Henry Adams, writing of Grant, said that looking at the Presidency from Washington to Grant was enough to disprove the theory of evolution. He'd have loved the current occupant!

Friday:
We ran errands. First was Loretto, where Rich gave the teams 23 softballs and 108 golf balls that he'd found on his walks. From there we stopped at the library to drop off my books, then to the grocery store.
Lately it has seemed that Rich can't follow a sentence with more convoluted structure than "See Jane run." What I said was "I'll make the four-pepper pasta so we can heat it up after the game." He apparently missed the last clause of that sentence, so when he announced that we would leave for the game about 6, I could hear the tenseness in his voice, knew I was being nagged, but didn't know why. I'd already yelled at him for not understanding what I said about my lottery ticket, so we were a bit tense anyway. Once the light dawned that we weren't eating till after the game, he was much better.

This game was the Metro League championship, us and the main rival school, Christian Brothers. They crammed 3000 people into our gym, which usually holds 1200. Steamy, yes.
Plus it was a good game. We won every quarter, and they never tied nor got ahead, but it was no romp. It was close the whole way. The final score was 61-47.
Before the game, the Senior players were honored with their parents, and afterwards, Boosters had cake and coffee. We got to tell the Sophomore player what a good game it was.

Saturday:
We went on the Solemates walk in the Folsom wetlands. And, indeed, they WERE wet and muddy. 22 people turned up, making it one of the more popular walks in recent days. We went 4.25 miles.
I went to see CENTRAL STATION which was a great movie! I was fascinated, though. When I think of Brazil, I think rain forest, jungle, the Amazon, crocodiles. Yet this movie could have been filmed in New Mexico. I had no idea.
Coming back, I saw a dancing pancake outside IHOP. Now THERE is a job for the old resume!

Sunday:
Vince called, to announce that he was accepted for his first choice, Purdue, for graduate school, with a teaching assistanceship and a living stipend. He still doesn't know for sure if he'll do this. Part of it depends on Boeing, for instance. At least now he has the option.
I took another walk, with the dog. We went 3.6 miles, and didn't see much of anything.
Then I braised a pork roast for dinner and put out the new tablecloth and generally had a good time. Afterwards, Rich was showing Wowbagger some of the real coins and Franklin Mint thingies he's gotten over the years and I was thinking about something we've been looking for for Roni (I have to be a little circumspect here, as she reads this: Hi, Roni!) that I knew was SOMEPLACE in the house. I finally thought it might be in the cedar chest in my Mom's area. I went back and moved stacks of books off the chest, and opened it and sure enough. It was difficult to get out, because of the books in the way, and because of my shoulder, and I was getting no help from Rich, so I refer to getting it "singlehandedly."

Monday:
We wanted to go on a walk that Roni had recommended. She had been looking for spawning coho salmon (endangered) and had seen a bobcat. We drove over to Marin County past the College of Marin, source of a number of happy memories for me. In the 18 months we lived in Novato, I'd been down to the College twice. Once was to see a speaker who came from my high school, the older brother of a classmate, which was fun. I went up and re-introduced myself and took him to coffee, and felt very sophisticated indeed. The other time I'd gone on an all-day geology tour of Marin. This was very informative and enjoyable. I remember Roni, age 8, was really trying to give me the guilties when I got back. She'd had a bad day and it was All My Fault. This didn't work very well, though.
On the way, at the rest stop, I forgot and sort of moved my left elbow out a few inches as a balance, and it absolutely KILLED my shoulder. It was awful. The rest of the day, my shoulder and arm didn't hurt, but the pain memory lingered in my muscles.
We found the trail, but instead of walking along the creek, we crossed the bridge and started uphill. And uphill. And yet more uphill. We had no idea how far the top of Mt. Barnabe was, though it turned out to be more than a mile and a half farther from our turnaround spot. It's 1466' above sea level, and we had to have gotten over 1100', anyway. We saw Stairstep Falls, which is gorgeous.
Roni gets a bobcat and deer, I get banana slugs and a firebelly newt. Somehow this doesn't seem fair.

Back at the car, 6.8 miles, we drove back toward civilization and found a viewing area along Lagunitas Creek. They are trying habitat restoration for the salmon.
We then ate at the Fair Fix Cafe in Fairfax. I had a "Mediterranean sandwich", hummus and onions and greens and tomato and olives in a pita. It was great. Rich had what they called "grilled cheese" but which is "toasted cheese" on French bread. Also good. I liked it well enough to go back someday.
Thence to the Book Passage in Corte Madera. I picked up the second book in a series and may go for more when we go back in a couple of weeks.
I was dropping off some of my Mom's paints and pencils and pastels for Roni, as well as the usual bag-o-books, and just as we left R.J. drove up. He told us how to see Roni's new job and so we did and wound up talking with her for over an hour. (I got to see the offices of the WELL! I was picturing a dingy crowded room in the back of a garage somewhere. Nope, very posh and corporate.)

Nice day.

Ted Turner can keep his baseball team, unlike Marge Schott. After all, he didn't make racist or sexist comments, he "joked" about Catholics. Believers are still fair game, even (especially?) to the Politically Correct.