Bradley and Pirates lose to exit-row Vancouver-based deficit hawks
“Exciting?” Nazy interrupts. “I’m so glad that Tom Bradley lost.”
“Brady.”
“Brady who?”
“Brady, as in The Brady Bunch, not Bradley as in…”
“That guy was a friend of Donald Trump. Right?”
“So they say.”
“And the coach too?”
“Yes.”
“And the owner?”
“Yep.”
“So I’m glad Bradley lost.”
“Brady.”
“I wanted the Pirates to win.”
“You wanted the Patriots to lose. And the Eagles to win.”
“The ones from Pittsburgh.”
“Philadelphia, Nazy. The Super Bowl is football. It’s the game played with the ball that has pointy ends.”
“I don’t follow football, Dan.”
“I would have never guessed.”
After the football excitement of last week, It’s been a low-key slow and lonely weekend here in Santa Barbara. Nazy is in Bellingham visiting Darius over a long weekend. She brought some of the Christmas presents that Darius had not been able to take home with him and..
“… there is a crystal piece in my carry-on, Dan. It will show up black on the X-ray machine. I’ll have to take it out of my carry-on luggage.”
“Or you could put it in checked luggage.”
“Crystal? You want me to check fragile crystal?”
“Good point.”
I watched as Nazy went through the fast PreCheck line at the Santa Barbara airport.
“That was great!” I thought. “She passed three people who lacked PreCheck status. I love being first in line.”
And then: I watched, dumbfounded, as Nazy dismantled her carry-on. She placed compliant liquids in approved transparent packaging (Zip-lock) into a tray. She separated her electronics and unwrapped the crystal. She politely …
“ … let someone go in front of her!” I thought gasping. “In thirty years of travel, I never did that.”
Mesmerized, I watched as she waved another person past. “She’ll never make it to Bellingham,” I thought. (Irrationally.)
She did, however, make it to Bellingham and, shortly thereafter, she and Darius drove to Vancouver for the day. (Bellingham is essentially a suburb of Vancouver, Canada.)
We have fond memories of our year in Vancouver.
Veracity Alert: ’Fond memories’ if you discount the professional disaster that culminated with the RCMP asking me for information on the whereabouts of the company owners. (And the challenge associated with my family explanation entitled: Why Houston (gasp!) will be better.)
Nazy and Darius saw our old house (690 Knockmaroon, West Vancouver), the Granville Island Market, the Lions Gate bridge and had dinner at the Salmon House on the Hill.
Arrow came to visit while Nazy was away and while Melika, Tom and Tiger went to a birthday party in LA. When Arrow arrives at our house, he goes to the pantry and brings out the bubble blower (which makes bigger bubbles than the device used in his music class). Then he gets his two bags of magnetic letters (which he calls ‘E&rsquo
. He grabs my hand, pops a few bubbles, and affixes some letters to the dishwasher. Then he gets the chalk from his easel, his alphabet train and his stackable cups. He plays a bit and then grabs my hand and points to the door — he wants to go out for his walk. He is an active and pleasant little boy. He really likes the piano:
On a different front, local TV’s favorite advertisements are pharmaceuticals, cars and mattresses. We are, of course, very happy with our Lull mattress. But TV is pushing adjustable mattresses with numbers and..
“I just don’t get it Nazy,” I complained. “I waited years for a flat sleeper seat on an airplane. Why would I want a bed that encourages me to sleep sitting up?”
“Reclining, Dan.”
“Yeah, but what’s the point? I don’t want to sleep in a substandard airline seat.”
“A bed is much bigger than an airplane seat..”
“I don’t want to sleep in a substandard, economy class airline seat — even if it is an exit row seat.”
“Dan…”
“I want to sleep in a bed… not a seat.”
“I don’t get it either, Dan.” Nazy concluded.
And, as we think about the coming debate on immigration please remember the following quote:
“You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one”
- John Lennon
And join me in mourning the death of the party of Lincoln — which succumbed to wounds suffered during surgery that replaced backbone and principle with hypocrisy and prevarication. The party of ‘fiscal responsibility’, which never understood that deficits can result from too little income as well as too much outgo, has delivered a $1,000,000,000,000 annual deficit at a time when the economy is actually going well. They have no shame.
For last week's letter, please click here
Nazy and Darius at Salmon House on the Hill