Weekend

All week I looked forward to the weekend, to catch up on sleep, do a little laundry, swim in the pool, go grocery shopping...

And it started out that way. We slept in yesterday, then, after my appointment with Carol the eybrow artist at Studio Cie Skin and Makeup in Lakewood, I came home and picked up Patrick and we went to lunch at La Casita Mexican in the city of Bell.

We've been there before, but it's been awhile. A few weeks ago we saw an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" where he challenged the chefs there to a Chile relleno cookoff, and it got me to thinking about another trip to Bell. We didn't have Chile rellenos, but what we did have was delicious. Patrick got a beautiful bowl of potato soup with his meal, which he graciously allowed me to eat for him, and the food, the service, everything was exactly as we would have wished.

Afterwards we went to WalMart to stock up on pool supplies, and then home to nap and hang out.

Everything was going fine until about 9:00, when my sister called and told me that a very old friend of my parents had passed away. His name was David, and I've known him and his wife Mary my entire life. They grew up with my dad in Santa Monica, and were the witnesses when my mother and father got married in Vegas all those years ago. Angie said of course that my mom and dad were very upset, and it's particularly hard right now because my mother is still uncomfortable thanks to her kidney stone, and she's got something else going on that's pretty painful - it's rough over there. Anyway, Angie and my dad drove out to Palm Springs where Mary and David live, to be with Mary and help her out today and possibly tomorrow. Patrick and I are getting ready to drive up to be with my mom.

David and Mary are very interesting people. They used to live in this crazy house in Venice that was constantly under construction and had all these dangerous rooms that us kids weren't allowed to go into (rooms with french doors that should've led to balconies... but instead were just doors that opened out to nothing but a 20 foot drop). That house was sold and finally finished, and moved to another location (I think it's on Electric Avenue now, and used to be on Main or Abbott Kinney... I don't remember: I was just a little kid). David played the banjo, and Mary some kind of electric harp. They called me, when I was really small (and Mary still does) "Little Miss Knickerbocker." Then they moved to Arkansas, where they hated Bill Clinton (this was when he was only governor) and loved it for awhile, I guess, until they decided to move back to California, and they've lived in Palm Springs for a long time now.

It's pretty sad. I have an old photo of me and David sitting on the couch in my mother's house, and he's dressed all in white, probably smoking his pipe, and I'm wearing one of those funny old-fashioned dresses my mom used to dress me in. I have to find that photo.

...

Update: my day with my mom was nice. I got over there pretty early, made her some vegetable soup (I know! I made soup!) (okay, okay, some of it did involve opening a can, but still), and we pretty much just chilled all day. I played with the dogs, read on the couch, and she napped or tried to. She's on pain medication, and a tiny bit loopy, but not too bad. I have to say, though, my mother isn't that old (68) but is totally fixated on her bowel movements. I don't understand how she can talk about them so much, think about it all the time: the frequency/infrequency of them. It does seem a little nutty, but maybe not. I realized that my task while at their house was to make her laugh, which I was pretty successful at. We talked a little about David, but not much. Later, my sister called from Mary's, and Mary got on the phone a little and talked to me. Her other nickname for me is "Peanut." (okay, so why am I giving out this information?) Angie told her that I said she could come out and live with me and Patrick, and Mary got on the phone. She's very Christian, even more than my mother, and a strict Republican, and she goes, "What!? Democrats and a Republican in the same home?" I said, "Hey, they say the lions will lay down with the lambs..." And she laughed. Making her laugh was pretty special, I think.

Now we're home, and I just put the Obama bumper sticker that I got at the Culver City Pavilions on my car. I think Mary would get a kick out of that, don't you?