Sunday's Chronicle

I made today an easy day. I slept until about seven a.m., then woke to the sound of heavy rain.  I laid there in bed for a while savoring the sound, that quiet rush of water cascading off the roof of the apartment building, the steady hiss of the rain on the street outside, the occasional loud pop of a large drop against the bedroom window. I rolled out of bed, splashed through the shower, had a cup of coffee then sat and thought and meditated and otherwise enjoyed the rain.

Breakfast at the Hickory Pit with Tony followed.  The restaurant itself was only half full, due to the heavy rain, and it was dark and gloomy outside.  After breakfast I swung over to Target to pick up some odds and ends, then a stop at Michael's and Ross for the same reason. I took a leisurely walk around the mall and people watched for a while, before heading home to a quiet afternoon.

I spent the afternoon split between family calls, true crime stories on the History Channel, and setting my Christmas tree and decorations up.  The only thing I haven't done yet is hand the lights.  I am going to have to wait until the rain stops before I do that, since on the outer string I have to use duct tape to hold the lights in place. My Christmas tree looks great though, I will have to take a picture of it and share that picture with you all.

I took a short nap about three in the afternoon, but actually just kind of laid there, not quite napping, not quite awake, simply admiring the colors of the tree outside the bedroom window, since the afternoon sun had broken out.  About four p.m. I went over to meet Tony for an early dinner at El Burro in the Pruneyard.  I had enchilda suiza, chicken, with rice, beans and cheese.  It was heavy and filling meal, but because I had skipped lunch, it did not weigh me down.

From there, I took a walk through Barnes and Noble (and managed to not buy anything, but I did take pictures of the covers of a couple of books so I will remember to look them up the next time I go through there), then drove home to watch the season finale of "The Walking Dead".  Outstanding bit of television, all in all, and a great mid-season finale.

The rest of the evening is going to be "Once Upon A Time" and then reading.  I am anticipating a full week at work with two main problems that I would like to solve in the early days of the week. One of them is about eight hours of just grinding through details, so I am going to try and clear my calendar so I can deal with that.  I am holding out the hope that, hour wise, it will be a regular week.  And not the regular 12 hour week, but a regular week.

Lost Cathedrals Carved From Stone

It's actual a faux wall with bell inside of El Burro at the Pruneyard. Excellent Mexican food.
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Wayfarers at Rest

It was productive day today - breakfast with friends, repaired the updater and bios on a friends computer, helped another friend move the contents of his apartment from storage to his new studio apartment, had a late lunch at El Burro, circled home, then circled back out to pick up and deliver a mattress, then home for a hot bath and now relaxing into the evening watching the season premiere of "The Walking Dead". The day flew by quickly without a lot of time for introspection and that was pretty nice. My shoulder is mostly healed, though I was very careful not to strain it while helping with the move today. Today's picture is of my Wayfarers sitting on the bench outside of El Burro in Campbell.

The Help - Oscar Worthy Film

A most excellent Sunday. After breakfast some of us decided to go see "The Help", the new movie with Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard, about the writing of a book that tells the story of the black maids in Jackson Mississippi. Outstanding. The first Academy Award caliber movie I have seen this year - alternately funny and poignant. I see a Best Picture and a Best Actress (for Viola Davis) nominations. Just a truly awesome movie.

After the movie, we walked Microcenter to look at technology and then Tony and I grabbed an early dinner at El Burro. I wandered home and, as typical after a great dinner at El Burro, I took a nap. I followed the nap with a lazy reading of the Sunday paper and idling my way into the evening. It was an excellent weekend - slow, lazy, and quiet. I feel nice and recharged as I move my way into the new week.

I've been deliberately trying to "slow August down" in order to get some nice summer relaxation under my belt and this weekend was definitely a "win" in that regard. My plan this evening is to go to bed early and read myself to sleep and start the week was a lazy Monday morning.