Mood Swings

I cannot believe that it is even legal in a “Southern Cooking” restaurant to not offer Fried Green Tomatoes! Ruth and I lunched at The Cupboard, a traditional southern restaurant on Madison Avenue in Memphis. It is one of my favorites. Since two of my other favorites have closed since I left the Mid-South, I guess it is still my very favorite. Over Chicken-Fried Steak and Iced Tea (the wine of the south) Ruth and I talked over old times and discussed how the recent acquisition and the impending closure of the Memphis office is being taken in Memphis. As is to be expected, they are not happy about it. There is a bit of apprehension but I guess that everyone is about as would be expected. It was a bit depressing to think that it is the end of an era.

Saga had a pleasant afternoon in Memphis. I let her run in Ruth and John’s backyard and she helped-out by making sure that there were no squirrels unharassed in the yard. She also made an attempt at chasing some of the birds that had the bad grace to land and eye the back garden looking for anything that might be tasty. Saga also got to sit (although she did less sitting than watching the traffic go by on Central) with us on the porch as we sipped our tea and waited for the sun to start setting so that we could get out and walk in the cooling evening. We took a walk down to the cathedral and had a look around the gardens there. They have some lovely plantings. I wish I had more of an area to put in a garden.

Saga Watches Traffic in Memphis

Last night, Ruth and John and I went out to have Vietnamese food for dinner and had a pleasant conversation. We then all went out to get Lottery tickets. I checked my email today… that should tell you that I didn’t win!

Around 09:30 I headed east again and made excellent time getting the last 250 miles into Huntsville. I am thoroughly enjoying the audiobook. The plot is a bit confusing, but Robert Rankin has a way of taking complete chaos and making it make sense at the end. The first thing that I read by him; Armageddon: The Musical was very similar. It started-out as a complete mish-mash of plot devices and story lines that didn’t seem to connect but by the end I was really jazzed to read the other two books in the trilogy.

When I got into my hotel (at 13:00) I was told it would be about fifteen minutes before my room was ready. I took saga for a walk and headed back to check-in. To “Long-Story-Short” it for you, every time I checked (until I was finally allowed to check in at 15:30) I was told it would be the same fifteen minutes. At one point I sarcastically paraphrased a Douglas Adams line asking if it would fifteen real minutes or fifteen “just one minutes” which could keep me in the lobby all night.

After a quick swim, we all went to Gibson’s Barbecue. It was a wonderful time and we all had fun. Tomorrow is the graduation. I guess I had best wrap this up and get to bed. Tomorrow is likely to be a long day.

Have a great day! Stay well!

Don Bergquist – Huntsville, Alabama – 19, May, 2005