Grass at City Hall

On 18 June I wrote that in the morning the day before I was up an hour late. We managed to tidy and had no quiet time before leaving at 9:30. The apartment was tidy and we saw our roommate on the way out. After getting our stuff together on Clinton Park we quietly drove across the street to Four Barrel before going across the bridge to the Caldecott Tunnel.

I thought the coffee was great but envisioned a time when we would need more. I planned on stopping in Stockton. We went through Clayton and over the pass. We went down Marsh Creek to Brentwood.  I got a little lost. My friend realized that she had turned her phone’s highway settings off.

At the Starbucks in Stockton we went to the lake in the middle of town and had a meal before heading up Highway 26 and then 88 to Ione and then to Amador city.  We unpacked and went into my old college classmate’s home through the back door. They were there with their dog. We got settled and then there were loud surprises with the dog.

They had to go to the party so we got our stuff together and walked down to meet them. The walk was kind of long but when we got into town the shop that my friend liked was closed.  However, we went to the one restaurant and I found that their tacos were really good. After that we went to the Hotel then and found my old college buddies were all there. Our hostess was talking to guests and I got to talk with the kids.

My college classmate’s wife bought us a drink the hostess introduced my friend to the candidate.  A bit later she made her speech. My friend and I got some nonalcoholic drinks but we were restless so went and sat in the grass at City Hall.

We walked through Dancing in the Streets. We also decided to go back to our host’s place. We said bye to everyone and walked up the hill. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to wind things down and then I walked back to the hotel without her.

A guy from our college days - he still lived in our college town - told me to go to the house next to my hostess’ but I found her in the back with the candidate. I sat with what was left with the party and eventually a number of us were standing in front of the town's historical firehouse talking.

We got into cars then and drove the quarter mile to the house then.  When we arrived I discovered that the regional party liaison was with my friend, who had indicated an interest in being alone.  I checked with her a bit later and she had changed her mind once they had gotten into a conversation.  That was good because there was about 10 of us a short while later.

Once the party was on the deck the house was quiet. I had a great time because so many people I knew were there.  People from the house next door even came down.  We all sat outside enjoying the night air.

I learned that my friend had really enjoyed herself. I tried all the drinks. When everything started winding down I stood with the guys near the garden. My friend had said good night around midnight. I was in bed at three.

I wrote that in the morning of the day that I wrote this I woke quite perplexed only a few hours later.  My friend had suggested walking to town but one of the guests had made coffee. The host made us eggs and fried potatoes instead and later his sister-in-law showed up and made all of us French toast. I sat quietly and ate everything.

My friend told me that she had a lot of fun interacting with the hostess and her sister-in-law. Eventually I started packing to go but not until after sharing three hours with the all the people. We went out and enjoy the days hot air.  Later I discovered that the mother-in-law had taken the ladies to the barn. When they got back we also got to watch the hostess open her birthday presents.

When we left my friend finally got to go to the store that she loved in town. I sat quietly in the car. After that we drove past the foothills on our way to Stockton.  The ride was easy. We passed a reservoir she had stayed at with family years before.

There were groups of trees in Lockeford and the noise got louder as we got close to Stockton.  I had a café in mind near the university but when we got there I discovered it had closed. We went to a tap room instead. I made noise on the stage and then we had a sandwich and fries with root beer.  We walked through the blazing sun to the car and headed south. I got lost until we were on Highway four. We headed over the river is then and I got gas.  The car was quiet on the way through Clayton.

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.