My husband and I got a free hour to pop out and get something to eat ... the two of us.
We went to Chow's in Lafayette, and we went early. Wow! Business is bustling today, both at Chow's and in downtown Walnut Creek. Earlier in the afternoon, I dropped my son and two of his buddies off at the Century Theaters in Walnut Creek so they could go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. He called my cell phone 10 minutes later (yes, he has his own phone ... ) to say the movie was sold out and he and his friends were "going to do stuff." I had thought I might do a bit of post-Christmas shopping, but downtown Walnut Creek looked even more packed than it had in the days leading up to Christmas, so I drove home.
As I thought about my son's vow that he and his friends would "do stuff," I can't imagine that these three energetic sixth-grade boys, alone on their own in downtown Walnut Creek, could pull off stunts any worse than I did when I was their age, and on my own with a girlfriend, wandering the streets of downtown WC.
My friend, at the time, was already a serious shopper, and she would go on to live in London and make fashion her profession and supposedly have Greek shipping tycoons as lovers.
Whatever. I could care less about shopping, now and back then as a Walnut Creek sixth- and seventh-grader.
Set free on Walnut Creek's downtown at that age, I just wanted to wander around and goof on people.
Yeah, how mature is that? But was it fun!
Hey, if you were in the old Bullocks (now Nordstrom) back in the '70s, and you had a wad of chewed-up gum fall on top of your head from someone riding the escalators above...
Well, it's possible it was me.
A belated apology. Sort of.
My son and his friends arrived home, and we left them to their own pre-teen boy devices (video games) so we could go out, and have a late afternoon drink, a bite to eat, and some couple time.
As we finished up dinner at Chow in Lafayette, as the early evening crowds starting to pour in, we saw the rain fall outside our window.
The rain was pretty heavy as we made our way east on Mt. Diablo Boulevard, to Pleasant Hill Road, and then to Olympic Boulevard into Walnut Creek.
I wish I had a camera with me, to capture the beautiful rainy December night images I witnessed as we drove by.
The most I can say is that I think it is rather magnificent to see, even post-December 25, people's outdoor Christmas lights shining, white, red, blue, green and gold, and to see those lights shining through the darkness and rain of a cold December night.
This vision--of Christmas lights, rain, night--on a night like this is one of my favorite things...
3 comments:
Nice word pictures. My bride (of 24 years) and I had breakfast at Chow this AM. Now the rain drops skitter off the roof and the smell of freshness fills the back yard. Merry day after and a happy new year.
I'm not sure what is going on with Chow but it is always packed. We went there one evening last week and there was barely room to walk. A fire marshall would have had a fit. My daughter and I noticed that the "room capacity" sign had been hidden with another picture on top of it. What's up with that?
Must have been a post Christmas thing, but we went to Chow's too, on the very same day. But we decided to try the new Danville location. Not as fun as the Lafayette one. Food was good, but I love how charming the Chow Lafayette location is.
It's packed because it is so darn good! The have the best fish grill guy around I think :)
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