The Dried out Lawn

On the twenty-third of August I wrote that I had walked my bike up to Dolores with my friend and we rode to Castro.  We then walked for a few blocks and then headed over to 19^th.  Some guy nearly hit me at 18^th.  We climbed 19^th and walked up the front of Kite Hill where she took pictures and then we headed over to Romaine on sidewalks and then up Market to Portola on more sidewalks until the bike lane started.

That was when we rode to Tower Market.  We locked up and got desert and then bought a wrap which we ate on the street.  Then we took the Laguna and Garcia route to Dewey Circle but I suggested we take Magellan to 12^th and that worked well.  When a sports car passed us I decided to head to Ulloa where the crossing at 19^th Avenue was likely better.

We were early to my sister’s.  She was still preparing food and John was recovering from his inspector’s test.  My friend started making dessert and I sat with my brother-in-law until it was time for me to whip cream.  Later we went outside with the kids and watched them roll over the dried out lawn.  When they started making a mess, I stared using their nicknames.  The kids followed us up stairs where we sat looking at old photo albums and I called mom.  I also tried to tune the guitar.

Dinner was chicken and capers.  The kids were bearable and my brother-in-law cut out because he was tired.  My niece started to cry because I was drinking from a glass that said “It’s a girl!” and she was demanding it from me because she said it was hers.  It was just the girls and me after that but we lured the kids back with pudding.

We talked a lot about the upcoming Picnic and then my niece insisted we play a round a of Trivial Pursuit for kids and though I didn’t want to we ended up playing.  It went on for a bit.  The kids had their cards and I had my own.  My friend was close behind my nephew because she was doing the kid’s cards.  He won though and there was a lot of cheating.  My bother-in-law came out as we were saying goodnight.

On the ride to the parent’s house we discussed how to respond to poorly behaved children.  I was tempted to take a nap once I got to the house but instead went up to see mom.  She showed my friend the dress and hat she would wear to the picnic.  I sat with dad for a bit and when I came back we looked at a scrap book grandma had made.  It had addresses on Page in it.  Later we said bye and headed to Golden Gate Park.  We talked about how dark it is on the Panhandle.  I went to sleep at 11.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this I was up at 730 and went with my friend to Four Barrel for 45 minutes.  She had a hard time discussing her ideas because she had a problem with my opinions.  I kept trying to direct her frustration to the written word.  I walked her to BART.  I later got stuck at the apartment and decided it was a breath of fresh air better to be alone there for a while.  After that I rode to Mojo and did a bit of writing.  I went to Page Street then and looked at a place that Lillian had apparently lived in.  I sent a photo to mom and my friend.  I then visited the vintage shops and found nothing and then went to three bike shops for panniers.  However, I only bought a cable and went home.  I tried to fix the powder blue bike’s breaks but a snapped a part.

I went to the bike shop to fix the part but upon my return home it turned out to be wrong.  I went and had dinner with dad then and when I got back to my room I started typing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.