Daily Blague

This morning, I surprised Kathleen with breakfast in bed. The usual things on the big plate: soft-boiled egg, sausages, and a yummy fresh croissant. But instead of cranberry juice and grapefruit, we had orangeade and watermelon.

A few hours later, I had breakfast all over again, in the form of brunch. Eggs Benedict at Nice-Matin, the snappy eatery at Amsterdam and 79th. Kathleen lured me to the West Side with the prospect of an afternoon meal in a different part of town. Also, there were shops to visit. In the Endicott, behind the Natural History Museum, there's a shop called Pondicherri. They sell Indian fabrics and knick-knacks. They've lost their lease, and everything must go. I picked up fourteen fabric swatches that are just big enough to use as napkins. Even if they don't go together in the strictest sense, they get along nicely. A dollar apiece! Badly needed. It has been a long time since I bought everyday cotton napkins, and it shows.

At another shop that we visited, I forgot about and didn't see the step up to the pavement as I was leaving. My left hand jerked downward into my pocket with such force that it ripped apart about five inches of seam. It was not a pleasant form of ventilation, and now I must perform the ritual casting-off of torn trousers.

You should have heard Kathleen sputtering this morning, reading this story about virtual pets called Webkinz, and how Mom has to take care of them when the kids go off to summer camp...