Happy Picture, Sad Story

OilMan went to work today, so a bit on the spur of the moment, I walked up to Peet's this morning. (Old habits die hard!). Sure enough, just like clockwork, my two favorite Peet's buddies showed up at the same time as always--Tuesday morning after swimming, only neither one of them swam this morning! We decided it was a very special form of ESP.

On the same block as Peet's is my very favorite clothing boutique, The Red Bird. I love the clothes, but more than that, I love the owners, and I always drop in for a visit when I'm in town. They have a Bouvier named Bubbles who always comes out of the back room to bestow her regal greetings upon me. They have always had a beautiful but changing painting on the wall, always by the same artist, whose name is escaping me at the moment. This new one with birds had pride of place today and Kim said that the artist died suddenly of an aneurism in November, and his wife was going to keep all of his paintings, but she is making and selling prints, so this one hangs above the counter at the Red Bird in his honor.

On the same block is a restaurant where I met my friend Ginny for lunch. The menu there has not changed in my memory, and we were able to get caught up outside the limits of Blipfoto and Facebook.

On the way back to our temporary quarters, on a total whim, I walked down Magnolia Street and knocked on the door of our across the street neighbors (the only neighbors who have visited us in Santa Rosa). The people who bought our house came home from the hospital with their new baby last week, answering a question I have been wondering about since he told OilMan right after they bought the house that they wanted to "start a family". A new generation grows up in a house that our kids grew up in. No wonder the garden looked a bit neglected....