Tuesday Potluck

1. One tidbit I forgot to mention about Jeff and Meredith's wedding in Reno: the woman who officiated probably does 50 weddings a week and she still sounded genuinely excited about what she was doing. One of the things she said that I thought was funny was, "marriage is a cool bond."

2. Roger Ebert has a whole book of movie clichés like the hero can always find a parking place right in front. I don't know if he has this one but I've noticed that anytime people are chopping food in a domestic scene in a movie, they are always cutting up red bell peppers. You watch.

3. I recently had a random memory of me in a taxi cab with my visiting Oma (who spoke no English) trying to get to our house in Encino. We lived in Encino until I started 6th grade which means I was 9 or younger when the alleged incidents of this memory occurred. I want to say we were coming home from the airport but how on earth would I have ended up at Los Angeles Airport by myself to take my Oma to our house?

Here's my hypothesis. My sister must have been there, too and Dad must have taken us with him to pick Oma up from the airport and then left us to take a cab home and he went back to work. I guess it's not totally insane to let a 7 and 9 year old take their non-English speaking grandmother from LAX to the Valley.

Rather than give the cab driver our address, I told him we lived in Encino Village, and I don't think this was a common name for the neighborhood, certainly not for a tax driver at LAX, (photos (not by me) here - my, there's a piece of my childhood I haven't visited in eons come and thump me right between the eyes) and we drove around a bit until we found it. At the end of the ride he said the only reason he found it was because he used to deliver milk there.

4. Remember being a kid and anytime something was missing or broken, it was always you or your siblings' fault even if you didn't know what it was or never touched it? Bob and I have no kids and it's amazing how many things get missing or broken and we have no one to blame. Before Bob left on his camping trip this weekend he was looking all over for a flashlight. We used to have at least 6 of them. If the kids didn't run off with them, who did?

5. I bought a new sports bra this weekend to wear for summertime stuff and the way it's made, you have to fasten it behind you. I've been wearing bras for over 20 years and I still put one on by hooking it in front of me, then turning the fasteners to the back and pulling on the straps. The new bra you can't do that and it's been a chore to figure out how to hook the dang thing behind my back.