kip_w | a taste

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Yesterday I got Sarah a little early, per her request. (I said "We'll see," when she asked, so I wasn't committed to it until I did it.) Earlier in the week, it seemed like she was good with the concept of me taking her in in the mornings from now on, and Cathy picking her up. Cathy's car has air conditioning that works, and in the morning I wouldn't need that. Also, it would have left me in a place where I could go do all sorts of things afterwards, and give me back a stretch of time I find much more valuable for my routine.

As you've guessed, she wasn't good with it. She said later that she cries after I drop her off. She was fine when I left her; I guess now the tears come after I go.

So anyway, I arrived a little bit early, about 20 minutes, thinking it would make it possible for us to zip on over to the festival on the downtown green in West Springfield, and do a ride or two before meeting up with Cathy. But I couldn't get her on the phone, so we just went home and then all of us went together. We parked at the library (which was closed) and walked over, through the array of classic cars owned by members of a car club, into earshot of the Elton John tribute band that was delivering cover versions of his greatest hits, bridged occasionally with some chat from someone in the band. I looked at the stage when I was in a better vantage, and saw that although the leader couldn't play piano like Elton John, or sing like him, he had a white suit and hat. One out of three. He either couldn't play the original piano part, or he couldn't remember it and made up his own. He tried for a high note in "Benny and the Jets," but after the first reach came up short, he didn't try to make it sound anything like E.J.

By now we were ready for the first event: food! They had the Lebanon Cafe, Pintu's (Indian), a Thai place from Connecticut (the pioneer valley isn't just in Western Massachusetts), Chinese, German, and American food, all serving two or three items chosen for midway appeal, and I seriously considered them all before having my usual garlic chicken on a skewer over pad thai noodles. I also got to eat one of Cathy's samosas, which were a little spicier than she likes. I finished with a crepe from the Lebanon, with sweet ricotta cheese inside and rose syrup over all. Then it was time for the rides.

Sarah first went to the jungle bounce, a small bouncing floor with similarly inflated walls and roof, where Sarah bounced energetically for about five minutes. Then we went down the big slide together. The first time she went down this, last year, she didn't like the bumps. Later, though, we went down together at the animal show at the exposition grounds, and she decided she liked it after all, so she was looking forward to another slide. To my surprise, they didn't charge us both to go down. Since we were on one burlap bag, she said I could keep my tickets. We were left with three tickets for Sarah to take one more ride, and she wanted to go down the 'Titanic' slide. For the equivalent of three dollars, she clambered up the inflatable gangway, then slid down the inflatable slide. We have had more exciting inflatable slide rides on the free slide they used to have at the college's annual outdoor picnic, back in Virginia.

We walked back. Sarah was rather cranky at bedtime, possibly from the fact she had gotten to imbibe some Coca-Cola and was feeling the caffeine, or maybe just from the excitement of the day. She got to sleep around a quarter to ten, and wasn't actually up this morning until well after seven. About an hour later, I sat up in bed, and just like I'd blown a kid whistle, Sarah showed up. About ten-ish, we hit the road for a McDonald's breakfast. For a total change of pace, we ate in the car. I introduced a slight change in our breakfast fare that might save me almost a regular meal's worth of fat each week, ordering a sausage biscuit with egg (which is what I used to order) instead of the 'Big Breakfast' (separate sausage puck, eggs, and biscuit, with a hash browns puck on the side) that had somehow become our routine.

Next we spent a half hour or so at the Children's Museum in Holyoke. I had my little flashlight so I could write on the phosphorescent wall in the "capture your shadows" room. They have a new 'vet hospital' area, and Sarah spent some time there, diagnosing things and practising a sort of bedside manner with me and other invisible pet owners. Last stop was the store in Agawam that sells pets, pet supplies, and soda pop. We looked at the Greek and Russian turtles, which were taking it pretty easy this time, and then browsed the other living creatures waiting for someone... perhaps the parents of a child... to take them all home and set them up in luxury with other stuff from the store. Sarah petted a cockatiel (I'm assuming that's what it was, and who are you to say it wasn't, Eh, Friendlisters?) despite her apprehension, and we watched while a lady changed the litter and swabbed the glass for a couple of medium-sized white rats with candy-colored red eyes.

We also looked upon the wonder of Goliath, a turtle they figure to be about 28, and weighing 60 pounds. He's not for sale. I'd say he's a little tiny bit (maybe a couple of inches in length) larger than the turtle Ken and I pushed into a recycling box and carried down the street from our little pond to the larger pond (almost three blocks long) two blocks away. Ken says it was illegal to move the thing, but I can mention it now because it was close on to ten years ago, and the turtles were said to eat baby ducks, so I just wanted to do one thing for our flock. I saw a larger turtle one day when I was driving a block from home one morning. I took a picture of it. I'll update with the picture after I've posted. It was walking in the direction away from our pond, I'm happy to say.

The turtle pet shop is a very short drive from here. It's near a bowling alley that encourages birthday parties and offers bumper bowling (which makes Sarah a good bowler). We came home and had clam chowder, and now I'm resting upstairs.
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