Early and Late

Palermo Coffee shop: 6:15 A.M. today: I began my day here in a shout out to days of yore when Edd and I would meet once a week for coffee and a bagel over at the New York bagel shop in on the other side of town, closer to Edd. I chose Palermo, but I didn’t have to. Truth be told, I like the romanticism of the place and the notion that I’m supporting local business. But it’s also a lesson in economics. Palermo’s coffee isn’t that good. It doesn’t suck. It’s not Starbuck’s which does indeed suck, in my modestly humble opinion, but it’s not that good. Not really flavorful. Lost its verve, somewhere along the way. The muffins do indeed suck. They suck roundly, badly–in a suck-o-licious kind of way. I ate mine, but more out of the primal hunger need than of the desire to eat the muffin.

We have a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in town and they’re quite good. Again, I really do want to support the locals, but for me to do that, the coffee has to be better, I guess. Anyway, Edd dropped me a note last evening asking if I’d like to meet this morning and I said that’d be keen. Edd, to his credit, having gone through about the worst stuff that a guy can go through–has decided to become a teacher. He’s put himself through school the past year and he started student teaching today. Wow. Hard to believe. We’re not spring chickens, you know. I’ve been teaching 17 years, now. Edd’s been a musician and a graphic designer for that amount of time and more. But with two kids, an ailing wife–and a life threatening liver disease, it was time to change his tune, proverbially.

Anyway, we had coffee and that meant up at 5:30 this morning. Off to work around 7:00 after the chat with Edd and then into the maelstrom. I swear, I’ve already written about how these days are going, but I’m busier than a beaver bachelor on the Yangtze river (just made that up–we’ll see if it sticks). The print version (or dead version) of the newspaper came out today and it was our best yet. It really looked good and had some fine writing in it. I was pleased. This, of course, was after the fact that it should have come out a week ago. C’est la vie.

Had a quick break to come home for lunch with Sue which was nice, but I was back at it within 45 minutes and we were off and running in the yearbook and the paper.

Palermo Coffee Shop: 3:30 P.M. today: Back to the confines of the klunky coffee joint where I met my charge for home and hospital teaching, an affable lass whose name I cannot give for obvious reasons. She’s not attending school, but sort of on independent study mode. I meet her at the coffee shop, give her her lessons, administer tests, make sure she’s reading, etc. and she does the work. Not well, but she does it.

Off again to the Fed Ex drop off and pick up place down there in that funny little strip mall that has everything from a Credit Union ATM (which is nice for those of us with Credit Union accounts) to a Subway, to a walk-in medical clinic to a sushi joint. It’s versatile, you have to say… I dropped off the “package” for yearbook to send to the yearbook plant and then went on my merry way home. Once there, I headed out for a walk with the dog and by the time I got home, the family was just arriving home, too with Sofie in tow happy as a martyr when the fire won’t burn, as Mark Twain used to say. She passed her driver’s permit test and is all aglow with the teenage throws of freedom. I’m telling you, this freedom thing is the universal language…

Well, a beautiful dinner of crockpot ribs made by my wife, an evening by the fireplace, part of a family movie with, well…the family. And now, bedtime.

Yessir, that’ll do. I’ve reminded myself to do an update on my friends at the Ventura Limoncelo company tomorrow, and I shall do it.

Posted in Family