Our 26th Anniversary

It was our 26th wedding anniversary yesterday but first I had to pick up the faucet parts I ordered from George's Plumbing then finish installing them on my mom's unit.
We both got dressed up for dinner and went to Beckham Grill. Lynne looked beautiful in her new outfit. We had a great meal. I had braised short ribs and Lynne had filet of sole. We ended up with yogurt at 21 Choices then off to Terry's for a short visit before returning home.

Blog Day Afternoon...

Busy busy day...Out the door at 8:15 to take the Rav4 into the shop for a major service plus I had problems with idling on startup. I walked back to Hudson which took about an hour and a half to walk the almost 6 mile distance because I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. When I got back to Hudson, I checked out the wall furnace in the front house for a reported gas smell which turned out to be false, then noticed that the front door wasn't locking. After fixing the door locking problem, I took the Zuumer and headed for the market to get some fruit and then to the video store for a movie. Craig was supposed to pick me up on Hudson at 12:30 to take me to get the Rav4. About a half hour earlier, Rose from Toyota called to tell me there were other problems they found and that if I wanted to do the timing belt and water pump and a bunch of other things, it would be ready at 4:00 instead of 12:30. I called Craig back and told him that I was going to take the bicycle back to get the Rav4 and that I didn't need him to take me. It took me a half hour to drive the bike there. Then I drove the Rav4 back to Hudson, got the truck, and drove back to Toyota to pick up the bike.
Today was also the first HOA meeting which we had at 7:00 PM at Jeannie's office. Only Mr. Hardiman and Inez showed up. It turned out successful because we passed the painting option. The whole complex will be painted by next spring.

Mike the Fireman

We got a surprise Saturday morning. There was a knock at the door and who was it? Mike, Diane's old boyfriend had juat come over to show us his new "wheels". It was quite a surprise considering we have not seen him at all for about 9 years. He purchased the old South Pasadena fire truck from a national auction for only $2000. It's in great shape and everything on it works. He ran the siren and horn which immediately brought out the neighbors with their kids to come over to see it. I told him if I have a fire, I'll call him first...he laughed.

Landlord's night out...

This is the first time we've ever been invited to dinner at one of our tenants apartments. They are a nice couple from Italy who just recently moved into one of the units on Hudson. He has a doctor's degree in computing and works at JPL. She is a biologist and works at Cal Tech.
We had a great dinner and great time. We told them we have to take them out to Buca di Beppo since they have never been there before. It was kind of strange but nice to be eating dinner in the front house apartment where I used to temporarily live back in the 70's.
I just have to mention how impressed we were at the way the table was set. It looked like the cover of Good Housekeeping Magazine. We started with appetizers: sliced zuchinni mixed with spices, olive oil, and capers. There were bowls with small slices of Italian cheese, olives, and small pieces of bread with tomatoes and spices on top.
The main entree was spinach pasta fettucini with marinara sauce. I had two helpings it was so good. After that came a plate of asperagus and cheese crepes and a romaine lettuce salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, and a wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. For desert there were slices of fresh pineaple topped with small dollups of whipping cream, a gillato vanilla fudge ice cream, and to finish everything off, a fresh home brewed espresso. All in all, one of the best dinners we have ever had. Thank you Giangi and Paola.