Text 3560, 97 rader
Skriven 2013-08-17 00:23:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 5
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At Shady Grove one transfers to another bus, which didn't
come; I ended up taking a Metro bus somewhat later, which
meant I missed my connection, which meant that I got soaked
in the rain later on. At least it was a warm rain.

My brother was lounging around and gave me a blow-by-blow
regarding his job (he's down to 10 hr a week, which is
perhaps why he's drawing alarmingly on his inheritance),
his health care issues (he did get the biopsy done, but it
took the anesthesia team, he said proudly, a double dose of
Fentanyl and somethingazepam to get him to go gently into
that odd state, during which he claims to have remembered
the details of the procedure. It turns out his chemo starts
in October.), and the subject of the hour and every hour,
which is why he can't get a girlfriend. I took some Benadryl
and went to bed, leaving him chattering away.

US3212 DCA PVD 1520 1645 E70 3F

When it was time to leave again, 1 pm, he was still asleep,
so no chance of further communication, which is fine.

There were issues on the subway, but I got to the airport
over an hour before the flight. PreCheck did work this time,
so security took less than a minute, and I had half an hour
to look at the Internet before the flight, which was
negligible though quite bumpy through a bunch of clouds.
My seatmate and I had a nice little conversation on the
merits and demerits of jug red wine.

As this flight was on time, I had plenty of time to catch
the last West Bay bus that went to Jamestown. This is a great
boon, as three or four times a day I can get between downtown
Providence, the airport, and within walking distance of
Rosemary's for a mere two bucks. Other times I have to go to
Newport and then either catch a cab for maybe $25 or have
someone pick me up, which involves a half hour for someone
plus two tolls.

I consolidated my two carryons so had room for groceries -
a couple pounds of ground beef, a couple pounds of onions,
a couple cans of tomatoes, and a pack of angel hair, which
I duly trundled to the house. Plan: make a burger, then
spaghetti sauce for the next few days.

Reality: Rosemary's brother and sister-in-law and my friend
Court and her new boyfriend Philip were just setting up for
dinner. They'd expected to get a call to fetch me at the
airport, but this way is more efficient, don't you think?

Court and I go way back. I used to hang out with her mom,
who was Rosemary's best friend decades ago. A lot of drunken
debauchery. I could take only so much of her mom, though,
despite the fact that she was considered a great beauty in
the day - photos by Karsh, that kind of thing; she was a
loud and unruly drunk, and she was never sober. When
Rosemary's husband Slats died, I was supposed to pay court
to Court, who was attractive and lively and decades younger
than me and never sober; people have this way of pairing me
up with unlikely and inappropriate women, and it has never
actually worked out, and why bother?

It's been a while, during which time she has married and
divorced and gone through the boyfriend of the week phase
and worked as a food stylist for famous chefs and in
general done a lot of things. She's still interesting, but
the never sober part is a bit annoying, especially as she
is a loudish drunk, not so bad as her mother, but enough.

Anyhow, Court has taken over Rosemary's house, as she was
flooded out when the hurricane hit Fire Island, and though
she still has property there, Rosemary's is more comfy and
more fun. She had made the fixin's for tacos, and Philip
had done a great job grilling flank steak, and John had
Lagunitas IPA in the fridge, and we had a fine old party.
There was corn on the cob from a local farm as well, part
of which Court messed up by making into a zucchini and
cream succotash - probably a Vong recipe (Court is said to
be best buddies with Marja Allen, who is Mrs. Vong and has
her own food show on TV) - the ingredients are corn off
the cob, diced red pepper, diced onions, and quarter wheels
of zucchini and yellow squash, in a sauce of cream and not
much else. If you picked out the squashes and discarded
them, this was not too bad, but why anyone tries to mess
with fresh corn I don't know. Also very nice cumin black
beans a la Brasilienne and less nice yellow rice also a la
Brasilienne. I had the weird feeling of feeling crowded
out in what I have come over the last two decades to think
of as my own kitchen. Whatever, the food was generally
pretty good, the flank steak marinated and quite tender.

Dinner lasted pretty late, and I was very fried at the end
of it so trundled off to bed around midnight.

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