"Cold Weather..................................... BUT A Warm Weekend!..........."

Good Afternoon;

So......It has been an interesting weekend!

Temperature-wise....it really sucked!

If I have neglected to mention it before...

"I am not now nor have I ever been,

.....a member of the communist party....

(No wait.......that's not right, I watched "Good Night And Good Luck" again....lol!...

a fan of cold weather"!!!

If you Google 'Raynauds' and go to the Wikipedia page, you'll see some really wildly colored pictures of the way one's hands can be affected. My hands go yellow and red, but not to the extent pictured......BUT my feet come real close!!

Like I said:

Cold Weather Sucks!!!

But People-wise it had been a pretty awesome weekend! Beginning with Saturday morning and running into Cheryl,(Sp.?), at the Giant, then getting the e-mail from Erik the the laptop looks like it is good to go. And then as I am leaving the library and getting on the bus in the afternoon about 4:00 pm. the phone rings and it is Inette and 'Iokepa, my friends from Hawaii, (http://www.returnvoyage.com/ & also Google "Grandmother's Whisper/Inette Miller/Infinity Publishing"), asking where we can meet. I gave then directions to the Mt. Washington Starbucks and met them there. (and they were thrilled with the preservation and re-use of the old mill buildings and agreed with me that the 'aura' or 'feel' that the building exudes makes for a great atmosphere), and we met just after 5:00 pm. and spent a wonderful but way too short 2 hours catching up. The book, "Grandmothers Whisper" is published and they are on another cross country loop this time promoting the book at independent bookstores and at the homes of friend's who have previously hosted (and new friends too), Return Voyage 'gatherings'. Theirs is an amazing story and they are amazing people who I am grateful to know and who I most likely never wopuld have met had I not been on my own journey. Kindred souls, who have helped show me that 'Houseless does not neccessarily mean Homeless, and taught me to try to learn and understand the hidden meanings that life is revealing to me through the people and experiences of the past 4 years.

Maholo and Aloha, My Friends, until our next meeting.

After they had left, surprising me with a signed and dedicated copy of "Grandmothers Whisper", (and I was able to return their graciousness with a copy of "Talespinner" that I was compelled to print up the other day, but with no reason or foreknowledge why I needed to do so!), my newest friend Abe stopped in, just to say hello, and find out how I was doing. he did not even stay for a cup of coffee, just ran in and out. That was a sweet gesture and took me by surprise, I mean it's not as if the Starbucks is on the way to anyplace, it's in a dead end shopping center and is a 'destination' type of place. The rest of the night was typical....cold, walk to bus, cold, wait for bus, ride bus, cold, wait for next bus, ride bus to gas station, cold, crawl shivering into bag.....WARM!!!!.......lol!

Sunday I stayed in the bag as long as I could, until 11:30 am. then went to the Giant. After returning the circulation to my hands with the now very hot water, I went to the CoinStar machine and cashed in the $5.00 bag of coins I had saved and picked up off the streets/floors over the past week and put the balance on my (registered) Starbucks card so I would be again able to get the free refills. I then went out into the damn cold and the doble damned wind and caught the bus and the train and the bus to Mt. Washington and walked to the Starbucks. While I was sitting there sipping my first cup of coffee, (which someone who wishes not to be named....lol!), rang up as a refill...which came up free on the card....Thanks!....Abe walked in and was looking for a place to sit, near an outlet. As he was getting his drink I saw a couple getting up to leave and snagged the table for him. Whne he sat down he said he had something for me and went out to his car and came back in with...... a portable, Digital, LED screen TV, in a carry case with AC adapter and antenna, (which has a magnetic base mount...very cool and handy), that he gave to me. He said he needed a monitor once about a year ago for a photo shoot and bought it and it has been sitting ever since...so it's mine! Damn, now that is a NICE gesture! Even though I have never been a 'collector' of electronics or other material items, (usually spending money on 'experiences'...[dining, shows, travel.....etc.]...I still like and appreciate 'toys' as much as the next guy..(and if I HAD lots of money......wellllll.....THAT'S a horse of a different colored kettle of fish!....LOL!)

So I got to watch the second haf of the Wild Card Playoff Game and see the Ravens beat up on the Chiefs!!!! YES!!!!! Now they have to keep the momentum and the attitude going through Saturday afternoon and evening and kick some Pittsburgh butt!!!!

A bit later I wandered over to the Whole Foods and saw Michel, (pronounced MY-KEL....), and she shared with me that she was going to have a baby boy in June and showed me the sonogram, and then she tells me to be there today by 3:00 pm. as she has a coat for me. (and shit-oh-dear....I'm gonna be real close....did not realize it was so late....).

A short time later the "EX" brought Rachel by for a little while, (and the little stinker was hungry and ate all the roast beast I had been about to eat for dinner...plus some of my Entemann's Chocolate Chip Cookies..LOL!!!), and we visited and I walked her over to meet Michel.

That was the high point of the weekend for me, seeing Rachel. The rrest of the night was arepeat of yesterday...except the damn bus was late making me miss connections and wait even LONGER inthe damn cold...at least the wind had died down some....making the wind chill only about 17 damn degrees!!!

I gotta run and try to catch the buses now...Tomorrow is court in the morning, which has me much more stressed than I am letting on, so I'll see you in the afternoon.............God Willing..And The Creek Don't Rise!

With any luck, the snow that is forecast will close the Courts,

"PRAY FOR SNOW"

Later...............dave