Celebrations

She knew what it was to wait in a bar for a man who never showed up.
To wait for letters, to cry in public,
and on the other hand to be pestered by a man she no longer wanted.
She liked tributes and attention.
-Alice Munro
as read in her 'VANDALS' story
in her book 'Open Secrets,
Short Stories'

On May 28, 2009 Alan and I were resting at the Hotel Maria Cristina until it was time to get dressed up for an exciting dinner at a hillside view restaurant in San Sebastian, Spain. This was not just a dinner but a ‘dining experience’. We were about to experience the gastronomic menu of renown chef, Pedro Subijana. His restaurant, AKELARE, translated means ‘The Witch Festival’.

Our window view of the sea was fabulous. The meal was as ultimate as ever. I took photos of each course (except for the one that looked so good that I almost finished the course when I remembered I had not taken a photo of it). Yes! What an amazing ‘end of my Birthday Month’ celebration treat.

The RIOJA wine we shared came from the Pamplona area. It was the Arinzano 2001 Rioja. Fantastic! I really did not expect such a magnificent meal. We met Pedro Subijana, the chef, as he came to the table and we explained that we were from the USA.
It’s hard to pinpoint my favorite part of the meal.

I loved the Vegetarian Ravioli.


I loved the Prawns.


I loved the Crab Salad and the Baby Roasted Pig (Alan’s least favorite)—but it went well with the “Cincinnati Dancing Pig” song (read yesterdays’ blog). It really was a delicious roasted piggy!

Each plate was presented in such a masterful, artistic way. I want to visit there again someday.

I even took a photo of the mensroom. It had its own modern charm. Smiles.




Twenty-five years ago today:

August 4, 1984
Saturday

I awoke naturally at around 8:45AM. I telephoned mom and we decided to visit the Alameda Flea Market together. I bought myself some black sunglasses straps to go with my Merrill Drugstore purchased $6.00 sunglasses that I bought last night in The City. We shopped at some shops on Park Street and I found a clock that I bought for Renee Miller and her husband-to-be, Andrew.

It was time to get ready for the wedding. I wore the cool looking slacks that I had bought at Grodins, a ‘Made In Italy’ tie and my white aviator shirt from International Male.

There were not a lot of people at Renee’s wedding, although I found it to be very quaint and nice. I enjoyed myself, dancing with Sue a lot. I couldn’t get over how pretty Sue looked. She really was enchantingly beautiful.

It was funny that I ended up catching the garter belt that Renee tossed out. So that means I am the next ‘big wedding’ (but I’ll believe it when the time comes—I suppose).

The mishap of the evening occurred when some dipshit twenty-year old dude named Keith Collier ran a red light and nicked my convertible. There was no real damage and I received no citation but the dipshit cop wrote an accident report. I just hope this accident report does not make me sound at fault or change my auto insurance premiums in any way. Did he make me sound at fault? The f---ker!

I felt honored to be in the crowd that got to see Renee and Andrew open their wedding gifts. They said they really liked my clock, too.

I stayed at Sue’s moms’ house until about eleven o’clock that night.

Once I did get home I couldn’t fall asleep. So I did something unusual and went out for a bike ride until midnight! The night ride was enough to exhaust me and I crashed on my mattress, falling asleep immediately. It was a nice summer night and I enjoyed riding in the breezy darkness.