CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', Day 1, July 24

Off on another adventure--the last of this summer before a return to school. This morning, Madeleine Rosemond was kind enough to pick me up and take me to the DFW Airport, this time to my favorite terminal, D, the newest international terminal that also handles some domestic departures and arrivals as well. The sun was up and glorious, though I knew a hot day was ahead for the city. Some congested traffic on 635, but only in patches, so the trip was completed in about 20 minutes. At Terminal D, a spacious arrivals concourse makes for smooth sailing, and I was able to whip through the service line and security with quite a bit of time to spare. The plane left on time, taking me not to San Jose, but to the Reno / Lake Tahoe Airport. It is a relatively small airport, and a few gates down was the gate for Alaska Airlines and the next flight I was taking, to San Jose, California. However, that flight was not leaving until 2:15 p.m. and I had arrived at 10:10, so I had about a four-hour layover! What to do in those four hours? Well, I walked the airport concourse as far as I could without leaving the secure area; bought an egg salad sandwich and some flavored water and made lunch work, adding cherries that I had brought from Dallas. I also read a book on my iPad and ordered the newest National Geographic Traveler online. Frankly, the constant jingling and jangling of the slot machines set up all along the gate edges, and the automated cries of "Wheel of Fortune!!!!!" (this was Nevada, after all) drove me crazy, so that I was, for many reasons, so ready to get on the next plane! Finally, we boarded at 1:45, not through the usual tunnel, but instead by gangplank, the old-fashioned way (there is a picture of me, at 4 years of age, coming down the gangplank of a BOAC with my mother, and she is wearing a tweed suit, gloves and a hat, while I am wearing a little raincoat and raincap and clasping my Bambi to my chest). This scene reawakened that memory. It was an interesting cast-back flight for another reason, as this was a propeller driven plane rather than a jet, and I was sitting in a window seat right next to the wing, and I was privy to watching the propeller as well as the entire landing gear assemblage in action. That was really cool. Arrived in San Jose to light breezes and a temperature of about 72 degrees. San Jose is one of my favorite airports--so quiet, so Zen, light, airy, spacious, and open. I retrieved my luggage and called Maureen, who whipped by in about 5 minutes to pick me up. She had brought along grapes and some water--always the attentive Maureen! We drove back home, and once inside, I settled in the contents of my luggage, and Maureen and I talked and then had dinner, which included baked chicken, long-grain and wild rice pilaf,and a fresh vegetable salad with one of the most succulent avocados I have ever eaten. We ate quite early, as Maureen was interviewing for a part-time position as a choir director at St. Ambrose Episcopal in Foster City. While she went for the interview, I waited for her, anxious for the outcome. She came out about an hour later, quite pleased. She had received the job! We drove around Foster City to get a feel for the lay of the land, and eventually went back home. There, to celebrate this, her second new job she had received (she has also been appointed a part-time position as a choir director for the American Crystal Choir, an organization of over 1000 mostly Taiwanese children--Maureen directs a fraction of that number), we had a marvelous dish which Maureen had prepared--homemade custard with raspberries and peaches. Grand dessert! By that time it was about midnight, and since I was two hours ahead time wise (Dallas time), I was so tired I could hardly stand it, and went to bed, sleeping soundly in the wonderful breezes that came in the windows. Hurrah for Maureen! I had wished such good things for her! Bravo!