After the last post I thought I should do something a little cozier. A perfect evening, just sitting by the fire with a stack of books and a sleeping husband on one love seat and a sleeping kitty snuggled up next to me on the other.
This week I ended up taking the train home because my youngest needed my car this weekend. It’s about a four hour trip from the bay area (only just over two if I drive it). Once I get to Sacramento I get on a bus that takes me the rest of the way to the Rocklin train station where Rick is there to meet me. I’ve taken the train about half a dozen times now. The train ride itself is nice. I always take books or magazines to read or I plug in my laptop and do some work. The bus ride part isn’t all that interesting but it’s just the last half hour of the trip so it is tolerable.
It’s generally night by the time I get to the Rocklin train station and most of the other people on the bus get off at the stop before mine. Every single time the bus driver drops me off in a slightly different location. It’s always near the train station but it could be on the corner, or behind the station or across the street. I don’t really know my way around Rocklin so when I get off the bus nothing ever looks familiar to me. I have to pull out my cellphone and call Rick and ask him if he can see me and then I start describing landmarks around me. So if you are ever in Rocklin some evening and see a crazy looking woman loaded down with bags, slowly turning around in circles and waving her arms in the air – well, it’s just me.
This particular time there were about four police cars waiting for our bus so it was easy to spot me. The bus driver knows how many people are expected to transfer from the train in Sacramento so he waits a reasonable time to make sure everyone gets on. Well we are waiting a little longer than normal but finally the last guy gets on the bus. He look like a fairly well-groomed, Caucasian guy in his late 20’s or early 30’s. And he is drunk. I can smell it on him as he walks past me.
What a lovely home — straight out of a magazine!
Thank you Mimi. Picture the scene two minutes before pics were taken: Four empty diet coke cans removed to kitchen. Ratty old bath towels on the corners of loveseats removed (they’re there to keep the cat from clawing the corners of the couches). Various pairs of discarded shoes removed from view. Two cardboard window shades hidden behind couch (they’re usually on the loveseats to keep the dog off when we aren’t home). And if you look closely you can see the dust that I didn’t bother to remove. I thought it added a “softening” effect.