Maritime

Fiorella showed Son's fiancee how to make a boat last night, a small paper boat, that is.

Husband and Fio were dining at Chili's and, as is her habit, Fiorella denuded her napkin-wrapped utensils of their three-inch binding strip, tore it in two, and folded each half-strip into a tiny boat.  What else does one do while waiting for one's dinner?  In slow-serving restaurants, Fiorella has been known to launch flotillas.

After being presented with the first boat, Son's fiancee, who was sitting across from Fio, watched the production of the second one intently and tried to make a boat of her own, but ran into trouble.  Fiorella promptly grabbed the strip off of Husband's utensils and instructed her step by step.

It will take a while for Fiancee to get the technique down, but Fiorella is thrilled that she is interested.  Fiorella's father was the one who taught her how to make the little boat and now his legacy of love will live on.  

Ding-danged Out!

Let's look at Fio's score for the week.  Monday, as she remembers, was okay, but on Tuesday she arrived at Chili's an hour late, only acceptable because Friend Katie, whom she was supposed to be meeting, didn't show at all because her daughter had pink eye.  What was not acceptable was that Fio left her credit card at Chili's and had to pay cash for purchases for the next couple of days instead of adding to her frequent flyer miles.  On Wednesday she got a sudden a migraine aura driving home from ARWA which splintered her vision so badly that she nearly plowed into a light pole. On Thursday, she forgot a medical appointment, but did manage to overbalance herself and fall splat down onto the road while trying to retrieve rocks from the dry creek with which to line her driveway.  She also realized she had written the wrong amount on a big, important check.  On Friday, she discovered she was down to two pills of her blood pressure med, then learned her insurance will no longer cover that particular brand and had to make a couple of calls to get a different one; mismanaged her schedule and was out retrieving her credit card at the time that she had told Son she'd be home and help him pack; and accidentally ate her temporary crown along with a bagel.

And her hair won't work and she's tired, but she can't sleep, and that mountain range of cedar mulch still looms in the north yard, and she hasn't heard from her agent so that means Kinkaid House is still an orphan. 

Had enough?  Bet you wish Fio were still writing about her concepts of God.

Dining Out

Fiorella is going out to eat this evening with Husband, Daughter and her husband, Son and Girlfriend, Brother and his wife to celebrate Husband's upcoming birthday. Which is all very nice, but brings up the obvious question: how did restaurants become so much a part of everyday life?  When Fio was a child--and her family was classic middle class--they went out once a week, for Sunday dinner at the Piccadilly.

When Fio was in high school, their culinary outings added Thursday night, to give Mom a break, but that was it.  For one thing, there weren't that many decent restaurants around in Waco at the time.

But now, still middle class ,Fio  regularly meets friends at Dan's Hamburgers, Stabucks, or Chili's.  And once or twice a month, she, Husband, and Son, head off to a classier joint or two.  And for big celebrations, it's upper crust.

Ah, the times, they are a-changin'.