3018 Four days in July

Sunday, July 11, 1020

"I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good."
-- Seneca --

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Wow. I haven't visited since Wednesday. I didn't realize it's been that long. Nope, haven't been busy, or sick, just distracted I guess.

Thursday evening I went to dinner with a Mensa group at a Moroccan restaurant in Saugerties, "Fez" (which is the name of one of the cities in Morocco that I had visited in April). I couldn't find a website, so wasn't able to look at the menu before I went, so I was a bit disappointed that the choices were heavy on lamb. I don't like lamb, and the chicken dishes were heavily spiced, so I ended up with the steak. Everyone else got more exotic fare, and were pleased.

There were seven or eight of us, and the organizer requested separate checks, which is not usual. She had to leave early, and I found out why she wanted separate checks. "T", who had been sitting next to her, had a tab of $14.42. He put the money on the table on top of his tab, and left. I picked it up to give to the waiter, and discovered he'd left only $12, which didn't cover the cost of his food, let alone tax and tip. I added another $3 and apologized to the waiter.

I sent an email to the organizer and told her about it, and she said yes, he always does that, when they get a combined check she always has to ask him for more money.

This guy is supposed to be smart, right? He was also a member of my Meetup movie group, and he's the one who was angry and scolded me because a) I'd scheduled movies on nights he had other things scheduled, and b) I selected restaurants that didn't cater to his vegan diet.

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On Friday I went to Poughkeepsie and picked up Hal from the BMW spa. He's all pretty and spiffy again. Stopped for lunch on the way back, and somehow didn't get home until after 4 pm. It was very humid, and the Hairless Hunk was working on the flower bed paving, and sweating like I've never seen him sweat.

On the way up the street, I had passed his wife and waved to her. She walks a LOT! Almost every time I head out or return home, she's walking up or down the street, in snow, wind, rain, heat or cold. I've wondered about that a lot.

Now that school's out, one of his daughters has been turning up when he's working in the yard. It's obvious she (there's an older boy, this girl is the oldest daughter) worships her Daddy. It's cute.

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Saturday a Mensa group was supposed to meet at Storm King Art Center. It had rained overnight, and was still raining in the morning, so the organizer, her daughter, and I were the only ones to show up, and it stopped raining within a half hour of our arrival.

The place is huge, and it's a long walk from end to end and back, but they have trams with drivers who will tell you what you're looking at, so we took that. You can get off at any point and catch the next one.

It's mostly huge I-beam or stone constructions, which leave me a bit cold, but I was very pleased with the landscaping. The grounds are beautiful. As you drive the NYS Thruway, you can see some of the structures off to the east south of Newburgh.

Me, thighs. Note the steam rising off the mountains. The red thing behind me in the field is one of the "sculptures". Uh, ok. I still don't get it.

The organizer of the outing and her daughter.

This piece was made of bits of wood. (From the side, and a slight distance, it looked like the back end of a horse that had run into and become embedded in a tree.) What I liked about it was that it smelled absolutely wonderful. I don't know what kind it was, not cedar and not fresh pine, but some kind of very aromatic wood.
Blur your eyes a bit. Do you see a lion cub's face in the bulge? I do. Or maybe a puppy.
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