July 3: Foster City

Dear Friends and relatives,

Happy Sunday to all, as we are one day ahead of the July 4 celebration!  Today, Maureen and I left the condo at approximately 9:30 a.m. to go to the 10:00 a.m. service at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Foster City, a satellite enclave of San Francisco.  Normally, Maureen directs the choir there, but in the summer the choir does not sing.  Father Ota, however, led a lovely service, which included Communion.  It was such a friendly congregation, and many ethnic groups were represented.  We stayed for a little while afterwards, as members of the small congregation got together for refreshments and conversations.  Lizz Klammer, a friend of Maureen and myself and a former colleague at St. John's, was also there, and it was so good to see her again.  She accompanied us afterwards to a Thai restaurant, where she had Pad Thai.  Maureen had a spicy eggplant dish, and I had Pho soup, which was 99% angel hair pasta, with hardly any broth.  I didn't really like it at all, and longed for Panera's great soba noodle soup instead.  However, I ate some of it, though not all.

After lunch, we drove Lizz back to her car, and then went on about a 2-mile walk around a hiking/biking path in Foster City.  The breezes were balmy, and, as we were so close to the SF Airport, we saw plane after plane descending to land.  After returning to our car, we went to a Chinese establishment that specialized in smoothies, and I had a coffee smoothie, while Maureen had a lemon yogurt smoothie with bobba (black tapioca pearls).  We gazed over the Foster City lagoon, watching the gulls and boat traffic while basking in the sunshine.  

On the way back, we stopped in several places for produce, Italian sodas, and various items for tonight's dinner at home, which will include bratwurst steamed in beer, cauliflower and fresh asparagus.  Later, reading or a movie.  Fun day!  As ever, Sylvia

Sylvia M. Venable, PhD

Instructor, German

St. John's Episcopal School

Dallas, Texas