Sunday Sundries

Saturday Afternoon Hair Braiding Time 

It's 7:30 and Ramiro and I are the only one's up.  Marisa is at a sleep over, so she will not be back until later in the morning.  It's a gray beginning to the day, in the 20's, with 1-3 inches of snow expected later. I am tired this morning because we were up later than usual last night, a dinner and a movie, then I watched some West coast basketball until 11:30.  Better stop having fun.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, cold with a vibrant blue sky and sunshine most of the day.  It, however, did not change our routine much as we hung out inside most of the day, reading, playing games on our iPads, watching some TV, gearing up for our evening out.  Rami and Marisa went out to a bakery for breakfast; Evie and I decided to just stay put, not wanting to get dressed that early in the morning and by early, I mean 9:00.  It gives you some idea how relaxed we are.

Finally, I got dressed because Cody kept coming over and looking at me with the eyes that cannot be ignored.  They say one of two things: Take me for a walk or I want my food.  This time it meant a walk, so we went out for a good hour walk, exploring the next street over Knollwood, walking though a yard to the next street and back.  It's always fun to explore a new street because the homes around here are all amazingly different, each nicer than the next, with huge lots.  It's unusual for a town to have such large yards but that's one of the reasons why Darien is so coveted as a place to live, that plus its good schools.

Late morning, Evie decided to give Marisa and hair make over, so the two of them went upstairs and rubbed their heads with conditioner, thick and gooey, leaving it in for a good half an hour.  Then, they both took showers and Evie worked with Marisa, combing it out, so it was nice and clean, silky, but manageable.  Marisa is always reluctant for this kind of thing but is happy when its over and she looks gorgeous, all clean and ready for her sleepover.

Lunch was easy, corn chowder and a couple of hot dogs, as none of us felt like eating much nor fussing in the kitchen.  After all, it was Saturday, the weekend, a day of leisure, of relaxing!  Most of the afternoon, Rami worked in his office, and Beth, Marisa, Evie and I sat in the sun room, watching some TV, playing Words With Friends with each other.  I could not talk anyone into a walk because they were so engrossed in their games, so Cody and I went out for a crisp late afternoon walk, the sun still bright, blinding in fact, as we walked up towards the cul de sac.  Mitch was off for most of the day seeing his girl friend Mimi, for breakfast or lunch, returning around 4:00.

At SONO's Burger Bar and Bistro

We got ready for dinner and a movie, and I took a quickie shower.  We dropped Marisa off at her girl friends house in Darien, then drove to SONO, a section of Norwalk, a fifteen minute drive, for dinner at a busy Burger Bar & Bistro, packed with families, all ethnic groups, and a harried but professional wait staff.  We had little over an hour before the start of the movie, so our waiter pushed things along even though it was packed.  The Bistro is two rooms, one a bar with tables, then a smaller dining room. Burgers, of course, are the specialty and they were great, as were the homemade chipotle chips and fries.  Lots of beers but best of all, they had a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for two and a half bucks. Needless to say, I had a couple.

PBR, The Ultimate Burger, And Home Made Chipotle Chips

We then drove over to the Aquarium, where the IMAX Theater was, got our tickets and went in the large auditorium to see INTERSTELLAR, on the big screen.  We had to sit to the right of the screen, a bit annoying but not a problem.  Ramiro loved this movie, and both he and Tyler thought it was their favorite movie of all time, so the rest of us acquiesced and agreed to see it.  It was an amazing experience to see it on a IMAX screen I must admit, the visual effects stunning, of space travel, new planets, worm holes,  black holes, the works, sort of a modern day 2001 Space Odyssey.

The story line is fairly easy.  Life on earth is coming to an end because of climate change; everything and everyone is dying.  And scientists are secretly looking for another galaxy like the earths where the human race might live. Matthew Mc Conaughey, the pilot,  like Chuck Yeager in THE RIGHT STUFF,  and Anne Hathaway, the scientist,  are charged with this mission, and they fly off in a space ship to explore new horizons.  It's much more complicated than that though from a physics point of view, fairly accurate. And I don't think I will be ruining any one's viewing by saying they are eventually successful in finding a place where humans will thrive.  It's a long movie, almost three hours, but I was rarely bored, pulled in by the visual effects, especially the docking scenes in space, the tension, the music, the story line.  A written review does not do INTERSTELLAR justice...this movie needs to be experienced on a big screen like IMAX.