Penultimate Day in Darien

Ready for School

Spring Morning

Dogwoods in Bloom

It's 6:00, rainy and gray outside, a surprise after yesterday's sunny, warm, spring like day.  Mitch wants to be up by 6:30, so I am going to make him an egg/bacon/bagel, let Evie sleep in a bit.  He has practice today from 8:00 to 12:00, so I will be driving him to the gym around 7:30.  I have to give their coach credit; she certainly wants them to be good, practices every chance she can get.  I never had four hour practices for my teams, that's for sure.  Beth and Rami get home tonight, probably around 8:00 and it sounds as if they have had a great time in Vegas, dining each night in one of the best restaurants.  Beth mentioned that she had the best meal of her life the other night...hard to believe it was better than wings at the Village Casino in Chautauqua.


Yesterday, I went into Fairfield, about a twenty minute drive, depending on traffic, to Yoga for Everybody, a studio I had noticed the last time I was here when I went to the Las Vetas coffee shop below the studio.  The studio is right in center of a bustling, for Fairfield, downtown, with lots of shops, restaurants and, unfortunately, an empty theater, ready to be leased.  The studio was up stairs in an older building, with a couple of different yoga rooms, even a cashier and gift shop.  Class was popular, with students literally a foot apart if that.  I am sure the teacher modified class somewhat to fit the size, or we just moved forward or backward on the mats, so we would not interfere with students on our left and right.  The class was interesting, easier than the last one, but different too, with slight modifications, some flow, little if anything on our back, mostly standing or downward and upward facing dog poses, warrior poses, things like that.  The teacher was welcoming, helped me some when I struggled, and I did not feel like an outsider, though I don't pay much attention to the others, in fact, no one rarely does if you are paying attention to your breathing, the object of yoga, to keep distractions in abeyance.  The only time I pay attention to others is if I am unsure of a pose, check them to see if I am doing something correct.  Afterwards,  I went for a coffee, my kind of shop, not a modernistic, sterile Starbucks, but a bit run down and used looking, the way coffee shops used to be in the 1980's(Arabica in the Coventry area of Cleveland Hts., for example) an  eclectic mix of furniture, of customers, young, old, men, women, students, with the walls covered with music(mostly Beatles) posters, memorabilia, and other stuff that seemed just right.  There was even a counter with five stools, filled with what looked like regulars, and the shop had  interesting breakfasts, a sandwich and soup menu,  if you so desired.  I stayed there for an hour, surfing and reading on the Internet, before driving home, arriving around 12:30, a good morning for me, a nice relaxing one for Evie.

Marisa ended up having a play date with Claire, a neighbor, so it was a long afternoon with out grandchildren for Evie.  Tyler was home around 3:30, Marisa at 5;30, and I picked up Mitch from volleyball at 6:00.  We decided to celebrate the end of the school week with a sushi dinner, a take out since we thought most restaurants would be busy.  Needless to say, we devoured the sushi in twenty minutes and could have eaten more.  Fortunately, the kids loved the chicken cutlet sandwiches Evie made them for lunch, so during our evening movie, Jack Reacher, she made more sandwiches for a snack.  Mitch loved them, especially with ranch dressing.  The movie was fair, about what I expected, and Tom Cruise has aged enough to make him more like I imagine Jack Reacher from the novels. The film, however, was lacking, no real excitement, the requisite boring car chase, and a take no prisoners Jack.  I prefer the books.