the big visit day one

My best friend E is in town. Yesterday we went to lunch at a vegetarian place I had never been to before called Sunflower. It's in Fair Oaks. We had a heck of a time finding the place. We asked three different people for help after our google directions failed us. Once there, we waited in line to order. It was good people watching. I got falafel and a banana-peanutbutter shake. The shake was a religious experience. The falfel was like a salad. The inside is very small and was full, so we sat outside, and it was cold.

Then we went to Vedanta. I showed her around the garden. She took pictures of an egret and of statuary and of me in a bare-branched fig tree. (I didn't climb the fig tree--I was standing within its branches.) She had been there before in the summer years ago. We ran into P, so it was nice that she got to meet E. I showed her inside the temple, and I showed her the harmonium, which was fun--I played her a scale, and she got to play a few notes too.

Then we went to McKinley Park and walked a little bit around the duck pond. We saw pigeons, mallards, wood ducks, a cormorant. Seagulls. She was surprised they were so far inland. We sat on a bench in the sun and talked.

Then E dropped me off at home and went to her hotel room to settle in and rest a while.

Next we went out to dinner at the nearest Indian food place. We spoke of many things. We stopped at the Indian store next door so I could buy some red lentils. Then we came over to my apartment and sat at the table writing a little bit. We made lists of the things we don't know. We brainstormed things she could make a zine about. I got some good ideas too. Maybe I'll make some one-shots.

Now it's morning again, and we have no plans for the day other than to have picnic lunch this time to save money. It doesn't look like rain at all, so we'll have time at the park. Today and every weekday until Monday, Erik is scoring outside the home. Yesterday he spent with his best friend T playing video games.