CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', Day 2, July 25

Maureen and I had to wake early today, as it was time for her third and last interview. We had a breakfast of cereal, fruit, fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice as well as coffee before gathering up our things and leaving for Menlo Park and Trinity Episcopal School, where she was interviewing for a part-time position as Director of Music. She stayed there for about 2 1/2 hours, while I waited for her and read. When she came out, she seemed to be very pleased, since she seemed to have been received well. She had even presented a music curriculum and outlined her modus operandi to the interviewer, who seemed very impressed that she had done such thorough work. Just a few minutes ago (I am writing during the late afternoon) she was called and told she has the job! So now all employment problems have been solved, and Maureen is financially on solid footing once again. Great news! To celebrate, we drove across the street from the school in Menlo Park and had an early lunch at Madera's, a restaurant in the Rosewood Sand Hill Resort, a posh enclave. We sat outside and had a marvelous view of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the resort, with its immaculately kept grounds and inviting swimming pool. Maureen had beef sliders--little hamburgers with buns and a scrumptious sauce, and I had a large flatbread with prosciutto, tomatoes, cheese, and arugula leaves on the top. Very fine. Afterwards we went to a Chinese shopping center, to a Chinese bakery, where I ordered a mocha / almond cake with "Happy Birthday, Alexandra" to be iced-in on the top. I hope she will like it when we have her birthday party on July 28, a day after she gets here (we are celebrating her birthday early, since we will not see her on her day of days, August 17). Then we went into downtown Mountain View, where we entered into several stores, as Maureen wanted to give her something for her birthday. She settled, with my help, on a lovely blue and yellow coiled shawl, which I think she will like and be willing to wear. After that, we quickly went to a consignment shop to see if we could find Maureen a standing lamp--with no luck, however. A gentleman came over to repair an overhead light in the living room, and he has left now, while I am writing this blog outside on the patio of her apartment, where the sun is gently filtering through the trees as the vegetation in Maureen's garden spills over in excess, almost as if it were thankful to live in such a gentle climate. Maureen is preparing artichokes for tonight, and we are having cold zucchini soup as well. Lovely, mellow afternoon! God be praised!