Umbrellas are a good thing

I was on Facebook briefly before walking downtown to get a beer at Red Dove and a friend mentioned that it was raining hard in Western New York - which is West of where I live here in Geneva (Central) NY. So I took my umbrella, just in case. Sometimes I can walk and balance it on one finger - usually only for a few steps - sometimes as many as ten. It is a huge umbrella - not the hugest but pretty big - one I have had for 20 years maybe? Can it be that long? 1993 perhaps? Anyway, thank you Rosanne for giving me the umbrella from your basement so long ago! It saved me from getting wet, and also altered my evening - for the better. But I am way ahead of myself. Stepping into the way-back machine, we find ourselves waking up to a new day Tuesday...

We are experiencing a lot of overcast and drippy days here in Central NY. The overcast is pretty normal actually, but the drippiness isn't. But I am ok with it. All things considered, I would rather live a little damp than extremely dry, arid, desert-like. Just sayin! So waking up was more like sidling into wakefulness. I did have a plan for the shape of the day - like many days in the past and perhaps many days in the future. Get up, work on the computer (like writing this blog - yes, although I enjoy it, it is still work - work in the force times distance sense - my fingers are working - my brain is working - functioning...), get mom some lunch, do business-y things (I don't know why I like to do businessy things after lunch - around 2, but I do), food shopping, cook dinner and then, since it was Tuesday, head out into the world and see what minor adventures I can have here in the mini-metropolis of Geneva.

Everything went according to plan. Yay! I like it when that happens. Especially when the planned events are better/other/more different than I had envisioned. Starting with dinner.

As some of you know, menu planning gets challenging now and again. Last night, I really had no idea what I was doing for dinner until about 10 minutes before I drove to Wegman's. I decided we would have bbq ribs with home made bbq sauce. I checked the recipes and found we had most all of the ingredients in our larder. Yippee! All I had to get was the ribs. And some vegetables. I had thought about doing french fries with the ribs, but we already had corn lying around, so I opted for green beans, which mom likes a lot. I am beginning to run into more people that I am acquainted with at Wegman's. Mixed blessing. Anyway, food shopping accomplished, back to the domicile to do the actual food preparation.

Post dinner, I headed out to the newest restaurant in the Geneva area - they smoke meat and serve beer - eventually they will have 26 taps apparently. But for now, they are only running ten or so. I went because of the beer, primarily. I was hoping for, well, I don't know what. Maybe a place that shouted out to me to be the place I wanted to hang out a lot. This wasn't that place. It has been open less than a week. I was surprised to find a person I know as one of the bartenders. She and her boyfriend are out and about a lot so we have chatted on many occasions. That was a good thing. Their beer selection was pretty poor, considering. And the one bottle of beer I requested they were out of - Dogfish Head 90 minute. Sigh. I hung out for about an hour and will probably go back again sometime. But I am not in any hurry to do so. Not terrible, but nothing that was that huge a draw for me. Decent scenery, the food looked ok, and the beer was ok. OK?

Since that was a decent experience but short, I decided to pop back to the house for a minute and then to head downtown for a known quantity - the Red Dove. Jessica would be bartending since it was Tuesday. During my pop in I put on a movie for mom (which she thought was really bad - another Fred and Ginger movie - Swing Time or Shall We Dance - I don't remember which I put on for her  - I think the latter) and checked my messages and such which is where I discovered the potential for rain.

Walking downtown is great. It is one of the things I like best about living here in Geneva. Yay! Saw a guy I know who works at the Smith. And later - after the rain had started, I saw David coming back from trivia. Another couple, who I had seen at the restaurant, acknowledged me, connected me with the restaurant and told me that Red Dove was closed. I figured I would walk there and see what the note on the door said, but never made it. As I was walking near the FLounge, David and Wendy were huddled in a doorway - so I gallantly offered them to share my umbrella - which is almost big enough for three. They were going to stop in at their place - the Flounge - for a bit before heading to dinner and invited me in! We had a nice time talking about all sorts of things - politics and religion too - and having some beer. Naked Dove Porter! Yay and yum. I hope I didn't overstay my welcome, but it was nice to chat with two intelligent adults for a change! People near my own age - mostly.

See, so, umbrellas are a good thing!