1. I needed to take care of some of my life's loose ends and spent time this morning tidying up the kitchen, filing papers, looking for and finding a document I thought I'd lost, putting clothes away -- that sort of thing.
Around 1:00 or so, I decided I needed to get out of the house. I hadn't been to Winning Wednesday for a while at the CdA Casino. I made a spur of the moment decision to head that way.
I drove to CdA, fueled up at Costco, and headed down to Worley.
Spinning reels was not a disaster nor did I come out ahead.
I hadn't eaten all day when I arrived, and after spinning reels for about an hour or so, I went to the Red Tail Bar and Grill and enjoyed a mushroom Swiss cheeseburger with fries.
Lately, I've been enjoying jalapeno peppers with different food items and wished this burger had peppers on it, so I asked for hot sauce and I dressed my sandwich with catsup, yellow mustard, and one of the hot sauces my server brought out.
Great move!
I guess I'm going through a spicy burger/spicy food phase in my dotage.
2. I left the casino around 6:00 or so and in CdA I stopped by the house of happiness, Panhandle Ice Cream.
The women serving ice cream and even making the occasional espresso drink managed the throng wanting ice cream with grace, friendliness, and genuine smiles. Their calm, focused, cheerful, efficient manner impressed me!
I ordered a single scoop of Salted Caramel Brown Butter Cookie ice cream in a dish and I loved it.
3. I stepped away from the happy bunch of people coming in and out and found a table a ways away from the door and the smiling adults and children talking and laughing over ice cream just outside the shop.
I sat at a table with ice cream and a book.
I continued reading Willy Vlautin's latest novel, The Left and the Lucky. I started it last night.
Right away, in very few pages and by employing spare language and vivid details (Rollos, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Lean Cuisine, shopping at Fred Meyer and more), Vlautin establishes the world of this story. He introduces us to a stressed single mom who works a night shift, has moved her family in with her frail mother, finds out her fifteen-year-old son's girlfriends is pregnant, and has a second grade undersized son who wets the bed, rarely speaks, and gets bullied by his older brother.
I know the story is set in Portland and, as of now, I think it takes place in the St. Johns neighborhood.
I'll correct this observation later if it turns out to be inaccurate.
This book is quite a change from Lonesome Dove and Our Moon, but not a huge change from the Willy Vlautin book I finished not long ago, The Horse.
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