Saturday, February 15, 2014

Three Beautiful Things 02/14/14: Cynthia's Update on George, Return to Naivete, Mini-Belgian Blow-Out and a Pizza

1.  George Kokis suffered a major heart attack on February 1st and I hadn't seen Cynthia since.  This morning I hoofed the little more than a mile from Stadium Automotive to Barry's on Alder and 12th and Cynthia was at a table, alone, her eyes red from weeping.  I sat with her for a while and she told me how George was resuscitated, about his days in ICU, and how he was doing at the rehab facility.  George can talk with her.  He's able to get up and around a bit.  He's improving.  It was great news.  Cynthia had been weeping because of the food George has to eat; it's all pureed and gravyish.  She hopes he'll be eating better food soon.  Please keep George and Cynthia and family in your thoughts and prayers.

2.  Jeff, Michael, MB, Louise and I got together for coffee and talked about a million things and I enjoyed telling my friends how I am back to diving into Shakespeare without any academic reason to do so:  no papers to write, no questions about how to "use" the plays in class, no concerns about "coverage", no need to defend a "position" or justify a "reading".  It's like I'm nineteen years old again, in a good way; it's like a return to naivete, to reading and thinking and watching and imagining just for the joy of it, not to produce something, not to "fashion a reading",  and not to "use" it in class. This is what I hoped for in retirement.  It's happening.

3.  The Deke and I met at the Sixteen Tons Cafe (a.k.a. [to us] Sixteen Tons South) and I hoped to continue the Belgian Blow Out/Beat Down from the night before and, to my delight, the joint had chilled bottles of Unibroue's La Fin du Monde for sale.  It's a splendid triple-style golden ale, a little high on the alcohol by volume, so I'm careful with it.  While the Deke enjoyed a Boneyard RPM IPA, I sipped on two 12 oz bottles of La Fin du Monde and, indeed, enjoyed a mini-Belgian Blow Out.  We ended our evening out a couple of doors down at Pegasus with a Canadian Bacon/Pineapple pizza, which I loved with a glass of pinot noir, and we headed home, relaxed and happy to be at the end of the week. 

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