Checking in

Today is Tuesday. I am at a coffee shop in Pinole, using their WIFI to look for jobs.  My son Anselm is at Boy Scout Camp High Sierra for the week.  Basil is in San Jose with his mother.  

Yesterday, Monday was Jeff's birthday so I made supper (champagne risotto garnished with paper thin slices of New York strip) and his wife made an apple pie.  They have an apple tree heavy laden with fruit.  Everyone should have such a tree! 

Sunday morning I drove down to San Jose, picked up Lara and we went to Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Church in Saratoga.  I was worried about that.  Would people think it is too soon after my divorce to be with another woman?  Would people think Lara was a home wrecker?  Would people think I had left Athanasia to be with Lara?  (She isn't and I didn't.  We met in the bar at the Hotel De Anza just before Holy Week.  It is a beautiful room.) I had no reason to be worried.  Everyone wanted to meet her and was excited to talk with her.  Interestingly, my son Basil's Sunday School teacher from St. Stephen's Church was visiting my parish.  It was fun hearing her talk about Basil's participation in her class.

After Liturgy, Lara and I went to my sister's house for my great-niece's birthday party (I gave her a leather-bound copy of The Wind in the Willows). After the party I took Lara home, then I drove back to Pinole.

On Saturday I drove from Pinole to San Jose to hang out with the boys.  We did nothing too special but we did go to Vespers in Saratoga.