So, to recount my great, and gratefulness inducing, day, it is good to begin at the beginning.
Waking up is always something to be grateful for. It means one more day to experience the wonder that life is. Yippee! I took a shower - wow, how amazing is hot and cold running water into your home. That is potable! Jeepers.
Next, I went to the college bookstore to see what text book I will need for my Spanish Class. The books weren't for sale yet, but it was there - and it was $137.50 for a used version of the text book. Excuse me? Seriously? I am grateful for Amazon. I ordered it for $10.35. Yippee! I ordered a few more things as well, but that is besides the point - oh, and I am grateful that I have the wherewithal to buy the things I need (most of the time) and for the internet. How great is the internet?!
It was Race Day for mom and me. Ever since I first saw that the Finger Lakes Race Track and Casino was so close, I was determined to make a day trip there. And mom was interested too - she likes horses apparently. Who knew? And while we are on the subject of gratefulness, I am grateful to be able to spend this time with my mom - who, for those who don't know, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a while back. She is, thankfully, still in the early stages. But every day I get to spend with her and keep her in her home and as happy as I can help her to be, I am grateful for. Anyway, Race Day.
We got out in a timely fashion and got to the track before races began. It was a great, fun learning experience. Mom and I mostly picked horses whose names we liked and bet on two in each race, to show. And we ended up doing decently. I don't know the exact stats, but mom picked about seven horses that showed and I picked maybe five. Together, though, we made back 28 of our 36 dollars! And together with the $10 bonus for signing up for a frequent players card (which I turned into $13 at a slot machine) we ended up with $41.10. Not a bad gambling day! And it was great fun to watch the horses, watch the people, watch the weather, etc. We had a fried fish sampler for lunch - mom ate all the haddock at my urging and generally had a great, relaxing, entertaining day.
But wait, there is more - our next stop was at the Rohrbach Microbrewery and Restaurant. I didn't realize it was quite as far as it turned out to be. Partly because I didn't listen to my GPS and tried to take surface roads - but the darn thing was persistent and made me get on a big thruway type road - 490. It was zippier, despite a slow down here and there for rush hour. Anyway, got there and it was really crowded. I don't generally like crowded. Oh well. It is what it is. I am grateful that we got there in one piece, that the place was so nice - Mike and Molly (half brother and sister) were tending the bar. We had amazing onion rings (mom loves onion rings) and I had eight samples of their beer. I think they had twelve on tap just then. I really liked the Red Wing Ale. At least I think that was the one I liked. I can't wait to get taping my tastings so that I will know what I like. :) This one will probably be in the brewpub book.
We both were chatty and personable to all around us - and as we were leaving, a nice gentleman held the door for us. He had an accent I couldn't place - sounded slavic, but in a soft way. Turns out he was Polish and had survived WWII. He told us about his experience of him and his family being relocated to work on a German farm. Amazing stuff. Grateful indeed for having the opportunity to meet him!
And yes, there is one more stop to be grateful for. India House Indian Restaurant. Darn Jeanie for reawakening my taste buds to Indian Food! There is no Indian food near Geneva - the closet ones are all about an hour away. So I had to plan an excursion to get to one. Which was the day at the races. I am grateful for my GPS (awesome technology) and grateful for Indian Food. Yum city! Mom wanted soup, she also thought a shrimp appetizer looked appealing, so we got that. I ordered papadam, garlic nan and a chicken dish. All delicious - and we have leftovers! I am grateful for leftovers and refrigeration!
All in all, a lot to be grateful and thankful for. Yippee!
Pictures from August 12, 2011:
The bookstore actually has two copies of my first book - Bar Dreams - in stock! I just hope that they aren't there from 10 years ago still! :)
Some nice man took this for us - people were generally nice at the track!
The Chalkboard at Rohrbach's - and you can see Molly in the picture...
The Chicken dish at the Indian Restaurant.
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