I am presently writing from the breakfast room at the San Anselmo Inn where Italian is being spoken by all – well practically all. I have exhausted my Italian vocabulary and I even had some help by Marco who is here with his wife Donatello. So here goes my Italian – Bon Joronio (spelled wrong), Prego and Arrividerci (spelled wrong). But there is laughter in any language.
The owner is Italian and he is here talking with Marco and Donatello. It is all rather jolly. There is another English speaking woman here but she is rather grouchy. I have this ability to imagine what they are talking about. – well it is not all that hard as San Francisco is San Francisco in both languages and maps are being used.
Honest to goodness there was this conversation,
Me: I love it here at this Inn
Owner: Well you should come back!
Me: I am in November and then I am thinking of moving back to the Bay Area.
Owner: Really?
Me: Yes, and the waiter in the restaurant promised that if I moved back and lived in San Anselmo there would be a parade in my honor.
Owner: I think we could arrange that!
Well, I have got to live somewhere and I have never lived in San Anselmo though I did live in Kentfield, which is close by. Who knows about me? Right now I am rather looking forward to going home to Vancouver. My newest friend D. is looking forward to seeing me when she returns from England. NZW will be in New Zealand but will return and I guess Hottie might make a cameo appearance in my after gym life.
It is now the next morning, breakfast will not be served for an hour and it is necessary for me to get packed as there will be a change of hotels. Yesterday (Thursday) was an absolutely successful day. The dentist appointment was dreamy (if you can believe that, a dreamy dentist appointment). The man is the hero in my Mind the Gap story, I illustrated how to find the story in the search engine and informed both he and his son (who practices with him) that they can , during a conversational lull at a cocktail party flash the story on the Internet and entertain. Then it was off to purchase bathing suits for my water aerobic days in Vancouver. Two were purchased, one at H and M and another at Macy’s. So inexpensive, so charming. Bathing suits in Vancouver are atrociously expensive. Then the purchase of an extremely inexpensive and chic purse and a long conversation with two young men. An extremely long lunch at BJ’s which was dutifully videoed and placed on Instagram.
Then it was off the retirement offices and a meeting with the retirement administrator and the medical expert. What courtesy they extended me – how honored I feel. The changes in the retiree medical plan will not disastrously affect me, thank goodness. So there is absolutely no need to worry, particularly if I return to the USA. It is a stellar medical plan far exceeding any medical care found in Canada. The administrator is a rather brilliant man, we swayed and discussed matters philosophical My contribution was the results of a study of Exceptional Elderly. Thirty men and thirty woman were selected on the basis of their belief that the last three years of their 85 year life were the best of their lives. The research looked to what qualities they possessed to make them different from their contemporaries. They had extreme curiosity, they had an avid interest in people. But their most important trait was their flexibility. They could easily give up long established points of view and familiar ways of operating. That is so incredibly important as it is not practical to get back what people had when they were younger. This study bodes well for me as I have all of those traits. Wow, a new nickname could be Exceptional Elderly Person. EEP for short, it does have a certain ring to it.
Perhaps bode can be the word of the day. Bode, a verb: be an omen of a particular outcome: their argument did not bode well for the future | [with object] : the 12 percent interest rate bodes dark days ahead for retailers.
Later a wonderful French meal on the patio of a restaurant with Mt. Tam in the distance and an amazing band. They promised to play at my wedding – so the band is chosen, I do have a guy in mind. Boy will he be surprised. At least I have met him and he has expressed an interest in me but I have not broken the news to him as yet. I do laugh as the expression on his face will be priceless, absolutely priceless. I do jest (perhaps).
The photo is a picture on the wall by my bed in the San Anselmo Inn.
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