellow brick road so she'll post an oldie, then get back to writing regular posts again.

Analysis of Trump's Campaign Strategy

It's a good thing that Fio's baby car knows the way to carry the sleigh through white and drifted snow-o because all the way into Austin yesterday, Fiorella was analyzing Donald Trump's campaign strategy. It's like he's trying to close a business deal.  First he bullied off the smaller contenders.  Then he attacked the major contender, using every low-down tactic in the book. Then, if he wins, he'll go into the third stage, wiggling out of every commitment he signed onto.

America, are you ready?

Living Dangerously but Eating Well

Happy birthday to Fio--again.  Later today, her brother and sister-in-law are taking her and Husband out to Frisco, one of Fiorella's favorite restaurants. It's an old-time Austin thing, a family tradition. Not only did Husband's parents know the original owner, but Husband and Fiorella took their kids there regularly when they were growing up. The hamburger steaks are the best, and the chocolate ice box pie is out of this world. Fio will probably end up with a late-night GERD attack, but it will be worth it.

For the Sake of Chocolate

Fiorella has made the most wonderful discovery, that Walgreens keeps its Christmas candy on its shelves--at reduced prices--until it's all sold out.  Last week, she went into a Walgreens in Austin and cleared out the store's remaining Russell Stover chocolate bars for twenty cents per, and a couple of days later, she bought even more in Georgetown for forty-eight cents per.  She'll buy the rest of the Georgetown load today. Her grand plan is to accumulate enough chocolate to carry her through till next Christmas, and Husband is complicit.  He's agreed to hide her stash where she won't find it and has promised to let her have no more than one bar per day.  Yes, Fio's house is the Fort Knox of chocolate, and Husband is its guardian.

On the Run

Buckle your seat belts because Fiorella is about to take you on a harrowing ride--her own.

She woke up a little late and hurried to get herself ready to drive into Austin and have brunch with Friend Evelyn at 10:00, then lunch with Friend Paula at 11:00.  But halfway down the road, she realized that although she had her laptop and list-for-the-day with her, she'd left her purse at home. Her purse--the little clutch that contains a small Kleenex packet, her drivers' license, her credit card, her insurance cards, several pens, and extra cash.

But, pressed for time, she didn't turn back. Instead, Fio drove very carefully and prayed a lot and reached Starbucks at 10:05.  But where was Friend Evelyn?  Come to think of it, had they actually set that date and time?

Fifteen uncomfortable minutes later--remember, Fio couldn't buy anything--she departed Starbucks. Where to go?  Maybe Half Price Books.  She'd sit in one of their plushy chairs and read.

But the plushy chairs were no more.  In their place were long tables.  Fiorella sat down at one of them  and opened her laptop--which a nice Japanese man hooked into wi-fi for her--and started working on her novella. During a pause, she read the fine print on a placard on the table and learned that the tables were for customers to sit down and read at, for book clubs to meet at, and book signings to be held at.

BOOK SIGNINGS!  Maybe God had driven Fiorella to Half Price for a purpose!

PS:  Although Fio ran twenty minutes late because she got involved in her novella, she did make it to lunch with Friend Paula.

 

Full Steam Ahead!

Take notes.  Fiorella has set her writing path for the next six months, first finishing off Lolly's story, then writing up the final Bosque Bend story saga, Carmen's story.  After that, she wants to work out Sarah's story, maybe in the meantime revising her Minnesota story, her Austin story, and her vampire story.

In the meantime, enjoy this passage from WHAT THE HEART WANTS:

"When he'd taken her hand, he'd wanted to hold it forever.  What would she have done if he'd brought it to his lips and touched her palm with the tip of his tongue?"

Shallow Fio

Buoyed up by her romance-writing class going so well the night before that the students stayed thirty minutes afterwards, Fiorella set off for a full day of errands and appointments in Austin yesterday.  She arranged for a rental car, drove into town, dropped some donation books off at church, mailed letters and bought stamps, spent two hours with her favorite hairdresser, scarfed down Starbuck's marble pound cake for lunch, and had a great visit with her neurologist and his intern. Because the intern was half Chinese, Fiorella tried out her meager Mandarin.

HE UNDERSTOOD HER AND REPLIED IN KIND!

Her tires never touched ground all the way home.   It takes so little to make Fiorella happy.

Don't Shoot Dogs!

What's with the cops showing up at mistaken addresses and ending up shooting people's dogs?  It's happened way too often in this neck of the woods.  Last year in Austin an officer went to a wrong address for a disturbance call and shot a beloved dog just as his owner came on the scene.  The same thing happened just this week in Leander, except it was a warrant server this time.  Again the address was wrong and the name on the warrant was wrong, but, despite children playing within thirty feet of him, the officer shot at two dogs as they came bounding around the side of the house to greet him, wounding one of them.

The downed dog will need expensive medical care, and the dog owner is raising bloody murder because those two dogs are good dogs, trained therapy dogs, and the one the warrant office winged is particularly good with children.

Fiorella hates to think about what might happen if a gun-toting "peace" officer came to her door on some mistaken mission.  Sweet Sonia would go nuts--first of all, because she'd want to meet him, and second, because, if Fio were threatened, she'd go all defensive. 

Don't kill a dog for being a dog.